Financial Services Specialist at Mennonite Economic Development Associates of Canada

Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), is an international economic development organization whose mission is to create business solutions to poverty. Founded in 1953 by a group of Mennonite business professionals, we partner with the poor to start or grow small and medium-sized businesses in developing regions around the world.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Financial Services Specialist

Location: Bauchi
Supervisor : Deputy Field Project Manager
Job Status: Start Date TBA; Full-time 1-year contract renewable up to 5 Years

Project Profile
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and MEDA are supporting 16,000 women and youth entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses to improve their business performance in the agricultural sector in Bauchi State, while also increasing the awareness and capacity to address issues of early and forced child marriage with 25,000 community and family members.

Over five years (2017-2022), the project will focus on selected agricultural value chains originating in Bauchi State to improve the business performance and environment for entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses. The project will focus on small scale business of women and youth in selected agriculture sectors to improve productivity, increase access to markets, financial services and information and to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices.

The project will work with families and communities to better understand the risks of early and forced child marriage and benefits of engaging women and youth in entrepreneurship through awareness campaigns, employment and entrepreneurship skills building, provision of safe spaces, networking and mentorship opportunities.

Position Summary

• As part of its value chain approach to enterprise and market development for the poor, MEDA recognizes the need for access to appropriate and affordable financial services throughout the value chain and especially for actors targeted to play critical roles in supporting the participation of larger numbers of poor women producers in three agriculture value chains of soya bean, ground nuts and rice.
• In order to ensure sustainable impact of the project, the project team will partner and work closely with local stakeholders for building their capacity such as local value chain development facilitators, financial and other support service providers and women farmers groups and women leaders.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Research and analyse the local market for financial services, identify and assess the financing needs of the project target clients
• Identify, screen and build relationships with local organizations (microfinance institutions, rural banks, credit unions, guarantee funds and other potential partners) to develop and expand appropriate financial products and delivery models to meet the needs of project clients and meet project goals
• Assess, develop and facilitate implementation of a capacity building plan for the local partners (rural banks, primarily) to ensure scale, accountability and reporting systems serve the project goals
• Design and manage the loan/guarantee fund with the local lending institutions (primarily rural banks) in order to ensure appropriate flow of capital to the project clients and safety of the MEDA loan/guarantee capital
• Propose new financial solutions for the project value chain participants (primarily embedded finance to women farmers in the form of inputs supply on credit from nuclear farmers or input agents and advance payments from processors, nuclear farmers or traders) and facilitate their implementation by designing, testing, adjusting and ensuring affordability and sustainability of those solutions
• Work closely with the project team to increase the ability of the targeted value chain participants (input suppliers, SME Intermediates, and traders where applicable) to access appropriate financial services through partner and non-partner financial institutions (FI)
• Research the opportunities, design and manage the partnership to introduce risk management and other insurance services for the project targeted producers, identify local insurance implementing partners, facilitate their capacity building and innovative insurance product designs for small producers both through direct insurance provision or as part of broader value chain business transaction, test and implementation of the insurance delivery
• Participate and support the field team in reporting, documenting lessons learnt, contribute to value chain finance industry development and provide all other necessary inputs to ensure project success
• Other duties as assigned by the Deputy Field Project Manager

Qualifications

• Minimum Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics or Business Administration or minimum three years experience in a related field
• Minimum five years experience in agricultural finance, microfinance, along with experience in value chain development, enterprise development, financial product designs, alternate financial solutions and some exposure to investment would be an advantage
• Experience in establishing and cultivating successful institutional partnerships with a range of institutional types and levels of actors (i.e. commercially-oriented FIs, community-led FIs, technical service providers, government representatives, farmers groups, etc.)
• Experience in training, mentoring and institutional capacity building
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office software
• Demonstrated motivation to help poor and meet project targets, appreciation of MEDA values, business acumen, ability to work with minimum supervision, strong communication skills, willingness to work under pressure and to work extra hours when required
• Appreciation and support of MEDA's faith, values and goals

Application Closing Date
17:00; 19th December, 2017.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates are required to submit their CV's and cover letter to: [email protected]

Note: Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.