Investment Associate Principal - SME Debt Fund

About the role

Edgegrowth is hiring an Investment Associate Principal (IAP) for one of its SME development funds, which provides predominantly debt funding to majority black-owned SMEs in the industrial and corporate supply chains of its investors. Typical deal sizes are R1m to R10m. The IAP leads or supports every stage of the SME investment process, from origination and due diligence to closing and post-investment management, with limited senior support.

Key responsibilities

• Deal origination: build a network of deal sources in investor supply chains and the ESD/SME ecosystem, and lead fund marketing at networking events, SME open days and conferences
• Deal evaluation: manage a pipeline of potential investments, direct team members in crafting investment theses and build relationships with founders of early-stage companies
• Project management: deliver all work within a strongly project-managed process and embrace continuous improvement of deal-making processes
• Investor relations: support the Fund Head, lead investor Operations Committees and own dealmaking reporting at investor Steering Committees and Fund Board meetings
• Deal execution: plan and run commercial and financial due diligence, analyse historical financials, model affordability and credit, review team outputs and present to the Investment Committee
• Closing: draft, negotiate and execute legal agreements, ensure effective hand-over to Portfolio Management and maintain governance records
• Teambuilding: coach, mentor and train Investment Associates and Analysts on technical topics

Required profile

• At least a graduate degree, preferably with a technical or quantitative emphasis (finance, engineering, accounting, law, etc.)
• An MBA, CA(SA), CAIA or CFA is advantageous
• 5+ years across the full deal lifecycle, with a bias toward debt/credit investing or lending to SMEs, or Tier 1 corporate finance/business consulting with balanced strategy and operations exposure
• Experience in Enterprise & Supplier Development, development finance, impact investing or industrial/mining supply chains adds significant weight
• Strong business judgment, ability to engage with senior stakeholders, and leadership and interpersonal skills