Senior Private Sector Specialist, Cairo, Egypt at International Finance Corporation 16 views0 applications

Senior Private Sector Specialist

THE WORLD BANK GROUP Established in 1944, the World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for development solutions. It has set two goals for the world to achieve by 2030: ending extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living on less than $1.90 a day to no more than 3%, and promoting shared prosperity by fostering income growth for the poorest 40% of people in every country. With more than 100 offices in client and partner countries, the World Bank Group consists of five specialized institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). IBRD and IDA are commonly known as the World Bank, which is organized into regional vice presidencies, global practices, and cross-cutting solutions areas to help developing regions and countries fight poverty and improve living standards.

THE ROLE OF THE WBG IN TRADE AND COMPETITIVENESS

Trade and Competitiveness (T&C) is a joint World Bank and IFC Global Practice, built around a common vision: sustained economic growth, productivity gains, job creation, and rising incomes for developing countries to eradicate poverty and boost shared prosperity. T&C’s mission is to serve as a trusted partner for countries that seek to develop dynamic and resilient economies, expand market opportunities, and enable private initiative. To this end, T&C supports global and country efforts to boost the volume and value of trade, enhance the investment climate, improve competitiveness in sectors, and foster innovation and entrepreneurship.T&C boasts a global footprint of about 500 staff working in over 80 locations around the world. T&C’s current portfolio comprises about 100 World Bank active and pipeline lending operations, totaling $6.8 billion in commitments; and over 400 advisory and analytical activities and projects, totaling $376 million in over 100 countries.

To ensure that the Bank Group is at the forefront of knowledge and development practice, T&C has enriched its offerings and organized them under four global themes: trade, investment climate, competitive sectors, and innovation and entrepreneurship. Under trade, the global practice supports trade policy and cooperation, trade facilitation and logistics, trade performance, and competition policy. T&C’s offering under investment climate covers business environment, indicator based reforms, as well as investment policy and promotion. Competitive sectors work focuses on sector or industry-specific policies and growth, as well as spatial growth and investment strategies. Under innovation and entrepreneurship, T&C helps strengthen innovation and technology policies, strategies, and financing, and it promotes entrepreneurship and SME development.T&C also focuses on five cross-cutting topics: global value chains, connecting to markets and opportunities, catalyzing firm productivity, private sector development in fragile and conflict states, and promoting green competitiveness.Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 3 year term appointment.

Background / General description

The Trade and Competitiveness (T&C) Senior Private Sector Specialist will report to the T&C MENA Practice Manager and will support the growing MENA T&C Portfolio, particularly but not exclusively focusing on Egypt, comprised of advisory, analytical and lending operations. Responsibilities will include:

• Lead/contribute to the policy dialogue on the industry and sector specific competitiveness engagements, addressing economic growth and industry and firm level competitiveness, including through spatial solutions (zones, clusters, etc.), with key government and private sector counterparts in Egypt and other MENA countries.
• Lead/contribute to the preparation of sector strategies, sector/industry diagnosis and industry-specific policy solutions, including, as appropriate, legal and process review of primary and secondary industry specific legislation.
• Contribute as core team member to the development and implementation of lending operations, including, as appropriate, Development Policy Loans (DPL), Program for Results (P4R) or Investment Project Financing (IPF).
• Lead or contribute to the advisory services program and analytical work, such as competitiveness diagnostics, investment climate assessments, Trade and Competitiveness Reviews, stakeholder analyses and other relevant T&C technical analyses; as well as play an active role in the planning and dissemination strategy to promote policy reform using evidence-based recommendations.
• As the primary focus will be on industry and sector specific engagements, the candidate is expected to contribute and link-up with T&C’s global competitive sectors team, share knowledge and information and contribute, as appropriate, to global knowledge generation and dissemination.
• Work closely with IFC and WB country management teams to ensure the integration of relevant T&C issues articulated in the Country Partnership Frameworks and country work programs. As required the candidate will produce technical notes, briefings, presentations, donor reports, etc.
• Support in developing effective coordination with other Global Practices (GPs), key clients and development partners. The candidate will be expected to engage in business development by establishing strategic relationships with country clients, donors, and IFC and WB management.
• The candidate will oversee budget management, project reporting, procurement of consultants, results measurement, donor relationships, as well as facilitate cross learning across projects, regions and best practices.
• The candidate will represent the World Bank Group at public forums and meetings, as well as contribute to tasks as requested by the MENA Practice manager and/or WBG Egypt Country management.

Duties and Accountabilities

The position requires a motivated and seasoned private sector specialist, with strong experience in the industry/sector-specific space (particularly on economic clusters, value chains for inclusive economic growth, spatial solutions and firm level support instruments) and strong interpersonal and client engagement skills. The candidate should have strong program management skills and a commitment to work in a multi-sectoral environment in a developing country context. S/He will have at least 8 years’ combined working experience in the competitive sectors and industry development. S/He will have demonstrable experience with using networks for collaboration in both operations and knowledge management.The successful candidate will have:

• Master in economics (industrial economics a plus), business economics, public policy, industrial engineering or a closely related field.
• Preferably 8 years of relevant experience in private sector development policy issues, including on industry/sector reforms and firm level competitiveness (e.g., agribusiness, manufacturing, etc.)
• Experience working in Egypt or the MENA region is a plus.
• Proven track record of leading engagements that included part of the following: investment climate policy design, legal/regulatory review and/or drafting of legislation and regulation, working with the private sector, international organizations and government
• Effective project management skills, in particular government-facing technical assistance projects, as well as capacity to contribute to and influence policy discussions at the senior government level.
• Ability and willingness to prepare and supervise projects including – leading project supervision and completion reports, overseeing result and impact measurement activities, producing donor reports and technical notes, etc.
• Ability to understand and analyze complex problems and develop innovative approaches. Proven ability to manage complex projects and programs.
• Proven experience with delivering very high quality analytical work is desirable, including analytical writing skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to communicate and liaise effectively with clients and colleagues.
• Ability to supervise teams and mentor junior staff.
• Ability to work across sectors – The candidate is expected to work within or lead multi-sector teams and should be able to understand, conceptualize, and operationalize linkage between different policies and/or programs.
• Written and verbal Communication – Demonstrates a strong command of all forms of communication and delivers messages in a consistently effective, timely and engaging manner.
• Client Orientation – The candidate should demonstrate the ability to identify and evaluate emerging opportunities aligned with WBG strategy, and challenges others to remove barriers and deliver beyond client expectations.
• Ability to gain the trust and respect of country counterparts and colleagues in other sectors, regions and the IFC, while maintaining objectivity and clear focus on the World Bank Group’s mission;
• Fluency in English and Arabic. French would be a plus.
• Familiarity with World Bank and/or IFC advisory operations will be an added advantage.The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture and educational background. Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

Selection Criteria

Murira,Karungari Ngari