Organization: Chemonics
Country: Colombia
Closing date: 02 Mar 2017
Chemonics seeks value chain finance consultants for the five year USAID Rural Finance Initiative (RFI) in Colombia. RFI will support financial intermediaries in order to increase rural financial services for micro, small, and medium-size producers and businesses. The initiative intends to increase the inclusion of certain sectors of the population and improve the conditions for economic growth critical in reducing poverty and inequality that are the root causes of internal conflict in Colombia.
There is strong unmet demand for rural financial services through nascent value chains, with financial institutions expressing interest in responding to these opportunities and developing new models to serve remote clients. During the last five years, regulatory reforms have improved the enabling environment by allowing movable collateral and value chain finance (VCF) mechanisms. However, financial institutions lack the experience to design and implement these mechanisms to reach rural clients. RFI's initial assistance to financial intermediaries has focused on purchase order finance, and the initiative seeks to expand VCF options beyond that mechanism. The value chain finance consultants will provide technical assistance to financial intermediaries in designing and implementing VCF products. We are looking for individuals who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world.
Responsibilities Include:
- Apply best practices and proven models for agriculture and VCF finance that have been successful in Latin America and elsewhere globally to inform work in Colombia
- Provide technical assistance to RFI partner financial intermediaries (including banks, microfinance institutions, and finance corporations) in assessing, designing, and implementing agricultural and VCF mechanisms targeted for their clients
- Ensure mechanisms are designed to inject capital, share risk among rural value chain actors, and overcome barriers to access to credit (e.g., agricultural loan products, purchase order and warehouse finance, and factoring and reverse factoring)
- Design and write detailed procedures, manuals, workflow charts, and job aids for financial intermediaries for implementing VCF products, covering loan assessment, origination, and monitoring
- Assist with brokering specific VCF arrangements among financial institutions and value chain actors (e.g., input suppliers, producer associations, agro-processors, and exporters)
- Review and refine RFI's VCF strategies targeted to assist financial intermediaries (banks, microfinance institutions, and finance corporations) design and implement products targeted for value chains in the initiative's targeted seven economic corridors
- Conduct ongoing assessment of agricultural and VCF opportunities in the seven economic corridors, analyzing financial institutions interested in utilizing VCF
- Produce reports with specific recommendations and strategies for enhancing and expanding VCF in Colombia, including new opportunities and continued improvements to VCF models
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree or higher in business administration, finance, trade, or a related discipline
- Minimum eight years of relevant experience working in agricultural, rural, and/or VCF
- Experience working with private financial intermediaries to design and implement VCF mechanisms, including writing procedures, manuals, and job aids
- Experience designing and delivering training for financial intermediaries, including executives and credit officials
- Experience working in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Experience working with donor-funded activities desired but not required
- Demonstrated leadership qualities, with excellent interpersonal and organizational skills
- Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity
- Fluent Spanish required
How to apply:
Send electronic submissions including your CV and cover letter to ColombiaRFIrecruit@chemonics.com by March 2, 2017. Please include "Value Chain Finance Consultants" in the subject line. No telephone inquiries, please. Finalists will be contacted.
