Recrutement d’un consultant individuel analyste financier pour la structuration et la modélisation de la facilité de financement agricole en afrique (FAFINA), Côte d’Ivoire

The Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department (AHFR) Agriculture, Human, and Social Development Complex (AHVP).

  1. The core mandate of the Department ( AHFR) is to develop the strategy of the Bank related to agricultural and rural finance and rural development, execute non-sovereign operations for the transformation of value chains, represent the Bank with external stakeholders, provide sector expertise to the Regions by gathering experts who can be consulted by operations and closing the financing gap for private sector-led development of agricultural value chains ;
  1. FAFINA “Facility for agriculture finance in Africa ”, is an innovative blended USD 90 million debt facility. FAFINA aims to address the lack of access to finance as well as the high transaction costs faced by Smallholder farmers (SHFs) and Agriculture Micro, Medium and Small Size Enterprises (MSMEs) ;
  1. The Bank hereby invites qualified Individual Consultants to indicate their interest for the role of Financial Analyst for the “Facility for agriculture finance in Africa”. Detailed Terms of Reference for the Assignment is included in the Annex here below ;
  1. Interested Consultants shall provide information through their CV on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to undertake this Assignment ;
  1. The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Procurement Policy Framework for projects financed by the Bank Group, October 2015 Edition, available on the Bank Website at http://www.afdb.org ;
  1. The estimated duration of services is three (3) months. The estimated starting date is 30th January 2021. The services will be delivered from the current country location of the Consultant.
  1. Expressions of interest must be received by email below no later than 26th of January 2021 at 17:00 hours local time ( Ivory Coast) to [email protected] (Mr. Bara Alaya) and specifically mentioning “the assignment of a Financial Analyst for the structuring and modelling of the Facility of Agricultural Finance in Africa (FAFINA)”.

ANNEX

Terms of Reference for the assignment of a Financial Analyst for the structuring and modelling of the Facility of Agricultural Finance in Africa (FAFINA)

  1. Background and Introduction :

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank (“AfDB”, or the “Bank”) is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 81 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa.

The Bank in collaboration with IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative (“IDH” and together with AfDB, the “Sponsors”), is seeking to recruit a Financial Analyst (the “Consultant ”) to advise the Sponsors in relation to the establishment of the Facility for Agriculture Finance in Africa (“FAFINA” or the “Facility”), a multi-investor facility designed to provide support to the “missing middle” in the agribusiness sector (the “Transaction”). The selected Consultant will within the Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ (AHVP), specifically in the Agriculture and Rural Finance Division (AHFR1) of Agriculture and Rural Finance Department (AHFR) Department.

  1. The Complex :

The Vice Presidency for ‘Agriculture, Human, and Social Development’ is a Sector Complex focusing on two of the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy High 5s priorities of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”. The complex objectives are (i) to develop, policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pools of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; and (iii) develop new financing instruments. The Vice President will act as the spokesperson to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.

  1. The Hiring Department / Division :

The Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department works closely with the Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department and the Regional Directorates to provide support for the delivery of “Feed Africa: Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa, 2016-2025”.

The core mandate of the Department is to develop the strategy of the Bank related to agricultural and rural finance and rural development, execute non-sovereign operations for the transformation of value chains, represent the Bank with external stakeholders, provide sector expertise to the Regions by gathering experts who can be consulted by operations and closing the financing gap for private sector-led development of agricultural value chains. The Department is also responsible for mainstreaming the Africa Disaster Risk Financing Initiative to enable African countries to manage disaster risk and access ex-ante insurance financing before major climate events.

The Department is structured into two Divisions: (i) Agriculture and Rural Finance Division (AHFR1); and (ii) Rural Infrastructure Development Division (AHFR2).

The Agriculture and Rural Finance Division is responsible for working with private and financial sector to transform value chains, identifying opportunities for long-term investments to address food security and boost economic growth in Africa.

The Division has the following deliverables :

  • Non-sovereign operations targeting private sector companies, investment and impact funds ;
  • High-quality and Innovative investments of debt, equity, quasi-equity, guarantees and risk management instruments to facilitate and catalyze investments to the private sector as well as for value chain development and transformation ;
  • Practical implementation arrangements with key implementing partners ;
  • Knowledge management of agriculture, rural finance and best practices ;
  • Enabling environment and alliances with key stakeholders; and
  • Monitoring of performance and recommendations for corrective actions.
  1. Background of Assignment :

Agriculture is one of the most important sectors in all Sub Saharan Africa (“SSA”) economies, if not the entire continent, as it offers food security, income generation, and employment creation opportunities. However, SSA is yet to exploit the full potential of agriculture to effectively contribute to enhanced food security and to reduce the extensive poverty situation in parts of the continent. The sector’s growth is hampered by effects of low productivity, smallholder land sizes, lack of access to credit (due to high-risk perceptions), poor value chain integration, low market connectivity, and deficient farmer skills and professionalism. The sector continues to be under or un-funded, while the bulk of farming continues to be subsistence scale undertaken by Smallholder Farmers (“SHFs”). Given the right support and market connectivity, SHFs as well Agri Micro Small and Medium Size Enterprises (“MSMEs”) who are often neglected have the potential to transform rural landscapes and to unleash a new and sustainable form of agriculture in Africa.

