Business Origination Manager (Food and Agriculture) at Equity Bank Kenya

Job Description

Job Purpose: 

• The purpose of the role is to undertake the initial review, structuring, and packaging of SME and Corporate F&A credit facilities, ensuring full compliance with credit policy and completeness of appraisal documentation prior to onward submission to the Credit Risk Department for independent review and approval.

Key Responsibilities: 

• Prepare, review, and analyse Food & Agriculture (F&A) credit proposals for presentation to EXCO, ensuring sound financial analysis, risk assessment, and alignment with credit policy.
• Present F&A business cases to the Credit Risk Department and, where required, to relevant Credit Committees to support informed credit decision-making.
• Contribute to the development, review, and enhancement of F&A risk policies, ensuring responsiveness to evolving industry and regulatory dynamics.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously review F&A business templates to standardize credit appraisal and approval processes.
• Establish, maintain, and periodically review F&A client profiling criteria to guide risk segmentation and portfolio quality management.
• Design and update F&A business review matrices across key agricultural and food value chains to support consistent risk evaluation.
• Provide advisory support on F&A industry trends, subsector dynamics, and emerging risk considerations to inform strategic credit decisions.
• Regularly review the F&A business portfolio, including conducting stress testing based on prevailing and emerging industry and macroeconomic risk factors.
• Develop, implement, and keep updated F&A Environmental and Social (E&S) compliance policies in line with regulatory and sustainability requirements.
• Build capability across the business by training branch staff and providing ongoing support in the resolution of credit risk–related issues as they arise.

Qualifications

Education and Qualification: 

• Holder Bachelor’s Degree, preferably in agriculture related courses such as Agricultural Economics,
• Agribusiness, Food sciences, Technology, agriculture finance or related field.
• AKIB/ACIB/CPA/ACCA/Credit Management or CFA would be an added advantage
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Sector analysis tools, etc.)
• Minimum of eight (8) years’ progressive experience in the Food & Agriculture sector, with at least five (5) years in technical credit analysis within a banking or financial services environment.
• Proven experience in assessing client financial needs and structuring well-articulated credit proposals aligned to business and risk requirements.
• Strong capability in analyzing financial statements and translating them into standardized credit appraisal formats and systems.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate industry dynamics and macroeconomic factors and apply these insights to credit decision-making.
• Experience in identifying capability gaps within SME and Corporate banking teams, with a track record of training, mentoring, and coaching staff to enhance performance.
• Up-to-date knowledge of Food & Agriculture sector trends, with the ability to continuously refine analytical tools, frameworks, and credit assessment approaches.

Key Skills and Competencies: 

• Deep expertise in debt structuring and syndications
• Strong credit judgment and risk awareness
• Leadership and people development capability
• Excellent negotiation and stakeholder management skills
• Strategic mindset with strong execution discipline
• Commercially astute and client-centric
• High integrity and governance focus
• Resilient, decisive, and results-oriented