Banking and Agriculture Finance Specialist

While Ukraine is one of the most important producers and exporters of cereals and oilseed crops in the world and a country with abundant natural resources for fisheries and aquaculture, Ukraine as a strong need to increase its investments in primary production and related value chains to achieve the significant potential the country is endowed with. The agreement between the European Investment Bank and the Government of Ukraine that will make available a "Ukraine Agri-food APEX Loan" for investments in these value chains is highly welcome as Ukrainian farms are characterized by a lack of financing working capital and equipment (the need for longer-term, local currency funding is especially needed).

NIRAS A/S (Denmark), Agriconsulting Europe SA (Belgium), TA Consult Partners Ltd. United Kingdom) and Unicon (United Kingdom) have formed a Consortium to fully meet the requirements for the provision of the "Ukraine Agri-food APEX" operation (UAFATA).

The Scope of Services and Responsibilities

Activities expected by the Consultant will include but not be limited to the following:

• Analyse requirements from participating financial institutions (PFIs) for investment and working capital loans and produce clear and comprehensible presentation materials for UAFATA team training (including the core team and extension service providers) and for training of potential final beneficiaries.
• Learn EIB standards and requirements, and conditions of the EIB Agri-Food APEX Loan, and support The TA team in ensuring compliance of PFIs and FBs.
• Conducting training and post-training support for UAFATA team and for potential final beneficiaries on the requirements and approaches of PFIs.
• Support extension service providers (ESPs) in data collection from potential final beneficiaries.
• Analyse incoming loan applications from potential final beneficiaries before they are presented to PFIs and provide actionable feedback to ESPs and potential final beneficiaries on quality and missing pieces.
• Participate in advisory work of UAFATA team with potential final beneficiaries in preparing their loan applications, including providing support for business planning.
• Participate in advisory work of UAFATA team with PFIs on new credit products aimed at grains, oilseeds, and fisheries value chains.
• Participate in advisory work of UAFATA team with existing or potential final beneficiaries on identification of projects that such final beneficiaries might develop and for which they could seek an allocation of loan operation funds.
• Travel as necessary throughout Ukraine.
• Accept and comply fully with the NIRAS code of professional ethics.

Key Deliverables

• Written reports, analyses and briefs as needed to carry out the services listed, in particular audit reports on the presented loan application to assess their readiness for presentation to PFIs.
• Developed training materials tailored for relevant target audiences (Extension service providers, potential final beneficiaries, and final beneficiaries) as needed and appropriate.
• Conducted training sessions as described, collected feedback from the audience, feedback analysed and reflected in subsequent training sessions.
• Appropriate contributions to project progress reports.

Qualifications and Experience Requirements

Qualifications and skills

• At least Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field of study (Economics, Finance, Banking, etc.).
• Fluency in written and spoken Ukrainian; working proficiency in English.
• Excellent writing, presentation, and communications skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Familiarity with standard Microsoft Office software.

General professional experience

• In depth knowledge of bank lending for working capital and investment projects in agri-food value chains, as evidenced by 5 years of relevant professional experience in banking and/or microfinance.
• Proven experience from working and understanding of the financial sector, lending products and knowledge of best practices; understanding of agricultural finance and/or the agricultural sector in general.
• Familiarity with agricultural value chain financing methods and models is desired.
• Experience in the design and delivery of training programs for financial institutions and agribusinesses is desired.