Embedded Agriculture Financing Advisor at Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD): (Deadline 6 March 2023)

1.      Background Information

Job Title:  Embedded Agriculture Financing Advisor

Current grade: N/A

Department/Unit: Business Development

Reporting line: functionally and administratively report to the Head of Business Development  and work closely with the Manager of Agriculture Portfolio

2.      Contract Terms – 2 years Fixed-term Renewable (Subject to funds availability)

3.      Purpose of the Job

BRD is now seeking the service of an Embedded Agriculture Financing Advisor to work with and support the Bank’s agriculture unit in order to increase the performance in the next 2 years and develop a strategy and comprehensive action plan and propose best practices for agriculture projects structuring and appraisal in order to achieve the department objectives and targets.

In addition, the Agriculture Financing Embedded Advisor will focus on strengthening the capacity of the staff in the agriculture unit through provision of financial and technical guidance on project appraisals, pipeline development; agriculture projects structuring, advise on the appropriate digital tools for agriculture financing

The agriculture Financing embedded advisor is expected to advise the agriculture Unit performance improvements and key sector stakeholders. The agriculture embedded advisor will ensure that all agriculture related activities are executed in line with BRD’s strategy, best practices and the guidance provided by BRD management.

The advisor shall also focus on identifying capacity gaps in terms of agricultural policy and regulatory framework design, institutional implementation capacities of the Agricultural portfolio growth, availing the right skills for strong human resource base to spearhead the agricultural transformation; agricultural commercialization cluster development and management; enhancement in stakeholders’ engagement.

4.      Main Responsibilities of the Job

Duties and responsibilities shall include but not limited to:

• To contribute to the growth of the Bank’s agriculture portfolio through identification of bankable projects
• Develop an Agriculture Financing Strategy that would clearly show the opportunities available in the agriculture sector for a number of selected value chains.
• Develop new or fine tune existing products that the bank will use in financing agriculture based on market needs
• Participate in the Agriculture sector research studies aimed at addressing the financing bottlenecks
• Participate in projects pipeline development for agriculture financing
• Provide technical support to the staff in appraisal process of projects for their approval by relevant authorities.
• Participate in various forums organized by the Bank’s Sector stakeholders.
• Advising the Bank on the engagement and relationship management with key sector stakeholders including The Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB), Rwanda Cooperative Agency (RCA) as well as other implementing partners (e.g Banks, MFIs & SACCOs), other development partners like ACELI AFRICA and any other relevant stakeholders.
• Provide financing and technical advice by reviewing all Agricultural loans applications, and support in technical, financial and market analysis of projects identified for financing.
• Provide advisory services to the Bank’ clients through review of project feasibility studies
• Assist with the delivery of workshops and presentations aimed at sharing experiences among project beneficiaries and implementing partners.
• Assist with preparation and delivery of learning events aimed at sharing experiences among stakeholders.
• Participate in the implementation of Agriculture financing strategy.
• Conduct field visit to clients both existing and new in a bid to provide advisory services for project sustainability and proper project identification.
• Advise and assist in drafting project implementation progress reports and briefing notes to different stakeholders.
• Advise and assist in preparation of terms of reference for consultancy work planned under agriculture related projects and programs by supporting the review process with other departments and address any comments to the draft documents in order to receive no objection.
• Advise and assist with the preparation and monitoring of the annual work plan and budget as well as monitoring reports.
• Provide induction training to all agriculture unit staff on analysis of projects as well as knowledge transfer along different agriculture value chains.
• Advise and assist in the design tools for appraising the loan applications as well as tools for monitoring and reporting on progress of agricultural projects financed.
• Advise BRD’s management on the design of appropriate agricultural products.
• Participate in the design of the awareness campaign strategy for different agriculture products offered by the Bank.
• Assist with supervision of various consultancy services to the agriculture sector
• Carry out any other assignment given by the BRD management.

5.      Performance indicators

• Weekly reporting to supervisor.
• Weekly briefing notes outlining key issues for BRD Management attention.
• Quarterly progress reports to the Senior Manager in charge of Investment describing major activities undertaken and tasks accomplished during the reporting period and challenges hindering implementation process.
• Meeting the annual target of the agriculture financing Unit
• Participation in the preparation of End of year performance report.
• Development of An Agriculture Financing Strategy approved by Management.
• Pilot products to finance at least 30-40 Projects.

6.      Working relationships

• All departments

7.      Professional, academic qualifications and experience

• A Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics, Economics, Business administration, Accounting, Finance, banking, project management or related discipline.
• At least 10 years of relevant professional experience in financial sector services, with at least 5 years of professional experience in project finance, specifically Agriculture financing at managerial level;
• Strong financial skillset, including investment analyses, risk assessments, conducting due diligence, deal structuring and performing financial modeling.
• At 3 years of experience of working on projects specifically related with lending to agriculture value chains .
• Exceptional communication, writing and analytical skills.
• Good organizational skills including attention to detail and multi-tasking skills.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Excel, Power point, Word, etc.).
• Proficiency in written and spoken English.

8.      Core competencies

• A track record of negotiation and underwriting skills.
• Exceptional communication, writing and analytical skills.
• Good organizational skills including attention to detail and multi-tasking skills.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Excel, Power point, Word, etc.).
• Proficiency in written and spoken English.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel (e.g., pivot tables, data validation, macros, general modeling) and Microsoft PowerPoint (e.g., executive-level presentations) is required.