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A placement through AMSCO can provide challenging professional opportunities and a desirable lifestyle in Africa.AMSCO's professional managers all share one thing – a passion to change Africa! A pioneer of capacity and skills development in the African SME sector, AMSCO (African Management Services Company) has, as its primary objective, providing assistance to African companies to enable them to become globally competitive, profitable and sustainable.
AMSCO provides hands-on, experienced, middle to top level managers to selected companies for contract periods of between three and five years. The organisation's key aims in assisting companies include installing management systems, improving the company's operational and financial performance and transferring capacity to local managers. AMSCO also provides technical and administrative backup support to these managers and monitors their progress to ensure that the client company's business targets are met.
RCA: What makes AMSCO different from other employers in Africa?
AMSCO: AMSCO exists purely to assist African companies become globally competitive, profitable and sustainable.
In order to achieve this, we build management capacity within the private sector by providing management skill and training support, primarily to African SME's.
To this end, AMSCO seeks to employ a unique and exceptional blend of professionals from various nationalities who have a wealth of management skills and a passion to change Africa! We are passionate about development and most importantly, how to utilize private sector methodologies to deliver results.
It is not about performing activities. It is about deliberately delivering impact and measuring it. Working with AMSCO, is an opportunity!
RCA: What kinds of benefits can AMSCO managers expect to receive?
AMSCO: As a general rule, AMSCO employs non-nationals of the country in which the client company is located. This, of course, is because AMSCO's mandate is closely tied to skills transfer. AMSCO managers are UNDP accredited in our countries of operation. Our managers are paid on a foreign currency basis, usually dollars or euros, and generally receive the kinds of benefits associated with an expatriate lifestyle.
Horus-Advans Cameroon is a microfinance project that started as an AMSCO project on January 1st 2007 in Douala, Cameroon under the name La Camerounaise de Microfinance (LCM). The company later assumed the name Advans Cameroon.
Advans Cameroon is a joint venture between Advans SA, a manager of funds set up by DFIs to promote microfinance projects in Developing World, Societe Generale de Banques du Cameroun and two prominent Cameroonian businessmen, Titi Maniaka and Andre Siaka. In June 2008, IFC became a shareholder of Advans Cameroun.
AMSCO seconded three experienced managers to Advans Cameroon to successfully launch the Company, to recruit and train personnel and to establish the Advans brand on the market. The managers seconded were French nationals Herve Proust, General Manager, Olivier Bailly-Bechet, Operations and Credit Manager and Christophe Ban Koffi, Chief Administrative and Financial Officer.
Prior to commencing business, the AMSCO managers supervised the completion of the headquarters in downtown Douala, the recruitment and training of the entire staff, the installation of equipment and the development of procedure manuals.
Advans Cameroon started operations on May 22nd 2007 with a capital of CFA 500 million (US$ 1 million), 44 employees and a mission to revolutionize the Microfinance sector in Cameroon and their chosen strategy is to focus on lending instead of savings and treasury services. Its target clientele spans micro enterprises to medium-sized companies and cooperatives.
After 7 months of activities, Advans could boast at the end of 2007 of a balance sheet of CFA 595, 893,132 (US$ 1,191,786), a loan portfolio of CFA 90,490,000 (US$ 180,980), 435 persons having received a loan, 324 depositors and CFA 46,491,608 (US$ 92, 983)in profits.
However, savings offerings are not neglected as Advans Cameroon intends to attract clients with no or little savings history by lowering the minimum required to CFA 5,000 (US$10).
Advans Cameroon has also introduced a new dimension to its credit policy by allowing individuals with low credit ratings to form solidarity groups in order to receive loans. Loan Officers given training in Risk Management will allow Advans Cameroon to extend loans to borrowers who would otherwise be shunned by commercial banks on account of being high risk customers.
As of end of October 2008, the total staff strength was 61 employees, including 34 women. The capital was increased to CFA 1 billion (US$ 2 million) in June 2008 with the entry of IFC in the shareholding structure.
The succession plan put in place since inception to ensure proper replacement of the AMSCO managers by local talent has been going on well. Mr Christophe Ban Koffi, CFO, was replaced at the end of his contract on December 31st 2008 by his Cameroonian deputy, Mr Alain Saapi (see picture). The succession plan strategy is also well on track for the replacement of the other two AMSCO Managers, Mr Herve Proust, General Manager and Mr Olivier Bailly-Bechet, Operations Manager (pictured).
From left to right: Alain Saapi (Deputy CFO), Olivier Bailly-Béchet (Operations Manager), Christophe Ban Koffi (CF, Hervé Proust (General Manager), Francis Ouantou (Head of Audit), Jean-Luc Nzoubou (HR and Logistics Manager), Eric Kuete (IT Manager).
RCA: What kinds of professional management opportunities exist in Francophone Africa through AMSCO?
AMSCO: As the Francophone region in West Africa continues to expand its economic growth the need for AMSCO's assistance has increased substantially. The demand for management skills is increasing and there are a number of exciting career opportunities for French speaking candidates who want more than just the norm....
Backed by AMSCO – represented across Africa, and our association to the UNDP – this is an opportunity for you to make an impact, and be involved with a world class management intervention.
RCA: How can African professionals find out more?
AMSCO: Visit our website www.amsco.org for more information on AMSCO and the exciting project we are involved in.
Feel free to browse the many Francophone positions that are available at www.amsco.org/recruitment
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