Chief Executive Officer- African Vaccine

**About Afrexim**:
Chief Executive Officer - African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT)

**Reference Number: LEEAVAT1**

The COVID-19 African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) was created by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa in his capacity as Chairperson of the African Union on 7 November 2020. Its mandate is to secure the necessary vaccines and financing to achieve Africa’s COVID-19 vaccination objective.

To support its mandate and objectives, the Task Team created the African Vaccination Acquisition Trust as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to implement the whole of Africa (pooled) procurement and leverage economies of scale, under the guidance of the African Union. A trust was considered most feasible. AVAT has been created to serve as a central entity for the negotiation, procurement and payment for vaccines and act as the interface between AU Member States and the vaccine manufacturers.

**Overview**:
The CEO will lead a team of professionals to manage a large and diverse financing, procurement and distribution operation across the African continent. They will be expected to lead the development of a relevant medium-term strategic plan, which will ensure that the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) is run efficiently and sustainably in order to achieve its main mandate and objectives.

**Responsibilities**:
Leadership and Strategic Direction
- Provide overall guidance, leadership support and strategic direction in the execution of AVAT’s mandate
- Oversee planning and development of AVAT’s overall annual and medium-term strategic plan
- Develop and manage an appropriate management structure within AVAT and provide required leadership to a small, but high achieving, team of professionals
- Utilise a deep and broad network of relationships to ensure successful outcomes for AVAT’s mandate across the African continent
- Work constructively with external stakeholders, as determined by the nature of AVAT’s work, to ensure that AVAT’s mandate is supported and achieved collectively
- Demonstrate strong operations management and relationship management judgement, balancing AVAT’s risk posture with a desire for sustainable and efficient operations
- Participate in, and act as the secretariat to, all AVAT meetings as well as any other related committee or working group meetings
- Serve as mentor and culture champion, promoting a positive and collaborative work environment amongst the AVAT team
- Lead the process of attracting, developing and retaining required talent to ensure that AVAT performs according to set expectations
- As a strong communicator, work productively with the AVAT management team and AVAT Champions to determine the core strategy of AVAT and translate this into manageable sizes of information for communication to staff and other stakeholders, to motivate the organisation to deliver the required business

Risk and Compliance
- Ensure AVAT’s resources are managed within the guidelines laid down and are regularly monitored for compliance
- Oversee establishment of satisfactory risk systems and control procedures for financing, procurement and distribution management, including systems for the management of operational risks
- Regulatory compliance issuance, licensing of drugs and vaccines, and issuance of emergency use

Financing Mechanisms Management
- Lead and manage on matters related to the availability of financing required for African countries to access vaccines easily and cheaply, primarily by engaging with staff of the lead transaction advisor as determined and agreed by AVAT
- Oversee development and maintenance of internal guidelines to support the financing mechanisms used by different member states in accordance with each country’s circumstances and policies
- Serve as the lead liaison and relationship leader between the parties involved in the negotiation of related financing structure mechanisms
- Keep AVAT regularly informed on all ongoing financing mechanisms negotiations and operations to ensure all challenges are resolved with mínimal impact on the smooth operations of the Trust
- Establish and maintain relationships with potential

Acquisition and Procurement
- Oversee the detailed processes behind the acquisition and procurement of vaccines from selected manufacturers including identification of and negotiation with selected manufacturers on the one hand and member states on the other hand
- Ensure that the vaccines acquisition and procurement process is in line with the guidelines and criteria laid down by AVAT, e. safety and efficacy, ease of availability, pricing and ease of use
- Oversee the preparation and provision of periodic (monthly, quarterly and annual)

Governance & Legal Processes
- Oversee and coordinate the contract negotiations process with relevant parties in the value chain such as manufacturers, governments and financing institutions
- Ensure that all contracts are properly documented in line