REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Avenue Joseph Anoma, 01 B.P. 1387, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Africa Investment Forum – PAIF

E-mail: [email protected]

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR A PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT FOR THE AFRICA INVESTMENT FORUM

 

  1. The African Development Bank (AfDB) hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in the following Assignment: Portfolio Management Consultant for the Africa Investment Forum.
  1. Established by the AfDB and seven founding partners in 2018, the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) is Africa’s investment market place – a multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary platform dedicated to advancing projects to bankable stages, raising capital, and accelerating the financial closure of deals. The Africa Investment Forum convenes investors interested in Africa, African investors, enterprises with concrete investment needs, and selected government leaders to work out ways to boost private sector investments in Africa. The AIF aims to reduce intermediation costs, improve the quality of project information and documentation, and increase active and productive engagements between African governments and the private sector as well as between investors and project sponsors. The AIF offers investors access to a structured platform offering bankable, de-risked projects within an enabling environment.
  1. The services to be provided under the assignment include maintaining a credible portfolio of AIF Pipeline, Origination and Boardroom deals and report with detailed indicators and their related threshold for all the deal segments. The assignment entails backstopping AIF Investment Officers in managing the deal tracker, generating analytical portfolio and deal reports, and supporting periodic reviews of the AIF portfolio. The Consultant will collaborate with the AIF Investment officers, AIF partners, project sponsors, and Bank Sector and Regional complexes to support the advancement of deals from origination to financial close. The Consultant will report to the Senior Director, Africa Investment Forum.
  1. 4. The Africa Investment Forum invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested Consultants shall provide information on their qualifications, experience demonstrating their ability to provide the services, as well as a proposed work program with timeline, their understanding of the assignment and the proposed way to approach the assignment (documentation, references for similar services, experience in comparable assignments, etc.).
  1. The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the African Development Bank’s “Rules and Procedure for the Use of Consultants” May 2008 Edition revised October 2015, which is available on the Bank’s website. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include it in the shortlist.
  1. The work assignment, under this term of reference, will involve full-time consultancy services for a period of six (6) months and may be extended based on the performance of the retained Consultant, availability of budgetary resources and as may be determined by the Bank. The successful Consultant will be expected to commence on June 2021 upon completion of the selection process and upon signature of the contract. The position will be based in Abidjan.
  1. Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at the email addresses below during the Bank’s working hours: 0800hrs to 1700hrs.
  1. Expressions of interest with an updated Curriculum vitae (CV) must be received at the email addresses below no later than 18th May 2021 at 17h00 Abidjan Time and specifically mentioning Portfolio Management Consultant for the Africa Investment Forum.

For the attention of:

Mrs. Onike Nicol-Houra

Africa Investment Forum

African Development Bank,  6 Avenue Joseph Anoma

01 BP 1387 Abidjan  – COTE D’IVOIRE

E-mail :

  1. Establishment of the Shortlist: A shortlist of three to six individual consultants will be established once the expressions of interest and updated CVs are received. The consultants on the shortlist will be invited to submit a proposal and comment on the Terms of Reference (attached as an annex). The proposals shall be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria1:

a.  General qualifications and adequacy for the assignment to be undertaken 25%
b.  Similar experience in the area of expertise of the assignment and 40%
c.  Response to the Terms of Reference 20%
d. Experience with the Bank and/or multilateral institutions 10%
e. Language Proficiency 5%
  • The weighted coefficients for these criteria may be adjusted to reflect the type of service required.

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT FOR THE AFRICA INVESTMENT FORUM

  1. BACKGROUND

1.1. African Development Bank Group

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank Group (“the Bank” or “AfDB”) is the premier Pan-African development institution promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 Member States, including 54 from 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 the Bank’s delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; Light Up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa. The Bank co-operates with a large network of international development partners and has two official languages: English and French.

1.2. Africa Investment Forum

The vision of the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) is to become a leveraging platform that will tilt the balance of capital towards Africa’s critical sectors to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the African Development Bank’s High 5s and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. This goal translates into three reinforcing objectives, which include: (a) Advancing projects to bankable stage, by more effective project preparation as well as advisory support that advances deals in the AIF pipeline; (b) Capital raising by partners, lenders and investors for increased co-financing for bankable projects; and, (c) Accelerating financial closure of deals through this coordinated approach. Established by the AfDB and seven founding partners in 2018, the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) is Africa’s investment market place, through which the AfDB, along with its partners originate deals, structure and enhance projects, attract co-investors, and facilitate investments to close Africa’s investment gaps. The AIF’s modus operandi spans five (5) pillars which include:

  • The Platform: activities involving deal origination and structuring, as well as the management of a digital portal.
  • The Market Place: activities involving sponsorships, partnership onboarding, regional investment roundtables, investor facilitation and matchmaking, as well as serving a vibrant community of active AIF members.
  • The Market-Days: an annual 3-Day event convening investors and lenders, project sponsors, key government stakeholders, transaction facilitators and entrepreneurs around specific private (Boardrooms, Bilateral meetings) and public sessions (initiatives, pitching sessions, plenary sessions).
  • The Deal Tracker: post-Boardroom activities involving the monitoring of AIF Boardroom deals and facilitating their progress towards deal closure.
  • Knowledge/Policy Environment: seeks to foster investment friendly regulation, a pro-investment climate to remove bottlenecks to deal closure, as well as disseminate knowledge products.

