Investment Director, Social Venture Fund

Position: Investment Director, Social Venture Fund
Location: Nairobi, Kenya

GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS BACKGROUND

Global Partnerships (GP) is an impact-first investor dedicated to expanding opportunity for people living in poverty. Impact-first investing means investing in a way that seeks the greatest possible social impact, while seeking to preserve capital with a modest financial return for investors. GP believes that impact-first investing has an essential role to play in advancing sustainable solutions to poverty for millions of people worldwide.

GP creates and manages impact-first investment funds that make loans and early-stage investments in social enterprises serving people living in poverty in less developed countries, primarily in Latin America and Africa.  The GP team is comprised of mission-driven, dedicated, high-performing colleagues working primarily from offices in Seattle, WA, Bogotá, Colombia, and Nairobi, Kenya. To learn more about Global Partnerships, please visit our website at www.globalpartnerships.org.

THE SOCIAL VENTURE FUND

The Social Venture Fund (SVF) is GP’s first early-stage venture fund. The SVF plans to invest in up to 15 high potential, early-stage social enterprises in sectors including education, energy, health, livelihoods, sanitation and water. The fund will support these enterprises through the “pioneer gap” via a combination of seed stage convertible debt, early stage equity, and active Board engagement. The goals of the SVF are to positively impact 5+ million lives over the life of the fund and to return capital with a modest financial return to all fund investors. See the fund’s current portfolio here.

The SVF is led by Managing Director Jim Villanueva, who has been investing in early stage social businesses in developing countries for nearly a decade. The SVF team also includes an Investment Analyst based in GP’s Nairobi office.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Global Partnerships is hiring a full-time Investment Director for the SVF, to be based in Global Partnerships’ office in Nairobi, Kenya. The Investment Director will report to and work closely with the Managing Director. The Investment Director will be responsible for sourcing, analyzing, executing, and providing post-investment support for investments in early stage businesses that align with the SVF’s goals. The Investment Director will work with the Investment Analyst in support of these goals.

The Investment Director will be responsible for the following:

• Developing relationships with external deal-flow partners including accelerators, networking organizations and other impact investors
• Identifying and cultivating investment opportunities relating to early-stage social enterprises in target sectors seeking to pilot and scale innovative products and services that expand opportunity for people living in poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Developing and executing due diligence plans. Completing analysis and leading the due diligence process for potential investment opportunities using the SVF Enterprise Development Framework; making investment recommendations to the Managing Director
• Playing a key role in preparing draft board-level investment memoranda for promising investment opportunities, and participating in presentations to GP leadership and the SVF investment committee
• Engaging with portfolio partners on targeted issues that are critical to achieving their business plans.
• Assessing opportunities for follow-on funding for SVF portfolio companies
• Working in collaboration with the broader GP team to support SVF-related investment operations, investor relations, financial and impact reporting, and marketing/communications

SELECTION CRITERIA

CORE CAPABILITIES

• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate within and across teams and across cultures
• Excellent oral and written communication skills; capable of highly professional engagement with colleagues and partners
• Self-motivated work ethic, proactive; ability to see tasks through to completion independently
• Organized and capable of balancing multiple priorities, with great attention to detail and thoughtful knowledge management
• Has a passion for GP’s mission to expand opportunity for people living in poverty
• Embodies GP’s culture: Dedicated, Strategic, Collaborative, Aspirational, Learning, and Excellence

QUALIFICATIONS

• At least 2-4 years private equity investment experience in emerging markets required; Sub-Saharan African experience with early-stage enterprises preferred
• Proven capability to source, analyze, and execute investments required; experience providing support to seed and venture stage businesses preferred
• Strong analytical, strategic thinking, and project management skills required; advanced financial analysis and modeling capabilities required
• Strong networking skills required; able to contribute an existing network of individuals and organizations relevant to the SVF preferred
• Undergraduate degree in economics, finance, business administration or a related field required; MBA or equivalent graduate degree preferred
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English required; proficiency in Swahili preferred
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools required; familiarity with Salesforce preferred
• Demonstrated self-starter who brings curiosity, humility, integrity, and passion to the work, and a track record of successful collaboration
• Must be willing to travel frequently including field visits, regional and international travel; travel requirements estimated at 20%-25% of total business days
• Ability to reside and work legally in Kenya

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please send the following materials in a single PDF document to info@globalpartnerships.org and include the title ‘Application: SVF Investment Director’ in the subject line.

• Brief cover letter
• Résumé

Global Partnerships is an equal opportunity employer.  Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. For priority consideration, please apply by November 30, 2020.

Due to the volume of applications, we will contact only those candidates selected for interviews – no follow-ups, please.

Finalists will be asked to submit references, including name, email, and phone number, of at least two former supervisors. All offers will be contingent upon reference checks as well as a background check.