Consultant - Financial Sector Engagement & Climate Finance Partnerships

Accion is a global nonprofit on a mission to create a fair and inclusive economy for the 1.6 billion people who are failed by the global financial system. We develop and scale responsible digital financial solutions for small business owners, smallholder farmers, and women, so they can make informed decisions and improve their lives. Through targeted investment strategies, advisory solutions, and expert thought leadership, we work with local partners to develop and scale cheaper, more accessible, and customer-friendly financial solutions. Since 1961, Accion has helped build 299 financial service providers serving low-income clients in 77 countries, reaching over 500 million people. More at https://www.accion.org.

The Climate and Finance Innovations (ClimaFii) Alliance is a five-year accelerator led by Shell Foundation in partnership with Accion and BFA Global, to accelerate the adoption and financing of clean energy and electric mobility solutions for microenterprises across sub-Saharan Africa. ClimaFii provides tailored venture support, catalytic capital, and, critically, linkages with financial service providers (FSPs) to design and deploy affordable end-user financing products that enable access to climate-smart technologies for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Accion is responsible for partnering with financial service providers to design asset finance, embedded finance, working capital, and other financing products that broaden affordability and uptake of clean energy solutions among microenterprise customers of ClimaFii cohort companies. To strengthen regional execution and deepen market-specific FSP engagement, Accion seeks to recruit a consultants with deep green finance and inclusive finance experience in SSA to accelerate FSP engagement, FSP partnership development, and end-user financing pilots with FSPs across target markets.

The Consultant will drive structured FSP engagement and partnership development for ClimaFii, including strategy development, prospecting, securing FSP interest, onboarding FSP partners, and coordinating engagement across Sub-Saharan Africa in order to increase end-user financing through FSPs.

• Lead detailed financial sector landscape mapping in priority markets to identify FSPs with green/clean energy finance appetite (banks, MFIs, fintechs, SACCOs, digital lenders, leasing/asset finance, guarantee schemes, etc.).
• Prioritize institutions with:

• • existing climate/green finance products and interest in end-user financing for clean energy assets and ClimaFii priority sectors
  • appetite for productive use asset finance, PAYGo, embedded finance, gender-intentional finance
  • ability to collaborate on credit product development, credit product improvement, pilot design and product deployment
• Develop a prioritized FSP engagement pipeline with profiles, product lines and fit with ClimaFii enterprises, risk tolerances, and partnership readiness.

• Lead outreach, coordinate introductory meetings, and relationships with FSPs
• Identify and advise on credit risk de-risking instruments, guarantees, or blended incentives (e.g., partial credit guarantees, portfolio guarantees, first-loss support, concessional tranches) that make the case for end-user financing more attractive to FSPs.
• Translate enterprise financing needs into value propositions for FSPs
• Facilitate introductions and discussions between FSPs and climate enterprises to align on potential partnership models
• Support negotiation and drafting of partnership agreements e.g. MOUs with FSPs

• Support product and pilot development by providing structured market insights and FSP feedback to guide eligibility, pricing parameters, risk considerations, repayment structures, and monitoring priorities.

• Support FSP and enterprise onboarding into pilots, including operational readiness diagnostics (credit policy alignment, systems integration, data flows, KYC/AML alignment).
• Support pilot rollout, troubleshooting implementation bottlenecks and driving adoption.

• Contribute to documentation of learnings and best practices from FSP partnership engagements for Accion’s internal use and external knowledge products.

• Support ClimaFii fundraising efforts by contributing to fundraising strategy and prospecting across donors, foundations, DFIs and corporates aligned to inclusive climate finance in SSA.
• Develop and refine core fundraising materials that translate ClimaFii’s partnership model, market opportunity, and early results into clear funder-ready value propositions.
• Contribute to proposal development by drafting inputs for concept notes, Expressions of Interest (EOI’s) and grant applications.

FSP landscape mapping & prioritized FSP list

Month 1

Engagement and outreach tracker + stakeholder engagement plan

Monthly

Signed MoUs/LoIs with FSP partners for priority pilots

Month 3–6

 Pilots with 8-10 FSPs

Month 3-12

At least 2 concept notes and/or full proposals submitted

Month 3-12

Partnership performance & insights reports

Quarterly

• 8+ years of experience in financial sector partnership development, inclusive finance, green/climate finance in sub-Saharan Africa (priority countries; Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria).
• Demonstrated experience in designing and mobilizing green finance solutions including
• Track record of building and closing partnerships with FSPs, evidenced by signed collaborations, joint pilots, or product rollouts.
• Strong understanding of risk frameworks, credit guarantees, de-risking instruments, blended finance incentives, and business case development for end-user finance.
• Strong understanding of enterprise constraints in clean energy and climate tech financing ecosystems.
• ClimaFii priority markets.
• Experience supporting business development and fundraising, including donor/grant prospecting and developing concept notes/proposals in climate finance contexts.
• Excellent communication skills, and ability to work across multi-stakeholder teams.
• Added advantage: Bi-lingual (English and French)

The consultant will report directly to the ClimaFii Accion Lead- SSA and work closely with:

• Accion’s global ClimaFii team
• BFA Global’s venture building leads and project teams
• Cohort enterprise representatives and founders
• Partner FSP teams

Key coordination mechanisms include bi-weekly check-ins, monthly partnership reviews, and quarterly steering committee updates.

This consultancy is expected to run for 12 months, with deliverables tied to quarterly performance reviews. Renewal will be subject to performance, partnership momentum, and evolving program  needs.

To be determined by the Consultant’s domicile country.

Interested consultants should submit:

• A CV (max 2pages)
• A brief written response (max 1 page) highlighting 2–3 relevant FSP engagements in Kenya, Uganda, or Nigeria. Describe your role, the nature of the partnership, and the financing product or pilot supported.