Agro-processing Investment Advisor

Focus of the Role

Strategically located with access to West Africa’s 350 million population, Ghana is a peaceful country evident by democratic political stability over the last 20 years. Investor confidence has grown in recent years following an upgrade in Standard & Poor’s rating to B with a stable outlook for the first time in over a decade.

Agribusiness provides the lifeline for millions of livelihoods in Ghana by offering jobs, food nutrition and a firm foothold for Ghana’s economy. The Government of Ghana (GoG) is committed to increasing productivity and thereby catalysing a structural transformation in the economy through increased farm incomes and job creation. To contribute to this goal, the GoG has initiated two flagship projects: Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) that seeks to motivate farmers to adopt certified seeds and fertilizers through a private sector-led marketing framework, by raising the incentives and complimentary service provisions on the usage of inputs, good agronomic practices, marketing of outputs over an E-Agriculture platform.

The second initiative, a subset of (PFJ), is Planting for Export & Rural Development (PERD) designed to focus on the development of selected export tree crops, cashew, coffee, oil palm, coconut, mango and rubber to enhance foreign exchange earning capacity of the Ghanaian economy.

In support of these initiatives, and to complement TBI’s embedded technical and analytical support to the Ministry of Food & Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade and Industries and our ongoing partnership with AGRA, we are now seeking an Agro-processing Investment Advisor to be based in the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and working closely with relevant sector Ministers to support government with:

1. Improving and strengthening access to markets for Ghanaian agriculture produce;
2. Facilitating investment into agro-processing for export and rural development.

Specific duties will include:

• Work alongside the leadership of GIPC and other key parts of government to conduct improved investment promotion and outreach to the agro-processing investment community.
• Undertake socio-economic analysis of Ghana’s comparative advantage and investment opportunities in the agro-processing sectors, with a view to provide strategic advice and help develop/implement bankable projects.
• Support the improved packaging of greenfield and brownfield investment projects
• Identify institutional gaps that need to be addressed to attract investment into improving access to markets for Ghanaian agro-processing products.
• Where and when requested work alongside TBI colleagues, government counterparts and partners to undertake key value chain analysis and implementation support and provide linkages to value chain actors including value adding local and international Agro-processors.
• Manage relationships with and provide project update reporting to relevant donors and partners.
• Support the Country Head and other team members with quarterly and annual reporting; strategic and management programmes.

The Advisor will be a member of a new and evolving TBI team in Ghana. The team consists of experienced advisors providing embedded support at the center of government and to key economic institutions of the government to attract and scale up private investment in priority sectors positioned to generate exports, jobs, and backward linkages. The Advisor will benefit from network effects as part of the Tony Blair Institute’s global presence. He/she will also be a member of TBI’s Inclusive Growth and Private Sector Development practice, through which they will gain from and contribute to the expertise of TBI’s teams across Africa and beyond.

Job Introduction

We are looking for outstanding individuals with a proven track record of leadership and delivery in the public or private sectors.

We seek to create international and multi-disciplinary teams and are looking for individuals with a background in: investment banking, investment promotion, agro-processing, public/civil services worldwide; strategy consulting; relevant industry experience; private equity finance; and international development.

Key Responsibilities

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

• Ideally 5-10 years’ experience working on private sector development and or agriculture transformation programmes in emerging markets especially in Sub Saharan Africa and or similar contexts like Ghana, including but not limited to issues related to international trade, private investment, commercial agriculture, market linkages and value chain development.
• Experience facilitating and attracting companies to invest in agro-processing in emerging markets for export.
• Experiential knowledge of institutional development and organisational management, including process and system engineering and capacity development. Experience working with senior executives is an asset.
• An MA in International Economics, Public Administration, Business, Finance, Urban Planning or related fields

ESSENTIAL SKILLS:

• Ability to work independently, think strategically and translate strategies into concrete and implementable plans

·Excellent writing, presentation skills and verbal communication skills in English

• Understanding of organizational design and accountability mechanisms to reform Government processes
• Effective inter-personal and leadership skills. Team player with an ability to develop and foster relationships with counterparts across a large organization
• Proven ability to mentor, coach, and build capacity of national counterparts
• Strong analytical and management skills, including sound knowledge of data analysis, strategic planning, and project management tools.

Person Specification

PERSONAL SPECIFICATIONS:

• Willingness and ability to mentor, coach and build capacity of national counterparts
• Ability to deliver results in complex and challenging environments
• A creative and entrepreneurial approach to overcoming barriers and making change happen
• Experience of living and working in developing countries is desirable
• Above all, we are looking for individuals with high levels of enthusiasm, drive, resilience, a can-do attitude and ability to consistently achieve results in a fast-paced environment.

About The Institute

At the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change we are dedicated to making globalisation work for the many, not the few. We do this by helping countries, their people and their governments, address some of the most difficult challenges in the world today – beginning with those where we think we can break new ground, offering leaders new thinking and new approaches. Our staff – over 200 of them, based all over the world – are working on some of the most intractable problems around issues of co-existence, governance, the peace process in the Middle East and renewing the centre.

Our Governance work supports the governments and leaders of fragile, developing and emerging states to enhance their effectiveness. We are focused on helping governments and leaders make their vision for the development of their country a reality. We work in the centre of government and key line ministries and our work is shaped by national priorities.