Work station: Kathmandu; with some travel within the country  

Required qualifications: 

• Master' Degree in Business Administration (MBA), Commerce, Business Studies, Finance, Economics, Agri-economics, Agribusiness, Public Administration or similar fields; Fully qualified CFA/ Chartered Accountants/ CIMA or ACCA also eligible 

Experience: 

• Preferably around 5 years plus experience working in a Financial Institution, chartered accounting or consulting or business services/ advisory firm; relevant experience in Business Planning and loan application review, approval and disbursal processes. Exposure to and understanding of the Micro-finance sector would be useful, but not essential.       

Key responsibilities:

• Undertake assessment of Nepal's commercial lending to the agriculture sector from Project perspective
• Formulate strategies and plans for integrating the Project's Matching Grant (MG) scheme with commercial agriculture lending operations of financial institutions (FIs)
• Organise workshops  for FIs at central and province levels to obtain support and buy-in for Project offer
• Continuously engage with FIs to forge collaborations  – both at central, province and "palika' (local government) levels 
• Provide orientation and training to Project staff and stakeholders on agriculture loan products and features as well as on the loan application, approval and disbursement processes
• Support development of easy to use business planning  templates to support the loan application process 
• Contribute to Business Planning training courses for agri-entrepreneurs with focus on how to obtain, utilize and repay loans
• Work with colleagues to ensure that a sufficient number of high quality Business Plans and loan applications are prepared and submitted to FIs
• Ensure that Letter of Intent (LoIs) are obtained  from FIs in a timely manner
• Work with entrepreneurs, FIs and colleagues  to ensure timely loan disbursal once Matching Grants approvals are received 
• Work with FIs and Project colleagues to ensure that loan and grant funds are properly utilized  
• Advise colleagues on banking and finance related issues
• Coach and mentor agri-clients on banking and finance matters
• Work with project colleagues and FIs for timely servicing of loans
• Pursue opportunities for creating synergies with other related / relevant initiatives
• Support in collection of data and provide inputs for analysis and reporting
• Undertake any other relevant tasks as may be required by Management

Required Competencies and Attributes: 

• Commercial orientation with ability to formulate and assess bankable Business Plans, with strong financial analysis skills
• Good coaching, mentoring and training skills
• Strong communicator with ability to influence diverse stakeholder groups 
• Well-developed computing skills