Have you ever wanted to be involved in something bigger than yourself? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to help oversee the protection of a long-forgotten national park, from its basic planning and strategy formation to its overall vision and development?

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the right person to be part of something potentially huge: a meaningful conservation initiative that's still in its infancy, with the potential to become a conservation hot-spot in the near-future and that, if successful, will be used as a conservation management template for years to come. This is the dream ticket for the right person motivated by a desire to leave behind a biodiversity legacy and help reconnect people to one of Africa’s oldest national parks.

Background Upemba National Park:

Upemba National Park covers an area of approximately 13,600km2 of spectacular wilderness in Katanga Province of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  Upemba with legal protection since 1939, is one of the oldest parks in Africa. The park is linked to Kundelungu National Park and a number of game reserves, together forming a massive mosaic of protected areas.

Upemba boast a wide diversity of habitats, including a full transitional gradient from highland steppe through miombo woodland to both wooded and grassland savannah. There are numerous rivers, waterfalls, wetlands and gallery forests.  The Lufira River and Lake Upemba, both within park boundaries, form a critical watershed for the region as well as the source of the mighty Congo River. The park’s wildlife populations suffered during the Congo war, and subsequent neglect and illegal poaching enabled bushmeat hunting to further decrease wildlife numbers. Nevertheless, many species remain and the park is a refuge for the last savannah elephants in Katanga as well as the last zebras in DRC. Other notable species include endemic Upemba lechwe, roan antelope, black sable, buffalo, leopard, giant ground hornbill and many other bird species.

In 2017, the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) signed a Private-Public Partnership with Forgotten Parks delegating management responsibility to Forgotten Parks for the next 15 years. Under this agreement, Forgotten Parks is responsible for the management, monitoring and protection of Upemba, as well as for developing sustainable financing mechanisms to meet the on-going management costs. 

The Upemba National Park operates in close collaboration with African Parks (AP), through a strong and structured cooperation framework under the Incubator Program (IP), ensuring coordinated planning, technical support, and strategic alignment in all areas of park management and development.

Position Summary:

The CFO is a hard-working team player, able to succeed in a multicultural environment, under demanding field conditions.

The CFO will be responsible for Finance (treasury, controlling, management reporting, accounting, taxes, insurances, ERP and compliance), and support to the Human Resources and Procurement functions of Forgotten Parks.

The position will hierarchically and functionally report to the Executive Director of Forgotten Parks and Park Manager of Upemba, in close collaboration with the audit and finance committee.

The main duties and responsibilities

• Assure Upemba National Park / Forgotten Park’s financial sustainability
• Ensure sound management of accounting systems and procedures
• Ensure timely completion of all accounting & finance activities, such as regular accounting entries, timely closing of the monthly & yearly accounts, cash forecasts, budgets and forecasts, annual budgeting, etc
• Ensure compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs)for financial analysis and reporting on a monthly basis to meet internal and external legal and regulatory requirements
• Identify and ensure compliance with all relevant Government laws and regulations, in particular for corporation and withholding tax ad VAT and identify applicable tax rates and reliefs
• Develop, track and monitor annual and monthly budgets and expenditures and provide timely and accurate information and analysis to the Executive Director and the Board of Forgotten Parks
• Develop and update annually a multi-year business plan built on the strategic long-term objectives and priorities as set by the Board and the Executive Director
• Coordinate internal audits, external/statutory audits and audits of donors and financial institutions where applicable
• Ensure a robust treasury management process with daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually reporting, while managing the banking relations
• Undertake field visits to validate systems and procedures followed, comment on data integrity and train partner/community on applicable accounting and reporting skills
• Ensure that major financial risk issues and gaps in systems as highlighted in the internal / external audit are addressed in cooperation with the Internal Control department and the finance and audit committee
• Manage project finances and prepare periodic financial reports for institutional and philanthropic donors
• Ensure adequate internal controls are in place and organisational resources appropriately safe guarded, all in accordance with the relevant SOPs.
• Implement relevant accounting standards, audit standards and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and maintain current knowledge and understanding of accounting and tax regulations, laws, industry trends, practices
• Ensure that a proper ERP system is in place to support the business and compliance requirements
• Ensure a solid procurement management with the appropriate checks and balances supported by a pragmatic authority matrix allowing to comply with the EU regulations and our SOPs.
• Supervise and continuously enhance an equitable and compliant human resources management process covering the whole human capital value chain, including job management, talent acquisition, compensation & benefits, training & development, and employee relations in close collaboration with the Head of Human Resources Department
• Oversee the successful implementation of the business strategy with fellow management team members
• Assess existing management deficiencies and develop improved systems for efficient and effective service delivery
• Advise the Executive Director on all probable risk situations and implications thereof regularly
• Further develop Upemba’s nature based finance strategy and support the roll out of alternative sources of financing for the park, such as carbon credits and biodiversity credits (in the form of ‘Verifiable Nature Units’).

Requirements

• 5-10 years of experience in finance at senior management level
  • Proven track record in an operational and commercial working environment
  • Experience in meeting private sector performance objectives
  • Proven experience at both managing and working in a team
• Master’s degree in Economics / Finance / Business Administration

• Qualified CPA, CA, CGMA. CIMA, ACCA
• Experience in developing and/or implementing standard operating procedures, staff training, rolling out new accounting system, internal audit and grant/funding management & reporting in industrial and commercial environment
• Experience in developing and/or managing support services such as Human Resources, Procurement, etc. in industrial and commercial environment
• Willingness and ability to live and work in demanding field conditions in eastern DR Congo (Grand Katanga)
• Fluency in spoken and written French and English

Preferred

• Working experience in Africa preferred or in other developing countries
• Private Sector experience preferred

Also

• Have a passion for conservation and development work, and what Upemba and the Green Alliance is striving to achieve
• Have common sense and be a creative thinker; not afraid to try something new
• Able to motivate and inspire others, and keen to share knowledge and skills
• Have a very high level of personal and professional integrity and trustworthiness
• Have a strong work ethic and require minimal direction
• Work well independently as well as part of a team

Terms of contract

• Competitive international salary
• 2-year initial contract with a six-months trial period
• 30 working days per annum of paid holiday plus 2 return flights per year
• International medical coverage

In addition to a monthly salary, we will fly you in and out, look after you, feed and house you in the park, and provide all in-country transport. It is a tough environment, but it is also one of the most beautiful landscapes on the African continent. The area is isolated, and the job will be located in a very remote part of DRC, so we need a resourceful person with initiative, resilience and adaptability who is comfortable being part of a pioneering team.