REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
Avenue Joseph Anoma, 01 B.P. 1387, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
Africa Investment Forum – PAIF
E-mail : [email protected]
REQUESTS FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR SENIOR ADVISOR FOR THE AFRICA INVESTMENT FORUM
- The African Development Bank (AfDB) hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in the following Assignment: Senior Advisor for the Africa Investment Forum ;
- Established by the AfDB and seven founding partners in 2018, the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) is Africa’s investment market place – a multi-stakeholder, multi-disciplinary platform dedicated to advancing projects to bankable stages, raising capital, and accelerating the financial closure of deals. The Africa Investment Forum convenes investors interested in Africa, African investors, enterprises with concrete investment needs, and selected government leaders to work out ways to boost private sector investments in Africa. The AIF aims to reduce intermediation costs, improve the quality of project information and documentation, and increase active and productive engagements between African governments and the private sector as well as between investors and project sponsors. The AIF offers investors access to a structured platform offering bankable, de-risked projects within an enabling environment ;
- The services to be provided under the assignment include to oversee every aspect of AIF activities and to ensure that they are operating at optimal efficiency. This will include communicating with high-level management on ways to drive results forward, making sure that all internal roles are performing at the highest level, and suggesting strategic business tactics. The Consultant will report to the Senior Director, Africa Investment Forum ;
- The Africa Investment Forum invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested Consultants shall provide information on their qualifications, experience demonstrating their ability to provide the services, as well as a proposed work program with timeline, their understanding of the assignment and the proposed way to approach the assignment (documentation, references for similar services, experience in comparable assignments, etc.) ;
- The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the African Development Bank’s “Rules and Procedure for the Use of Consultants” May 2008 Edition revised October 2015, which is available on the Bank’s website. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include it in the shortlist ;
- The work assignment, under this term of reference, will involve full-time consultancy services for a period of six (06) months and may be extended based on the performance of the retained Consultant, availability of budgetary resources and as may be determined by the Bank. The successful Consultant will be expected to start by mid-November 2020 upon completion of the selection process and upon signature of the contract. The position will be based in Abidjan ;
- Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at the email addresses below during the Bank’s working hours: 0800hrs to 1700hrs ;
- Expressions of interest with an updated Curriculum vitae (CV) must be received at the email addresses below no later than 25th November 2020 at 1700hrs Central African Time and specifically mentioning Senior Advisor for the Africa Investment Forum.
For the attention of :
Mrs. Onike Nicol-Houra
Africa Investment Forum
African Development Bank, 6 Avenue Joseph Anoma
01 BP 1387 Abidjan – COTE D’IVOIRE
E-mail : NICOL@ AFDB.ORG [email protected]
- Establishment of the Shortlist: A shortlist of three to six individual consultants will be established once the expressions of interest and updated CVs are received. The consultants on the shortlist will be invited to submit a proposal and comment on the Terms of Reference (attached as an annex). The proposals shall be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria1:
| a. General qualifications and adequacy for the assignment to be undertaken |
25% |
| b. Similar experience in the area of expertise of the assignment |
40% |
| c. Understanding of the Terms of Reference |
20% |
| d. |
Experience with the Bank and/or multilateral donors |
10% |
| e. |
Language Proficiency |
5% |
The weighted coefficients for these criteria may be adjusted to reflect the type of service required.
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR SENIOR CONSULTANT FOR THE AFRICA INVESTMENT FORUM
- BACKGROUND :
1.1. African Development Bank Group :
Established in 1964, the African Development Bank Group (“the Bank” or “AfDB”) is the premier Pan-African development institution promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 Member States, including 54 from Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate the Bank’s delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; Light Up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa. The Bank co-operates with a large network of international development partners and has two official languages: English and French.
1.2. Africa Investment Forum :
The vision of the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) is to become a leveraging platform that will tilt the balance of capital towards Africa’s critical sectors to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the African Development Bank’s High 5s and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. This goal translates into three reinforcing objectives, which include: (a) Advancing projects to bankable stage, by more effective project preparation as well as advisory support that advances deals in the AIF pipeline; (b) Capital raising by partners, lenders and investors for increased co-financing for bankable projects; and, (c) Accelerating financial closure of deals through this coordinated approach.
