Associate, Strategic Advisory Africa

Position description

J.S. Held is a global consulting firm that combines technical, scientific, financial, and strategic expertise to advise clients seeking to realize value and mitigate risk. Our professionals serve as trusted advisors to organizations facing high stakes matters demanding urgent attention, staunch integrity, proven experience, clear-cut analysis, and an understanding of both tangible and intangible assets.

The firm provides a comprehensive suite of services, products, and data that enable clients to navigate complex, contentious, and often catastrophic situations.

The Team and Job Summary

We are seeking an Associate to join our Strategic Advisory Africa team. This is a unique opportunity for an entrepreneurial, highly driven person with a growing skill set to join the Strategic Advisory Africa team within Global Investigations. In May 2023, J.S. Held acquired Africa Matters Limited, a strategic advisory firm focused on providing business intelligence, stakeholder engagement and sustainability advisory to corporates and investors across the African continent. This team has now become the Strategic Advisory Africa team within J.S. Held.

The ideal person for this role will have a good grasp of the political economy of Africa, possess some relevant sectoral knowledge, hold some comparable experience, and be a dynamic and analytical thinker able to take on a variety of tasks.

The Associate will play a role in supporting J.S. Held’s clients operating in all regions of Africa, with a focus on French-speaking jurisdictions. They will support colleagues in conducting complex business intelligence, political risk, and high-level government engagement work across the continent.

Job Responsibilities

• Contributing to and conducting Africa-focused political risk, business intelligence and government relations advisory projects;
• Developing and building strong regional, country, and sectoral expertise;
• Supporting colleagues in developing trusted client relationships, while effectively contributing to client account management plans;
• Proactively identifying business development opportunities for development by colleagues within J.S. Held’s Strategic Advisory, Africa team;
• Proactively working to establish and maintain government, private sector and other stakeholder relationships across Africa;
• Supporting J.S. Held’s marketing initiatives through, for example, the production of expert thought leadership; and
• Representing J.S. Held at relevant events and eventually providing expert commentary to media outlets.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline, for example, international relations, with a master’s degree preferred;
• A minimum of one years’ experience of contributing to and conducting Africa-focused advisory and consultancy projects, particularly those relating to political analysis, business intelligence, investigations, and/or stakeholder mapping;
• Good knowledge of the continent’s political and commercial dynamics,
• Previous practical exposure to Africa gained through relevant professional experience and/or having lived or worked on the continent;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, particularly the ability to write clear and concise reports to tight deadlines;
• French language skills required;
• High levels of dynamism and proactivity, with a ‘can-do’, self-starter attitude;
• An ability to serve clients with the utmost discretion and diplomacy; and
• Other languages beyond English and French are an added advantage, namely Arabic, Portuguese, Swahili, Twi, Igbo, or Yoruba.

Physical and Mental Job Qualifications

• Must be willing to travel internationally, as needed (5-10%)

Application instructions

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