Job Description

POSITION Research and Impact Officer, Sub-Saharan Africa – Capital and Impact Team

LOCATION Nairobi

BACKGROUND

Global Partnerships (GP) is an impact-first investor dedicated to expanding opportunity for people living in poverty. Impact-first investing means investing in a way that seeks the greatest possible social impact, while seeking to preserve capital with a modest financial return for investors. GP believes that impact-first investing has an essential role to play in advancing sustainable solutions to poverty for millions of people worldwide.

GP creates and manages impact-first investment funds that make loans and early stage investments in social enterprises serving people living in poverty in less developed countries, primarily in Latin America and Africa.  The GP team is comprised of mission-driven, dedicated, high-performing colleagues working primarily from offices in Seattle, WA, Bogotá, Colombia, and Nairobi, Kenya. To learn more about Global Partnerships, please visit our website at www.globalpartnerships.org.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Research and Impact function is a small, strategic function within GP’s Capital and Impact Team (CIT). The purpose of the function is to help the organization aim its investments to achieve clear, compelling levels of social impact and follow through to be sure its investments are delivering the desired outcomes. The Research and Impact Officer will play a critical role in delivering on this mandate within GP’s portfolio in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), as well as GP’s Global (multi-country) portfolio and potential expansion into Asia.

The Research and Impact Officer will work out of the SSA regional office in Nairobi (though in the near-term the team is largely working from home amidst the pandemic) and will report to the Director of Investment Research and Impact based in Seattle, WA.  The Research and Impact Officer will work closely with both the CIT and the Social Investment Team (SIT), which leads business development, loan origination, credit analysis, and capital recovery for GP’s debt funds.

This role will be responsible for the following:

• Managing GP’s impact-first partner screening and selection in the SSA region and Global portfolio:
  • Working with the regional SIT to identify high potential leads within GP’s investment initiatives; conducting early impact data collection, responsible lending screening, and analysis of credit worthiness, credible use, and alignment
  • Authoring investment briefs, summarizing the investment opportunity, key performance indicators, and the impact case for investment
  • Managing the regional pipeline (process, communication, and deliverables) to ensure timely, high-quality, impact-first recommendations
  • Supporting Portfolio Directors in pre-due diligence impact data collection, analysis, and field visit preparation; identifying key impact risks and pending questions, and areas/methods for investigation during diligence
  • Participating as needed in screening and due diligence visits (or remote sessions) and preparing updates to the investment brief
  • Developing and maintaining highly professional, trust-based relationships with partners, in collaboration with Portfolio Directors and other colleagues

• Executing impact monitoring, targeted analysis, and strategic research:
  • Developing analytical frameworks at the product/service, enterprise, initiative, fund, and/or portfolio level
  • Conducting ongoing and targeted data collection, monitoring, and analysis of partner impact data; working with Excel databases and the iLevel data collection platform
  • Identifying emerging, material patterns in the data and conducting targeted, action-oriented analysis to strengthen GP’s impact-first investment strategy
  • Conducting new market assessments and delivering concise, structured reports
  • Conducting initiative, market, and thematic research to support GP’s continuous improvement of our impact-first investment strategy, with an emphasis on sustainable, scalable business models that create impact at the household level
  • Supporting impact management in GP’s Social Venture Fund as needed
  • In addition, the Research and Impact Officer should be ready and able to contribute to any other investment strategy, analysis, and research activities as needed

SELECTION CRITERIA

Core Capabilities

• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to cut through complex issues, design analytical frameworks, identify key takeaways, and deliver actionable insights
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate both within and across teams, and flexibility to work across various projects and functions
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, capable of highly professional engagement with colleagues and partners
• Capacity to build trust-based relationships across cultural, language, and socio-economic differences, including within remote global teams
• Self-motivated work ethic, with track record of proactive engagement and ability to see tasks through to completion independently
• Highly organized and capable of balancing multiple priorities, with excellent attention to detail and thoughtful knowledge management
• Has a passion for GP’s mission to expand opportunity for people living in poverty
• Embodies GP’s culture: Dedicated, Strategic, Collaborative, Aspirational, Learning, and Excellence

Qualifications

• 2-5 years of relevant professional experience in business analysis, strategy development, investment or market research, program management, management consulting, finance, or other relevant fields
• 1-3 years of work experience in Sub-Saharan Africa required, along with desire to continue working in the region for 3+ years; experience working in remote global teams preferred
• Experience in social enterprise work, impact investing, and/or ESG risk assessment and underwriting preferred
• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint required
• Undergraduate degree required with strong academic track record; MBA, MPA or other relevant master’s degree preferred
• Willingness to travel within the region at least once per quarter (though near-term travel will be minimal amidst the pandemic)
• Business language fluency in English required; French business fluency strongly preferred (minimum intermediate French required)
• Ability to reside and work legally in Kenya

How to Apply

• Brief cover letter
• Resumé

Job Types: Full-Time. Job Tags: impact investing and Research.

768 total views, 0 today

Apply for this Job