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Analyst, Manocap

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Exclusive to RARE: The biggest private equity investor in Sierra Leone, backed by Texas Pacific Group and Permira among others, is looking for an Analyst with excellent financial modelling skills and a passion for West Africa.

About ManoCap

ManoCap is the biggest private equity investor in Sierra Leone. By the end of the year, its fund will be equivalent to 2% of GDP. Its backers include Texas Pacific Group, Permira, and Landsdowne Partners. ManoCap’s total funds under management have just increased fivefold and the business plans to roll out in a number of other small emerging economies over the coming years.

Joining ManoCap is a unique opportunity to help some of the poorest countries in the world and to gain blue-chip, private equity experience. The Sierra Leone opportunity is for a year initially but the intention is to find someone who will stay with ManoCap for the long term and who has the potential to become a partner in the fullness of time.

We are delighted to announce that Rare has been appointed as sole recruiter for this role.

The Analyst role

We are looking for an Analyst to work, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, alongside ManoCap’s management team to identify and deliver investment opportunities and provide technical assistance to Sierra Leonean businesses.

Responsibilities will include:

o Developing Investment Themes:
The analyst will be part of a team responsible for identifying high potential investment areas and assessing the investment potential of target companies. He or she will:
o Design and deliver research on target companies under the supervision of the management team
o Independently research and develop potential investment opportunities based on ManoCap’s investment hypothesis
o Monitor African stock exchanges to identify investment opportunities and advise on potential investments in quoted African equity
o Deliver regular updates on important African news stories
o Provide information on the wider economic environment in Sierra Leone on a weekly basis.

• Financial Modelling: The analyst will support the development of detailed financial models to support investment hypotheses.

• Maintain Local Network: The candidate will be expected to develop strong local networks to identify potential businesses and to ensure that the organisation is kept up to date with political and private sector developments.

The Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate will be in the top one per cent of the population, and will demonstrate this outstanding ability by either having a superb academic record or a history of entrepreneurialism (or, ideally, both). Furthermore, he or she will be:

1. Financially literate - able to look at a P&L/cashflow/balance sheet, understand it, and model it into the future. Candidates need to be very comfortable with Excel and we will test the financial modelling skills of candidates we are considering sending for interview.
2. Comfortable doing things he or she has never done before, and excited about diving into unfamiliar tasks.
3. An extrovert.
4. Prepared to work long hours.
5. Patient - things move slowly, and you’ll need to multitask and have lots of irons in the fire.
6. Commercial – ideally, with experience of starting or running a business.
7. Enthusiastic about dealing with a range of businesses and sectors and prepared to do research on new and unfamiliar areas.
8. Independent and self-starting.
9. Poised and confident.
10. Passionate about West Africa and ideally with some connection to the region.

The ideal candidate may well have some consultancy, or banking, experience, but this is not a necessity. We will consider candidates from any professional background who meet the person specification.

The Package
ManoCap will pay £30,000 per year, tax free, to the successful candidate. It will also provide:
• Two return flights to the UK per year
• Help in locating suitable accommodation and security (excellent housing in Sierra Leone costs about £250-£300 a month)
• A chef in the office who provides lunch and dinner
• A small discretionary bonus

Process
For further information please email jobs@rarerecruitment.co.uk. To apply please email your CV as soon as possible to jobs@rarerecruitment.co.uk quoting job reference 1532mcp. ManoCap are keen to hire quickly and we will send impressive candidates to them as they come to us.