Role Overview
This senior-level client-facing role sits within the East Africa regional team and reports to the Chief Operating Officer for the region. The primary focus is on growing and deepening the Group's commercial footprint by owning relationships with both current and prospective clients, identifying financing opportunities, and driving transactions from initial conversation to financial close. Day to day, you will balance strategic account planning with hands-on deal execution, working alongside credit, legal, and portfolio teams to ensure every opportunity is both commercially sound and aligned with the Group's development mandate.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the origination pipeline for your assigned geography, translating regional and sector strategies into concrete account plans and business development targets.
- Build trusted advisor-level relationships with clients, gaining a working knowledge of their business models, financing needs, and market challenges to propose relevant solutions.
- Proactively negotiate and structure transactions across debt, trade finance, and corporate finance products, pulling in specialist colleagues when a deal requires tailored structuring.
- Prepare and present new deal proposals to the internal approval forum, leading term sheet discussions and coordinating all internal sign-offs until disbursement.
- Monitor the health of your client portfolio, flagging emerging risks early and collaborating with credit and portfolio management to design mitigation strategies.
- Collaborate with product teams to track outstanding commitments and ensure smooth onboarding for newly approved clients.
- Contribute to the regional annual budget and pipeline forecasts, using market intelligence to shape coverage priorities.
- Act as a brand ambassador for the Group, upholding governance standards and mentoring junior coverage staff on deal execution and client management.
Requirements & Qualifications
- A master's degree in business administration, finance, economics, accounting, banking, or a closely related field; a relevant professional certification is an advantage.
- At least 8–10 years of hands-on experience in a development finance institution, commercial bank, or private equity firm, with a substantial portion spent in a client-facing origination role.
- Demonstrated history of originating, structuring, and executing bank debt, trade finance, capital markets, or corporate finance transactions for sovereign and non-sovereign clients.
- Strong command of credit analysis principles, including the ability to assess corporate and sovereign risk and work comfortably across different financial instruments.
- Excellent quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, including financial modelling and the ability to distill complex information for diverse audiences.
- Proven stakeholder management and negotiation skills, with the ability to work effectively in multinational teams and deliver results under pressure.
- A genuine commitment to development impact, innovation, and knowledge sharing, consistent with the Group's mission and values.
- Professional fluency in English; working knowledge of French or Portuguese is a plus.
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