Investment Officer - Lebanon

Job Title:

Investment Officer – Lebanon

Corus International is seeking an Investment Officer to implement a forthcoming project focused on women entrepreneurs in Lebanon.  The position will be based in Beirut, for which Ground Up Investing will have up to $650,000 to finance women entrepreneurs or enterprises employing a significant number of women.  The key role of the Investment Officer will be to identify and evaluate potential medium-sized enterprise borrowers and develop strategies and mechanisms to identify and realize higher value, niche markets for the entrepreneurs’ products, and assist entrepreneurs in accessing those markets.  The Investment Officer will be responsible for recommending medium-sized entrepreneurs to Makhzoumi Foundation, managing the loan portfolio in conjunction with the MFI, managing the GUI grant, monitoring, reporting, and managing the project. The Investment Officer will also be responsible for managing GUI’s investment portfolio in Lebanon, including treasury functions, developing financing mechanisms, monitoring, reporting, and managing the project.

DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:     

• Coordinate with relevant teams and team members within the LWR Lebanon office to ensure that project objectives are met

• Identify and evaluate potential women entrepreneurs and businesses employing significant numbers of women for financing, including assessing their businesses in terms of product, market, cash flow, uniqueness, longevity, etc.  This will NOT consist of a checklist approach; the Investment/Loan officer will be expected to evaluate the businesses from a variety of angles, identifying strengths and opportunities, weaknesses and mitigating factors, capacity, competition, bottlenecks, etc.

• Managing the GUI components of the grant, including treasury and exchange issues, reporting, cash flow out and returns.  Currency exchange issues will be important, and the Investment/Loan Officer will be expected to make an effort to protect GUI from exchange rate losses to the extent possible.

• Identify opportunities to finance niche or higher value products that have an export potential, including quality, uniqueness and volume, develop programs to enable access to export markets and assist borrowers, or groups of borrowers.

• Liaise with partner MFIs regarding project activities and recipients of program funds

REQUIRED EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

The ideal candidate will be an entrepreneurial self-starter, adept at social networking and evaluating borrowers’ creditworthiness, businesses and character.  The candidate should be creative and have a keen eye for market opportunities and capable of putting together practical programs to assist borrowers in accessing export markets.  Some background in banking will be useful, but not necessary.  Fluent English, ability to write reports containing factual and anecdotal impact information required. 

• A degree in finance or a relevant field from an accredited institution.

• A minimum of 5-8 years related experience.

Internal interactions:

Country F&A Officer, Lebanon programs team, AME Regional Team, Ground Up Investing team.