About Us

The AECF (Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund) is a development institution that finances early and growth-stage businesses to innovate, create jobs, and leverage investments and markets to create resilience and sustainable incomes in rural and marginalized communities in Africa.

Since 2008, we have invested over US$ 300 million in over 510 businesses across sub-Sahara Africa focusing on Agribusiness, Renewable Energy, and Climate-smart Technologies. We have impacted more than 33 million lives, created over 35,000 jobs, and leveraged over US$ 838 million in matching funds to our portfolio companies.

AECF is headquartered in Kenya, with offices in Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Sudan, Benin, and Somalia.

About the Programme

Through the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) has dedicated a total of CAN $ 9.7m to catalyze the Blue Economy sector in the Republic of Kenya. The project seeks to contribute to the economic empowerment of women enterprises, their suppliers, and producers along key supply chains where women are discriminated against in the Blue Economy in Kenya.

The Role

The role holder will be responsible for comprehensive planning and execution of program activities periodically to ensure that: implementation is on track; performance targets are being met; progress reporting is timely and accurate; and resources are utilized appropriately. This includes AECF’s grants management and technical delivery, policies, and procedures, directs all components of grants processing, including the structure of grants, regulatory compliance, and sharing of grants information with all stakeholders both internal and external. The incumbent will lead grants monitoring and evaluation processes, specifically managing relationships with investees.

This role will report to the Programme Manager – IIW BEK.

Key Responsibilities

Programming and Proposal Development and stakeholder management (10%)

• Contribute to proposal development for various potential program areas.
• Quality contribution to program design and overall delivery of interventions.
• Participate in meetings and events that create visibility and positive image of the AECF.
• Contribute to the establishment of appropriate linkages with the relevant state/ government departments, donors, private sector bodies, potential project partners, and civil society.
• An outstanding image of AECF with the donors, investees, and other stakeholders related to the program.

Programme Management, Reporting & Donor Compliance (50%)

• Ensure effective investees performance and relationship management.
• Lead the planning and execution of investees’ performance monitoring activities, including data verification exercises to ensure the quality of program results.
• Provide technical and grants management for the marketing, application review, and selection of projects, including support to pre-grant capacity assessments of potential grant recipients and providing capacity-building assistance where required.
• Where applicable, develop and implement effective strategies the enable recovery of outstanding repayable grants as due from program investees.
• Implement The AECF’s operational processes for grant management including contribution to the revision of existing operations manuals;
• Implementation of the financial policies, procedures, and systems guidelines for grant recipients;
• Review programme – wide grants management work plans and budgets and facilitating the grant contracting process.
• Ensure all investee site visits are conducted on a periodic basis, as per the agreed site visit schedule.
• Coordinate identification of investees who require technical assistance (investment brokerage) and arrange to deliver services based on the AECF TA and Learning service delivery framework.
• Prepare and review periodic narrative and financial reports (donors and investees), as well as disbursement requests from grant recipients.
• Where necessary, work with the Portfolio Lead and Program Manager to develop grant proposal and report formats, and to provide information from grantee reports that track progress in meeting project milestones.
• Manage core grant management system and ensure training is provided for other users on the software (PMIS); provide user support as needed. Serve as the primary grants management system business owner, partnering with information technology, finance, and other staff to document, manage, and implement ongoing procedural enhancements, software upgrades, and new technology rollouts.
• Manage the flow of grants over the course of a year, advising the Program Manager on timing and potential issues that need to be addressed.
• Develop and implement program grants disbursement strategy and schedules.
• Provide periodic reports on the program, information trends, and other relevant information as requested.
• Contribute to periodic management and donor reports.
• Apply best practices from project evaluations, field visit reports, and project reports across the program, and from other development organizations and donors to new proposals and daily program management.
• Maintain a database of pipeline investees, while analyzing emerging financing opportunities to feed into funding proposals.
• Own and deliver key program outcomes, namely, impact, gender, fund commitment, fund disbursement, and Technical Assistance to investors. This will done in liaison with the relevant center of expertise in the organization.

Specific responsibilities

Competition Management

• Take the lead in planning and delivery of the competition process i.e. awareness-raising and information sharing targeting potential applicants.
• Coordinate the shortlisting of eligible applications based on the challenge fund criteria.
• Coordinate the due diligence of the shortlisted projects and preparation of reports for the Internal Investment Review Committee (IIRC)
• Lead the pre-investment technical assistance of potential investees.
• Support the project documents for the Investment Committee (IC) review .
• Support the contracting and onboarding of investees.

Investee management and support

• Put in place an effective investee monitoring plan and undertake monitoring visits as required.
• Establish necessary measures to reduce and manage risk in the IIW-BEK Programme portfolio.
• Facilitate technical assistance to the investees and ensure their increased value chain integration.
• Prepare the investee reports as required both internally and by the donor.
• Work with the Impact and communications team capture IIW-BEK Programme learnings.

Operations

• Ensure all implementing partners submit timely and satisfactory reports and in accordance with the internal and donor requirements, identify potential challenges and mitigate them.
• Support the IIW-BEK Programme Manager in timely contracting of Implementing Partners .
• As assigned, represent IIW-BEK Programme at government, donor and events.

Financial Management (10%)

• Contribute to portfolio budget development.
• Ensure timely, effective, and efficient use of financial resources.
• Participate in the preparation and dissemination of The AECF periodic progress and impact reports.

Impact and Learning (10%)

• Contribute to the development and review of the Impact & Learning strategy.
• Support the IIW-BEK learning agenda in a manner that contributes to the wider learning agenda of The AECF Limited (in liaison with Impact, Knowledge, and Insights teams), to further the reputation and capability positioning of the Fund, have a wider systemic impact on the relevant market systems in Africa, and promote relevant advocacy efforts.
• With the support of the Programme Manager- regularly apply learning, emerging innovations, and best practices from project evaluations, field visit reports, and project reports across the program, and from other development organizations and donors to new proposals.
• Working with the IIW-BEK Programme Manager, prepare articles and analyses of industry trends and opportunities to generate higher impact for AECF – at least two articles per year.

Risk Management and Compliance (10%)

• Support the Programme Manager to ensure compliance to internal controls and risk management of the portfolio in accordance with the wider AECF Limited Risk and Compliance Management Framework.
• Support the Programme Manager to implement the programme risk and mitigation framework, in line with the overall AECF Risk and Compliance Management Framework.

Team Management (10%)

• Emulate AECF Brand values through rewarding and voicing support for good behaviours as much as they reward technical competence.
• Engage colleagues and manage diversity within the workplace by encouraging and personally participating in employee engagement activities.

The suitable candidate should:

• Possess a master’s degree or a bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business, Economics, Development Studies, Agricultural Economics, or other relevant field of study.
• A Project Management certification (PMP or Prince 2) is desirable.
• Have a minimum of six (5) years of experience in financial and grants management, with the ability to review, analyze, and interpret budgets, financial management systems; financial statements (including income and expenditure statements and cash reconciliation statements), and audit reports.
• Experience in relevant AECF sectors preferred.
• Possess proven leadership and project management skills, and demonstrate the ability to manage complex and competing resource allocation requirements, with the ability to work with a diverse group of clients.
• Have a good understanding of rural and/or financial services markets in Africa.
• Appreciate gender equality principles and support private sector enterprises to achieve gender outcomes.