Main purpose of job: The UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Africa is one of nine international regions and is led by His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC), John Humphrey. The Department’s role is to increase prosperity in the UK and overseas through increasing trade and investment. The Trade Commissioner’s role is to lead the pan-African trade and investment team to increase the value of the commercial relationship between Africa and the UK. The Africa Region is exciting and energizing and UK firms have a strong presence here, making the UK the third largest foreign investor on the continent. With some of the fastest growing economies in the world and booming population growth there are numerous more opportunities for UK firms; from tech start-ups in the West to infrastructure in the East and everything in between. The DBT Network’s role is to promote these opportunities to UK businesses and position the UK as a key trading partner. We are looking for an Executive Assistant, to work within the DBT Africa Hub team in Johannesburg. The Executive Assistant will provide support to the HMTC in all their activity. The role will be varied and fast paced, requiring the job holder to demonstrate skills across budgets, writing and verbal communications. S/he will need to be able to undertake multiple tasks concurrently and priorities. This is an exciting role that sits at the heart of the Department for Business and Trade in Africa. You will ensure delivery of a high-quality service to HMTC y, including secretarial support, setting up internal and external meetings, planning functions and events on their behalf, planning trips and managing their diaries; ensuring their time is used effectively. You will need to take initiative and use your judgement to make decisions when necessary to adjust HMTC’s schedule in the light of events. Roles and responsibilities: Executive Officer: - Organize, manage and prioritize the HMTC's diary of programmes and commitments.
- Plan, coordinate and execute all HMTC’s external and internal activity, including prioritization and meeting recommendations; diary management; room bookings and inviting meeting attendees; scheduling internal meetings and taking minutes where required.
- Ensure all HMTC correspondence, travel arrangements and logistics and diary are effectively managed and draft and dispatch official communications, letters and emails on behalf of HMTC and forward correspondence received by official methods
- Manage HMTC’s expenses budget, ensuring spend is value for money, within guidelines and budget. Complete expenses on behalf of the HMTC.
- Manage, triage and run multiple email inboxes.
- Provide secretariat duties for HMTC’s key engagements and meetings, commissioning and collating necessary briefing and papers from teams; organizing programmes and entertainment or events; and building and maintaining a wide network of professional contacts.
- Provide ad hoc admin support to the Deputy Trade Commissioner and Hub Team as needed.
- Run, oversee and support ad hoc events at the HMTC’s residence as needed.
- Various other admin/support tasks to support the HMTC and the DBT Africa Network.
You will be self-starter, enthusiastic, resilient and flexible with an ability to prioritize tasks and manage the Trade Commissioner’s diary with a proactive ‘hands on’ approach. This busy, interesting and challenging role will require strong organizational skills and an ability to think ahead and use your initiative. Key to this is Delivering at Pace and Working Together. |
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