What if you could start your career inside a regional development bank, rotate across different departments, receive a salary and build experience in international finance — all without paying an application fee?
The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) Young Professionals Programme 2026 is a two-year professional development opportunity for young graduates seeking experience in development finance, economics, banking, technology, infrastructure and other areas relevant to a multilateral financial institution.
Based at EBID headquarters in Lomé, Togo, the programme combines structured training, departmental rotations and hands-on professional experience.
Quick Facts
- Opportunity Type: Young Professionals Program
- Host: ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID)
- Location: Lomé, Togo
- Duration: 2 years
- Position: Young Trainee Professional Staff
- Format: Full-time, in-person
- Funding: Paid / Salaried
- Application Fee: No application fee
- Age Requirement: Under 30
- Degree Requirement: Master’s degree or equivalent
- Nationality: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Togo.
- Working Languages: English, French and Portuguese
- Application Deadline: October 30, 2026
What Is the EBID Young Professionals Programme?
The EBID Young Professionals Programme is designed to introduce talented young professionals to the work of a regional development bank.
Selected participants join EBID as Young Trainee Professional Staff and gain exposure to different functions of the institution under the supervision of experienced professionals.
Possible areas of exposure include:
- Finance and Accounting
- Infrastructure
- Audit
- Legal Affairs
- Private Sector Operations
- Information Technology
- Business and development finance
The appointment lasts two years and includes a six-month probationary period. High-performing participants may have the possibility of moving into permanent employment, subject to EBID’s requirements and decisions.
What Do You Receive?
The programme is structured as a salaried professional appointment, with selected participants receiving a professional compensation and benefits package.
Benefits include:
- Competitive institutional salary
- Professional staff status
- Health insurance
- Personal accident coverage
- Disability-related insurance
- Professional training and development
- Practical experience within a multilateral financial institution
The programme therefore offers both financial support and professional development while participants work at EBID.
Who Can Apply?
The programme has specific nationality and age requirements.
Applicants must generally:
- Be under 30 years old at the time of recruitment
- Be a citizen of an ECOWAS member state or the ECOWAS diaspora
- Hold a Master’s degree or equivalent
- Have a relevant academic background
Relevant fields can include:
- Economics
- Finance
- Accounting
- Business Administration
- Law
- Engineering
- Information Technology
Applicants are also expected to demonstrate proficiency in the Bank’s working languages.
Candidates should be fluent in at least two of English, French and Portuguese, with working knowledge of a third.
How Does the Program Work?
One of the distinctive features is its rotational structure.
Instead of spending the entire two years in one function, Young Professionals can gain exposure to multiple departments and understand how different parts of a regional development bank work together.
This can provide experience across areas such as finance, infrastructure, audit, legal operations and technology.
Is the Program Fully Funded?
Not in the traditional scholarship sense.
The EBID Young Professionals Programme is better classified as a paid career opportunity rather than a fully funded scholarship.
EBID provides a salary and professional benefits, but applicants should not assume that airfare, visa, relocation or accommodation costs are covered unless the official recruitment notice specifically confirms them.
Application Cost
Application fee: $0
There is no stated application or processing fee.
However, there can be minor personal expenses because the application requires a physical dossier, including printing, document preparation and postal/courier delivery.
How to Apply
The 2026 recruitment process is different from a typical online graduate programme.
Applicants are required to prepare a physical application dossier containing documents such as:
- CV
- Motivation letter
- Academic certificates
- Passport/identification documents
- Birth certificate
- Other documents specified by EBID
The completed dossier must be submitted to EBID headquarters in Lomé, Togo, in a sealed envelope marked:
“2026 Young Professionals Recruitment Programme”
The application should be addressed to:
ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID)
128, Boulevard du 13 janvier
B.P. 2704
Lomé, Togo
Tel: +228 22 21 68 64
Application Deadline
October 30, 2026
Because physical submission is required, applicants should allow sufficient time for preparing and delivering the complete application before the deadline.
Important Before Applying
This opportunity has strict nationality, age, degree and language requirements. Applicants should verify that they satisfy every requirement in the official 2026 recruitment notice before preparing the physical application dossier.
Also, because this is a paid employment programme, Potenue should not label it as a “fully funded scholarship.” The more accurate classification is Paid Young Professionals Programme.
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