The role of the (Associate) Investment Officer, Blended Finance – New Business and Portfolio at the World Bank Group involves high-level participation in identifying, structuring, and managing complex blended finance projects aimed at leveraging private sector investment for development goals in emerging markets. The role requires deep expertise in investment structuring and portfolio oversight, particularly concerning cross-border transactions and various financial products used in development banking.
Role & Responsibilities
Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- New Business Identification and Assessment: Work with teams to identify and assess potential Blended Finance projects. This includes projects slated for funding by facilities like the IDA Private Sector Window (PSW), Climate Change Window (CCW), Finance for Offshore Wind (FOF), Blended Finance Facility (BFF), and Local Currency Facility (LCF), as well as dedicated facilities for Climate, the GAFSP Private Sector Window, the Gates Foundation partnership, the Global SME Finance, and the Women Entrepreneur Financing Facility (We-Fi) and other blended finance facilities.
- Pipeline Management: Liaise with staff to monitor and actively support the expansion of the Blended Finance pipeline.
- Investment Structuring: Contribute significantly to investment structuring related to contributor-funded co-investment in projects, platforms, and programs. This involves modeling respective risks and subsidies, and assessing the optimal product/structure that meets project needs while maintaining an adequate risk/return profile for the contributor.
- Documentation and Approval: Work closely with IFC investment teams to prepare and take responsibility for documentation and processing of blended finance co-investment requests for the Blended Finance Committee/Director. This also involves contributing to the IFC investment proposal, Board documentation, and client legal agreements.
- Financial Engineering and Risk Mitigation: Maintain a keen interest in financial engineering techniques utilized for derisking projects and enhancing Project Cycle Management (PCM).
- Political Risk Mitigation: Collaborate with colleagues in the Unified Guarantee Platform/MIGA to develop customized political risk mitigation products when IBRD/MIGA products are not available.
- Local Currency Solutions: Demonstrate an understanding of local currency solutions offered by development banks.
- Appraisal Support: Attend appraisal meetings on an as-needed basis, depending on the transaction team’s need for additional skills and analysis provided by the blended finance investment officer, or if the proposed co-investment structure presents significantly different interests requiring independent judgment on behalf of the donors.
- Portfolio Monitoring and Management: Liaise with relevant staff to identify and monitor weaknesses, risks, and early warning signals within the portfolio of contributor-funded projects to assess overall progress and performance.
- Client Requests: Analyze and process client requests, including disbursements, waivers, and amendments related to the contributor-funded co-investment.
- Reporting and Knowledge Management: Assist in the preparation of analytical reports, strategy documents, briefs, and project profiles. Contribute to the team's knowledge management initiatives, including communication products to share information and lessons of Blended Finance co-investments with internal and external stakeholders, particularly contributing partners. Prepare reports and presentations on the portfolio's performance for various audiences.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with donors and support fundraising and the development of new initiatives as needed.
- Departmental Initiatives: Participate in Departmental initiatives designed to bolster the practice and overall business case for blended finance.
Selection Criteria and Qualifications
The ideal candidate should possess the following:
- MBA or Graduate degree, with a specialization in finance/investment strongly preferred.
- [6]+ years relevant experience working on cross-border emerging market investments.
- A proven track record of structuring, executing, supervision, and portfolio management of complex investment transactions, including experience in local currency solutions, capital markets, and structured finance.
- Experience with IFC’s investment and portfolio management processes, equity, quasi-equity, loan, guarantee, and other investment documentation, accounting, and financial statement analysis (a plus).
- Knowledge of IFC products, operations and, preferably also, its approach to blending concessional finance alongside IFC's investments for its own account (a plus).
- Understanding of IFC’s investment practices and current issues/challenges in implementing blended finance investments (a plus).
- Ability to grasp details, solve problems, identify key issues for action, manage and incorporate stakeholder interests, and explain issues clearly and confidently.
- Clarity in the presentation and delivery of information, including gathering lessons of experience and impact stories to be shared with contributors and other internal and external stakeholders.
- Resilience to work well under time and workload pressure with minimal supervision.
- Ability to manage and complete multiple projects simultaneously and meet deadlines under pressure.
- Commercial interest in development issues and strengthening sustainable development.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English are essential. Proficiency in other languages, such as French or Portuguese, is a plus.
- Must demonstrate the competency of "Deliver Results for Clients," proactively addressing clients' stated and unstated needs.
