The Role
Policies and Strategies
- Guide the Board in setting its agenda of work and in delivering on the AGF strategic goals;
- Submit to the Board policies and strategies for all aspects of AGF’s operations, including a risk management policy and a marketing strategy;
- Prepare for the Board’s approval rolling 5-year strategic plans for AGF and facilitate regular reviews of the implementation of the plans;
- Within the strategic plans, prepare and implement annual work plans for AGF;
- Lead the continuous development of the AGF business, including its geographical outreach and the product development;
- Forge strategically important partnerships with other actors in and outside Africa and act as the key ambassador for AGF in its relations with external stakeholders;
Leadership
- Take overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of the business and provide direction and leadership to the organisation with a view to carrying out the AGF mission, vision and strategy, and achieving the annual targets.
- Manage the human capital towards achieving a high performance system of operation.
Management
- Determine and submit to the Board the appropriate organisational structure or refinements of the organisation and create and maintain an organisational culture and climate which attracts, retains and motivates staff to carry out AGF’s mission, strategic direction and organisational goals;
- Develop and execute sound personnel procedures and practices including performance appraisal processes and incentive systems for rewarding and motivating management and employees relative to targets set by AGF.
- Assign staff and material resources based on the priorities set by the Board, coordinate and monitor the work of the staff and provide guidance to the staff on the performance of their duties;
- Promote good internal communication, treat personnel fairly without favouritism and discrimination and cultivate trust and support from and among staff.
- Establish sound and effective practice and procedures for timely accounting and financial planning and ensure that AGF’s financial accounts and reports are of professional quality and receive a clean financial audit.
- Recommend to the Board for its approval annual budgets with forecasts for the subsequent four years and prudently manage the AGF resources within the approved budget;
- Coordinate and ensure maximum synergy between all lines of activity of the AGF in accordance with the AGF goals and objectives;
- Conduct the AGF business so as to ensure the planned growth of the business while providing a sound return on investment in observance of the risk strategy set out by the Board;
- Develop and maintain a management information system, and establish and implement administrative and financial procedures in line with international best practice, including development and implementation of guidelines for due diligence or target PLIs and monitoring and evaluation of AGF portfolio performance, outcomes and impact vis-à-vis AGF Mandate and objectives;
- Market AGF in accordance with the marketing strategy and ensure that AGF, its mission, products and services are consistently given a strong positive image vis-à-vis potential customers and relevant stakeholders
- Guide the company towards increase of capital through various vehicles of fundraising as defined in its strategies.
- Strategic duties as may be directed by the board of management.
Personal Specification
Experience
- Demonstrated ability to perform executive functions in a busy organisation.
- Demonstrated ability to interact constructively with and establish close relations to a Board consisting of individuals with a diverse international background, based on a high level of trust and transparency in all matters.
- Strong technical understanding of the guarantee products, including their business and development potential in an African context.
- Comprehensive knowledge and working experience with the African Financial sector; experience working for Group of companies is an advantage.
- Political and cultural sensitivity with experience of working constructively with a wide range of African and international organisations.
- Experience with starting up a major business operation from scratch; with high levels of business growth.
- Experience from working with donor agencies (bilateral and multilateral) and private sectors.
Critical Competencies
- Strong leadership skills and ability to lead and motivate staff.
- Strategic and analytical mind-set and demonstrated ability to translate vision and strategic thinking into action.
- Demonstrated ability to build partnerships and to present and win support for ideas.
- Good communication and representation skills.
- Very good command of both English and French languages.
Qualifications, Knowledge and Skills
- Master’s degree in finance, economics or other related areas.
- Minimum 15 years of experience in the financial sector, with evidence of growing expertise in banking and non-banking financial institutions and finance related disciplines; 7 years in a senior management leadership role.
- Bilingual with excellence in both English and French language.
- Strong skills in evaluation of risk and ability to anticipate short and long term implications of decisions.
- Ability to make sound decisions and commit to decisions.
- Ability to systematically share with others good practice and learning from lessons from across AGF, clients, and partners.
- Considered an expert in the subject area and is sought out by colleagues to advise, peer review, or contribute to knowledge products of others.
- Skilled in collaboration across boundaries and broadly, ability to bring differing ideas into the forefront.
- Excellent client and internal partner relationship management skills with proven track record of success in developing client relationships and execution of client engagements.
- Knowledge and commitment to sustainable development.
- Excellent business judgment and strong analytical and problem solving skills to identify issues and present creative, practical solutions.
- Capacity to deal with conflicting priorities and deliver high quality work on schedule. Facility to work successfully in multicultural teams and across boundaries.
- Ability to manage human resources and guide them towards high performance.