CEO – African Trade Transformation Fund

About Afrexim

 CEO – African Trade Transformation Fund – Cairo, Egypt

In pursuit of its vision of transforming African trade, the Bank has, on the mandate and as an agent of its shareholders, through a resolution they passed in Accra, Ghana, in June 2023, created the African Trade Transformation Fund (ATT FUND) to implement a Concessional Finance Window that will complement the offerings of Afreximbank. ATT FUND has been established as a Trust Fund (The Trust Fund).

ATT FUND is a strategic initiative to address market challenges that hinder trade, foster growth and prosperity, and bridge Africa’s pressing funding gap . Positioned as a long-term solution, the fund seeks to catalyze sustainable economic and social progress across Africa and the Caribbean by financing transformative projects in critical sectors.

In line with this mission, ATT FUND provides concessional and blended finance solutions, complementing Afreximbank’s offerings to close financing gaps in intra- and extra-African trade, accelerating economic development and unlocking the continent’s full potential.

ATT FUND focuses on two primary themes that leverage Afreximbank’s strengths: trade-enabling infrastructure, crisis preparedness and response, and SME finance. These areas are chosen to enhance Africa’s trade capabilities and support economic diversification, crucial for the continent’s industrialisation and sustainable development.

Building on Afreximbank’s comparative advantage and track record, ATT FUND will focus on three themes directly linked to trade:

1. Trade-enabling infrastructure: Fund pivotal trade infrastructure projects, both physical and intangible, enabling trade and exports. It is the foundation of intra-African trade and integration, a catalyst for industrialisation, and key to fulfilling the AfCFTA’s objectives.
2. Crisis Preparedness & Response: Finance transformative long-term resilience projects and emergencies, especially in low-income climate-disaster and heavily disease-burden countries, thereby saving lives and livelihoods and averting socio-economic activity and trade disruptions.
3. SME finance: Unlock financing that allows SMEs to engage in cross-border trade, empowering youth, driving employment, and advancing industrialisation and export development, strengthening the backbone of African

ATT FUND is positioned as a long-term solution to stimulate economic growth by financing projects that address critical sectors, thus catalysing sustainable economic and social progress across Africa.

The Role

Afreximbank is seeking a visionary Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead its newly established concessional finance window, the African Trade Transformation Fund (ATT FUND), based in Cairo, Egypt. This role offers a unique opportunity to spearhead a transformative initiative to enhance trade across the African continent. ATT FUND is designed to deliver concessional and blended finance solutions, complementing Afreximbank’s efforts to close financing gaps in intra- and extra-African trade.

Responsibilities:

• Physically establish the Trust This will include leading the introduction of systems, policies and procedures and the necessary roadmap for operationalisation and promotion of the Fund.
• Plan and set-up the annual and strategic goals of the ATT FUND and ensure the attainment of annual and strategic targets of the ATT FUND.
• Hire and discharge staff of the
• Stakeholder engagement and being seen as the face of the
• Identify and establish appropriate operational procedures and
• Have direct responsibility for funds mobilisation and effective and efficient management of contributed funds pending disbursement to beneficiaries.
• Ensure effective risk management processes and procedures are in place to ensure the achievement of the ATT FUND’s operational, development, and other strategic objectives.
• Ensure a well-defined approach and best practices are in place for the effective deployment of concessional funds across critical sectors, member countries, and themes.
• Manage institutional relationships with contributing partners and other stakeholders, ensuring that obligations to contributors to manage their funds are fully met.
• Guide the relevant Afreximbank departments on ATT FUND processes and requirements, including monitoring of concessional and blended finance support provided on projects.
• Work closely and collaboratively with relevant product and origination teams in Afreximbank and oversee the structuring and deployment of concessional and blended finance interventions to derisk and rebalance risk-return profiles of eligible transactions/projects while optimising trade and development impact.
• Work closely with relevant Bank departments to compile progress reports on the use of proceeds and development impact reporting for distribution to the Board of Trustees and Contributors and prepare the ATT FUND annual.
• Ensure consistency and seamless approach and best practices in deploying concessional funds, management, and reporting of the portfolio of assets/projects supported with concessional and blended funds across sources, sectors, countries, and themes.
• Review and provide constructive challenge to concessional funding requests/proposals from clients and business origination departments to ensure compliance with operational policy guidelines of the ATT FUND, justifiable economic assumptions, strategic fit and trade and development impact.
• Ensure that appropriate compliance, including AML, Anti-Bribery & Corruption, and other ATT FUND governance and regulatory policies and procedures, is in place and strictly adhered to. Actively work closely with Afreximbank Group Compliance to implement an appropriate compliance strategy and safeguard the maintenance of an effective control environment to promote a culture of compliance within ATT FUND.