Established by the AfDB and seven founding partners in 2018, the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) is Africa’s investment market place, through which the AfDB, along with its partners originate deals, structure and enhance projects, attract co-investors, and facilitate investments to close Africa’s investment gaps. The AIF’s modus operandi spans four (5) pillars which include :
- The Platform: activities involving deal origination and structuring, as well as the management of a digital portal ;
- The Market Place: activities involving sponsorships, partnership onboarding, regional investment roundtables, investor facilitation and matchmaking, as well as serving a vibrant community of active AIF members ;
- The Market-Days: an annual 3-Day event convening investors and lenders, project sponsors, key government stakeholders, transaction facilitators and entrepreneurs around specific private (Boardrooms, Bilateral meetings) and public sessions (initiatives, pitching sessions, plenary sessions) ;
- The Deal Tracker: post-Boardroom activities involving the monitoring of AIF Boardroom deals and facilitating their progress towards deal closure ;
- Knowledge/Policy Environment: seeks to foster investment friendly regulation, a pro-investment climate to remove bottlenecks to deal closure, as well as disseminate knowledge products.
- PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY :
The purpose of the Senior Advisor is to support the AIF by providing consultancy services to the Senior Director of the Africa Investment Forum (AIF), on matters of building a sustainable value proposition and innovative pipeline for the Africa Investment Forum. He/She will also provide support to the overall objectives of the AIF and contribute in areas such as Global business linkages and partnerships, lead on specified work streams that shall be agreed upon with the Senior Director.
- SCOPE OF SERVICES :
The specific duties of the consultant will be as follows :
- Work with the Senior Director, AIF and staff members to identify a list of investment opportunities in Africa which are focused on private and PPP projects ;
- Engage with key partners in the development space including development banks, commercial banks, bilateral aid donors, and other Africa Investment fora to identify opportunities for synergies and collaboration ;
- The consultant shall maintain an independent position with a goal to constructively challenge, where appropriate, AIF’s leadership, assumptions and decisions ;
- The consultant shall maintain effective relationships with all major stakeholders ;
- The consultant shall make objective contributions to what may be considered necessary for the long-term interest of AIF ;
- Advise the Senior Director in the development and implementation of the overall AIF Strategy ;
- Participate in industry-related events or associations that will enhance the AIF reputation, and the AIF’s potential for success ;
- Identify gaps in AIF’s rollout and implementation of key projects ;
- Undertake tasks that support the ongoing implementation of AIF’s policies and procedures ;
- Provide support to other duties as assigned by the Senior Director, AIF.
- QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE :
- Hold a Master’s degree or its equivalent in International Development, Economics, Development Finance, Business Administration, Finance or related discipline ;
- Hold a minimum of 20 years professional experience in global structured finance, banking, consultancy ;
- Working experience in multinational organization in Africa and/or specialized experience in similar organization/s would be considered an advantage ;
- Should have private sector experience as well as in-depth knowledge of economic developments and market trends in Africa ;
- Ability to contribute to sound decisions and contribute to the execution of the decisions ;
- Ability to initiate, effectively and independently interact with the senior government officials, senior management of potential clients ;
- Strong commitment to search for and produce innovative and creative approaches to activities in order to enhance performance and create added benefits to the Bank and its clients ;
- Excellent problem-solving capabilities, applies business knowledge to the resolution of problems and identifies solutions to the benefit of the client (internal and external) and the organization ;
- Excellent organizational, administrative, and time management skills ;
- Proven ability to work with limited supervision, deliver under pressure and meet tight deadlines ;
- Willingness to travel extensively and geographic flexibility ;
- Excellent presentation skills; Ability to communicate orally and in writing effectively in French or English, with a good working knowledge of the other language ;
- High knowledge of industrial policies and strategies ;
- Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint) ;
- Provide support to other duties as assigned by the Senior Director, AIF.
- DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT :
The work assignment, under this term of reference, will involve full-time consultancy services for a period of six (06) months and may be extended based on the performance of the retained consultant, availability of budgetary resources and as may be determined by the Bank. The successful consultant will be expected to start by mi-December 2020 upon completion of the selection process and signature of the contract.
- RENUMERATION :
The consultant shall be paid a total monthly lump sum, comprising fee, subsistence or other incidentals, for the duration of the assignment, which is commensurate with the number of years of work experience. The AIF will cover travel and field mission costs (if any) as per African Development Bank rules in this regard.
Note: Consultants must register at http://dacon.afdb.org/dacon before submitting their CV to be considered for the shortlist.