Are you passionate about having a meaningful impact on businesses in developing countries through improving their corporate governance and implementing best practice business integrity systems? Do you have business experience in developing countries and an interest in impact investing? If so, we invite you to consider joining our Sustainability and Impact team as a Business Integrity Director.

IFU is Denmark’s Development Finance Institution. We aim to be a best-in-class impact investor by making commercial private sector investments that support the green transition, as well as building just and inclusive societies in developing countries and emerging markets. IFU has a strong focus on creating sustainable and responsible businesses, which generate measurable social, economic and climate impacts as well as solid financial returns. IFU makes direct equity and debt investments using IFU’s own funds and as a fund manager for several investment funds, all with a strong focus on impact investing. All investments must support the green transition and contribute to poverty alleviation and reduced inequality. The new Business Integrity Director will join the Sustainability and Impact Team, which consists of 13 professionals based in Copenhagen and Nairobi. The Business integrity Director will support IFU’s global investment portfolio. Training and on-boarding of the selected candidate will take place in Copenhagen.

The job

At IFU, business integrity and corporate governance (BICG) means more than compliance.  IFU’s BICG work increases the pool of potential investments by derisking high-risk projects and strengthening investees’ governance and risk management. The BI Director develops and implements processes to support IFU’s investment activities from scoping through due diligence, active ownership, and exit. The BI Director also supports and collaborates with other functions related to BICG matters in the IFU organisation.

To be successful in this role, the candidate must be committed to IFU’s mission of building of green, just and inclusive societies and believe that ethical business practices build sustainable, successful businesses and deliver social and environmental impact.

The candidate will join one existing Business Integrity Director in continuing to build and implement the Business Integrity and Corporate Governance Programmes.

BICG programmes include the following topics:

• Anti-bribery, fraud, and corruption
• Fair competition
• Whistleblowing and investigations
• Conflicts of interest
• Corporate governance

Duties and responsibilities

The following responsibilities are in scope of the BICG team and specific responsibilities for the incoming BI Director will be assigned in onboarding.

Organisational:

• Policy lead and subject matter expert for Business Integrity and Corporate Governance
• Develop, roll out and monitor the implementation of business integrity and corporate governance policies and processes
• Collaborate with functions and subject matter experts to integrate BICG matters into IFU’s global processes and workstreams of other departments
• Support the ESG incident management process and the management of BI and CG incidents in the portfolio
• Manage the IFU whistle-blower and investigations process
• Training lead on business integrity and corporate governance
• Provide monitoring and improvement and oversight of BI and Corporate governance
• Strengthen IFU’s external resource base
• Engage with external stakeholders and monitor external legal and best practice developments

Investment Process and Active Ownership:

• Strengthen sector and facility-specific approaches as resource person for BICG in designated sector teams or facilities (for example Financial Services, Green Energy and Infrastructure, Healthy Lives, Sustainable Food Systems, Guarantee Facility, and others)
• In sectors of responsibility, lead the development of BICG risk assessment and action plans for investees and monitor BI and CG performance in IFU’s portfolio
• Lead Investment Professionals in monitoring, learning and improvement process for BI & CG topics in the portfolio

Working and learning at IFU

We are very ambitious in our efforts to become a leading impact investor, and we believe that the best way to succeed is to create a healthy culture, where people can strive and develop. It must be motivating and fun to go to work. Therefore, we take our time to celebrate milestones, learn new skills, and get to know each other. Learning is an important element of working in IFU, and we will support your personal development through training, sparring and by ensuring that you get exciting and challenging tasks and new opportunities for growth. When joining IFU, you will take part in our extensive onboarding program in Copenhagen to get the best possible start in your new role. IFU offers a hybrid workplace, allowing you to manage your own time effectively. We have a diverse and inclusive working environment with more than 130 talented individuals from 35+ different nationalities. We work seamless together with colleagues around the corner, cross the organisation and between offices in Asia, Africa, LATAM and Europe.

To see more about what it's like to work in the sustainability team, watch the video in the bottom of this webpage. 

Your qualifications and experience

Experience in assessing a company’s governance and business integrity systems, identify compliance, reputational and operational risks and developing mitigation actions that can improve company performance and increase development impacts. Strong team skills, contributing to team success and to a constructive, positive and collaborative work environment.

In addition to this:

• 5-8 years of relevant experience in the private sector, with a proven track record of leading business integrity in companies. Experience in assessing and managing BI risk in acquisition and integration processes is an advantage.
• Masters level education, such as MBA, Legal or other relevant graduate degree
• Excellent knowledge of best practice anti-bribery, fraud and corruption risk and management systems in an international commercial context
• At least one year of professional experience collaborating with international stakeholders in a developing country environment
• Good understanding of accepted corporate governance principles
• Risk aware and able to escalate issues when necessary
• Experience carrying out/facilitating change processes in companies at all levels
• Training and advising experience
• Ability to build productive, lasting working relationships with clients, strategic partners, and investment teams
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and verbal

Personal competences:

• Ability to multitask without losing sight of priorities
• Speaks up openly and constructively about challenges
• Enjoys working in teams
• Realistic and pragmatic
• Trustworthy and has good judgment
• Gets the job done
• Passionate about sustainability and impact

Your application and process

We are revieweing applications on an on-going basis, so if you see yourself in the description above please submit your application as soon as possible. Application deadline is December 1st, and we expect to reach out to the most qualified applicants the first week of December, and schedule the interviews in week 50. 

We look forward to receiving your application.