The lack of affordable financing for SHFs and Agri MSMEs is a key priority for the Bank. In the context of its Feed Africa strategy to unlock the potential of the agricultural sector in Africa and the action plan of the High-level conference on agriculture in Dakar (October 2015), AfDB has established a set of aspirational goals for African agricultural transformation to be achieved through transformative partnerships with actors from the public and private sectors. These goals for Africa, to be achieved by 2025, include amongst others: 1) contribute to the end of extreme poverty, 2) eliminate hunger and malnutrition, 3) become a net exporter of agricultural commodities, and 4) move to the top of key agricultural value chains. Aware of the difficulties to reach out to the SHF and Agri MSMEs segments, AfDB, in collaboration with IDH, is in the process of establishing FAFINA or the “Facility”, an innovative blended USD 90 million debt facility. FAFINA aims to address the lack of access to finance as well as the high transaction costs faced by SHFs and Agri MSMEs.

In 2019, IDH established a platform of de-risking mechanisms to crowd in senior debt investors towards SHF and Agri MSMEs finance. The platform is composed of two independent entities: (1) a EUR 100 million, Junior Fund called the IDH Farmfit Fund (“FF”); and (2) a USD 250 Million Senior Guarantee Fund (“SGF”). The entities are all managed by IDH Investment Management BV (“IDH IM”), the investment management arm of IDH and 100% subsidiaries of Stichting IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative. IDH has furthermore set up a $ 30 million technical assistance facility, IDH Farmfit Business Support that provides businesses and banks the tools they need to optimize cost-efficiency and maximize the impact of their engagement with smallholder farmers.

The Facility aims at providing: (i) technical assistance support, (ii) Senior debt funding to established value chain actors such as traders, input providers or local financial institutions (leasing, warehouse receipt, factoring, banks etc.) who will pass on the financing to the smallholder farmers or invest in business models that will otherwise benefit SHFs and/or Agri MSMEs.

  1. Objective and scope of work of the Assignment :

Under the overall guidance of AHFR1 Division Manager and under the immediate supervision of the Task Team, the Consultant will leverage his / her experience to support the Task Team in refining the design of the Facility. The objective of the mission will be to assist the Task team in determining the optimal financial structure as well as the method of intervention (direct funding and/ or guarantee) to suit the envisaged diverse group of potential investors, lenders and providers of other forms of support for the Facility.

  1. Conduct a desktop research to gather information and data relevant to perform the  financial analysis of the Facility’s commercial sustainability such as but not limited to available historical probabilities of defaults for the underlying asset classes on which the Facility will invest ;
  1. Review and advise on the proposed financial structure of the Facility set out in the Business Plan and carry out an analysis of the structure, identifying risks, mitigants, advantages and disadvantages. It should be noted in this regard that the structure set out in the Business Plan are preliminary and the consultant will be expected to either suggest modifications or alternatives to enhance the structure of the Facility ;
  1. Draft structuring opinions, present proposed solutions for the Facility under consideration, clarify the pros and cons of diverse structuring options ;
  1. Audit, review and update the current financial model of the Facility and execute the necessary changes or develop a new financial model that will provide the necessary parameters and outputs to feed the conversations with the different key stakeholders ;
  1. Conduct sensitivity analysis on the financial model, in line with the bank’s credit risk policy and guidelines ;
  1. Participate in meetings and discussions with the key stakeholders to present the coherence and the logic of the financial model ;
  1. Participate in assignment related conference calls as well as in meetings with different stakeholders ;
  1. Assist the Task Team the drafting of the Facility information memorandum.
  1. Outputs :
  1. A financial model of the Facility that includes the key parameters, outputs as well as the different sensitivity analysis with regard to the financial structure and inherent risks, including credit risks on a deal and portfolio basis ;
  1. Propose structuring opinions, present a proposed solution for the Facility under consideration, clarify the pros and cons of diverse structuring options; and
  1. Provide an end of mission report that will present the lessons learned and will guide the next steps for the implementation the project ;
  1. Duration of the Assignment : 3 Months 
  1. Location : The Assignment will be performed from the current country location of the Consultant.
  1. Qualifications : 
  • At least a Master’s degree (or its university equivalent) in Finance, Economics or Engineering ;
  • Having a minimum 5 years relevant experience in financial modelling and transaction structuring ;
  • Having the nationality of a Bank Member Country ;
  • Experience of using Microsoft Excel to an advanced level ;
  • Experience in the design and development of blended finance vehicles ;
  • Capacity to develop a comprehensive financial analysis for blended facilities, investment vehicles and private equity funds, including sensitivity analyses of financial structures ;
  • Sound knowledge of tailored transaction structuring options for sector-based investments ;
  • Proven experience in preparing investment vehicles documents including financial information memorandums ;
  • Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other.
  1. Selection criteria : 
  • General qualifications and adequacy for the assignment to be undertaken (30%) ;
  • Similar experience in the area of expertise of the assignment (50%) ;
  • Experience with the Bank and/or multilateral development organizations (10%) ;
  • Language proficiency (5%) ;
  • Knowledge of the region (5%).

The selection criteria for the consultants will be based primarily on the evaluation of their curriculum vitae, as well as their experience in undertaking similar activities with other firms and institutions and their availability. It is expected that interested individual consultants shall already be registered or register in the Bank’s DACON System for consultants. The link to the relevant registration is http://dacon.afdb.org/dacon/.

  1. Timelines : 
  1. Tentative Start Date: 31st January 2021 ;
  2. Tentative Completion Date: 30th April 2021.
  1. Compensation : 

The Consultant will be paid a competitive monthly lump sum for the entire period in accordance with the Bank’s renumeration for Individual Consultants.