View Vacancy – Deputy Country Director – Department for Business and Trade (23/24 ADD)

Main purpose of job:

You will work with the Country Director as an integral part of the British Embassy economic team in Addis in pursuit of the objectives set out in UK Department for Business and Trade’s (DBT) Regional Trade Plan for Africa and the Embassy’s Country Plan. As Deputy Country Director, you will provide leadership to the team’s commercial work, building and managing the pipeline of projects, advising UK investors and exporters to help them realise their ambitions, leading ambitious awareness-building campaigns among UK businesses in priority sectors, holding key relationships within the Government of Ethiopia and supporting UK companies already in the market to continue to operate successfully. In addition to this, you will work closely with the Trade Policy and Market Access lead to support the work of the wider DBT-Ethiopia team and have responsibility for the day-to-day operational management of the commercial team and will deputise for the Country Director as required.

Context
Bilateral trade between UK and Ethiopia was worth £546m in the four quarters to the end of Q1 2024. The UK has investments in major sector including telecoms, financial services and mining, and has a close development partnership focused on economic reform. DBT in Ethiopia is based at the British Embassy in Addis Ababa. We are a core part of a wider economy focused team alongside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), working to alleviate poverty, improve economic development and enhance trade and investment between the UK and Ethiopia.Priority sectors of focus for the team’s work include infrastructure, agribusiness, healthcare and renewable energy.

DBT Ethiopia is part of the the UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Africa  Network, one of nine international regions, which is led by His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC). The Department’s role is to increase prosperity in the UK and overseas through increasing trade and investment. The Trade Commissioner’s role is to lead the pan-African trade and investment team to increase the value of the commercial relationship between Africa and the UK with country teams focusing on these activities within their area.

Roles and responsibilities:

This is a leadership role where the primary objective is to encourage private sector led growth, by protecting and promoting investment and leveraging the strengths of British businesses. You will provide leadership to the commercial team to unlock economic growth and job creation by unblocking flagship investor issues and bringing private sector investment to Africa. You will work in support of Ethiopia and the UK’s growth agenda and report to the Country Director. As a credible interlocutor with businesses who understands how companies make decisions, using that knowledge to guide the Embassy’s work, your role will have a number of objectives:

• Establish a world-class commercial support unit:  You will facilitate the development of a pipeline of UK investment and export deals in Ethiopia, and will be responsible for devising and executing strategies to drive this pipeline forward, reporting to the Country Director and sharing insights with the wider embassy team.  You will map key UK investors’ presence in Ethiopia and manage key investor relationships, facilitate their dialogue with the Ethiopian authorities and regulators to expedite resolution of challenges to more mutually beneficial investments, collaborating with the Trade Policy and Market Access lead to overcome business environment challenges. You will line manage a small team including one investment and one trade advisor, ensuring that they have clear objectives and activities in place to support those objectives.
• Network and collaborate widely to identify and progress opportunities in wider Embassy work to advance DBT objectives and trade: You will build important client-facing relationships with important investors and British businesses that want to trade with Ethiopia and the opportunities available. You will work to develop a deep understanding of the suite of HMG programming in Ethiopia to ensure DBT priorities and interests are considered and aligned with HMG programme planning, working closely with the joint DBT-FCDO Climate, Economy, Trade and Investment Team. As part of this you will work closely with colleagues across Government (including British International Investments and UK Export Finance) to identify synergies and opportunities for collaboration on areas of mutual interest that will deliver the Embassy’s Country Business Plan.
• Lead the team’s senior visits work: Critical to our success is that we leverage departmental ministers, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa, senior civil servants and business delegations to the cause of the team. You will design, pitch for and execute senior visits into the Ethiopian market, as well as inward visits to the UK by Ethiopian delegations.
• Deputise for the Country Director:  You will also be the Deputy to the Country Director, providing support and working together to ensure that Ethiopia is well embedded into the wider pan-Africa DIT region, sharing good ideas and best practice to gain a clear understanding of business drivers across the market. You will be expected to cover in the Country Director’s absence. You will also have responsibility for the team’s financial operations and monitoring.

 
As the successful candidate, you will be a dynamic leader with good communication skills, able to motivate the trade and investment team and prosperity colleagues and engage credibly with senior people in order to represent interests of the DBT Ethiopia team and its people. You will be good at thinking strategically and planning for the future. You will be able to demonstrate the management capability to support a high performing, flexible and agile team; and have a proven ability to build good relationships with stakeholders and clients. You will also be comfortable drilling down into the detail to manage the performance.

• Postgraduate degree and/or undergraduate degree and other relevant professional qualification.
• Relevant professional work experience in the private sector, or within a private sector orientated part of Government or International Organisation.
• Experience of working in or with government departments, NGOs, and similar institutions.
• Proven track record of leadership as well as cross-team collaboration.
• Proven client-facing experience, for example with an investment promotion agency or professional services firm.
• Fluency in the language of business and investment.
• A positive, resilient, flexible and adaptable “can-do” attitude that can see way through challenges.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills, ability to work successfully in multicultural teams and across boundaries, to build networks across the region.
• Excellent drafting skills.