Job Detail

SME Client Support Afghanistan LLC (“SCSA”) is a consulting and service company registered with the General Directorate of Central Business Registry & Intellectual Property with its headquarter in Kabul. SCSA is fully owned by ACGF - Afghan Credit Guarantee Foundation (“ACGF”), a foundation with legal incorporation in Cologne, Germany. ACGF is a credit guarantee fund with the mission to improve access to finance for Afghanistan’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (“MSMEs”) by sharing the credit risk of the Afghan partner financial institutions (“PIs”) and by improving their MSME lending capacity with technical assistance (“TA”). ACGF has been founded in 2014 by DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH and by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development. Governed by a service contract concluded between ACGF and SCSA, SCSA provides a broad range of ancillary services in the context of ACGF’s credit guarantee and technical assistance operations.

SCSA is a consulting company, not a financial institution. It neither provides any financial services nor does it have contractual relationships with the Afghan PIs. SCSA solely acts as a service provider to ACGF by carrying out a range of various services, e.g. providing ongoing technical assistance to PIs (e.g. training-on-the-job and coaching of SME credit staff) or providing support services for the credit guarantee appraisal and guarantee claim appraisal.

Recently, ACGF has started a new project funded by the European Union (EU). This project supports, besides the above-mentioned credit guarantees, the implementation of a Matching Grants Programme for MSMEs in Afghanistan. The Matching Grants shall enhance repayment the capacity and equity positions of MSMEs in a way that they may be able to access matching financing from ACGF’s PIs. At the same time, TA is provided to these MSMEs for strengthening their ability to apply for grant and loan financing, and awareness measures increase borrower’s understanding of Sharia compliant financing products. While MSMEs are targeted in general, particular focus is given to those supplying basic goods and services, employment-retaining and -creating MSMEs, as well as marginalized groups, in particular female-headed businesses, youth, and MSMEs in geographically underserved regions. Additionally, several support activities for the Afghan PIs to enhance their capacity for providing lending products that respond to MSMEs financing needs and are compliant with the regulatory environment are essential part of the programme.

ACGF supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals and stays committed to supports its PIs in developing strategies and products to increase lending to women owned MSMEs (WMSMEs). ACGF has already undertaken diverse efforts to attain knowledge on this target group and to support access to finance for WMSMEs. With the implementation of the above-mentioned EU-funded programme for MSME access to finance, ACGF and SCSA are looking for a Women MSME Lending Expert (f/m) for Kabul Region to support the implementation of financing and adjacent support activities for increasing lending activities specifically to WMSMEs.

SCSA management and the relevant staff at ACGF, the Women MSME Lending Expert will have the following core duties and responsibilities:

• Support ACGF, SCSA, and external consultants in the development and implementation of strategies and workplans that aim to increase the PIs’ disbursement of financings and matching grants to WMSMEs
• Liaise with women associations, unions, networks, stakeholders, and other relevant market players working with WMSMEs to build synergies and increase ACGF’s, SCSA’s, and PIs’ overall outreach to WMSMEs
• Support ACGF, PIs, and external consultants in the collection and assessment of data to analyse created impact and financing and support needs of WMSMEs
• Act as the primary point of contact for any issues related to WMSMEs for ACGF, SCSA, the PIs and other stakeholders
• Identify training needs of PI’s (female) staff and provide respective trainings or identify adequate means to deliver these trainings (e.g. external consultants)
• Have a detailed understanding of the PI’s specific eligibility criteria for financing products and actively support the PIs in eliminating barriers for WMSMEs in their product designs and operational set-up
• Enable PI staff to provide targeted support for WMSMEs throughout the whole financing application process (e.g. in preparing business plans)
• Support ACGF’s PIs in the development and/or improvement of information material (e.g., brochures, flyers) of the different financing products
• Identify adequate outreach activities to potential female borrowers and identify respective means to deliver such activities
• Any other tasks assigned by the supervisor