Access to Finance Consultant

Organization
Global Distributors Collective
Location
Remote
Job Type
Contract
Deadline for Applications
01/15/2023
How to Apply
Submit your quotation, along with your CV and cover letter
Where to Apply
GDC@practicalaction.org.uk
Tags
Contract, Remote
The GDC is a collective of nearly 200 last mile distribution organisations operating in over 50 countries. These are organisations that focus on providing life-changing products to underserved consumers, i.e. low-income, remote, or otherwise marginalised people.

The GDC has two main strategic pillars:
– Help businesses improve their business performance and grow
– Build a collective voice for the last mile distribution sector

The objective of this tender is to find a consultant who will lead the GDC’s Access to Finance body of work over the next three years with experience in fund design and management in emerging markets to support the GDC as we look to unlock finance in the last mile distribution (LMD) sector.

This area of work is quite nascent at the GDC and to date our focus has been primarily on
a) building a rigorous understanding of the funding needs of LMDs, the challenges faced by investors, and the capital continuum in the LMD sector;
b) undertaking informal match-making both between funders, and between funders and LMDs; and
c) working with funders to help them better understand and serve last mile distributors.

Moving forward we have three main areas of scope:
1. Fund design support: Building on ongoing GDC research on the LMD capital continuum and where the gaps in funding for the sector lie, we will explore the feasibility of implementing new funding mechanisms in partnership with investors.
2. Investment readiness support: We will develop and disseminate a series of tools that can help LMDs to be investment ready, helping to increasing LMDs’ chances of successfully accessing capital.
3. Investor/LMD dialogues: We will leverage the network of investors that the GDC has built over the past 3 years to facilitate structured dialogues, both between investors and GDC members as well as amongst investors themselves. The goal is to help build a shared understanding of the key challenges faced and work with key stakeholders to co-develop solutions, as well as to help investors build pipeline, reduce transaction costs and increase transparency.

The role of the successful consultant will be to provide strategic support to help co-create and drive the implementation of all three of the areas outlined above, with a particular focus on the first (fund design). Specifically, they will:

– Implement a strategy and roadmap of the GDC’s activities in relation to our access to finance activities and be responsible for driving their implementation.
– Lead in identifying the types of financing mechanisms that are most suitable for LMDs.
– Lead in identifying and engaging key potential partners and investors for our access to finance work
– Lead in gathering data to inform fund design
– Support in designing new funding mechanisms.

The candidate must possess:
– Deep expertise in impact investing, fund management, private debt/equity
– Relevant master’s degree in finance/ economics (or equivalent i.e. CFA)
– Large network in the development finance sector
– Experience in supporting the acceleration of SDGs in developing countries with a particular emphasis on access to basic products and services, such as energy access.
– A pro at excel and financial modelling
– Excited to develop innovative new financial structures
– Exceptional stakeholder management skills
– Fluent in English. Bonus points if you speak another language (especially French).

Deadline for completion of work: An initial contract of one year will be entered into for this support, for a set number of days (circa 50-70 days). Renewable annually.
Costs to be included: Please provide rate cards.
Closing date: 23:59 GMT, Sunday 15th January.