Candidate Profile

In terms of the performance and personal competencies required for the position, we would highlight the following:

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Finance, Banking, Economics, Management, Law, Engineering, Sciences, or a related field from a suitable professional qualification in Finance, Banking, Accounting, Law Engineering, or related disciplines may be accepted in lieu of the Master’s degree.

Skills & Experience

• Proven track record of successfully leading resource mobilisation, deal structuring, and portfolio management within a concessional and blended finance context.
• Familiarity with functions and operating modalities of concessional finance windows of development finance
• A minimum of 15 years of relevant leadership and professional experience in African economies and other developing markets, providing concessional, development finance and/or related finance.
• Proven experience and clear understanding of managing fiduciary responsibilities for Trust funds, the Afreximbank mandate, and its strategic direction of transforming African trade.
• Thorough knowledge of Africa’s trade and development issues and the potential role of concessional financing in supporting economic and trade activities.
• Demonstrated experience in engaging senior officials of sovereign and private contributors, including foundations and philanthropies, corporations, and development and multilateral entities, to source and leverage resources for concessional programs.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in Knowledge of French, Arabic, and/or Portuguese can be an added advantage
• Willingness to travel extensively and to work long hours where required to achieve set.
• Demonstrated leadership capabilities, including building and nurturing relationships with internal and external counterparties to attain goals.
• Demonstrated experience in establishing greenfield institutions of wide
• Proven experience in developing and using innovative tools to solve trade and development
• Proven experience in and knowledge of multilateral financial institutions, especially those that confer preferred creditor status.
• Thorough understanding of Africa’s financial architecture and experience in dealing with members of the Alliance of African Multilateral Finance Institutions (the “Africa Club”).
• Knowledge and understanding of concessional financing programmes offered by MDBs, foundations, sovereign donors and other development agencies, especially those focusing on Africa and other developing economies.
• Ability to communicate and function in a culturally diverse and change-oriented setting, including knowledge of the workings of the main segments of the African project and export finance markets, including risk mitigation
• Constructive deal team leadership and strong teamwork

Competencies

Proficiency

• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute strategic business plans in a complex, multi-national
• In-depth understanding concessional finance, risk management, and financial
• Ability to lead a diverse team, inspire collaboration, and drive operational
• Expertise in negotiation, sales, and building strategic
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing budgets, financial reporting, and treasury
• Solid understanding of regulatory requirements Financial management across Africa and

Leadership Skills

• Visionary leadership with a focus on innovation and driving
• Proven ability to mentor, coach, and develop
• Excellent decision-making and problem-solving skills, with a focus on long-term business
• Ability to build and maintain relationships at senior levels, both internally and

Interpersonal Skills

• Strong communication and presentation skills, with fluency in English (French, Arabic, and/or Portuguese is an advantage).
• Ability to engage and influence stakeholders at various levels, from board members to government
• A culturally sensitive approach to leadership, with experience working across multiple countries and

Problem Solving & Business Impact

• Solves non-routine and occasionally complex problems based on sound critical analysis, technical knowledge and prior experience.
• Acts with flexibility as an escalation point for managerial and technical issues encountered direct
• Demonstrated ability to solve complex problems using critical analysis and prior experience in concessional finance and financial services.
• Impact-focused leadership, driving ATT FUND’s contribution to

Supporting ATT FUND Mandate

• Has a solid understanding of ATT FUND’s mandate and how deploying its tools and instruments contributes to Africa’s transformation.
• Has a good knowledge of Global Africa’s political, economic, and trade landscape and can offer well-informed opinions on the subject internally and to external counterparts.
• Identifies how ATT FUND’s values and mission can be cascaded to junior colleagues and external parties.

Behavioural Competencies

• Commitment to Africa and supporting the empowerment of Africans
• Uncompromising integrity
• Passion for Learning and Drive
• Teamwork
• Trust and Respect for the Individual
• Innovation, Excellence and Flexibility
• Professionalism and Responsiveness

Other Information

Location

The position will be based in Cairo, Egypt, at Afreximbank Headquarters or any other location as may be determined.

Grade

G7-A

How to Apply

The recruitment process is being undertaken by Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA) on behalf of Afreximbank. The closing date for applications is no later than 23:55 on Friday, 17th January 2025.

Please send the following information to responses@russellreynolds.com;

• Your CV, with educational and professional qualifications and full employment history, including an explanation of any gaps in your employment history and details where possible, of budgets and numbers of people;
• A short covering statement of no more than two A4-sized pages (1000 words) explaining why this appointment interests you and how you can evidence your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the ‘Candidate Profile’ section.