Principal – East Africa CrossBoundary Advisory
About the Firm Founded in 2011, CrossBoundary is a mission-driven investment firm committed to unlocking the power of capital for sustainable growth and strong returns in underserved markets. CrossBoundary provides transaction and investment advisory services, having developed a specialized expertise in unleashing investment across all sectors in these markets. Our advisory clients include governments, development finance institutions, private equity firms, Fortune 100 companies, and research institutions. Learn more at www.crossboundary.com
Job Description CrossBoundary is recruiting a full-time Principal to be based in Kenya. The candidate will be part of the East Africa advisory team, focused on leading transaction teams focused on unlocking private capital. We are seeking candidates with 15+ years of experience living and working in-market, with strong contacts across the region’s financial services sector, a thorough understanding of the investment landscape and demonstrate strong team and project management experience.
CrossBoundary is an investment firm. As a Principal, you will lead a transaction advisory team and oversee mandate execution in investment facilitation, commercial due diligence, and market studies. Principals also lead regional business development and grow the business activities of CrossBoundary in the region, originating transactions and projects.
Who We Are The CrossBoundary team is a unique group made up of people who are genuinely excited by the opportunity to make a difference in some of the most challenging yet exciting markets in the world. Team members come from diverse backgrounds but share several qualities: curiosity, humility, integrity, a drive for excellence, and a bias for action.
Who You Are
- Self-starter who is passionate about creating lasting change in underserved markets
- Possesses tangible grit, seeks differentiation by intentionally taking self-outside of comfort zone physically, culturally, and intellectually
- Strong leader, coach, and mentor
- High tolerance for ambiguity; ability to operate effectively through friction and opacity
- Enthusiastic about working, traveling, and living in a challenging environment
- Able to close a deal, great at building relationships and the business
- Demonstrated management skills; leading teams to results in challenging circumstances
- Leadership skills; preferably in a fast-moving and entrepreneurial environment
- Outstanding analytical ability and discipline; ability to think clearly, structure problems logically, and then design and implement solutions that focus on the core issues
- Excellent quantitative skills; ability to apply analytical rigor to complex and uncertain tasks
- Knowledge of corporate finance and familiarity with M&A processes, company evaluation, and valuation techniques
- Ability to build strong relationships with clients and colleagues in stressful environments
- Superb presentation skills; ability to communicate clearly and effectively with diverse audiences
- Understands the concepts of institutional and structural racism and bias — and their impact on underserved and underrepresented communities.
- Experience working with a range of stakeholders (including private equity firms, Development Finance Institutions, and development agencies) to support investments in high impact sectors
- Humble
Primary Responsibilities
- Lead a team of investment professionals, maintaining responsibility for hiring, capacity building, performance management, and general team leadership duties
- Lead business development across multiple channels, including private commercial opportunities and government- / donor-sponsored opportunities
- Provide continuous client coverage of private capital investors, development finance institutions (DFIs), corporates ranging from SMEs to MNCs, and other relevant organizations to proactively identify advisory opportunities
- Manage relationships with key CrossBoundary clients, such as USAID; provide strategic into program design and oversee mandate execution and reporting
- Provide deal and project leadership and execution oversight to a wide range of transaction-related advisory engagements:
- Investment target identification and screening
- Use conventional and unconventional channels to identify and rigorously assess investment opportunities
- For targets that are not yet investment-ready, be able to concisely map out paths to investability and resources required to achieve investability
- Be able to credibly articulate investment opportunities’ social and environmental impact narratives
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- Investor identification and relationship building
- Understand investor mandates, criteria, preferences, and existing portfolios
- Understand investor appetite to work with DFIs or other development-oriented actors
- Manage investor relationships
- Detailed commercial due diligence/vendor due diligence
- Directly conduct or facilitate investor (‘buy-side) commercial due diligence
- Compile and curate a comprehensive virtual data room
- Robust, multi-faceted corporate and project finance models, including valuations, of private companies using rigorous, defensible methodologies
- Draft investment memoranda and teasers, author and update sophisticated financial models
- Recommendations on optimal transaction structures based upon near-, medium- and long-term company strategic objectives and capitalization parameters, available instruments, and investor preferences
- Draft detailed illustrative term sheets for debt and equity deals
- Market assessment and ongoing market analysis
- Conduct macroeconomic and geopolitical market assessments
- Provide sector analysis of priority areas for investment
Qualifications The ideal candidate will have the following skills and qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree required
- Master’s degree required. A Master’s degree in Business Administration or Finance or other relevant advanced degree preferred (extensive relevant experience may be accepted as equivalent)
- 15+ years of experience in investment banking, management consulting, private equity, or similar
- Experience living and/or working in emerging markets required; experience in the region applied for highly preferred
- Track record of successfully developing new business opportunities and strategic partnerships
- Experience living and/or working in developing countries
- Demonstrated management skills; leading teams to results in challenging circumstances
- Leadership skills; preferably in a fast-moving and entrepreneurial environments
- Strong financial services-focused quantitative skills and accounting fluency, to include corporate finance, company valuation, comprehension of debt and equity capital markets
- Excellent analytical ability and discipline; ability to think clearly, structure problems logically, and then design and implement solutions that focus on the core issues
- Ability to build strong relationships with partners and colleagues in challenging environments
- Excellent presentation skills; ability to communicate clearly and effectively with diverse audiences
- Experience working with a range of stakeholders (including private equity firms, Development Finance Institutions, and development agencies) to support investments in high impact sectors
Think you have what it takes but not sure you check every box? Research shows that while men apply to roles when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women often only apply when they meet every requirement. If you’re passionate about what we’re building, we want to hear from you!
Locations The chosen candidate will join our team in Kenya. Frequent travel can also be expected.
Equal Opportunity Employer CrossBoundary is an equal opportunity employer. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request to our [email protected]
Contact Interested candidates should apply at https://www.crossboundary.com/careers/ .
More Information
- Job City Nairobi
