GhISP Team Leader / Director

Accra, Ghana

Starting ASAP (Q1 2026)

We are recruiting a senior leader in the investment ecosystem in Ghana, to drive the Ghana Investment Support Programme. This work will unlock future investments and help to shape the investment ecosystem. This is a senior and strategic role that will oversee two full time team members, a number of partners and service providers, as well as contribute to BII’s broader market creation portfolio across Africa and Asia.

Ghana Investment Support Programme (GhISP) – Background

British International Investment (BII) is the UK’s development finance institution. BII invests with the aim of solving the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation. BII has over 70 years of experience successfully supporting the sustainable, long-term growth of businesses in Africa and Asia.

BII invests to achieve impact and a financial return. Over the past five years, BII have committed almost £7 billion of new investments, with net assets growing in value to approximately £7.5 billion. BII have now invested in 1,200 businesses which directly employ over 900,000 workers and support many more. Over the next five years, BII plans to grow further, and aims to commit around £9 billion of new investments over the period. BII has a longstanding commitment to Financial Services (with a portfolio of over $2bn invested in financial services across more than 150 investees, which represents about one third of BII’s total portfolio by value).

As part of this commitment, BII launched The Ghana Investment Support Programme (GhISP) in 2023, with support from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Switzerland) since 2025. GhISP is a technical assistance programme, contracted through DAI, that aims to increase investment flows to underserved SMEs in Ghana, with a particular focus on BII’s investment themes. Anchored around Growth Investment Partners (GIP), BII's local currency debt investment vehicle for SMEs in Ghana, GhISP provides 1) pre and post investment support to GIP and other relevant financial institutions in Ghana, and 2) shapes the broader investment ecosystem to unlock investment.

We are looking for a senior leader in the investment ecosystem in Ghana, to drive the Ghana Investment Support Programme, a key pillar of BII’s strategy in the country, helping unlock more investments and shape the investment ecosystem. This is a senior and strategic role that will oversee two full time team members, a number of partners and service providers, as well as contribute to BII’s broader market creation portfolio across Africa and Asia.

Tasks and Responsibilities

The Team Leader will provide overall strategic and technical leadership for the GhISP programme. This will include the following responsibilities:

•                     Leading the delivery of an ambitious set of targets for BII’s technical assistance in Ghana, including its market building objectives to catalyse the market for SME financing in Ghana.

•                     Acting as the primary lead for BII ecosystem building’s activities in Ghana, including engaging closely with the Ghana BII coverage team, BII’s investment teams, Growth Investment Partners (GIP – Ghana) and other stakeholders.

•                     Driving the development and delivery of programme’s strategy and its implementation, adhering to established programme governance. Leading senior stakeholder engagement, brokering partnerships and influencing ecosystem actors towards a common goal. Building networks and productive relationships with investment funds, financial institutions, business service providers, the broader private sector, development finance institutions, development partners, government organisations and academia.

•                     Strategic systems thinking to identify opportunities to help catalyse the market for SME financing through partnerships, advisory/ technical assistance underpinned by strong links to BII and other DFIs.

•                     Strong management to ensure timely delivery of results within the resources available.

•                     Oversee the delivery and professional development of two full-time staff.

The Team Leader will join the programme at an exciting time for the GhISP Programme, which has recently onboarded an additional co-funder. The Senior Consultant will guide the team to deliver each annual Business Plan, leading the programme until the end.

Specific Requirements

Background:

•                     Post-graduate degree (MBA, Economics, Business, Finance, or other relevant discipline).

•                     Strong track record of working in the areas of private equity and venture capital investment, capital markets and/or financial services in emerging markets and ability to interact with senior professionals within banks, development financial institutions and other investment firms with emerging market exposure, as well as with various stakeholders from the private sector, the public sector and civil society.

•                     Significant leadership experience in senior positions with a strong record of effectively leading and managing people, partnerships and projects towards desired result.

Skills required for the role:

•                     Excellent leadership, communication and relationship-building skills. Strong negotiation, stakeholder engagement and partnership development skills.

•                     In depth understanding of the political economy, investment and finance ecosystem in Ghana and West Africa with strong networks with key actors.

•                     Experience and understanding of Ghana’s funds and financial institution sector as well as a strong understanding of the broader SME finance ecosystem; Understanding of business service providers (legal, financial, ESG etc) that support businesses get to become investment ready.

•                     Systems thinking and ability to conceptualise how to drive change within investment and finance ecosystems through a variety of tools.

•                     Ability to work independently and with initiative while managing a busy workload, doing whatever it takes to deliver results within tight deadlines.

•                     Project management capacity, leading a team to ensure results are delivered on time and within budgets.

•                     Experience in reviewing and producing high quality written communications.

•                     Significant work experience in Ghana and/or regionally and high proficiency in English.

Level of Effort, Deliverables and Timeline

The Team Leader will be full-time, starting immediately. This position will be required to work from BII’s offices in Accra, Ghana.