Principal Deal Originator

Job Description

The Principal Deal Originator is responsible for formulating and executing the strategic objectives of the business in collaboration with the Head Coverage whilst being accountable for deal origination, building and owning client and partnerships and developing projects for the DBSA ultimately leading to bankable deals.

Key Responsibilities

KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS:
1. Contribute to the development of Divisional and Business unit strategies and implementation thereof.
2. Identify new, and prioritise existing key clients based on a set criteria (i.e. financial metrics, current and
potential revenue and margin) and strategic factors.
3. Develop strong pipeline of good quality investments through proactive origination/business development and
developing and employing sector/country knowledge.
4. Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, global and regional private businesses and facilitate the
identification of opportunities to initiate viable projects.
5. Work closely with the project preparation team to facilitate project preparation, scoping, feasibility studies
and business plans with the intention of closing investment deals.
6. Work closely with the Transactions team to take deals to bankability.
7. Remediate and eliminate partnership obstacles and inefficiencies, have knowledge of all new products,
structured products and services offered by competitors.
8. Develop an in-depth knowledge of the political landscape of regions/sectors/clients and partners serviced
and leverage such insights/knowledge across other regions/sectors and clients.
9. Build relationships, networks and collaborate with internal and external key stakeholders and clients to
position DBSA as the - Bank for infrastructure development opportunities.
10. Continuously research and analyse the business context, operations and financial performance in
search of new opportunities
11. Leverage, engage and collaborate with the Bank s internal network to ensure that the entire Bank s relevant
expertise is used to the optimum.
12. Develop strong pipeline of good quality investments through proactive origination/business development and
developing and employing sector/country knowledge;
13. Compile and provide competitor analysis and understand the operating environment.
14. Lead, initiate and develop new business strategies and opportunities to create a pipeline of development
impact projects ensuring deal flow and bankability.
15. Working closely with Financing Operations Division, initiate and develop new business strategies and
opportunities to create a pipeline of fee income generating projects.
16. Prepare and provide documentation/reports for EXCO and Board(s) decision making where applicable.
17. Present at deal Committees where applicable as and when required.
KEY MEASUREMENTS OF OUTPUTS:
1. Value of project approvals, commitments and disbursements.
2. Value of projects prepared and committed for DBSA approval.
3. Value of funds under management secured (Infrastructure Delivery business).
4. NPL targets.
5. Client service rating.
KEY INTERNAL LIAISON:
1. Executives CIO, Coverage, Transacting, Project Preparation, Infrastructure Delivery, Treasury
2. DBSA Committees, e.g. Deal screen, Investment Committee, Asset/Liability Committee
3. Management and staff Risk, Project Preparation, Transacting, Infrastructure delivery, Treasury, Finance, Financing Operations
KEY EXTERNAL LIAISON RELATIONSHIPS:
1. Government entities National, Provincial, Local, Sovereigns
2. Investment partners commercial, DFIs
3. Service providers e.g. EPCs, advisors, O&Ms
4. Knowledge partners Universities, think tanks, local/international organisations