  1. PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY

The purpose of the consultancy is to support the AIF Investment Operations Team in its deal-tracking responsibilities, maintain a credible portfolio of AIF Pipeline, Origination and Boardroom deals through robust monitoring and reporting. The assignment also entails backstopping AIF Investment Officers in managing the deal tracker, generating analytical portfolio and deal reports, and supporting periodic reviews of the AIF portfolio. The Consultant will collaborate with AIF Investment officers, AIF partners, project sponsors, and Bank Sector and Regional complexes to support the advancement of deals from origination to financial closure.

  1. SCOPE OF SERVICES

The specific duties of the consultant will be as follows:

  • Actively manage the AIF Master Deal Tracker database, ensure quality assurance and data integrity.
  • Prepare and provide baseline portfolio reports, timely portfolio dashboards, monthly portfolio reports and ad-hoc reports for AIF management and AIF stakeholders as necessary;
  • Support the Investment Operations team in conducting periodic portfolio reviews; providing quantitative and qualitative analysis of the AIF portfolio.
  • Work closely with AIF Investment Officers to generate data to support the drafting of project briefs, periodic board reports and annual reports.
  • Support the development and upgrading of AIF portfolio management methodologies, management tools and systems.
  • Backstop Investment Officers in the origination process: conduct routine KYC due diligence on deal sponsors; support the curation of Boardroom Packs and project documentation for AIF Deal Reviews, Boardrooms, Curated B2B Sessions and data for the AIF Deal Gallery.
  • Leverage technology to ensure optimization of the Deal Tracker database to generate analytical reports on demand.
  • Manage the AIF Portfolio Collaboration Space and the interaction of portfolio data among AIF’s digital tools including inter alia the AIF Website, Digital Platform, Investor Blast and the Management Information System (MIS) Tool.
  • Work in collaboration with with AIF Investment officers, AIF partners, project sponsors, and Bank Sector and Regional complexes to support the advancement of deals from origination to financial close.
  • Provide support to other duties as assigned by the Senior Director.
  1. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE 
  • Hold at least a Master’s degree or equivalent in Finance, Financial Engineering, Risk Management, Mathematics, Statistics, Data Analytics, Economics, Development Finance, Business Administration or related discipline;
  • Wield a minimum of seven (7) years professional experience in portfolio management, banking, consultancy, with specific experience in Africa investment landscape;
  • Ability to drive business development, structure and negotiate deals;
  • Very Strong Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint skills;
  • Excellent organizational, analytical and problem-solving skills. High-level proficiency in data management, demonstrated quantitative analysis and analytical skills;
  • Relevant work experience in multilateral development institution in Africa and/or specialized experience in similar organization/s would be considered an advantage;
  • Experience in the private sector will be an added advantage, especially demonstrable knowledge of key economic developments and market trends in Africa;
  • Ability to make clear and concise presentation when required;
  • Ability to produce innovative, creative, and structured approaches to deal tracker activities to enhance performance and value-add to the AIF and its stakeholders.
  • Excellent problem-solving skills, application of business knowledge to the resolution of problems and identifies solutions to the benefit of the client (internal and external) and the organization;
  • Excellent organizational, administrative, and time management skills;
  • Proven ability to work with limited supervision, deliver under pressure and meet tight deadlines;
  • Excellent presentation skills;
  • Ability to communicate effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of another language;
  • Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).

  1. DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The work assignment, under this term of reference, will involve full-time consultancy services for a period of six (6) months and may be extended based on the performance of the retained Consultant, availability of budgetary resources and as may be determined by the Bank. The successful Consultant will be expected to commence on June 2021 upon completion of the selection process and signature of the contract.

  1. RENUMERATION

The consultant shall be paid a total monthly lump sum, comprising fee, subsistence or other incidentals, for the duration of the assignment, which is commensurate with the number of years of work experience. The AIF will cover travel and field mission costs (if any) as per African Development Bank rules in this regard.

Note: Consultants must register at https://econsultant.afdb.org/sap/bc/webdynpro/sap/zdac_wd_login_page/# before submitting their CV to be considered for the shortlist.