Inclusive Investment Senior Manager at TechnoServe Tanzania

At TechnoServe, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better life. For over 50 years, we have given smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs the skills, connections, and confidence to lift themselves out of poverty. We leverage the power of markets and the private sector to create sustainable economic growth to benefit people and the planet. Our unique mix of business solutions, deep knowledge of local contexts, and data-driven insights is helping to fight poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

TechnoServe staff are local–95% are from the countries in which they work. We put a high premium on collaboration and entrepreneurship. We hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards of integrity and transparency. And we focus on delivering lasting impact for our mission.

Context for this role:

For the past 13 years, TechnoServe’s inclusive investment department has partnered with some of the largest agriculture investors in emerging markets to enhance both the commercial performance and development impact of their investments, primarily through its UK International Development funded Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA) Technical Assistance Facility (FCDO, 2019-2026) and previously through the African Agriculture Fund Technical Assistance Facility (funded by the European Commission between 2011-2018).

TechnoServe is currently implementing CASA Plus – an expansion of the CASA TAF, co-funded by the Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO), British International Investment (BII) and UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). CASA Plus aims to support a climate resilient and inclusive global agriculture sector through technical assistance (TA) and advisory to a variety of stakeholders including local financial institutions, impact investors, agribusinesses and donors. A combination of post-deal, pre-deal and market building TA will help participating agricultural investors to 1) enhance the performance and development impact of existing investments; 2) identify and support new high-growth and impactful investment opportunities and 3) collaborate with other investors, financial institutions, donors and Governments to identify and operationalise creative solutions to increase investment in green and inclusive agribusiness models in low-income and lower middle income countries.

The objective of the market building initiative is to, in collaboration with DFIs, local financial institutions, impact investors and donors, address systemic barriers to agricultural investment and double the agri-finance into the sector in the next few years, especially for agriSMEs and farmers at the production level, where the gap is largest. After a successful pilot of the market building initiative in Tanzania, the objective of the Inclusive Investment (Sr) Manager is to bring the initiative to the next level. The pilot has focused on 1) supporting a leading local financial institution on expanding their agri-portfolio by providing technical assistance to both the bank and agriSMEs, alongside financial incentives, 2) supporting a group of 5 early stage regional impact investors expanding their investments into Tanzania, 3) developing innovative finance models with tech-enabled agribusinesses and 4) driving an influencing and convening agenda across key agriculture investors and donors in Tanzania. There is now an opportunity to build on the pilot to unlock agri-finance in Tanzania at a greater scale.

Job Summary:

The Inclusive Investment (Sr) Manager will be a cornerstone of the CASA Plus Market Building team in Tanzania, tasked with transforming a successful pilot into a large-scale, systems-change program. Reporting to the Program Director, you will oversee the technical delivery of an ambitious mandate to double agri-finance in the country. Your core objective is to facilitate the mobilization of agri-finance into agriSMEs and production level by supervising technical assistance (TA) and catalytic capital for Tier-1 financial institutions, impact funds, and agribusinesses.

Critically, you will be responsible for building strategic partnerships between agribusinesses and financiers to design and implement innovative models that can unlock financing at the production level. This will involve designing and implementing innovative value chain finance models with large agribusinesses or architecting off-balance-sheet structures between tech-enabled aggregators and 3rd party lenders to bridge the critical agri-finance gap across agriSMEs and smallholder farmers.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

The Inclusive Investment (Sr) Manager will need to autonomously manage a portfolio of different projects in the country, including:

• Technical Assistance (TA) & Project Supervision
• Scope and supervise the delivery of bespoke TA and advisory services to early-stage impact investor partners and targeted agribusinesses within their pipelines.
• Oversee the implementation of core agri-strategy TA for Tier-1 banks to bridge capacity gaps and prove the business case for internalizing agriSME advisory.
• Manage a rotating team of technical delivery experts, TechnoServe Fellows, and specialized contractors to ensure high-quality project execution.
• Innovative Finance & Partnership Building
• Lead the design and operationalization of innovative finance partnership models between producers, agribusinesses, and financial institutions.
• Develop and implement off-balance-sheet financing mechanisms anchored on tech-enabled aggregators to facilitate direct lending to smallholder farmers.
• Collaborate with large agribusinesses to unlock value chain financing that improves supplier loyalty and increases production-level net income.
• Investment origination
• Identify high-potential investment opportunities for DFIs within the ongoing market-building workstreams in Tanzania and potentially in Kenya and Uganda.
• Influencing, Convening & Learning
• Engage and influence investors, donors, and other ecosystem actors to adopt and scale inclusive agri-finance solutions.
• Generate high-quality knowledge products and learning materials based on the practical learnings and proof points of the program’s work.
• Represent the program at key national and East Africa level events to build industry alignment and advocate for increased capital flows into green and inclusive agriculture.

Supervisory Responsibilities

The role will involve managing TechnoServe Fellows, third-party consultants and/or junior members of the team to deliver on key initiatives, with the mix evolving over time towards greater management as the candidate grows in experience.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree with a minimum of 10 years of experience including a mid-level management role in a management consulting firm, impact investor, commercial agribusiness or agricultural development program; or Master’s Degree plus 7 years of experience.
• Proficiency in data analysis and interpretation, and ability to derive actionable insights from complex data points
• Proven commercial analysis skillset, including basic modelling in Excel and “common sense” approach to commercial management
• Strong computer skills, including MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior strategy consulting experience at a top-tier firm
• Advanced degree in business management or other relevant field
• Experience working within agri-finance sector in Tanzania and/or East Africa
• Experience implementing field work in Tanzania, East Africa or developing economy

Required Languages: Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills, including fluency in English. Swahili is a plus.

Travel: Travel up to 25%

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrated leadership skills, teamwork and relationship-building
• Proven stakeholder management skillset
• Demonstrated passion for field work in a developing country
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work independently, flexibly, and responsively
• Ability to adapt to changing working conditions
• Ability to prioritize and meet deadlines
• Has a strong sense of ownership, accountability and can-do attitude
  

We welcome applications from both international and in-country candidates. If the successful candidate is a resident of Tanzania, s(he) will be offered a local contract.

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact the Human Resources at [email protected] or call +1 202 785 4515.