Company Profile

Advans is a leading microfinance group established in 2005. Advans mission is to respond to the need for financial services of small businesses and other populations who have ill-adapted, limited or no access to formal financial services. The Advans Group currently spans nine countries: Cambodia, Cameroon, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Pakistan, Nigeria, Tunisia and Myanmar. As at end October 2019, the group served more than 1,000,000 clients and employed more than 7,300 staff. Headquartered in Luxembourg with support services in Paris, the group’s shareholders are EIB, KfW, FMO, CDC Group plc, FISEA (AFD Group) and IFC.

Advans Ghana, subsidiary of the international microfinance group Advans, started its activities in 2008. The institution offers a full range of adapted financial products and services to micro, small and medium sized enterprises in Ghana. The institution serves more than 64,000 clients through a network of 20 points of sale and over 650 employees.

Job Description

• Under the direct supervision of the Chief Business Development Officer, you will be in charge of developing the Agri and value chains partnerships at Advans Ghana, and to extend the financial products and services offer for the smallholder farmers and other actors of their value chains. Your main missions will be:  
• Analyze the operational environment, market conditions and customers’ needs to identify potential Agri and VC partnerships
• Create business cases for identified partnerships to define potential outcomes, associated costs and expected profitability
• Lead the negotiation and implementation of the partnerships; ensure strong communication between parties and mobilization of required resources to achieve the roll-out
• Monitor the on-going performance of newly started partnerships (pilots)
• Prepare reports on the results of newly established partnerships against the defined goals and provide recommendations on further improvements 
• Transfer all the required knowledge to the sales teams to operationalize the established partnerships
• Collaborate closely with the Head of Partnerships to ensure smooth coordination of tasks and deliverables of all the projects
• Coordinate with various units, such as Risk, Legal, Back Office, Human Resources, IT and Alternative Delivery Channels, during the partnership implementation process

Required Skills or Experience

• Must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in Agriculture, Engineering, management or development economics, 
• Minimum three (3) years of relevant experience, including national service (preferably in the Financial or Agric sector), you are a real source of proposal and you are interested in the microfinance sector and Advans’s mission.  
• Strong background in project management
• Understanding of the business drivers behind agricultural partnerships and value chains dynamics
• Ability to manage complex projects involving various internal and external stakeholders (top management, Sales and Distribution, Marketing, Risk, third party partners, etc.)
• Ability to manage negotiations with external stakeholders (business partners, suppliers, farmer associations, etc.)
• Ability to remain customer focused, especially for rural population and smallholder farmers

Skills set/ Personal Abilities

• Excellent communication skills – written and spoken
• Strong organizational, analysis and synthesis skills
• Proficiency in MS Office
• Ability to manage a project team