Location: Kenya, with occasional travel.

ISF Advisors is the leading strategic and financial advisory group committed to mobilizing capital for a more sustainable, equitable, and productive global food system.

Building on a decade of industry research, the ISF Advisors team combines experience from top-tier strategy, investment banking, and corporate finance firms to help the public and private sector develop more practical, profitable, and sustainable financial solutions. This combination of expertise allows us to analyze problems with a systems lens and structure investment solutions that mobilize different forms of investment and philanthropic capital.

Our sector leading research on agriculture and food systems generates ideas and insights to inform investment strategy for public and private funders. In addition to issues affecting smallholder farmers and rural enterprise, we have deep experience working in adjacent areas including technology, youth, gender, nutrition, climate change, forestry, and land use.

ISF Advisors has become a trusted advisor and partner to leading institutions involved in food systems, including many of the world’s largest investors, donors, companies, NGOs, and foundations. For more information, visit our website: www.isfadvisors.org

ISF seeks a Manager with experience in commercial banking, investment banking, and/or private equity/debt in Sub-Saharan Africa. This Manager position is attached to the Advancing Food Fortification Opportunities to Reinforce Diets program, sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID AFFORD. This 5-year program initiated operations in September 2022 with the objective to promote large-scale food fortification in target countries and regions.

USAID AFFORD places the food industry at the center of the solution. To overcome fortification-related challenges, it aims to foster trust and collaboration between food processors, governments, and other stakeholders. USAID AFFORD works to ensure that food businesses have the technical assistance, finance, and supportive ecosystem they need to integrate food fortification into their operations.

The program is implemented by TechnoServe, with ISF Advisors, Nutrition International and Food Fortification Initiative as a sub-awardees. ISF Advisors is the consortium's lead partner for access to finance, identifying barriers to financing and catalyzing access to finance for food fortification activities across target geographies.

The role of the Manager will be to lead all aspects of ISF´s support to USAID AFFORD. A key area of their work will be to undertake country assessments aiming at identifying 1) public and private sector investment needs related to fortification, and 2) opportunities to use financing tools to incentivize private and public investment in fortification-related activities. The Manager will lead the prioritization of potential interventions and its application, working in close coordination with the USAID AFFORD and ISF teams.

Responsibilities

• Conduct country assessments of private and public sector investment needs and access to finance capabilities. Based on the assessments and selected countries, develop recommendations and prioritize interventions to address financing challenges
• Develop and oversee access to finance interventions as part of individual country/region projects
• Support the development of relevant generalist learning products related to financing for food fortification
• Lead engagement with local financial service providers, such as local banks and regional banks, private equity/debt funds to provide equity and debt to businesses in the portfolio, multilateral donor banks, and public/private investors
• Support due diligence processes of potential investees to validate their financial needs and assess their investment readiness, if needed
• Support coordination between investors and investees, if needed
• Produce clear, concise written materials and presentations in connection with project execution and business development
• Coordinate with ISF’s financial advisory team to draw upon ISF’s technical expertise and investment network
• Report into ISF’s Executive Director and coordinate closely with USAID AFFORD’s Intermediary Result (IR) 2 Lead
• Manage overall work plan, including tasks and milestones, and track progress towards ISF program objectives and prepare periodic reports
• Support outreach, network-building and lead development with ISF Advisors team
• Travel as needed to support implementation

• Relevant Master’s degree (MBA, Finance, etc.) or equivalent education
• 5-10 years of experience in commercial banking, investment banking, and/or private equity/debt
• Relevant experience related to the delivery of financial services to agricultural enterprises
• Proven network of contacts within relevant financial institutions
• Familiarity and experience with agriculture finance and agro-processing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Experience in West Africa highly valuable
• Proven experience and understanding of financial products, business modelling, evaluation, markets and investment readiness
• Familiarity with innovative finance for development and common development finance tools (e.g. risk guarantees, concessional lending, blended finance, etc.)
• Experience or demonstrated interest in nutrition and/or food systems desired
• Self-starter, able to achieve results with limited supervision with strong project management skills (goal-setting, organization, and implementation)
• Outstanding diplomatic, negotiating and interpersonal communication capability
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to deliver consistently high levels of accuracy, efficiency and follow-through
• Excellent communication skills. Fluency in English is required, written and oral. Fluency in French will be highly valued
• Passion for growing agriculture enterprises, social innovation and entrepreneurship

If you are interested in this position and meet the qualifications above, please submit a one-page cover letter and resume when applying.

ISF provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Individuals from all backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.