Head of Investment Services Laura And Partners Consulting Limited

Main Purpose of Job:

Head of Investment Services oversees building a solid pipeline of commercially viable and impactful business for investment facilitation and direct investments. This includes identifying synergies and partnership opportunities within and across initiatives to produce integrated, strategic, and leveraged delivery of plans for inclusive economic growth at scale, as required by the organistions financial, operational functions, Board and donors.

Main duties and responsibilities:

• Strategy formulation and planning;
• Investment Services;
• Stakeholder management;
• Governance, Compliance and Risk Management;
• Administration;
• Knowledge Management, Communication and Reporting; and
• Team leadership, coaching and mentorship

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Planning

• Contribute to the development of the Corporate Strategy;
• Provide strategic investments services guidance to the executive team, contributing to overall business growth and profitability/surplus;
• Develop and execute investments services strategy based on an indepth understanding of the sector as a whole, the state-of-the sector in Zambia and internal and external capacity in alignment with the organisation’s goals and objectives ;
• Support the development and implementation of the overall fundraising strategy and;
• Provide strategic investments guidance to the CEO, Board of Directors, and other key stakeholders

Investment Services

• Contribute to development of M&E frameworks and initiative results chains;
• Collaborate with other initiative leads to identify opportunities for collaboration and cross-sector linkages;
• Ensure an increased and diversified pool of impact capital through expanded investor network systems interested in Zambian businesses;
• Lead the investment team to generate investment deals through bespoke investment readiness support and investor matching;
• Collaborate with other initiatives strengthening the enabling environment for the growth of impact investment through advocacy with key stakeholders
• Spearhead engagement with various impact investors to increase the amount of investment facilitated into growth businesses.

Stakeholder Management

• Develop and nurture strategic intervention partner relationships;
• Manage relationships with external stakeholders, including investors, lenders, auditors, and regulatory authorities and Donors.
• Build and maintain extensive stakeholder networks across the initiative that provide insight into the state of the industry and its critical development needs and provide intervention opportunities.

Governance Risk Management and Compliance

• Ensure Initiative Managers, Associates/Analysts and Assistants are familiar with and adhere to grant/contract mechanisms and procurement rules (in collaboration with the Grants and Contracts Supervisor); and
• Implement procedures and overall compliance.

Administration

• Review and approve grant and contract agreements;
• Review and approve grant milestone/contract deliverable completion documentation; and
• Review and approve financial forecasting of expected sector spend

Knowledge Management, Communication and Reporting

• Support information and communication assets gathering (stories, photographs, etc.) from the earliest stages of interventions;
• Regularly create content for outward facing communication efforts;
• Ensure that regular reporting is complete and on-time (quarterly and annual reports, as well as annual review contributions) and;
• Ensure that M&E data is used for learning and decision-making.

Team Leadership, Coaching and Mentorship

• Supervise the Initiative Managers and Associates in ensuring that the ToRs for proposals/other grant solicitation mechanisms for initiative activities are developed and successfully undertaken;
• Plan and manage own workflow, anticipating obstacles, juggling priorities and following through on objectives within agreed timeframes and according to quality standards and;
• Mentor and develop investment services team members, fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional growth.

Qualifications, Experience and Skills:

Considerable competence at senior management level is required to understand and apply advanced policies, practices, procedures, concepts, and principles.

General Education:

Full Grade Twelve (12) Certificate

Professional/Academic Qualifications:

Bachelors degree in Finance, Investments, Business Administration, Management or related discipline.
MSc. MA in a related discipline

Professional and valid membership to relevant professional body

Relevant Job Experience:

Minimum of eight years of experience working at Senior Level, 3 of which senior managerial role (within NGO, donor funded project, government, government agency) of private sector development or economic development consultancy working directly with private sector partners must be with a similar organisation, especially in business development.

Experience with SME development and financing in sectors key to Zambia’s economic development, including, but not limited to, food and agriculture, tourism, mining, energy, financial services.

Experience in working with donor programming, rules and regulations.

Experience of interacting with private sector partners at a senior operations/board level

Experience of managing a large budget (budgeting, forecasting, procurement, contract management, reporting).

Skills :

• Team building;
• Conflict management;
• Interpersonal skills;
• Decision making skills;
• Conceptual skills; and
• Highest standards of integrity.
• Strategic leadership and management skills;
• Organisation and coordination skills;
• Administrative skills;
• Influencing/persuasion/judgement;
• Performance management and development;
• Developing, motivation and coaching;
• Mentoring and counseling and;
• Strategy formulation and execution
• Investments readiness assessment;
• Knowledge and understanding of the political economy and the financial and investment climate of Zambia ;
• Quantitative and financial modelling skills with Advanced Excel;
• Sound business and commercial acumen;
• Budget formulation, execution, evaluation skills;
• Data analysis and interpretation skills;
• Project management skills;
• Change management skills and;
• Knowledge of the full MS Office suite