View Vacancy – Trade and Investment Adviser (12/24 PL)

Main purpose of job:

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the British Government’s trade and investment development organisation. Its aim is to enhance the competitiveness of companies in the UK through overseas trade and investments and attract high-level of quality foreign direct investment into the UK. We work with UK based businesses to ensure their success in overseas markets and international investors to help them bring high-quality investment to the UK. 

This is an excellent opportunity to join the trade and investment team in the British High Commission Mauritius. You will be part of a fast-paced, supportive and dynamic team, delivering the UK government’s goals. You will thus also join the DBT’s Africa network, providing crucial leadership and expertise as part of our expansion. You will network closely with colleagues from across HMG working on prosperity issues as DBT can only successfully deliver our commercial ambitions by working seamlessly as part of joint and coordinated prosperity teams alongside the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The core focus of the role will be in identifying and delivering export/business opportunities for UK businesses in  following sub-sectors in Mauritius : Green Economy, Education , Healthcare, Agritech/Blue Economy, Financial & Professional Services and Tech. 

The Trade Adviser works alongside the Country Director on the development and implementation of a high value strategy; and leads on generating UK commercial wins in priority sectors across the market.

You will bring with you, or demonstrate how you would quickly acquire, an in-depth knowledge of the sectors and build a strategy to develop a pipeline of commercial opportunities for UK businesses. To do so, you will build upon relationships with key stakeholders whilst proactively seeking out new clients and opportunities. You will work collaboratively with colleagues from the Department for Business and Trade and wider partners in the UK to bring UK companies to Mauritius and support them to win business. You will also identify trade barriers in this sector and work collaboratively with the industry and other parts of the Government to resolve those barriers.  Your role will involve amplifying the UK government and industry voice in the sector, which will require securing access to the most senior levels within Mauritius industry and government, leveraging senior colleagues in the trade and investment team, as well as across the British High Commission. 

You will be a self-starter who can demonstrate long-term objectives; plan and manage a delivery model; and identify, grow and make effective use of stakeholders. You will work with trade and investment colleagues in the Africa network and elsewhere, with other UK government colleagues, Mauritian government officials, businesses and other multipliers (trade associations, etc.).

The job holder will be expected to:

80%: Trade & Investment

• Work alongside the Country Director on the development and implementation of a high value strategy; and lead on generating UK pipeline of high value projects and opportunities.
• Plan and deliver activities to connect UK businesses to these opportunities and provide bespoke support to UK companies to win business.
• Meet the team’s internal targets (for pipeline, export wins, return on investment and customer satisfaction/quality) and maintain a contact log with customers on our global ‘Data Hub’ database.
• Build and manage senior level relationships with key mauritian and UK businesses, stakeholders and partners within the sector, across one-HMG (UK Government) team and in the UK to support objectives and deliver value for UK businesses.
• Engaging directly with British companies who have expressed an interest in exploring exporting opportunities in Mauritius in order to help deliver their trade and investment aims as well as prioritise relationship building with those with greatest investment in jeopardy or in progress that UK Government can support.
• Organise key events and activities which support British trade work in mauritius, including webinars, roadshows, trade missions and Ministerial visits.
• Engage with  DBT HQ team in the UK and regional Sector teams to deliver on the pipeline targets.
• Raise the profile of the sectors through activities & events planned and managed by the Trade & Investment team and others, including through our GREAT marketing campaign.
• Contribute to wider corporate UK government objectives, including input to Ministerial / VIP / VVIP visits and deliverables in Post and across one-HMG at post.
• Travel (as required) as part of the role. Relevant job-related training will be given as required.
• Contribute to Post’s wider objectives.
• Ensure robust forecasting of events and submitting timely budget requests.
  

20% : Market Access & Trade policy

• Address ‘High Value Barriers’ in Mauritius that inhibit investment
• Produce good quality and detailed reports providing market insights and sector- or product-specific information and analysis, charging where appropriate.
• Use the various DBT databases and platforms such as Data Hub and DMAS to ensure good recording and reporting of in-country interactions and activities undertaken by the country team working on trade and investment and market access barrier.
• Work closely with policy colleagues both in Mauritius, Africa and the UK to deliver secondary benefits from our prosperity programmes across UK Government.
• The above list is not exhaustive, and the jobholder will be required to be flexible as specific responsibilities could change in the future and this would be at the discretion of the line manager or head of section. The job description may be reviewed to meet changes in business needs. The jobholder may also take on other ad hoc tasks as required, including participating in the BHC’s emergency planning and any other response to a crisis.

• University level of qualification or equivalent, preferably in a trade/ international relations subject
• 3-5 years of professional working experience in economic/trade/policy/business sector
• Understanding of the Mauritius Market, especially with a focus on the key focus areas
• A self-starter who can hit the ground running and quickly adapt to the role
• Excellent interpersonal, team working skills, with proven track record of cross-team collaboration
• Good analytical skills acquired in an international market context with a consultative sales approach to achieving results.
• Experience of working for or with government sector
• Proficient in MS-Suite (including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook etc.)
• Excellent written and presentation skills to create high quality documents suited for Ministers and senior management team.
• Ability to work independently, reliably and proactively with attention to detail and limited supervision.
• Excellent communication skills suited for working with senior representatives across industry and government.

The job is a fantastic opportunity to make a real impact on the UK’s trade and investment links with Mauritius. You will have the opportunity to develop within your sector and build your networks. We will also support you with opportunities to get the right learning and development, career development and opportunities to travel across Africa and to the UK. You will need to be collaborative and flexible to fit in with the network’s ethos; and, importantly, focussed on delivering results and contributing to the wider corporate efforts especially around our busy Ministerial / VIP / visit programme.

To be successful:

• You will have or develop an understanding of the sectors, a strong network on the ground, and use your good analytical skills to apply this to identifying significant market opportunities for UK businesses and then supporting them to turn these into contracts.
• You will need to be strategically aware to identify emerging opportunities in your sector, and to what is happening in the UK in your sectors and to emerging investment opportunities. Reading relevant information and keeping up to date with the emerging changes is therefore a pre-requisite.
• You should have strong interpersonal skills and be a credible member of the team capable of setting the direction for yourself and those around you and of gaining their trust and respect .
• You should be confident in developing productive relationships with senior decision makers in the UK and Mauritian businesses and with stakeholders and partners, and in using these to deliver your objectives.
• You will need to be collaborative and flexible and able to manage yourself and the demands on you.
• You should have good project management skills to create and deliver campaigns; and excellent English written and verbal communication skills. You will be expected to produce written work in Standard English to a high standard.