Access to Finance Lead

ABOUT FC Africa

FC Africa is a leading economic development consulting firm established in 2006, implementing high-impact programs across agriculture, manufacturing, and service sectors in Ethiopia and beyond. FC combines deep local context understanding with strong execution capability to deliver measurable outcomes in job creation, enterprise growth, investment mobilization, and inclusive economic development.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

 Green RISE Africa (GRA) is a five-year, multi-country initiative led by Acumen in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation to expand opportunities for young people, particularly young women, in the green economy. FC Africa serves as the Lead Entrepreneurship Support Organization (Lead ESO) for the GROW pillar in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, working with National Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (NESOs) and ecosystem partners to strengthen nano and micro green enterprises through tailored enterprise support, green skills, market linkages and access to finance. The programme aims to contribute to dignified and fulfilling work, enterprise resilience and inclusive green growth. Implementation is adapted to country and sector contexts, with a focus on underserved communities and entrepreneurs facing barriers to opportunity.

 POSITION SUMMARY

Based in Addis Ababa, the Regional Access to Finance Lead will provide strategic and technical leadership for the Green RISE Africa (GRA) access-to-finance (A2F) workstream across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. The Lead will design, develop, and facilitate innovative and practical A2F interventions that address the financing constraints of nano and micro green enterprises, particularly those led by women and youth. The role will provide technical guidance to NESOs on effective A2F approaches, enterprise finance readiness, financial linkages, and financing facilitation mechanisms, ensuring that access to finance is effectively integrated into enterprise development and coaching services. The Lead will also establish strategic partnerships with financial institutions and other market actors to develop appropriate financing solutions, mobilize financial resources, and expand financing opportunities for participating enterprises. The position will be responsible for ensuring coherent regional implementation, quality assurance, cross-country learning, and measurable A2F outcomes, while promoting commercially viable, inclusive, and sustainable financing models.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Regional Access to Finance Strategy and Leadership

• Lead the design, implementation, and oversight of the Green RISE Africa (GRA) access-to-finance (A2F) workstream across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda.
• Develop a coherent regional A2F strategy, country-specific implementation plans, and practical interventions aligned with GRA objectives, enterprise needs, and priority green value chains.
• Identify and assess key financing constraints affecting nano and micro green enterprises, particularly women- and youth-led businesses, and develop targeted interventions to address them.
• Provide strategic and technical leadership to ensure A2F interventions are effectively integrated with business development services, green skills development, coaching, and market linkage activities.
• Identify opportunities for innovative, inclusive, and commercially sustainable financing models that can be piloted, adapted, and scaled across the three countries.

1. Design and Development of Access to Finance Interventions

• Design and facilitate practical financing interventions tailored to the needs, capacities, and maturity levels of participating nano and micro green enterprises.
• Identify and develop appropriate financing mechanisms, including working capital loans, asset financing, leasing, supplier credit, value-chain financing, digital finance, and other alternative financing arrangements.
• Explore opportunities for risk-sharing arrangements, credit guarantees, blended finance, and other catalytic financing mechanisms in collaboration with financial institutions and relevant partners.
• Develop financing pathways that respond to different enterprise segments, including early-stage, informal, growth-oriented, and more established microenterprises.
• Design and pilot practical approaches that improve access to productive green technologies and equipment through affordable financing arrangements.

1. Financial Institution Engagement and Strategic Partnerships

• Identify, engage, and establish strategic partnerships with banks, microfinance institutions, SACCOs, cooperatives, digital financial service providers, and other relevant financing actors across the three countries.
• Lead technical discussions and negotiations with financial institutions to develop or adapt financing products and delivery arrangements suitable for GRA-supported enterprises.
• Facilitate collaboration between financial institutions, NESOs, enterprise support providers, and market actors to strengthen financing opportunities for participating enterprises.
• Explore partnerships with development finance institutions, guarantee providers, impact investors, and other relevant actors to mobilize additional financing resources.
• Develop and maintain a regional network of financial institutions and financing partners interested in supporting green enterprises.
• Support the development of partnership frameworks, referral arrangements, and operational mechanisms that facilitate effective enterprise access to finance.