Expertise & Technical Competencies

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE:
Minimum Requirements:
1. An Honours degree in Finance, Business, Accounting, Engineering or Economics;
2. 10-12 experience in appraising, negotiating and closing Project Finance, Corporate Finance, or
Structured Finance transactions in a financial institution;
3. Experience in securing infrastructure investment deals in relevant sectors/geographies in SA and/or Africa.
4. Experience in leading, initiating and developing new business strategies and opportunities to create a pipeline of
development impact projects ensuring deal flow and bankability.
5. Experience in securing deals of appropriate size for sectors and geographies in question.
6. Strong networks and relations with clients, global and regional private investors and banks in order to identify and
source viable projects/investments.
7. Successful track record in leading project teams with high level stakeholders and qualified professionals;
8. Experience in using Financial models;
9. Comprehensive knowledge of the complex financial and regulatory environments across Africa.
10. In depth knowledge and understanding of infrastructure market, financial markets and the macro landscape.
11. Demonstrable experience in identifying client challenges and playing an active part in finding innovative
solutions.
12. Experienced communicator and negotiator (expertise at senior level).
13. Strong negotiation skills with the ability to close deals.
14. Proven experience in working with senior stakeholders in highly political environments in South Africa and
the rest of Africa
15. Role requires flexibility to be deployed to other business units within Coverage division, if required
16. Ability to mentor jnr members of the team
Desirable Requirements:
1. A post-graduate qualification such as a CA, CFA or MBA
TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES:
1. Risk Identification & Assessment skills
a. Advises on applicable aspects of risk identification and assessment.
b. Assesses and links short-term tasks in the context of long-term business strategies or perspectives.
2. Business Development
a. Takes overall lead for pro-active business development at national and international level.
b. Initiates, reviews and interprets competitor environment reviews and take actions accordingly.
c. Formulates and modify market approaches on the basis of competitor analyses.
d. Leads the formulation, development and implementation of the business development strategy to
generate new business opportunities in public and private sector delivery of infrastructure.
e. Identifies and develop new markets, products and clients.
f. Leads the participation and presentation of an organisation at investment conferences and
roundtable discussions.
g. Coordinates business activities to ensure that investment initiatives are in support of government
BEE strategies, broader national and regional economic development strategies.
h. Promote compliance and alignment with the strategic imperatives of both individual clients and
the organisation of investment and development interventions.
i. Builds capacity to coordinate, control and manage the activities and efforts required for the
implementation of the plan.
j. Builds capacity to conduct project origination exercises.
3. Business Acumen
a. Deep understanding of commercial drivers and is able to take decisions based on an assessment of alternatives concerning complex business situations.
b. Deep understanding of economic priorities of South Africa and Africa and how they can be implemented to meet an organisations strategic objectives.
c. Deep understanding of the need to coordinate efforts with many government entities, private
sector, community groups and individuals to ensure effective implementation of new policies and regulations.
d. Takes actions to fit business strategy.
e. Assesses and links short-term tasks in the context of long-term business strategies or perspectives.
f. Reviews own actions against the organisation's strategic plan; includes the big picture when considering possible opportunities or projects or thinks about long-term applications of currentactivities.
g. Anticipates possible responses to different initiatives.
h. Understands the projected direction of the industry and how changes might impact the organisation.
4. Deal Origination
a. Utilises extensive networks with developers, sponsors and consultants in DBSA-mandated sectors to identify project preparation opportunities.
b. Conducts project identification, conceptualisation and preliminary structuring of projects structuring and value preposition for DBSA.
c. Applies analytical skills to understand the technical, environmental, institutional, financial and legal components of projects to present a structure to prepare the project.
d. Understands the regulatory and policy environments and offers advice in preparing/structuring of
projects.
e. Conducts market research, business analysis and profiling to identify opportunities for infrastructure development in SA, SADC and selected African countries.
f. Provides and grows the opportunity for DBSA equity investments.
g. Independently structures and negotiates and concludes engagement letters, term sheets and facility agreements.
5. Project Management
a. Initiates project plans and secures resources for projects that span area or department boundaries.
b. Uses estimating techniques and develops project risk management approaches.
c. Has an in-depth and practical understanding of how to maximise the effectiveness of project teams.
6. Planning & Organising
a. Is relied on to helps other plan and organise their workload.
b. Uses effectively advance time management processes to deal with high workload and tight deadlines.
c. Organises, prioritises and schedules tasks so they can be performed within budget and with the efficient use of time and resources.
d. Achieves goals in a timely manner, despite obstacles encountered, by organising, reprioritising and re-planning
7. Financial Acumen
a. Makes sound financial decisions after having analysed their impacts on the organisation, partner agencies, and community.
b. Effectively prepares budgetary submissions and forecasts for own department.
c. Knows the internal and external factors that impact on resource and asset availability.
d. Is able to interpret management account reports in an operational/commercial context and take action as appropriate to maximise revenues and control costs.
8. Reporting & Communication
a. Designs / customises reports to meet user needs.
b. Prepares complex or tailored reports, gathers information from a variety of sources, analyses and includes in a report.
c. Keeps standard reports under review and proposes improvements to meet user needs
9. Presentation Skills
a. Knows how to deliver arguments persuasively by employing a range of advanced presentation
techniques (e.g. the appropriate use of body language, how to close a presentation so that the audience continues to think about the subject matter etc.).
b. Has knowledge of various feedback mechanisms to check levels of audience understanding.
10. Negotiation
a. Has an appreciation of cultural sensitivities and differences.
b. Effectively employs a variety of advanced behavioural/interpersonal competencies to control the negotiation situation.
c. Is able to take the lead in a variety of sensitive negotiation situations requiring high levels of tact and diplomacy.
d. Is able to place a discrete negotiation situation within the context of a broader -term relationship and is not threatened by conceding ground to protect the longer-term interests of DBSA

Required Personal Attributes

BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES:
1. Achievement Orientation
a. Delivers work on time and quality and follows through on agreed commitments.
b. Views new work experiences as an opportunity for growth.
c. Reacts immediately to overcome setbacks or/and obstacles in order to meet goals.
d. Recognises and acts upon current opportunities.
2. Customer Service Orientation
a. Makes self fully available, especially when the customer is going through a critical period.
b. Requests on-going feedback from customers and takes action in response to it; manages to retain
and capitalise on existing customers.
c. Takes the to resolve customer issues appropriately, even in the case where they do
not fall under own area of responsibility.
d. Is aware of the level of service offered by the competition and provides more for customers than they expect.
3. Attention to Detail
a. Double-checks the accuracy of information or work.
b. Ensures that the work produced does not contain any errors.
4. Leading and Empowering Others
a. Creates the conditions that enable the team to perform at its best (e.g., setting clear direction,
providing appropriate structure, getting the right people, obtain needed resources).
b. Monitors performance against clear standards, and addresses performance issues promptly and takes action to get performance back to desired levels.
c. Proactively asks for feedback on own performance from team members, aiming to become more
effective.
d. Ensures tasks are delegated so that team members are empowered to deliver results and develop
their capabilities.
5. Self-awareness and Self Control
a. Feels strong emotions in the course of a conversation or other task, such as anger, extreme frustration, or high stress;
b. Holds the emotions back, and continues to act calmly.
c. Ignores angering actions and continues a conversation or task.
d. May leave temporarily to withhold emotions, then return immediately to continue.
6. Strategic and Innovative Thinking
a. Recognises opportunities or potential problems, before they become obvious, by seeing the
connections in a range of sources of information, including insights from outside DBSA.
b. Restates complex knowledge in a way that makes it easier for others to understand.
c. Experiments with new approaches, tests scenarios, questions assumptions and challenges
conventional thinking.
d. Creates new concepts that are not obvious to others, leveraging internal and external sources of
information, to build incremental revenue and growth opportunities.
7. Teamwork & Cooperation
a. Values and utilises the expertise of colleagues, asking for ideas and input and collaborates to
form decisions and plans.
b. Willingly learns from others.
c. Creates opportunities for knowledge and expertise sharing between all members of the team.