Acumen’s Hardest to Reach Impact Debt Fund is looking for an Investment Associate based in London to help lead early-stage investments in the off grid solar sector in Sub-Saharan Africa as part of our Key Strategic Initiative “Hardest to Reach”. This role will report to the Investment Director.

About Acumen
Acumen is changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas. We invest patient capital in businesses whose products and services are enabling the poor to transform their lives. To date, Acumen has positively impacted 309 million lives by investing $137 million in 139 innovative, early-stage companies in Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States. But investment isn’t only about capital, we’ve been investing in innovators for years, connecting with emerging leaders around the world and engaging them in collective dialogue, moral inquiry, and skill building.

About the context
Of the approximately 789 million people in the world who currently live without electricity, many will gain access through grid extension and off-grid solar by 2030. However, estimates suggest that roughly 215 million people will be left behind because they live in risky or remote, rural areas where investors have been unable or unwilling to go. In the last decade, there has been a steady increase in financing available for clean, renewable energy, but that money is largely directed towards wealthier nations. Even when investment dollars are directed to low-income regions, they are not always directed where the need is greatest.

About the role
Acumen’s Strategic Initiative “Hardest to Reach” (“H2R”) Impact Debt fund is seeking an Investment Associate to lead the Investments of H2R. H2R’s is working to bring clean energy to some of the “hardest to reach” countries in Africa. We will bolster markets and provide capital to off-grid companies enabling clean energy access via two vehicles: the Market Support Facility (Hardest to Reach philanthropic vehicle) and the Market Expansion Facility (Hardest to Reach Impact Debt Fund). This role will be involved in sourcing, evaluating, underwriting and managing private credit investments for off-grid solar enterprises to expand and grow in identified H2R countries.This role will report to the Investment Director, Debt Fund. Accountabilities include :

Deal Execution

• Lead multiple transactions in parallel throughout the entire deal lifecycle, from origination to closing with a focus on financial and impact due diligence.
• Conduct financial analysis and create financial models.
• Write Investment Memoranda and present investment opportunities to the Investment Committee
• Financial modeling – including review, stress-testing and carrying out scenario analysis.
• Work closely with Sustainable Developmental Impact (SDI) and Health Safety Environmental and Social (HSES) teams on respective assessments.
• Work with internal teams for client on-boarding, KYC checks and related tasks.

Portfolio Management

• Monitor investment performance: It’s about understanding the core issues and where to intervene. And it’s also about covenant compliance, periodic/annual reviews, examining amendments and waiver requests, providing performance updates to managers, identifying, and acting on warning signals, participating in portfolio reviews, cooperating in the validation of impact data collection and analysis and incentives to borrowers for extending first time clean energy access.

Skills & Qualifications :

• Minimum 5 years of work experience, at least 3 years of experience in finance, ideally in an investment capacity leading or supporting debt and/or equity transactions.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to build financial models for corporate finance transactions.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.Great communication skills and ability to develop and manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Preferred : demonstrated interest in impact investing.
• Preferred : professional experience investing or working in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Ability to get up to speed quickly in a technical area of work, and to understand and navigate complex issues.
• Proactive, solutions-oriented, and operate from a place of integrity
• Self-reflective and aligned with Acumen values.
• Authorized to work in the UK
• Willingness to travel as needed

Deadline
Candidates are encouraged to apply as early as possible as applications will be screened and interviews scheduled on a rolling basis.

#LI-ACU1