Palladium Jobs 2021

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Job Description

Job Title: Ghanaian Agribusiness Expert

Palladium is a child-safe organisation, and screens applicants for suitability to work with children. We also provide equal employment to all participants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran or marital status.

Background:

Over the past 5 years, Ghana has made significant progress creating the infrastructure and conditions to expand financing to agricultural micro, small and medium enterprises. However, much remains to be done, given that interest rates for loans remain exorbitant, tenures too short, collateral requirements (even with guarantees) above 100%, and transaction costs prohibitive for commercial financial institutions (FIs) to profitably provide financing at scale.

To unlock agricultural finance in Ghana, the Feed the Future (FtF) Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA) Activity will facilitate transactions to drive capital investment and trade in select value chains to enhance food security and towards trade acceleration. MFA will facilitate investment into the following agricultural value chains: maize, cowpea, groundnut, soy, cashew, mango, shea, and other high-value export crops. MFA’s interventions within the food security crops (maize, cowpea, groundnut, and soy) should focus on activities in the USAID Zone of Influence (ZOI) in Northern Ghana or demonstrate a linkage to smallholder farmers in the ZOI.[1] MFA’s interventions in the export-focused value chains (cashew, mango, shea, or any other export crop with demonstrated viability) can be nationwide. MFA will leverage performance-based incentives, training, and technical assistance to enhance Business Advisory Service (BAS) providers’ and financial institutions’ capacities to tackle challenges limiting the target value chain actors’ access to appropriate finance for sustainable agricultural and economic growth. MFA contributes to the Ghana Feed the Future Global Food Security Strategy.

OBJECTIVE:

The Agribusiness Investment Opportunity Pipeline Development STTA assignment will increase the pool of financing and investment opportunities among Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises for the FtF MFA activity. The assessment team will consist of one Team Leader and two Ghanaian Agribusiness Experts, who together will identify, map and develop finance and investment deal profiles that represent strategic opportunities for bank and/or non-bank, debt and/or equity investments in Ghana. The final deliverable will be showcased at the FtF MFA’s Annual Agribusiness Investment Summit (tentatively scheduled for May 2021) to stimulate transactions between project partners.

In detail, the STTA assignment aims to identify prospective commercially viable investment opportunities for improved production, infrastructure, and service delivery for agriculture in Ghana within the target value chains. Qualifying agribusinesses include, but are not limited to, input dealers, producers, processors, aggregators, storage providers, traders, retailers, exporters, agriculture logistical firms, and technology providers, among others, provided that they are in or serve to enable the target value chains and the ZOI. It also includes financial institutions that conduct on-lending to businesses in the target value chains.

The assessment team will produce a document with at least 60 complete investment profiles that can be immediately supported by BAS providers and/or invested in by financial institutions. It is anticipated that the sum of all investment needed for these 60 agribusiness opportunities shall be at least $30,000,000. The average MSMEs’ investment needs should be in the range of US $200,000 – $5,000,000, although investments above and below these ceilings will be considered. The investment profiles will be showcased at the Project’s Annual Agribusiness Investment Summit, and be integrated into BAS provider workshops and subsequent engagements with financial institutions.

[1] USAID ZOI: Northern Region (, Gushiegu, Karaga, , Mion, Sagnerigu, Nanton, Yendi), North East Region (East Mamprusi, Mamprugu Moagduri), Upper East Region (Bawku Municipal, Bawku West, Garu, Tempane), Upper West Region (Daffiama Bussie Issa, Nadowli-Kaleo, Sissala East, Sissala West, Wa East). The above ZOI applies to production only. All other value chain activities can be in Ghana outside the ZOI, but with a demonstrable working relationship with stakeholders in the ZOI.

Scope:

Geographic Scope: The Agribusiness Investment Opportunities profiled as a result of this assignment can be physically located nationwide for all value chain activities, except for the production of maize, soy, cowpea, and groundnut that the intervention opportunity should focus on the selected districts in Northern, North East, Upper East, and Upper West regions or have a demonstrated linkage with producers in these geographic areas. For example, a processor located outside of these regions who buys inputs from producers in these target areas would qualify.

Agricultural Value Chain Focus: The assessment team must focus on the maize, cowpea, groundnut, soy, mango, cashew, and shea value chains as well as other high-value export agricultural commodities, not including cocoa. Strategic investments can be geared towards those promoting increased production of these products and strengthening the entire value chain, including investments that will increase efficiencies in the links between producer groups, processors, buyers of agricultural products, and exporters of these commodities. In other words, strategic investments in logistics services and infrastructure from farm-level production and post-harvest practices through various stages of aggregation, storage, processing, and transportation in these value chains will be considered.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Identify and confirm potential agribusinesses seeking investment, develop a schedule of interviews (virtual), and develop interview guides. Potential agribusiness investees will be identified by reviewing existing literature and investment profiles previously developed by USAID-FinGAP, consultations with FtF MFA staff, consultants, other Feed the Future projects, and existing MSME clients to identify upstream and/or downstream opportunities for credit/equity investment. The consultants should make a concerted effort to identify as many deals as possible involving female-led and youth-led MSMEs or with heavy impact on women upstream in the value chain, including smallholders within the ZOI.
Conduct interviews/meetings to collect necessary data throughout Ghana using virtual tools. The assessment team will conduct interviews among strategic partners and potential investees in northern Ghana’s target value chains, prioritizing management and decision-makers. If requested, these interviews could include potential investees previously profiled in past investment booklets.
Develop an Investment Booklet including the deal profiles. The assessment team will produce an investment booklet including 60 profiles (ideally balanced between the various target value chains) of the most promising deals identified through the MSME engagement. The booklet should also include a short introductory section summarizing the types of deals identified (see past booklets for reference).
In order to select appropriate investment profiles for inclusion in the booklet, the assessment team should screen opportunities according to the following criteria:

Extent to which investments will increase the competitiveness of target value chains
Commercial viability including financial healthiness
Smallholder linkages
Relevance to target value chains
Potential food security impact
Potential to enhance Ghana’s trade in the target value chains
Benefits accruing to women and youth
Investment needed and proximity to $200,000 – $5,000,000 target range
Good Agricultural Practice
Environmental Impact
Each investment profile developed by the assessment team should include the following information, at minimum:

Title/name of the investment
Description of the specific market opportunity and potential developmental impact
Investment type (debt, equity)
Brief description of the investment opportunity
Brief assessment of project/investment risks
Value of the investment (either specific amount or range)
Amount and type of financing required
Type of deal (i.e., green field, joint venture, equity, etc.)
Location
Land status
Value chain focus
Supporting initiatives
Required complementary investments, if any
Public sector role, if any
BAS required
Key stakeholders
Environmental concerns and prospective mitigating measures
4. Any other activity as deemed necessary and related to this assignment by the FtF MFA Chief of Party, Victor Antwi, or his designate.