Company Overview:
About Palladium
Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact – the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value. We work with governments, businesses, and investors to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. With a team of more than 3,000 employees operating in 90 plus countries and a global network of over 35,000 experts, we help improve economies, societies and, most importantly, people’s lives.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.
Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or any other circumstance, please email our team at [email protected]
Safeguarding
We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.
Activity Overview and Role:
Palladium seeks a Business Advisory Services (BAS) Manager to join the Finance and Business Advisory team for the USAID/Sri Lanka Private Sector Development (PSD) Activity, a 5-year, $19.5 million buy-in program under USAID’s global CATALYZE Blended Finance Mechanism. PSD is designed to support Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) in high growth potential sectors, as well as bolster women’s labor force participation in Sri Lanka. To do this, PSD will facilitate technical assistance to boost capacity, market access, use of technology and innovation, as well as increasing debt and equity financing available to SMEs.
A core activity of the program will be strengthening the market for BAS available to SMEs that are tailored to their business needs and also show commercial viability. The BAS Manager will be responsible for working closely with network of business consultants and firms, supporting them to expand services to SME market segments. This will include building capacity of BAS to serve SME markets, and engaging BAS providers in competitively awarded Pay for Results (P4R) subcontracting mechanisms. The BAS Manager will explore opportunities to engage BAS across PSD’s five priority sectors including information communication technology, food processing, tourism, commercial care and apparel.
Specific responsibilities are, but not limited to:
- Lead stakeholder engagement among business advisory service providers (BASPs) and financial institutions (FIs) and engage SMEs in targets sectors ;
- Engage CATALYZE and PSD subcontractors and consultant networks to build the capacity of BAS ;
- Manage incentive structures to mobilize BAS providers’ expansion into target sectors according to SME needs and demand to maximize impact ;
- Design demand-driven trainings, and supervise subcontractors/consultants delivering trainings and technical assistance to BASPs and SMEs ;
- Support co-creation processes with BASPs, Financial Institutions and other program partners to effectively upgrade SME capacity, expand financing, and pilot innovative new private sector models ;
- Support grants and procurement team by serving as technical point person for specific partnerships, monitor progress, support learning and adaptation, support information sharing across program, partners, and interventions ;
Maintain a strong relationship with BASPs, FIs, SMEs and other stakeholders to obtain optimal results for the project ;
- Perform other relevant tasks as required by the Director of Financial & Advisory Services and PSD Team Lead ;
- Assist in due diligence engagements for various target sectors.
Required Qualifications:
- 7+ years experience in the finance and banking sector, preferably managing SMEs ;
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent qualification in relevant field will be an added advantage ;
- Strong interpersonal and organizational skills, and an effective collaborator across multifunction teams ;
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and local languages ;
- Sound computer literacy is a must ;
- Excellent organizational, and time management skills ;
- Problem-solving attitude with an ability to multi-task.