Group Director - Business Development

About the role

The African Guarantee Fund (AGF) is a Pan-African non-bank financial institution that helps financial institutions in Africa scale up their SME financing through guarantees and related products. The Group Director of Business Development is a senior leadership position reporting to the Group Chief Executive Officer, based in Nairobi, responsible for growing AGF's guarantee business across Africa, optimizing partnerships, designing new products and achieving revenue targets.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and implement business development strategies to grow the guarantee business and manage the existing portfolio to maintain credit quality while growing.
• Build strong relationships with partner financial institutions and set up a customer relationship management framework to drive utilization and new business.
• Sourcing and acquiring new business, with market and competitor analysis to inform decisions.
• Lead thought leadership on strategic marketing, communication and new product development, and build strategic partnerships with stakeholders to increase financing for African SMEs.
• Oversee the group-level guarantee pipeline and track opportunities, collaborating with regional business development teams on lead generation, conversion and portfolio optimization.
• Set clear targets, monitor performance and development goals of direct reports, and lead the department with diplomacy and transparency.

Required profile

• Master's degree in finance, business, development economics and/or financial inclusion.
• At least 10 years of managerial and leadership experience in a financial institution.
• Extensive experience in business development, sales or marketing, often 10+ years, with several years in a leadership role.
• Minimum of five years of leadership and management experience, including coaching, mentoring and giving feedback.
• Good understanding of financial institutions' approaches to SME lending, risk mitigation and loan appraisal.

Required skills

• Bilingual French is required; excellent verbal and written English.
• Excellent negotiation, communication and interpersonal skills, and strong leadership and team-building abilities.
• Excellent knowledge of the financial institution landscape and the SME context in Africa.

What we offer

• A regionally competitive salary with an excellent benefits package.
• An equal opportunity employer with a collegial, supportive and gender-sensitive working environment.