JOB DESCRIPTION: Access to Finance and Investment Facilitation Specialist
USAID-funded Developing Sustainable Tourism Activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a five-year program aims to accelerate economic growth in the tourism sector, provide sustainable income for producer organization and tourism-related companies, help to transform the “BiH brand”, and have a positive spill-over effect to other sectors; such as agriculture, transportation, and environmental protection and nature conservation. In achieving this overarching goal, TURIZAM focuses on the following objectives: Objective 1: Enabling Environment with the Harmonized Policies and Regulations Necessary for Noticeable Growth in the Tourism Sector Established Objective 2: Tourism Quality, Services, and Branding Strengthened Resulting in Improved BiH Tourism Industry Objective 3: Tourism Service Providers, Agriculture, and Other Tourism-Related SMEs Gain Improved Access to Finance Resulting in a Substantial Increase in Investment Objective 4: Tourism and Agriculture Products Gain Increased Access to Regional and Global Markets
USAID Turizam is looking for a full-time support to join our team in Sarajevo and help us improve tourism financing.If you are a professional with background in the finance sector, ideally have some project-related experience and are excited about creating new financing opportunities in the tourism sector, this is an opportunity for you.
The Access to Finance and Investment Facilitation Specialist will strategize and execute Turizam’s access to finance and investment facilitation portfolio designed to provide solutions to challenges as identified by the project and tourism sector. In this role, the Specialist will spearhead activities to increase access to finance for tourism MSMEs by enhancing banks’ aptitude to promote tourism-focused lending products and improve the ability of tourism MSMEs to access finance. S/he will provide specific technical advisory and coordination support to established businesses and start-ups, facilitate public-private partnerships, and promote tourism investment across the country. The candidate will be a focal point for Turizam with banks, financial institutions, and business development services (BDS) providers.
PRINCIPAL POSITION OBJECTIVES, BASIC FUNCTIONS, CRITICAL TASKS
PRIMARY ROLES
The Access to Finance and Investment Facilitation Specialist will serve as part of the project team, and will plan, advise on and coordinate program activities related to three key areas as follows:
- increasing access to finance (A2F) for tourism MSMEs and entrepreneurs in the tourism value chain,
- identifying and facilitating investment opportunities and projects in tourism industry, and
- mobilizing private capital towards sustainable management of public assets through initiation of public private partnerships (PPP).
S/he will build and maintain strong working relationships with financial institutions and other relevant stakeholders.
ROLE DESCRIPTION
The Access to Finance and Investment Facilitation Specialist will assume the role of technical lead within USAID Turizam activities aimed at increasing A2F, investments and PPP in tourism in BiH. This will include business development support to established businesses, MSMEs and start-ups, facilitation of public-private partnerships, and promotion of inward and domestic investment across the country. The candidate will be expected to liaise with other technical components to identify synergies within tourism products and brands (Herzegovina Wine Route, Most Beautiful Villages, Hub&Spokes, and other). S/he will be a focal point for Turizam with banks, financial institutions and business development services (BDS) providers.
SPECIFIC DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES:
The Access to Finance and Investment Facilitation Specialist will assume the following specific duties and responsibilities:
FOR ACCESS TO FINANCE
- Develop effective working relationships with banks, microcredit organizations (MCOs), and leasing companies, particularly with heads of credit departments and loan officers of the organizations that Turizam has signed the partnership agreements with.
- Assess the financial viability of tourism projects and initiatives by evaluating business plans and financial projections to determine the potential return on investment and risk factors associated with different projects.
- In cooperation with the Turizam team, lead awareness building of banks and MCOs on the features and opportunities available in the tourism sector to enhance their understanding of businesses in the entire tourism value chain and its associated industries with the objective of increasing the number of loan applications approved.
- Identify opportunities with financial institutions to modify or introduce new lending products for tourism and related sectors.
- Provide support and capacity building to tourism entrepreneurs and project owners to improve their financial literacy and investment readiness. This includes support to formulation of requests for proposals and management of performance of business development services (BDS) providers.
INVESTMENT AND PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
- Support the development of a list of investment opportunities and PPPs in the tourism industry.
- Help identifying potential funding sources, building partnerships with financial institutions and formulating plans to promote investment projects and to attract investments.
- Connect potential investors with viable tourism projects. This involves identifying investment opportunities, promoting them to potential investors, organizing investment events/ meetups/roadshows, and facilitating matchmaking between investors and project owners.
- Support development of prospectuses and other communication and sales materials.
OTHER DUTIES
- Provide necessary advice and support for the timely completion of Turizam work plan tasks and the achievement of Turizam goals and objectives.
- Organize workshops, consulting sessions, focus groups and training activities as needed serving the objectives of the project.
- Report and document activities, results, progress, lessons learnt and potential future interventions.
- Participate in the promotion of the grants program; review grant applications to ensure match with program objectives, as well as the USAID-approved grants manual
- Perform other tasks as may be assigned by the direct supervisor to achieve project goals and objectives.
POSITION REQUIREMENTS
- Bachelor's degree in economics/finance or other related field, Master’s degree preferred.
- Five or more years of experience in the consulting and/or banking sector with a focus on business development, investment promotion or access to finance.
- Ability to effectively communicate verbally and in writing in both BHS and English with ability to produce publication-quality documents, including reports, manuals, and presentations.
- Ability to work in a professional and cordial manner with fellow project staff members, visitors, project stakeholders and the general public.
- Ability to apply sound project management principles to everyday work, work independently with minimal supervision, to prioritize work assignments, to meet deadlines, and to exercise good, professional judgment that reflects positively on the image of project and Chemonics.
- Ability to travel within country as needed, valid driving license preferred.
- Experience working on USAID projects will be an asset but not necessary.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Please submit a CV and cover letter by June26, 2023, at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Job_App_A2F
Candidates will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. No telephone inquiries, please. Finalists will be contacted. Chemonics International Inc is an equal opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices.
Location: Sarajevo
Number of Employees: 1
Date of Publication: June 1, 2023
Public Call Duration: 25 days (expires on June 26, 2023)