Website Acumen
About Acumen
Acumen has been a pioneering force in the world of impact investing since its inception. Established with a mission to tackle global poverty, Acumen invests patient capital in sustainable, scalable businesses that deliver goods and services to the world’s poor. Over the years, Acumen has positively impacted millions of lives by investing in companies that serve low-income communities in Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States. To date, Acumen has invested over $137 million in 139 innovative companies involved in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, energy, and education. Beyond financial investments, Acumen is deeply involved in nurturing leaders through their global programs, building a robust community of change-makers committed to addressing critical social issues. Their approach combines investment in businesses with moral and ethical leadership development, aiming for systemic change through sustainable solutions.
About this Role
Acumen’s Hardest to Reach Impact Debt Fund is looking for an Investment Associate based in London to help lead early-stage investments in the off-grid solar sector in Sub-Saharan Africa as part of our Key Strategic Initiative “Hardest to Reach”. This role will report to the Investment Director of the Hardest to Reach Impact Debt Fund. The Investment Associate will be responsible for sourcing, evaluating, underwriting, and managing private credit investments aimed at expanding off-grid solar markets in some of the most challenging and underserved regions in Africa. The role involves leading multiple transactions from origination to closing, with a focus on financial and impact due diligence. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with internal teams to ensure comprehensive assessments and compliance.
Responsibilities
- Lead multiple transactions in parallel throughout the entire deal lifecycle, from origination to closing with a focus on financial and impact due diligence.
- Conduct financial analysis and create financial models.
- Write Investment Memoranda and present investment opportunities to the Investment Committee.
- Perform financial modeling, including review, stress-testing, and scenario analysis.
- Work closely with Sustainable Developmental Impact (SDI) and Health Safety Environmental and Social (HSES) teams on respective assessments.
- Collaborate with internal teams for client on-boarding, KYC checks, and related tasks.
- Monitor investment performance and ensure covenant compliance, periodic/annual reviews, and act on warning signals.
- Provide performance updates to managers, participate in portfolio reviews, and validate impact data collection.
- Manage relationships with stakeholders and provide incentives to borrowers for extending first-time clean energy access.
Requirements
- Minimum 5 years of work experience, at least 3 years in finance, ideally in an investment capacity leading or supporting debt and/or equity transactions.
- Strong analytical skills and ability to build financial models for corporate finance transactions.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
- Demonstrated interest in impact investing (preferred).
- Professional experience investing or working in Sub-Saharan Africa (preferred).
- Ability to get up to speed quickly in technical areas of work and understand/navigate complex issues.
- Proactive and solutions-oriented with integrity.
- Self-reflective and aligned with Acumen values.
- Authorized to work in the UK.
- Willingness to travel as needed.
Benefits
- Not specified
