Purpose of the Role:
The CIFF Impact Investment team was created in April 2019, and this hire reflects an expansion of the team, and the expected importance of Africa as an investment destination. This will be the first hire for the Impact Investing team in Africa and will be the team’s main resource and representative in the region while being an integral member of the Executive Director Africa’s leadership team. We expect to expand the team as the AUM (Assets Under Management) and portfolio in Africa grows but this hire will need to show the ability (and desire) to be able to work to a high standard, both independently and in conjunction with the wider team in London. While representing CIFF as a significant investor in the region and helping bring the Africa regional strategy to life, it will work closely with CIFF’s Head of Impact Investing and CFO.
The primary functions of this role will be (1) investment execution (2) to take the lead in researching, formulating and articulating the impact investing strategy for Africa; (3) providing financial expertise, rigour and commercial acumen to Program teams for Africa related grant programs, and (4) liaising with state-level stakeholders and other implementation partners in commercial negotiations to realise commercial objectives. (5) support the ED Africa in fundraising in support of the wider Africa strategy. The ability to source pipeline will also be valued (but is not a current KPI of the role, with the initial focus being on senior level execution capability).
Ultimately, the objective is to build an attractive portfolio of high impact investments in Africa that integrate with the wider CIFF Africa strategy and align with CIFF’s global Investment Strategy, based on a thought through regional and sectoral investment thesis; and to enable the Africa Program teams to incorporate greater commercial thought and execution capability in their grant programs.
Position Responsibilities
End-to-end execution of private equity type investments into impactful African businesses – particularly in East Africa and Ethiopia – that are aligned with both CIFF’s investment strategy and its regional strategy for Africa:
Tracking potential investment opportunities in different African markets, across different sectors, and building relationships with the founders, entrepreneurs, senior management teams and investors in such pipeline companies
Analysing and evaluating investment opportunities, both at a high level and in detail, against CIFF’s impact filters and investment criteria
Planning, arranging and execution of due-diligence work in relation to investment opportunities – both desktop and on-site.
Designing and conducting RFP processes to bring on-board the best due diligence consultants, where appropriate
Building high-quality and fully linked financial models for scenario analysis, incorporating debt-financing and leverage considerations
Structuring of Impact Investments
Authoring high quality investment memos (in English) – Initial Evaluation Memos, Concept Memos and Investment Memos – for the various Committees within CIFF that are ultimately responsible for the approval or rejection of investment pipeline (Risk & Impact Committee, Investment Committee)
Presenting proposals to the CIFF committees and trustees
Monitoring and Reporting of Impact Investments on a quarterly basis
Value-creation activities with investees, where appropriate
Course-correction activities with investees, where appropriate
Board positions on investee boards, where appropriate
Contributing strongly to annual reporting on investments and their impact
To contribute to investment execution in other parts of the world as part of the global Impact Investing team
Researching and authoring high quality Africa impact investment strategies
This will align with CIFF’s Africa strategy and the existing overarching investment strategy
The Director level position will provide local insight and understanding of the market to help inform CIFF’s view
Providing financial expertise, rigour and commercial acumen to selected strategies of the Program teams for Africa related grant programs, and liaising with state-level stakeholders and other implementation partners in commercial negotiations to realise commercial objectives of CIFFs programs
This will include the evaluation of grant financial models and budgets.
In these mandates, the Impact Investing team (as a whole) will be acting as a consulting partner to the program teams, and delivery of work should be to the standard an external consultant would strive to provide to a client.
Deep integration with the rest of the Executive Director Africa team will be particularly important in this respect.
Identify, cultivate and manage high-level, strategic alliances with nominated key deal partners and stakeholders.
Building networks and relationships with local and regional business communities, entrepreneurs, advisors, consultants, due diligence specialists, other investors, debt providers and development specialists
Proactively maintain extensive external networks with experts and opinion-formers within the social impact investing community in Africa and globally to ensure that CIFF sees deals and opportunities to solve problems in its sectors.
Support the ED Africa in developing aligned funding sources for our key initiatives, programmes and partners in Africa, involving networks of HNWI’s in Africa and elsewhere (diaspora).
Coaching and managing further Impact Investing staff in Africa, if these are hired in the future
The Individual
Must Haves:
Demonstrable (and verifiable) track-record of completed investments and exits in Africa, either as lead investor or as a junior / mid / senior member of a wider investment team
If you have an investment track-record in Ethiopia this will be considered a positive
Please provide a deal track-record as part of your submission, and please indicate the role and level of role that you played in each investment
Please note that we will verify your deal track-record as part of our due diligence
If you do not come from an investment background, but from a consulting or advisory background where you have advised financial and strategic investors on transactions (including investments and exits), then please state that in your cover letter
Please provide a deal track-record as part of your submission, and please indicate the role that you played in each deal as an advisor / consultant, and whether you acted for the buyer or seller
If you have acted in both an investor and advisory capacity on transactions, then please make it clear for each investment / transaction
Strong private company valuation skills and financial modelling skills
Ability to manipulate models and build commercial and financial scenarios, in analysing investment opportunities for risks and returns, will be key
Ability to bake in leverage and debt into financial models also key
Intimate familiarity with MOIC and IRR concepts
Strong commercial and strategic analysis skills
Impeccable writing and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work through large amounts of information and distil key points into coherent and well written investment memos
Experience of conducting due diligence on transactions involving financial investors
Ability to analyse and constructively critique a business plan
Willingness to roll-up your sleeves
This role is part of a lean but growing team, and so the successful candidate will need to demonstrate an ability and willingness to be able to produce high quality work product, independently to start with
Practically this means that the candidate will need to be able to produce high quality reports (both ppt and word formats), analysis and financial modelling work, as well as organizing and performing due diligence on target companies.
Candidates should bring experience of having worked at a blue-chip Investment firm / Advisory firm / Consultancy Firm in Africa
Candidates should either currently be involved, or be able to demonstrate a strong interest being involved, in both private equity and development related work
Willingness to be located in Addis Ababa or Nairobi and to travel locally and internationally extensively if required.