Sierra Leone Investment & Ecosystem Adviser (Freelance Consultant)

British International Investment plc; London; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A UK development finance institution is seeking a Consultant to drive market creation efforts in Sierra Leone. This role involves unlocking investments, conducting market research, and building relationships with local stakeholders. The ideal candidate has experience in development finance and investment management, with strong project management skills. This is a 6-month assignment based in Freetown, with potential for future work opportunities.

Qualifications

• Experience working in development finance or impact investing.
• Understanding of investment barriers and strategies.
• Ability to manage multiple projects effectively.

Responsibilities

• Support unlocking investments and building the investment ecosystem.
• Produce market research and assist deal teams.
• Engage with stakeholders to gather intelligence.

Skills

Development finance knowledge

Investment advisory

Stakeholder management

Market research

Project management

Job description

Overview

Are you passionate about unlocking capital and catalysing investment ecosystems and want to be part of our pioneering partnership to support the private sector in Sierra Leone?

Sierra Leone has been prioritised by British International Investment (BII) as a frontier market where BII wants to work with partners to support driving more investment and building the investment ecosystem. This builds on the work of the ARIA initiative, which is co-funded by BII, FMO and Proparco and work closely with the British High Commission in Freetown.

We are looking for an experienced Consultant to help drive BII's market creation efforts in Sierra Leone, helping to unlock investments, address barriers to investment in key sectors and build the broader investment. The Consultant will deliver concrete outputs to support driving BII origination and investment, whilst shaping and deliver impactful investment ecosystem support to help facilitate increased flows of sustainable capital into Sierra Leone. We are looking for a consultant who can bring experience at the intersection of finance, private sector development, investment promotion and stakeholder management.

BII and our market creation activity in Sierra Leone

British International Investment (BII) is the UK's development finance institution. Over the past five years, BII have committed almost £7 billion of new investments, with net assets growing in value to approximately £7.5 billion.

As we look to strategically increase the role BII plays in frontier markets, now is the time to pilot novel approaches to investment and the wider investment ecosystem. In Sierra Leone, we have committed almost $100m in the last 10 years. Since 2022, BII market creation activities have had significant traction in Sierra Leone, through ARIA and several public and private sector partnerships in-country. BII is now looking to expand our market creation activities in Sierra Leone working closely with the ARIA initiative and the British High Commission in Freetown. BII will focus on unlocking more investment and addressing sectoral bottlenecks to investment across financial institutions, agriculture, manufacturing, emerging sectors and infrastructure/ energy. This will be combined with broader activities to build the investment ecosystem and support changing the image of Sierra Leone among investors.

Scope of services

Working closely with the BII Plus Market Creation team and BII\'s Coverage Director, the Consultant will help deliver concrete outcomes to enable more of BII\'s transactions in Sierra Leone as well as supporting the investment ecosystem building activities.

Responsibilities

1. Support Unlocking Investments

• Build a close relationship with the ARIA initiative and leverage the origination efforts.
• Produce market research and investment intelligence to help deal teams make informed decisions and manage risks effectively.
• Prepare and review data rooms and gather intelligence to assist deal teams during deal due diligence and execution.
• Additional advisory services to support the deal process

Support Building the Investment Ecosystem

• Provide input into the market creation strategy across financial institutions, agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure/ energy and the investment ecosystem more broadly
• Scoping and designing 4-6 sectoral/ ecosystem/ policy advisory projects, drafting terms of reference and overseeing implementation of projects (or sometimes delivering directly) to ensure results are achieve
• Reporting on the results of activities and performance tracking, including semi-annual and annual reviews.
• Build and maintain a database of contacts relationships with local stakeholders, including transaction intermediaries, government, regulators, development partners and the private sector to gather intelligence and support investment activities.
• Additional advisory to support building the investment ecosystem
• Market research, briefing documents, project design documents, TORs, database of contacts as per the scope of services above
• Monthly dashboard report presenting progress against the agreed schedule of services to be approved by BII
• Quarterly report detailing outputs and outcomes achieved from the services to be approved by BII

Required Skills

• Experience working in or with development finance, impact investing, commercial banking, corporate finance, investment banking, private equity, M&A and investment advisory and/or investment management.
• Understanding of how to leverage different tools (transaction advisory, technical assistance/advisory, research, events, partnerships etc) to unlock investments, address sector level barriers and build the investment experience
• Sectoral experience in financial institutions, agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure/ energy
• Strong management experience with the ability to manage multiple workstreams at once and a proven track record of delivering concrete results.
• Ability to engage effectively with senior business leaders and to build strong relationships with local stakeholders including government, regulators and investment promoters
• Experience working with international development institutions (World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, etc.) and/or relevant UK and Sierra Leone government departments.

Key additional information

• The selected consultant will be based in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
• The duration of the assignment will be for 6 months. Future related assignments with BII or its partners may be possible.

How to apply

In order to apply please email your CV and a maximum two page proposal covering the relevant experience, proposed approach and commercial proposal by the 7 th of October 2025 to the BII Plus mailbox