Venture Capital Job – Investment Executive – British International Investments

Our mission and objectives

• British International Investment is the UK’s development finance institution, owned by the UK Government. We invest with the aim of solving the biggest global development challenges by investing patient, flexible capital to support private sector growth and innovation.
• We have 75 years of experience successfully supporting the sustainable, long-term growth of businesses in Africa and Asia, and have recently expanded to invest in the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean.
• We invest to achieve impact and a financial return which is then reinvested for more impact. Over the past five years, we have committed £7 billion of new investments, with our net assets growing in value to approximately £8.1 billion. We are now invested in 1,400 businesses which directly employ over 950,000 workers and support many more. Over the next five years, we plan to grow further, and aim to commit around £9 billion of new investments over the period.
• Our current five-year strategy responds to the opportunities and challenges facing developing and emerging economies. To ensure our capital is used in the best way possible to meet these opportunities and challenges, it sets out three clear strategic objectives – to invest in productive, sustainable and inclusive development. These objectives mean an increased focus on climate finance, including investing in green infrastructure; on financing digital transformation; and on driving inclusive outcomes, including through gender and diversity finance.
• We changed our name to British International Investment in 2022, to more accurately reflect our central role in the UK Government’s international financing offer.
• In the last few years, we have expanded our presence in Africa and Asia by opening new offices in Bangladesh, Egypt, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ghana and Singapore; with further expansion planned.
• We take an entrepreneurial approach to investment. We think innovatively about ways to deploy our capital, attract, and mobilise other investors, and drive transformational impact.
• Deliver impact. We are a team of over 600 and place immense value on diversity within our organisation.

Team Overview

• The Venture Capital team sits within the wider T&T Equity group, and invests in early-stage VC funds, works alongside managers to generate early-stage co-investments under its VC Scale-up programme and will increasingly look to make early-stage investments directly as well. We look to back high-quality management teams within established profitable enterprises and also invest in exceptional earlier-stage companies when they are the leading players in the development of a rapidly growing new market.
• Our investments are purely in Africa, South Asia and South East Asia, and we have a particular focus on businesses that are in or expanding to the poorer parts of those geographies as well as businesses with the potential for driving substantial inclusion, productivity and/or resource utilisation efficiency gains.

Role overview

There are 5 levels in the team – Associate (post graduate scheme or eq.), Executive, Manager, Director & Team Leader. However, the team is very flat and people at all levels are involved in the real detail, and in representational work, both to Investment Committee and externally. Directors and, to a material degree, Managers act as deal leads/oversights and Executives are encouraged to step up and also take ownership both internally during investment committee discussions as well as with fund managers and founders.

There are 3 parts of the job (at all levels):

The Investment Executive (S Asia – Venture Capital) will support the team’s strategy to address the early-stage funding spectrum largely focused on key tech-hubs (India, Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Pakistan etc) to enable reach to entrepreneurs building disruptive business at scale. Whilst the focus will be for South Asia region – broader investment exposure to Africa and South East Asia will be encouraged to leverage learnings and insights across these regions.

• Origination – sector mapping, finding & evaluating investment opportunities, and building and maintaining relationships with funds and underlying companies.
• Support senior investment professionals in the management of portfolio VC funds and VC co-investments including actively monitoring the financial performance and development impact and their compliance with BII’s investment policy.
• Execution – analysing companies in detail, conducting due diligence, navigating the Investment Committee process, agreeing legal terms.
• Portfolio management – analysing companies in detail, preparing for Board meetings, helping the companies wherever we can, preparing for follow-on investments, roll-ups and/or exits.
• Travelling across India, wider South Asia region to conduct onsite meetings as required and to London to meet with the broader team.

At Investment Executive level, you will spend the majority of your time on execution; by the time you are a senior Investment Executive you should be able to run with most of the execution stages largely unassisted. You will also be given some sub-sectors where you are responsible for origination and play a key role in portfolio management.

The candidate

• We are looking for candidates that will deliver from day one and who have the drive, ambition and tenacity to progress through the ranks.
• Typically, candidates will have a solid grounding in fundamental analytics (financial / commercial analysis, valuation, financial modelling) from private equity, investment banking or strategy consulting.
• The successful candidate will likely have at relevant prior work experience; an MBA, or similar, is helpful. Evidence of prior exposure to the tech and venture capital space is a major positive.
• Over and above quantitative skills, analytical rigour and attention to detail, the softer skills we are looking for include: (1) ability to look at complex problems and get to the root of the issue, (2) ability to build relationships with companies, (3) ability to communicate clearly on paper and in person, and (4) ability to multi-task.
• Candidates will also need to evidence previous experience working in, or demonstrable passion for, Africa or South Asia, or at the very least an understanding of emerging markets.
• Candidates should be strongly motivated by BII’s development mission and ideally demonstrate some commitment to development or social goals through previous executive or non-executive activity.

Our cultural values

We look for team members who aspire, as we do, to work at our best and to be:

• Impact-led, commercially rigorous
• Tenacious in the face of challenges
• Collaborative and caring

British International Investment is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or educational background.