Job Description

About Us

AECF is a leading African-based development organization that leverages the power of the private sector to address systemic issues of rural poverty and employment across the continent. We find and fund innovative, game-changing commercial businesses in the agribusiness and renewable energy sectors that transform the lives of low-income households. By catalyzing funding, we help companies surface and commercialize new ideas, business models, and technologies that increase agricultural productivity, expand energy access, and alleviate poverty, particularly where these efforts impact women and young people. AECF works in frontier markets, fragile contexts, and high-risk countries where few mainstream financing institutions go. We back bold enterprises to tackle climate risk, expand opportunity for women and youth, and build resilience in fragile contexts so rural and marginalized communities can rise out of poverty.

Since 2008, we have deployed over US$290 million, leveraged $916 million in additional capital, provided funding to 698 businesses in 27 countries – impacting 36 million people.

About the Programme

REACT 2.0 – Energy for Sustainable Growth in Somalia (ESGS) is a four-year, SEK 60 million market development programme funded by Sida/Business Sweden. The programme advances two mutually reinforcing goals: expanding access to affordable, clean energy solutions across Somalia, and driving private sector development, job creation, financial inclusion, and mobilization of private capital.

The programme targets decentralised renewable energy (DRE) companies and financial institutions operating across solar home systems (SHS), mini-grids, and productive use of energy (PUE) segments. It deploys a combination of milestone-based grants, results-based finance (RBF), and technical assistance to de-risk early-stage business models, strengthen enterprise capacity, crowd in commercial capital, and contribute to Somalia's emerging policy and regulatory environment for energy.

Purpose of Role

The Senior Portfolio Officer leads the technical and grants management function for the REACT 2.0 ESGS portfolio. The role holder works collaboratively with the Programme Manager and Portfolio Officer to drive portfolio construction, investee selection, active grant management, and enterprise development support across Somalia's DRE sector.

This is a senior technical role requiring deep knowledge of the Somali energy market, strong investment appraisal skills, and the ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder relationships in a fragile operating environment. The Senior Portfolio Officer plays a central role in ensuring the programme achieves its targets for energy access, enterprise development, gender inclusion, private capital mobilisation, and policy engagement and that investees are supported to transition from grant-funded operations to commercially sustainable, investment-ready businesses..

Key Responsibilities

Portfolio Construction and Investment Management

• Lead the full portfolio construction cycle from competition and market outreach through application assessment, due diligence, investment memo preparation, and presentation to AECF's internal and external investment committees.
• Develop scoring criteria, eligibility frameworks, and appraisal methodologies calibrated to Somalia's fragile market context, including specific provisions for women-owned/led enterprises and companies with PUE models in agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and C&I sectors.
• Manage the full grant lifecycle for a portfolio of investees, ensuring adherence to grant agreements, milestone conditions, and RBF disbursement protocols.

Investee Performance and Enterprise Development

• Accompany investees throughout implementation- conducting regular monitoring visits in Somalia, analysing periodic reports, and providing structured technical and operational feedback.
• Lead investment facilitation and advisory services for investees, coordinating with AECF's Advisory Services (BAS) and Investment Advisory Services (IAS) teams to deliver tailored TA packages aligned with each investee's specific gaps.
• Support investees to develop and strengthen commercially viable business models, including PAYGO, energy-as-a-service, lease-to-own, cooling-as-a-service, and aggregation models suited to Somalia's mobile money infrastructure.
• Actively broker connections between investees and financial institutions- including MFIs commercial banks, and impact investors to crowd in follow-on private capital beyond AECF's grant support.
• Support investees in developing strong linkages with agricultural value chain actors, agro-processors, livestock operators, fisheries enterprises, and C&I sector businesses to strengthen PUE demand and anchor loads for mini-grid operators.
• Ensure timely identification and escalation of investee performance issues, with proposed remediation plans and, where necessary, recovery or restructuring actions.

Gender and Social Inclusion

• Lead implementation of AECF's gender-responsive investment framework across the portfolio, setting gender inclusion targets, tracking progress, and integrating gender considerations into investment appraisal and monitoring.
• Oversee delivery of the Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit with investees, and support development and implementation of individual gender action plans.
• Drive targeted sourcing strategies for women-owned and women-led enterprises, working with partner networks, enterprise support organisations, and diaspora networks to build the pipeline.
• Ensure RBF and milestone disbursements reflect gender-disaggregated results in line with the programme's results framework.

Policy, Advocacy and Ecosystem Development

• Lead AECF's policy and regulatory engagement in Somalia under the ESGS programme, maintaining productive working relationships with the NEA, MoEWR, and SOGEA.
• Systematically contribute programme portfolio evidence to support the NEA's development of quality standards, consumer protection frameworks, and mini-grid regulations that preserve space for innovation while building investor confidence.
• Support SOGEA's institutional capacity to drive effective private sector advocacy and policy dialogue, including facilitating sector coordination on issues relevant to AECF investees.
• Represent AECF at key forums, coordination meetings, and stakeholder events in Somalia, positioning the programme as a market development leader and complementary partner to SESRP, ASCENT, HAREACT, and other donor-funded initiatives

Risk, Compliance and Learning

• Ensure full compliance with AECF's internal controls, fiduciary standards, and donor requirements across the portfolio.

• Lead implementation of the programme's risk and mitigation framework, including proactive management of Somalia-specific risks: security and access constraints, monopoly dynamics in unregulated markets, climate and natural hazard risks for mini-grid sites, and MFI counterparty risks.

• Drive the portfolio learning agenda generating high-quality knowledge products, case studies, and market intelligence on DRE investment in fragile states for internal and external dissemination.

• Contribute to periodic donor reporting, management reports, and business development proposals as required.

Experiences and Qualifications

• Advanced university degree (Master's level or equivalent) in finance, business administration, international development, development finance, economics, engineering, or a related field.

• At least seven years of investment, grant-making, or development finance experience, with a strong track record in the renewable energy or DRE sector.

• Extensive experience in investment appraisal, due diligence, and grant management for early-stage companies in emerging or frontier markets.

• Direct experience of Somalia's energy sector, including knowledge of ESP market dynamics, SHS distribution models, PUE applications, and the emerging NEA regulatory environment. Experience in fragile or conflict-affected settings is essential.

• Demonstrated experience designing and managing RBF mechanisms, milestone-based grant programmes, or blended finance instruments.

• Strong track record of supporting DRE enterprises to build investment readiness and access commercial finance from MFIs, banks, or impact investors.

• Experience managing gender-responsive investments and applying gender mainstreaming frameworks in an energy or private sector development context

• Deep knowledge of Somalia's energy sector landscape ESPs, PAYGO SHS, mini-grid operators, PUE market development, MFI sector, and the evolving policy and regulatory framework under the NEA and MoEWR.

• Strong investment appraisal and financial analysis skills, including the ability to assess business models, financial projections, and creditworthiness for early-stage DRE companies.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, including high-quality investment memo and donor report writing. Somali language proficiency is a significant advantage.

• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain effective, trust-based relationships with investees, government counterparts, financial institutions, and sector partners in complex, culturally sensitive environments.

• Strong leadership, mentoring, and team collaboration skills; able to guide Portfolio Officer and coordinate across internal AECF functions.

• Sound contextual judgment and the ability to operate effectively in a remote, fragile, and rapidly changing operating environment.

Skills Required

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