Senior Finance Expert
Senior Finance Expert
- United States of America
ESMAP seeks to recruit a senior finance expert with experience in prompting electricity access, in particular off-grid solar standalone solutions to support the ongoing work of the Innovative Finance and Lighting Global program in the scaling up of the programs, mainly through integrating the programs outputs and results into World Bank-financed projects. The senior off-grid finance expert will support with global tasks and help to inform World Bank lending operations with an off-grid solar standalone component.
Scope of the Work:
A major area of focus of the consultant would be to help client governments mainstream modern off-grid solar technology into their energy access programs. The consultant is expected to work in close collaboration with World Bank operations teams, client government officials and industry stakeholders to support the design and roll out of operational solutions to major market barriers of access to finance, market spoilage, consumer awareness, and policy and regulatory considerations. A major area of focus of the program is in designing financing facilities that can provide debt, grant, or blended financing to various levels of the market, including manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retail levels. Existing include Results Based Financing (RBF), catalytic grants, and risk sharing facilities. Specifically, the Consultant will help World Bank task team with engaging and building capacity of Governments for development of innovative financing mechanisms, building their understanding of private sector-driven business models and catalytic use of World Bank funding to attract more private investment. This will be done through individual World Bank project engagements, as well as through global knowledge and advocacy work of ESMAP with a special focus on innovative financing mechanisms. The Consultant will provide key expertise for developing innovative approaches to support early stage as well as scale up companies through World Bank lending. A focus area for the consultant will be to provide thought leadership on addressing the access to finance challenge of early stage, often locally owned, off-grid solar companies, and provision of guidance to operations teams on how to structure financing facilities and technical assistance that help early-stage companies to scale their business, utilizing grant, equity, and debt. In addition, the consultant will provide advise on how existing products, such as credit lines, can be enhanced to better serve existing markets. The assignment will entail significant outreach to the off-grid solar industry in Africa and other regions of interest. In close coordination with the FCI GP, IFC, and MIGA, the main tasks and responsibilities of the consultant include:
- support research relevant to bridging the access to finance gap for early stage off-grid solar companies and provide thought leadership on developing new private sector financing instruments that task teams could utilize.
- support and technical expertise to Task Team Leaders who are currently designing or implementing energy access operations with a significant off-grid solar component. The consultant will actively support the Task Team Leads in the project preparation cycle as well as during the initial stages of implementation, ensuring a smart design of the component as well as a smooth trajectory towards project effectiveness, with a focus on innovative private sector financing instruments.
- support the implementation of global knowledge products as they relate to innovative private sector financing mechanisms, including research, events, and exchanges, that help to inform relevant internal and external stakeholders.
Tasks of the consultant are not limited to the above. He/ She will provide support to other Lighting Global/ ESMAP activities and the implementation of the broader ESMAP business plan when and where needed.
Key Qualifications & Selection Criteria:
- Master’s degree in finance, economics, business administration, or other related field
- At least 10 years of experience working on/developing financial instruments targeting start-ups and a proven track record of developing new and innovative products that meet evolving market needs in developing or emerging countries.
- A minimum of three years of prior experience in the distributed renewable energy markets, with a particular focus on finance aspects (ideally work experience with an off-grid solar company or investor in the field), private sector actors (manufacturers, distributors, investors, service providers, etc.), as well as business models (consumers finance, PAYG business models, etc.). Prior Experience in off-grid solar his highly desirable.
- Good understanding of development partner and/ or DFI operations and experience in conceptualizing innovative financing mechanisms that leverage public funding from a DFI.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills in French and English (please note the French skills will be a key selection criteria). Additional language skills desirable.
- A track record of teamwork and ability to produce high-quality results and outputs with minimal supervision
- High level of energy, initiative, and flexibility in quickly adjusting to changing work program requirements
Working Arrangement
Location & Travel:
The preferred working location shall be Washington D.C., Europe, or Sub-Saharan Africa. Travel is expected in relation to this assignment.
Level of Effort and Daily Rate
The total level of effort is expected to be 100 days between December 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023. The consultant will be remunerated on a time only basis as per the normal procedures of the World Bank, under A.3 category.
Reporting:
The consultant will report to Raihan Elahi (Lead Energy Specialist and Lighting Global Team Leader). Johanna Galan (Energy Specialist) will be the day-to-day point of contact.
Application Process:
Interested candidates should send their CV and a short motivational statement to Johanna Galan, jgalan1@worldbank.org by November 30th, 2022.]]This page belongs to the Job Offers database.
