Power Transmission Public Private Partnership (PPP) Specialist – Power Africa

About Us

International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. (IBTCI), a U.S. based international development consulting company established in 1987, has worked in over 100 countries and implemented over 300 projects. IBTCI serves government agencies, private sector companies, and several donor agencies. IBTCI specializes in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) and institutional support across many areas and sectors including, but not limited to, conflict and crisis, democracy and governance, agriculture, economic growth, food security, education, environment, and global health.

Job Title: Power Transmission Public Private Partnership (PPP) Specialist

Department/Location: Power Systems Development Department, African Development Bank (Power Africa Secondee) / Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Reports To: Institutional Support Project Manager

Type: Regular Full-Time, 2 years

Clasification: Exempt

Clearance Required: N/A

Overview:

On behalf of Power Africa, IBTCI is seeking the services of a Long Term Technical Advisor to serve as a Power Transmission Public Private Partnership (PPP) Specialist.

Launched in 2013, Power Africa is a Presidential initiative that focuses on bridging the gap between Africa’s power shortage and its economic potential by working with other U.S. Government agencies, African Governments, NGOs, and the private sector to take the steps needed to substantially expand power generation, transmission and access in sub-Saharan Africa. The U.S. Government-wide initiative is charged with adding more than 30,000 megawatts (MWs) of electricity generation capacity and bringing electricity to 60 million homes and businesses on the continent by 2030. Power Africa is coordinated by USAID, where it sits within the Agency’s Africa Bureau, and accomplishes its objectives through promoting investment in energy projects, leveraging public and private sector financing facilities, strengthening capacity, improving management, providing critical technical assistance and supporting necessary policy and regulatory reform efforts. Power Africa is supporting the African Development Bank (AfDB) in filling the position described below.

The Bank

AfDB, established in 1964, is the leading development bank on the continent with a mission and objective to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its Regional Member Countries, thus contributing to poverty reduction. AfDB implements its cooperation with its regional member countries, and Regional economic Communities (RECs), not only through project funding (equity/grants/loans) but also through other types of assistance which include development of policy, knowledge generation, capacity building and advisory services.

The Bank’s Triple-A rating across major rating agencies enables it to mobilize and allocate resources for investment in Africa while providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts. To accelerate Africa’s transformation, the Bank has identified five operational priority areas. These five priorities (“the High 5s”) are: (i) Light Up & Power Africa; (ii) Feed Africa; (iii) Industrialize Africa; (iv) Integrate Africa; and (v) Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. The High 5s will help Africa achieve 90% of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and are intrinsically linked to the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

“Light Up and Power Africa” is one of the High 5s, recognizing the central role of energy in the transition toward inclusive green growth in Africa and to fulfilling the basic human needs of Africans. The Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth Sector Complex (PEVP) was created to fulfill the objectives of “Light Up and Power Africa” – principally achieving power supply / energy security and universal access to energy by 2030.

The PEVP Complex

PEVP is a Sector Complex focusing broadly on the Bank’s ten-year strategy (TYS) and High 5 priority of “Light up and Power Africa.” The complex’s objectives are (i) to develop policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector technical expertise to the Regions by gathering a pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted for their expertise on complicated transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) act as spokesperson for the Bank with external stakeholders on all aspects of “Light Up and Power Africa”. The Complex focuses specifically on areas of power system development, policy and regulation, renewable energy and climate and green growth. The Complex also ensures that the Bank operates successfully across its Regional Member Countries and oversees the full implementation of all aspects of the Bank’s energy operations.

Top priority initiatives will include:

1) Delivering the New Deal on Energy for Africa (NDEA) – inter-connected flagship initiatives that will achieve power / energy supply security, universal access to electricity by 2030 and a Just Energy Transition 9in line with Paris Agreement obligations); and

2) Establishing Transformative Partnerships on Energy for Africa – visionary partnerships across the public sector, private sector, multilateral players, and NGOs.

The PEVP Complex oversees strategy and policy development in the energy / power sector; builds alignment across stakeholders and represents the Bank with external stakeholders; advises, originates, appraises, structures and executes national, regional and continental projects; develops new, innovative financing instruments; and ensures delivery of the “Light Up and Power Africa” agenda.

