Senior Portfolio Officer Investing In Women at the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund

About the Organization

Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) is a development finance institution leading holistic transformation of rural communities in Africa. We seek to alleviate poverty in the continent by unlocking the power of the private sector working in agri-business, renewable energy and gender to impact rural and marginalised communities to achieve Sustainable Development Goals.

About the JOB

Job Title: Senior Portfolio Officer – Investing In Women

Location: Lagos
Employment Type: Full-time

The Role

• The Senior Portfolio Officer will be responsible for supporting the management of the Investing in Women Nigeria Program, an investment designed to support women-owned and women-led enterprises, cooperatives, and women groups which is funded by Global Affairs Canada.
• They will provide technical and grants management support to a portfolio of investments in small and medium-sized enterprises and women’s cooperatives in the agriculture sector in Kano, Nigeria.
• The incumbent will be expected to work flexibly and collegially in processing grants, managing relations with investees, supervising the implementation of investment contracts, reporting to management and external donor partners, and coordinating technical assistance.
• The role holder is expected to have the right experience in agriculture value chain analysis, cooperative engagement, and development.

Responsibilities
This role will report to the Programme Manager:

• Lead the portfolio construction including promoting competitions, developing scoring criteria, assessing applications, drafting and presenting investment memos to both the internal and external investment committees.
• Accompany investees throughout the implementation, ensuring efficiency, effectiveness and adherence to AECF’s grant implementation principles.
• Maintain strong working relations with investees (and service providers) professionally and efficiently to ensure value for money, and to minimize the potential for fraud, inefficiency and waste.
• Conduct regular monitoring of grant implementation to track milestones, compliance, timelines and deliverables including the analysis of periodic reports and provision of feedback to investees, and regular site visits to investees.
• Analyze fund disbursement requests in a timely manner and make recommendations.
• Prepare regular reports on grantee performance, identify any significant deviations or delays to planned grant implementation, propose recommended courses of action, and in consultation with relevant colleagues, work with investees to meet their performance obligations.
• Ensure all investee site visits are conducted on a periodic basis, as per the agreed site visit schedule.
• Coordinate the identification of investees who require technical assistance.
• Ensure legal review and opinion on investments that require the legal department’s review.
• Contribute to the development of periodic management and donor reports.
• Contribute to proposal development for various potential program areas.
• Actively contribute to the portfolio learning agenda in alignment with AECF’s broader learning goals (in collaboration with the Impact, Knowledge, and Insights teams) to enhance the Fund’s reputation and capabilities, drive systemic change in relevant market systems across Africa, and support advocacy initiatives.
• Foster ongoing improvement of the portfolio through insights gained from continuous learning.
• Ensure compliance with internal controls and risk management of the portfolio in accordance with the wider AECF Limited Management Framework.
• Implement the programme risk and mitigation framework, in line with the overall AECF Risk and Compliance Management Framework.

Requirements

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Business Administration, International Development, Social Sciences, Development Finance, or a related field.
• Minimum seven (7) years’ experience in portfolio or investment management, including experience with financial and operational due diligence of early or growth-stage businesses.
• Have experience in Agribusiness value chain analysis, co-operatives engagement, and development
• Experience in private sector-led development, sustainable finance, value chains strengthening or economic diversification.
• Extensive experience of investment, grant-making, due diligence processes, and grant management in the renewable energy sector.
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of program design and development, project cycle management, and financial budgeting and reporting.
• Hold a professional accounting qualification, e.g., ACCA, will be an added advantage.
• Have experience working with SMEs, and financial intermediaries working with micro and small businesses.
• Experience with gender lens investing, will be a distinct added advantage.
• Have demonstrated organizational and project management skills.
• Have an understanding of the donor landscape and demands of international development.
• Have excellent analytical and communication skills with the ability to prepare investment/grant memos, proposals, and reports to a high level of proficiency.
• Have a high degree of initiative and energy, “can-do” attitude, flexibility, teamwork, and attention to detail.
• Fluency in written and oral English and Hausa languages.

Steps to make a successful job application

1. Read the Main Job description of the Position

Job description is a powerful tool that help you stand out in your job application, because it is a tool that help you create a CV and even cover letter to align with the employer expectations.

Compare and contrast the resume/CV and cover letter against the job description. How do they resemble each other? What areas could be improved?

Therefore, even if you read the job description section well we recommend you read it again and make sure you understand it more.

Job description provides a basic rundown of the role. It includes the title, basic responsibilities, and required education and experience

2. Cover letter is an essential tool Include it in your Application.

Among the first things that employers looks in job applications is your cover letter, because it briefly explain all about the candidates in few characters, beginning from the candidates interests about the jobs, educational background, work experience and other supporting documents.

Cover letter should be done to relates with the job description, experience related to the position and requirements.

It is very important to include cover letter in all your job applications.

3. Make your Resume/CV Concise and Unique

CV/Resume tells all about the candidates, most of it’s length is about two pages, candidates should avoid making it longer.

It consists a brief description about candidates, educational background, work experiences, Additional training, skills and References.

Employer use to know the suitability of the candidates by briefly reading the Resume.

5. Read Important Notes and Instructions

Before starting job applications, one of the must read section first is “Notes and Instructions, thousands of job applications were rejected as they didn’t follow the employer instructions.

It’s very important to read the employer instructions before applying for any job.

6. Read and understand all about the Company

Knowing well about the company is a crucial element in succeeding in all section of job search.

Key section to note is briefly about the company, what they do, their principles, mission, etc Browse its website to understand its products, services, brand voice, culture, values and mission, you can also speak with current employees for a more accurate idea of how the company operates.

7. Read again before hitting Submit Button

Review all your responses well before clicking submit Button, make sure you send it correctly, try to avoid errors in your job applications.

This will increase your chances of getting hired.

Good luck. Myngojobs Team.

Application Closing Date
7th May, 2025.

Method of Application
Apply for Senior Portfolio OfficerInvesting In Women at the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund