Brightmore Fellowship

Brightmore Capital offers a unique opportunity to exceptional MBA and University students, as well as mid-career professionals with a demonstrated interest in impact investing and frontier market PE/VC. In our Dakar office, or remotely, Fellows are immersed in the dynamic and rapidly evolving field of impact investing while gaining deep insight of how the industry functions both in the Francophone West African context as well as on a global scale.

Please feel free to contact us at hr@brightmorecapital.com for collaboration opportunities.

University Candidates

At Brightmore Capital, we have recruited Fellows and interns from some of the leading MBA programs and universities around the world. We are continuing to build partnerships with Career Centers and student-run clubs in the domains of Africa Business, PE/VC, and Impact Investing. Likewise, we are interested in broadening our interactions with business schools in our target investment region, in the countries of Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Guinea, and Niger. t

Mid-Career Candidates

In addition to University & MBA students and recent graduates, the flexible nature of the Brightmore Fellows program allows us to accept applications from mid-career professionals. Among our current and past Fellows, we’ve worked with individuals from a diverse set of backgrounds, which included:
  • Financial Organizations and Investment Funds
  • Corporations and Industry
  • DFIs and NGOs
  • Public Service
What motivates mid-career professionals to join our program? In most cases, it is the desire to experience and step into the world of frontier markets PE/VC and the field of impact investing. Our Fellowship program offers one an ability to work in this field on an internship-like several-month engagement, or on a part-time basis, alongside current responsibilities.

Engagement Options

There are three primary engagement options with the Brightmore Fellows program that differ in the degree of physical presence, intensity of work, and autonomy. The options range from an onsite full-time engagement in our Dakar office, to an innovative remote fellowship model, to an independent project that is usually taken in conjunction with a university or an MBA program.

Full-Time Fellowship Onsite in Dakar

  • Akin to a “traditional” internship, represents an engagement onsite at our Dakar office
  • Fixed pre-determined length of time (usually 2-6 months)
  • Advanced knowledge of French required (native speaker preferred)
  • Full-time work, ~40 hours a week, and sometimes more
  • Designed for an immersive experience within the fields of Africa PE/VC impact investing
  • The high-intensity nature and on-site presence render the engagement challenging to combine with other employment or responsibilities
  • Training workshops, access to proprietary self-paced content, and direct mentoring by Brightmore Capital partners and staff

Remote Part-Time Fellowship

  • Innovative workflow-centered model where Fellows can pick their own tasks in areas of most interest/value to them, collaborate with others to get their work peer-reviewed, and present final deliverables to Brightmore Capital partners and staff
  • Coordination meetings and training seminars at specific time slots, but otherwise the work schedule is 100% flexible
  • Assignments can be done from any location or time zone
  • Knowledge of French is helpful, but not required
  • Designed for candidates with other concurrent responsibilities, such as a university/MBA program, and/or another part-time internship/fellowship
  • Involvement can be throttled up/down (e.g. less or no work during a week of exams)
  • Training workshops, access to proprietary self-paced content, and direct mentoring by Brightmore Capital partners and staff

Independent Project

  • Similar to a remote part-time Fellowship, but with an even greater degree of autonomy
  • Focus on larger project-like tasks and/or one specific project for the duration of an enjoyment (example: industry research, market study, and subsequent identification/analysis of specific investment opportunities)
  • Knowledge of French is helpful, but not required
  • Direct mentoring by one of the Brightmore Capital partners leading the project
  • Structured around a final deliverable, coupled with optional weekly checkpoints to gauge progress and receive feedback
  • Access to the same training opportunities, scheduled and self-paced, as the other Fellows programs

Position Types

Brightmore Capital offers three types of Fellow positions: generalists focused on investment work (“Investment Fellows”), analysts with an emphasis on finance (“Financial Analyst Fellows”), and “Impact Fellows” with impact & ESG as the areas of concentration. These classifications reflect the primary area of interest for each Fellow, with everyone having an opportunity to engage in all key areas of impact PE/VC fund work, but the two areas of concentration reflective of the majority of assignments that one is planning to take on.

Thus, the Finance Analyst Fellow and the Impact Fellow roles can be interpreted as Investment Fellow with concentration on X.” In the future, we plan to add roles with other areas of specialization such as Investor Relations, Media Outreach, Research and Portfolio Development.

Investment Fellow

Conducting market research, including desk research, to ensure the accuracy and comprehensiveness of information utilized to make investment decisions
  • Managing databases of deal opportunities and relevant relationships
  • Reviewing business plans of potential investments for growth potential, economic return, sustainability, and impact
  • Supporting due diligence efforts
  • Creation and updating of due diligence, investment evaluation, and portfolio company materials
  • Writing and drafting news briefs, articles, and reports
  • Creating financial and impact reports for investors
  • Analysis of past financial statements of prospective investments
  • Review of business plans, financial modelling of projections and growth plans
  • Valuation of potential investments (asset value, comparables, DCF, etc.)
  • Analysis pertaining to deal structuring (e.g. interest coverage ratios, calculation of projected IRRs, etc.)
  • Sensitivity and risk analysis, risk modeling
  • Analysis of financial performance within portfolio companies

Impact Fellow

General investment work with specific focus on impact. Example areas of emphasis:
  • Analysis of investment opportunities for alignment to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • Measurement of impact generated by business models (e.g. jobs created, essential services provided, livelihoods improved, positive environmental outcomes, etc.)
  • Evaluating direct impact potential of business, as well as impact upstream and downstream in the value chain
  • Analysis of impact performance within portfolio companies
  • Research and thought leadership within the global impact investment community (articles, blog posts, case studies, etc.)