The Hiring Department

The Power Systems Development Department within the PEVP complex has the broad objective of supporting the Bank’s Regional Member Countries, Power Utilities, Regional Economic Communities, Power Pools, Regulators and other stakeholders to develop and improve their own Power Systems and the performance of their utilities, for both Sovereign Operations (SO), Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and Non-Sovereign Operations (NSO). The Department has six (6) Divisions led by Managers: Namely, Power Systems Solutions (PESD1) based at the HQ and Power Systems Operations Divisions in each of the Bank’s five (5) operational regions (PESD 2, 3, 4 & 5): Central / North, West, East and South, respectively. The position is under the Director of the Power Systems Development Department, located at the Bank’s headquarters in Abidjan.

The Position

PESD is seeking to recruit a Power Transmission PPP Specialist to be based in Abidjan. The Transmission PPP Specialist will be required to support the origination and execution of Transmission project preparation / development and advisory support mandates in RMCs / RECs / Power Pools. Under the general guidance and supervision of the Director, the Power Transmission PPP Specialist will perform the following duties and responsibilities:

Responsibilities

Essential Duties/Tasks and Responsibilities:

The selected individual will be required to support in the origination, structuring and execution of project preparation / development and advisory mandates across Africa in line with AfDB’s PPP Strategic Framework and Guidelines. Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Proactively undertake business development in the energy sector, particularly in the Transmission sub-sector.
• Develop new client relationships and project leads.
• Undertake project scoping to assess feasibility of potential projects; participate in origination activities and marketing activities, e.g. supervision of proposal preparation, mandate negotiation with clients.
• Manage various consultants and review legal, financial, commercial and technical outputs; project and finance documentation, including financial models.
• Develop transaction structure options for Transmission PPP projects, provide innovative solutions and present recommendations to clients.
• Organize and manage the tendering process of projects, including marketing of projects.
• Develop, coach, motivate and manage junior members of the team.
• Understand the technical, legal and regulatory impediments for private sector participation / investment and work closely with PEVP Units to overcome these.
• Coordinate with other PESD Divisions, PEVP Departments and Regional Business Delivery Units / Hubs to assess opportunities for Transmission PPPs in PEVP operations, where possible and to provide bespoke solutions to our clients to achieve sustainable development impact.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience on Power Transmission (and Distribution) PPP transaction advisory, privatization advisory on buy and/or sell side, project finance, private equity, project management – all with focus on the power Transmission (and Distribution) sector.
• Strong experience in the Power Sector with knowledge of sector trends and legal and regulatory requirements and with proven track record of power infrastructure/PPP transactions, in particular Transmission PPPs.
• Strong analytical and financial modeling/structuring skills and demonstrated ability to:
  • Lead a variety of transaction advisory mandates, including debt and equity transactions.
  • Independently develop own financial models and sound financial analysis of the models to draw conclusions.
  • Structure or restructure transactions to ensure prudent and sustainable risk sharing among all parties.
• Ability to work under pressure and deliver high quality work within deadlines to meet team, Departmental and Corporate objectives.
• Ability to interact directly and independently with potential clients, financial and technical partners / advisors as well as with senior government officials.
• Willingness and ability to travel on short notice and frequently, as required.
• Excellent written and communication skills in English and French (or Arabic / Portuguese).

Education: Master’s degree in Economics, Finance, Business Administration, Law, Development Finance, Engineering or other related discipline.

Preferred Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Minimum 5 years of experience of sell-side PPP advisory in past 15 years.
• Strong existing relationships with project developers, investors, and technical and legal consultants in the energy space.
• Experience in an international development finance institution.
• Excellent communication skills in English and French (or Arabic / Portuguese).

Supervisory Responsibility: This position does not have supervisory responsibilities.

Travel: International travel may be required and may include travel to fragile and/or conflict-prone zones.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

About the Organization:

IBTCI has been in business since 1987. We specialize in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL), Institutional Support (IS), Financial & Risk Management (FRM), Supply Chain Management & Procurement (SCMP); Social & Behavior Change (SBC) and Capacity Building. We provide these services across many sectors including, but not limited to, agriculture, resilience & food security, conflict & crisis, democracy & governance, economic growth & trade, education & human capacity development, energy & infrastructure, environment & climate change, global health & WASH and humanitarian and disaster assistance. At IBTCI, our colleagues are encouraged to collaborate and be part of the solution while getting the tools and guidance needed to grow and support our clients’ missions.

IBTCI is committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity for all persons without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identification, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran, or any other classification protected by applicable anti-discrimination laws. We prohibit and do not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment. VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

If you are an applicant with a disability that requires a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process or are limited in the ability, or unable to use the online application system and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact the Talent Acquisition team at TalentAcquisition@ibtci.com (Do not send your resume to this account, for consideration please apply in our career page, https://careers.ibtci.com/jobs).