The industrialisation of African countries is now a top priority for most of the African governments that TBI is supporting. For many government leaders, it represents a vision of economic (And social) transformation for the entire country. As a result, TBI is strengthening its support to governments on this agenda.

TBI’s Indusrialisation Team is a central function that provides technical leadership and support to TBI’s embedded advisors supporting inclusive economic growth, job creation and industrialisation in multiple countries across Africa. The teams’ mission is to support the continent to establish or expand productive sectors, including manufacturing industries but also agro-processing and tradable service sectors like tourism and call centres, thereby creating jobs, know-how, net exports and tax revenues. This all needs to be done within the context of the fourth industrial revolution and the relatively tight policy window this provides.

The main support functions provided are market analysis, industry coordination support, tools and frameworks, delivery for industrialisation, investment facilitation, policy and thought leadership, marketing, business development, fundraising and management of the sectoral network.

The role will support our in-country teams advising African governments on our how to strengthen their industrial policy and how to accelerate its delivery. Our objective is to increase the capability of governments to implement smart export-oriented industrial strategies. Our approach is to embed a network of coordinated advisors in different economic ministries and agencies, including the Presidency, and by supporting those advisors centrally through activities such as sector analysis, plugging in our network to meet governments needs and supporting investor facilitation.

Key Responsibilities

Key responsibilities for the role include:

Advisory – supporting industrialisation in the African Continent

Support African governments, via TBI’s in-country teams, to strengthen their market-led industrial policies to develop critical industries that can foster the economic transformation of the continent. This will include strengthening coordination and delivery mechanisms for industrialisation strategies.
Develop frameworks and tools for the delivery of industrialisation. These include frameworks to select the industries that countries should focus on to and to support the effective implementation of industrial policies.
Support the development of our industrialisation offering.
Develop the membership and community of the practice to foster experience sharing and learning among practice members in African countries TBI operates in.
Provide high impact advisory support to country teams to help projects ensure impact (e.g., scoping, strategy support, quality assurance, analysis, technical advice, quality assurance, partnership connections, mentoring of advisors).
Collaborate with country projects and the investment team to secure manufacturing FDI and Domestic Investment in Africa.
Ensure transformational technology initiatives are streamlined into our industrialisation work.
Collaborate with other sector teams where there are sector overlaps, e.g., agro-processing with the agri-food team and production of energy goods with the energy team.

Thought leadership and business development

Support the Industrialisation Lead in fundraising and business development work around our industrialisation offering.
Develop high-quality thought leadership and policy material for public consumption on job creation and industrialisation in Africa, while engaging in public events and behind the scenes advocacy on the topic. This will include developing partnerships with research institutions.
Support the Industrialisation Lead and the leads for other sectors (agri-food, energy, investment, technology, centre of government) in strategy development and implementation, thought leadership and management of the practice teams.

Person Specification

This is a role in a fast-paced team working out of different geographies and in complex policy areas.

To be successful in this role you will need to be closely aligned with the Institute’s outlook and mission and be entrepreneurial in your approach to your work.

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate the following skills, knowledge and experience:

Extensive experience in industrial policy and job creation advisory and consultancy to or in governments. Direct experience in key sectors like manufacturing would be an asset, as would experience in Africa.
Experience in and a deep understanding of government delivery and centre of government strengthening.
Experience working in a commercial setting and engaging the private sector and a proven ability to assess the business case of investments and sectors.
Results oriented, structured, resilient in seeing projects through to the end and a willingness to be pro-active and go the extra mile.
The confidence, experience, communication skills and credibility to operate at a senior level in TBI, including directly with our Executive Chairman.
Highly developed analytical skills that can be deployed in a range of contexts.
The ability to deliver a challenging and complex agenda – particularly in helping governments design and implement industrial policies and developing industrial capabilities.
The ability to work in the face of a range of competing views and priorities, possessing highly developed communication and negotiation skills.
Demonstrated capability to publish action-oriented policy papers on industrialisation in the continent.
Able to work independently but also be a strong team player.
Relevant educational qualifications in economics, management, business administration, public administration or other related fields.
Fluency in English is required; fluency in French is an advantage.

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Senior Industrial Policy Advisor at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change