1. Technical Guidance and Capacity Building for NESOs

• Provide technical leadership, guidance, and ongoing support to NESOs in designing and implementing country-specific A2F interventions.
• Develop standardized A2F approaches, guidelines, tools, and methodologies to ensure consistency in quality while allowing flexibility for country and enterprise contexts.
• Guide NESOs in assessing enterprise financing needs, identifying financing constraints, and developing tailored finance-readiness and financing facilitation plans.
• Build the capacity of NESO teams through technical training, mentoring, coaching, and practical guidance on enterprise financing and financial institution engagement.
• Support NESOs in establishing relationships and operational linkages with local financial institutions and other financing providers.
• Review NESO A2F implementation plans, monitor progress, identify technical gaps, and recommend corrective actions.
• Facilitate cross-country knowledge sharing and exchange of effective A2F practices among NESOs and programme teams.

1. Enterprise Finance Readiness and Financing Facilitation

• Lead the development of practical finance-readiness assessment tools and approaches appropriate for nano and micro green enterprises.
• Guide NESOs in integrating finance-readiness assessments into enterprise diagnostics, business development services, and coaching interventions.
• Support the design of targeted interventions to strengthen entrepreneurs' financial literacy, bookkeeping, cash-flow management, business planning, and financing preparedness.
• Establish practical financing facilitation pathways that connect eligible enterprises with appropriate financial products and service providers.
• Support NESOs in developing enterprise financing pipelines, identifying financing opportunities, and facilitating referrals and follow-up with financial institutions.
• Identify and address barriers that limit access to finance for women, youth, persons with disabilities, forcibly displaced persons, and other underserved enterprise groups.
• Promote responsible financing practices, ensuring that financing solutions are affordable, appropriate, and aligned with enterprise repayment capacity and business needs.

1. Regional Coordination, Monitoring, and Learning

• Coordinate A2F implementation across the three countries, working closely with Country Representatives, NESOs, enterprise support teams, and relevant programme specialists.
• Develop annual and quarterly A2F workplans, implementation milestones, and performance targets in alignment with the overall GRA programme framework.
• Work closely with the MERL team to develop and monitor A2F indicators, including enterprise finance readiness, financing applications, approvals, financing facilitated, and enterprise-level outcomes.
• Establish systems for tracking financing partnerships, enterprise referrals, financing uptake, and the performance of A2F interventions.
• Monitor implementation progress, identify bottlenecks, and recommend timely adjustments to improve financing outcomes.
• Document lessons learned, successful financing models, and emerging innovations to inform adaptive management and future programme interventions.
• Contribute to programme reports, technical briefs, knowledge products, and evidence-based recommendations on green enterprise financing.
• Generate practical insights from programme implementation to inform discussions with financial institutions, development partners, investors, and policymakers.

1. Stakeholder Engagement and Programme Representation

• Represent FC Africa and GRA in relevant financial inclusion, green finance, MSME financing, and enterprise development forums at national and regional levels.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with government institutions, regulators, financial-sector associations, development partners, and private-sector stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration, resource mobilization, and strategic partnerships that strengthen the sustainability and potential scale of GRA's A2F interventions.
• Provide technical input to programme planning, strategic discussions, partnership development, and other related assignments as required by the Regional Programme Director.
• Perform any other duties assigned by the supervisor.

Required Skills, Qualifications and Experience

• Master’s degree in finance, economics, business administration, development finance or a related discipline preferred; a relevant bachelor’s degree with substantial experience may be considered.
• At least 10 years of relevant professional experience in access to finance, MSME finance, financial-sector development, inclusive finance or related advisory and programme leadership roles.
• Demonstrated experience designing and managing multi-stakeholder financial inclusion interventions and engaging banks, MFIs, cooperatives, fintechs and/or investment actors.
• Strong understanding of nano and micro enterprise finance, finance-readiness support, market systems and women’s and youth economic inclusion.
• Knowledge of the Ethiopian financial sector and the wider East African financing landscape; direct experience in Kenya and/or Uganda is a strong advantage.
• Experience in green finance, climate-related enterprise development, asset finance or innovative financing models is desirable.
• Strong regional coordination, analytical, partnership-development, negotiation, communication and reporting skills.
• Excellent written and spoken English required; Amharic strongly preferred. Willingness and ability to travel regionally.

Reporting

The Access to Finance Lead Reports to Regional Program Director

How To Apply

How to Apply

FC Africa invites all well-qualified candidates to apply. Competent candidates should submit their one-page cover letter and updated CVs only to: jobs@fcafrica.com before October 29, 2026. Candidates MUST refer to the position title "Access to Finance Lead" in the subject line of their email and applications.