We have an opportunity for volunteers with financial modelling skills to participate in our project. We think that this is probably a unique chance for you to develop your skills through practical experience in one of the most challenging business environments in the world. We hope that the combination of supporting private sector development in Afghanistan with building your CV will appeal to some of the brightest and most adventurous of you!
ABIF recently completed a survey of private sector investors in Afghanistan, which has allowed us to understand business risk perceptions and reach some conclusions on an implied cost of capital for the country. As explained in an earlier post (see Risk Based Approach to Challenge Fund), we now want to use this information in order to maximise the value for money of our limited grant fund.
We intend to use the implied cost of capital from the survey as an input to a financial model for each investment project. We will then calculate the size of grant that we need to give in order to incentivise a particular investment that produces a specified return.
We are working on the basis that the quantity of our grant should be determined by the impact on the investment cashflows that would increase the expected return on investment to that in a less risky environment. By taking this approach, we can reach a rational allocation of the grant fund that would maximise its leverage, allowing us to fund more projects and increase ABIF's overall development impact.
To do this financial modelling work, because we have very limited resources within the ABIF fund management team, we are looking for volunteers to help us to develop the individual models that we need. The first round of grants will be negotiated and awarded over the next 3 months, so we are looking for people who are available pretty much immediately.
We hope that there will be MBA students or finance students with financial modelling skills who are ready and willing to help out. The work could be done from wherever the modeller is based, we can provide all of the necessary information by email, so no trips to Afghanistan involved... but a huge amount of satisfaction from knowing that your work has been a key input to facilitating much needed investment in a very poor country. This project really does have the potential to be life changing for the thousands of people who will benefit from such investments.
If you are interested, or know anyone who might be interested to be involved in this fascinating project, please contact me through this blog or on my work email james.blewett@imurabba.org
Thank you, and we look forward to hearing from you.
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