Vacancy Announcement

ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY

Position:                         Investment Aftercare Expert

Term of Employment:   Fixed-term

Duty Station(s):              Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), Addis Ababa

Required Number:         Two

Salary & Benefits:           Competitive

Application Deadline:    August 29, 2021

BACKGROUND:

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) is a strategy and delivery-oriented government agency created to help accelerate the growth and transformation of the country’s agriculture sector. The ATA envisions that, by 2025, smallholder farmers are commercialized with greater incomes, inclusiveness, resilience and sustainability, contributing to Ethiopia’s achievement of middle-income country status.

The agency focuses on two primary national approaches to catalyze agricultural transformation. First, we support the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources (MoA), its affiliate institutions, and other partners to identify and address systemic bottlenecks within an Agricultural Transformation Agenda. Second, we support Regional Governments to accelerate the development of high-priority commodity value chains in clearly defined geographic clusters, through the Agricultural Commercialization Clusters (ACC) Initiative.

Our major activities include conducting strategic and analytical studies, providing technical implementation support, coordinating platforms to better integrate partners and projects, and designing and directly leading a number of implementation projects. Our headquarters are in Addis Ababa, and we have regional offices in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, and Tigray regional offices, allowing us to work closely with a wide range of public, private and development sectors partners across the country.

Our Culture

We have an exceptional team of highly competent employees with a proven track record of success in managing complex activities and achieving transformational results.  Our culture is one where talented, dedicated and adaptable individuals are committed to doing their best and exhibit great teamwork to achieve excellent results.

At ATA, we provide an exceptional platform for people who want to achieve their highest potential and make a meaningful contribution in changing the country’s agricultural sector.  We offer rewarding work in a young, fast-paced growing organization with passionate, committed, motivated colleagues and excellent career development and training.  We recognize our most valuable assets are our staff and are committed to providing our employees with the tools, training, and mentorships necessary to achieve their career goals.

POSITION SUMMARY:

This position is a secondment to the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC).

Over the years, the EIC has pursued a series of policy, legal and institutional measures with the goal of effectively realizing national investment plans and targets proposed under Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plans. Clearer strategies have been put in place to attract foreign direct investment and to develop labor-intensive industries and an export-oriented manufacturing sector. Yet, the transformation of the economy is hampered by organizational and operational limitations; particular problems include an overstretched capacity of senior personnel, a limited active outreach system targeting potential investors, limited availability of pre-packaged information needed to attract quality investments, and the limited number of qualified human resources pool. To address these limitations, the EIC, together with the ATA, has developed the ‘Strengthening Investor Engagement, Advisory Roles and Regulatory Powers of the Ethiopian Investment Commission’ Program. The main objectives of the Program are to carry out strategic development of EIC’s institutional infrastructure and human resources portfolio and thereby augment its capacity to attract quality investment, to better support private sector stakeholders and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of services rendered to investors.

The Investment Aftercare Expert will sit under the Investment Project Aftercare Directorate and is expected to support EIC on a broad range of issues, including but not limited to:

• Developing proactive aftercare servicing – maintaining relationships with established companies and fulfilling ongoing requirements to retain companies and encourage expansion.
• Utilizing high levels of initiative, creative problem solving and consistently follow-through in leveraging a network of government, regulatory and service provider experts to create clear information, procedures, and solutions for investor companies.
• Supporting investment assistance for new establishments, and aftercare support for operational issues or expansion projects.
• Defining the requirements for company investment and aftercare servicing
• Develop and implement strategies to support both investment servicing and aftercare
• Develop and maintain a database of expert contacts and solutions for operation start, operational aftercare, and expansion issues.
• Document investment and aftercare cases as well as industry developments.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

v  Understand investors’ needs, challenges, aspirations and perceptions.

• Provide complete, accurate and sufficient information to investors regarding doing business in Ethiopia.
• Build long-term, collaborative relationships with investors.
• Address the challenges hindering operation and growth of investments by removing obstacles at different stages of investments i.e., launch, operation and expansion.
• Track the progress of investment projects and facilitate acquisition and access to needed infrastructure, work permits, ...
• Ensure investors meet required national and international standards to help them compete effectively, administer incentives.
• Keep track of the progress of existing investors, assess their performance and impact of their projects.
• Check-in frequently to identify and solve challenges and pinpoint incentive areas to encourage investors to expand and/or diversify their businesses to improve retention.
• Explore re-investment and expansion opportunities proactively to ensure investors are well informed of opportunities.
• Facilitate expansion and re-investment projects.

v  Maintain relationships with established companies and fulfill ongoing requirements to retain companies and encourage expansion.

• Utilize creative problem solving and consistent follow-up in leveraging a network of government, regulatory and other experts to create clear information, procedures, and solutions for investor companies.
• Monitor company and industry developments and communicate the opportunities and threats to the relevant stakeholders.
• Provide investment project assistance for new establishments, and aftercare support for operational issues or expansion projects.
• Document investment and aftercare case studies as well as industry developments and communicate with the relevant stakeholders.
• Periodically submit Investment Profiles, Investor Issue Reports and Policy.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

• REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s degree in Business Administration, Business Development, Finance, Law, Economics, Public Policy, Development Studies, and related field.

• At least 6 years experience in public or private sector development in a customer-focused organization with international clients.

• Demonstrable skills in marketing, sales, and networking with a good record of results.

• Knowledge of the investment industry and investor retention/follow-up.

• Strong analytical and data gathering skills.

• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to negotiate and persuade.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills and a strong set of personal values.

• Professional command of written and spoken English and Amharic language.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Basic understanding of Ethiopia’s economic policies and investment system, with a broad perspective on how the entire system operates and how public, private, and informal actors operate within the system.

• Familiarity with international best practices in aftercare program management and strategy development.

• Highly facilitative and collaborative leadership style.

• Strong ability to work with MS Office Suite (Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Word, …)

• Language proficiency in Arabic and Mandarin is highly valued.

• A strong set of personal values including integrity, honesty, and desire to be of service.