CONSULTING OPPORTUNITIES
Because of SBI’s commitment to building strong, vibrant, and sustainable local institutions, most of the action at SBI takes place in the field, on long-term projects focused on the growth and strengthening of local financing programs. Success in these projects usually depends on taking an embedded, partnership approach to working with local financial institutions. Therefore, the most common types of opportunities available to development finance experts at SBI are long-term, field-based consulting assignments, and shorter-term, more specialized consulting engagements supporting long-term projects.
Long-term opportunities can include lead and supporting roles in the following types of projects, typically lasting between 1-3 years:
- Creation or expansion of small business lending units within commercial banks;
- Commercialization/transformation of microfinance institutions;
- Development of new programs for housing microfinance or mortgage lending;
- Managing funds for on-lending to local development finance institutions and for technical assistance; and
- Creation of innovative platforms for delivery of financial services via alternative channels, such as mobile banking.
Short- and medium-term assignments, which can range from 2 weeks to 6 months, will usually focus on strengthening one of the following functions of partner financial institutions:
- Market research and segmentation
- Product development
- Marketing strategy and sales techniques for financial services
- Risk management, including credit, operational, financial, market, and liquidity
- Operations, process improvement and upgrading of policies and procedures
- MIS, financial management and reporting
- Governance
- Credit scoring
- Training and mentoring of loan officers and other bank staff