POSITION: Impact Associate, Global Portfolio

LOCATION:  Remote, based in Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, or Kenya (hybrid). May consider another major African city depending on circumstances. 

BACKGROUND

Global Partnerships (GP) is an impact-first fund manager 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, primarily in Latin America and Africa. The GP team is comprised of mission-driven, dedicated, high-performing colleagues working primarily from offices in Seattle, Washington (USA), Bogotá, Colombia, and Nairobi, Kenya. To learn more about Global Partnerships, please visit our website at www.globalpartnerships.org.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Impact team is a strategic function within GP’s Capital and Impact Team (CIT) charged with the research, analysis, and partner engagement work that enables GP to develop, execute, and continuously strengthen its impact-first strategy. The Impact Associate will play a critical role in delivering on this mandate within the Global Portfolio of GP’s affiliated funds, which currently comprises investments in 25+ social enterprise partners in 12+ countries across sub-Saharan Africa, with potential future expansion into Asia. 

The Impact Associate will primarily work remotely, with periodic opportunities to engage in-person with colleagues and partners, and will report to the Director of Impact based in Bogotá. The Impact Associate will work closely with both the CIT and the Social Investment Team (SIT), which leads business development, loan origination, credit analysis, and capital recovery for GP-affiliated debt funds, including with team members located in the US. The position thus requires the ability to work independently and proactively communicate and collaborate with distributed colleagues and partners. 

This role will be responsible for the following:

Executing GP-affiliated funds’ impact-first partner screening and analysis to inform investment decision-making in the Global Portfolio:

• Underwriting potential investment opportunities for impact by collecting data, understanding each social enterprise’s business model, and conducting analysis to evaluate alignment with GP’s impact-first investment criteria
• Authoring and presenting Investment Briefs to inform investment decision-making, summarizing the impact case for investment, key impact risks, and supporting data and analysis
• Participating actively in Impact team discussions of Investment Briefs across regions
• Proactively communicating with Portfolio Directors and Director of Impact to together identify and prioritize the necessary impact-related next steps of pipeline work.

Supporting the provision of impact feedback and advisory to partner social enterprises in the Global Portfolio:

• Developing and maintaining highly professional, trust-based relationships with social enterprise partner staff
• Providing inputs to inform strategic feedback to senior social enterprise leaders on impact strengths and opportunities
• Supporting execution of GP-funded impact studies with partners (in collaboration with Director of Impact and a third-party research firm)

Executing targeted impact monitoring, analysis, and research:

• Conducting targeted, action-oriented research and analysis on initiative (sector), market, portfolio, and/or thematic questions to inform continuous improvement of GP’s impact-first investment strategy
• Contributing to additional projects as needed 

Core Capabilities

• Analytical and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to understand and apply analytical frameworks and identify key takeaways
• Excellent oral and written communication skills; capable of proactive and highly professional engagement with colleagues and partners across time zones, as well as cultural and socio-economic differences
• Self-motivated work ethic, with ability to see tasks through to completion independently
• Highly organized and adaptable; able to work in a dynamic, distributed work environment with excellent attention to detail
• Passion for GP’s mission to expand opportunity for people living in poverty
• Embodies GP’s culture: Dedicated, Strategic, Collaborative, Aspirational, Learning, and Excellence 

Required Qualifications

• 2+ years of relevant professional experience in impact investing, business analysis, investment or market research, management consulting, strategy development, social enterprises, or other relevant fields
• 2+ years of work or lived experience in Africa
• Business fluency in English and French
• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint 
• Undergraduate degree with a strong academic track record
• Willingness to travel within the region 1-2 times per quarter
• Ability to legally work and reside in Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, or Kenya, or such other African location as may be agreed by GP 
• While not required, experience working as part of a distributed global team would be considered an additional plus: 

WHAT WE OFFER

• Global Partnerships’ value proposition to our team members is anchored in the opportunity to pursue meaningful, impact-focused work with a team of collaborative, smart, dedicated colleagues. 
• Global Partnerships is an equal opportunity employer. We place a high value on diversity and equity, and strive to foster an inclusive work environment where people of diverse identities, backgrounds, and skills feel they belong. 
• We seek to create opportunities for continuous learning for each team member, while also creating conditions for a good work-life balance. 
• GP currently operates on a hybrid work model, in which many staff are co-located in our three offices, while certain positions work primarily remotely. The Impact Associate will likely be located remotely, unless the selected candidate is based in Nairobi, where GP has an office. For other locations, GP will support the Impact Associate with the necessary tools and resources to work collaboratively and productively from their location.
• This position is eligible for a compensation package including competitive salary and additional benefits, which vary by the candidate’s location. 

As part of the application, candidates will provide some basic information, a résumé, and a brief cover letter summarizing why you are interested in the position and your most relevant qualifications. Introductory interviews with the hiring manager will be held with selected candidates. A subset of candidates will then advance to a case study assignment, and finalists will interview with several other members of the GP team. Interviews will be conducted via video call. 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.

Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. For priority consideration, please apply by September 28, 2024. Due to the volume of applications, we will contact only those candidates selected for interviews – no follow-ups, please.