African Development Bank (AfDB) -  the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). 

POSITION : Division Manager, Trade Development

DESCRIPTION

The Hiring Department

• In line with the Bank Ten-Year Strategy, and consistent with the Bank’s Industrialization Strategy for Africa, the Division drives the Trade development, facilitation and investment climate agenda to support the industrialization and overall development agenda of the Bank.
• The Division is mandated to drive the Bank’s trade facilitation and investment climate agenda working in close collaboration with the Transport and logistics department, the industrialization team as well as the Economic Governance, Agriculture and Regional Integration complexes and the regional hubs of the Bank.
• Working through strategic partnerships with other partners and trade development stakeholders such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Customs Organization (WCO), and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), African Union Commission (AUC) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other specialized institutions.
• The Division actively seeks to support Regional Member Countries (RMCs) and RECs in adjusting their national trade and investment policies, implementing international, regional and bilateral trade agreements, identifying potential sectors where policies need to be harmonized and creating the enabling environment for investment.
• The Division is the primary focal point on trade facilitation and investment climate related operations in the Bank, which includes support to non-sovereign operations, advisory and technical assistance pertaining to trade facilitation, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and linkage projects, identification of programmes, projects and initiatives aimed at expanding markets in order to attract investors.
• In addition, the Division strives to facilitate government and private sector dialogue to foster coordination between Trade facilitation and investment stakeholders.

The Position

• The job of Division Manager Trade Development reporting to the Director Industrial and Trade Development, is key to the implementation of the Bank’s Industrialization, Regional Integration and Feed Africa Strategies for Africa.
• The Manager is responsible for all aspects of the implementation and coordination programs, projects, initiatives of the Bank on trade development and investment climate which include both lending and non-lending activities.
• The Manager is accountable for performing the responsibilities, modeling the behaviors and maintaining the technical and managerial competencies (listed below).
• This includes managing quality, risks, results, institutional initiatives and compliance with Bank policies and procedures and keeping the Division at the forefront through needed upgrades and innovation.

 Responsibilities

• Lead the effective delivery of the division work and budget programming;
• Lead the strategic staffing of the division and the performance appraisal of work performance, appraising staff potential and determining training and development needs;
• Lead the activities of the division with appropriate delegation of day to day activities;
• Ensure effective budget resources management and cost saving;
• Ensure that the KPIs set for the division are met;
• Lead the division expert teams by regularly assessing the skill mix and learning needs with the support of the Industrial and Trade Development Department and Human Resources Department (CHHR/HRBP).
• Lead the Bank’s policy and operations on trade facilitation and investment climate towards expanding markets on the continent;
• Lead the implementation of the Industrialize Africa Strategy Pillar II, focusing on market access, policy formulation and removal of trade barriers in order to drive competitiveness;
• Develop trade facilitation and investment climate business plans to support the Bank’s work in cross-border infrastructure, trade facilitation and regional integration;
• Work with the Bank’s Transport and logistics department to facilitate trade along major continental corridors;
• Assist RMCs/RECs to integrate trade facilitation (through support to the implementation of international, regional and bilateral trade agreements) as part of their development agendas;
• Identify and design projects and Technical Assistance programs to support trade facilitation and investment climate reforms in RMCs and RECs;
• Support countries to create requisite enabling business environment for investment;
• Interface as needed with Management, internal and external stakeholders on trade and investment development issues;
• Support the implementation of continental and regional trade programmes such as the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), Boosting Intra-Africa Trade (BIAT), Tripartite, etc.;
• Work with key trade facilitation and investment climate stakeholders and partners including WTO, UNCTAD, WCO, UNIDO, UNECA, AUC, RECs, RMCs, Development Finance Institutions, the Private Sector and other specialised institutions to effectively implement the Bank’s trade facilitation and market expansion programs;

Selection Criteria

• A Master's Degree in International Trade, Economics, Law, business Administration, Finance, Economics, Social Sciences or other relevant fields;
• Develops strong managerial and technical talent and actively engages in strategic staff planning and succession planning with appropriate delegation;
• Models integrity and inclusion, offers mentoring and career development opportunities for staff;
• Sets direction, requirements and participates actively in recruitment, on-boarding and training of staff.
• Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French, with a working knowledge of the other.
• Competence in the use of Bank standard software (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint).
• A minimum of 8 years of extensive and in-depth experience out of which 3 should be at a managerial level, in a similar institution and/or trade facilitation, regional integration or investment facilitation;
• Client and results oriented individual, with strong analytical and communication (both verbally and in writing) skills, sense of accuracy and attention to detail;
• Having private sector experience will be an added advantage
• Ability to build partnership with a broad range of clients and deliver results that meet the needs and long-term interests of clients within and outside the institution;
• Ability to deal with sensitive issues in a multi-cultural environment and to build effective working relations with colleagues;
• Ability to perform under stress and manage multiple competing priorities;
• Comprehensively understands trade and investment projects structures and critical success factors, strategies, policies, procedures and practices of other similar institutions;
• Leads in creating an environment for sharing and communicating knowledge within the division, department, complex, regional hubs and externally;
• Ability to combine both policy and transaction sides of trade and investment development;
• Proven ability to build and lead motivated and committed multidisciplinary teams of experts across functional boundaries, and utilize talent and expertise of team members in a productive way;
• Demonstrated ability to present and win support for ideas; a good listener; cultural sensitivity, commitment to diversity and capacity to initiate and manage innovations or change;
• Proven track record of working in teams and creating an empowering and self-development oriented work environment;
• Leads and motivates teams with a focus on client orientation, results, strong cross-units coordination and problem solving, and takes responsibility for achieving and communicating with operational staff in the Regional hubs, sectoral technical staff, and the departmental management team;