Energicity – Market Development Manager, Power Leone

Power Leone is the Sierra Leone subsidiary of Energicity Corp, the leading West African off grid mini grid company with 1.7 MW in operations or under contract.

Power Leone’s parent company, Energicity has operations in Sierra Leone – where it won a competitive government tender to provide energy services to up to 75,000 people and also has operations in Benin.

Power Leone’s goal is to provide affordable, reliable electricity that is powerful enough to power any household or commercial need. 

Power Leone is a fast-growing company that offers a mission driven, exciting and structured work environment with significant opportunities for training and development as well as professional growth.

The Market Development Manager will play a key role in developing, maintaining and strengthening relations with Government stakeholders; and assist with developing a stable pipeline of new opportunities to enable expansion of operations in existing markets and entry into new markets around Africa. A successful candidate for the role will be a self-starter who is results- oriented with proven experience working with targets and achieving them within defined timelines. Proven experience in a similar role and a demonstrated track record of building relationships at a high level will also be essential.Qualified candidates – especially those who would like to work within a great and fun team should send their CV and covering letter to [email protected], with “Application for Market Development Manager” as the subject.

Market Development Manager

Responsibilities

• Government and Stakeholder Relationships: A key component of this role includes developing and managing strategic relationships with key government and non-governmental partners. You will understand each stakeholder’s respective energy access objectives and effectively articulate and/or defend Power Leones priorities/operational objectives leading to a win-win outcome. You will be required to draft multiple correspondence/letters in a professional manner to stakeholders.
• Community Engagement: Cultivate relationships across rural community operational areas to promote an understanding of Power Leone’s  solutions; and collaboratively work with local stakeholders to facilitate signing of Community Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), Pre-Lease and Lease Agreements. Coordinate with relevant stakeholders and surveyors to conclude land lease surveys, obtain relevant validation signatures and liaise/coordinate with statutory bodies at chiefdom/district level to obtain relevant approvals. Conduct regular briefing sessions during respective deliberations in order to provide regular updates and manage expectations.
• External Relationship Management & Regulatory Engagement: Define regulatory objectives and requirements as statute/agreements and assist with coordinating impact, operational and regulatory reporting for government regulators and other stakeholders in full compliance with regulatory obligations.  Providing updates on strategic outcomes and representing the company (where necessary) at industry events, negotiation sessions, and national level policy sessions to nurture important new relationships and generate new business.
• Market Development: Be familiar with existing and new market regulations and assist with early stage discussions with government and other stakeholders by coordinating and preparing meetings, presentations, briefs and pamphlets to showcase Energicity’s mini-grid credentials. Coordinate with local and national stakeholders on obtaining permits and approvals from the government and work closely with the customer operations and engineering teams to define and align on the pipeline of new communities for expansion in existing countries.  
• Marketing and Coordination of Tender Responses: Identify timely new opportunities in the form of existing Tenders, Requests for Proposals/Quotation (RFP/Q) and assist in background work to attract the right partners where applicable. Assist with coordinating completion of tender/RFP/Q responses, drafting proposals, participating in any clarification meetings, supporting negotiation processes and ensuring timely submission of requests.
• Adhoc: This role will have other ad-hoc duties as required by Management from time to time and also requires extensive travel to operational areas in the country and possibly abroad to other (as required).

Qualities needed

• Results oriented with a strong analytical mindset and an ability to articulate facts/insights to different target audiences (from community level to mid/ high level government), demonstrates sound judgment and has strong problem solving/decision making competencies
• Demonstrable interpersonal skills with experience of working across functional teams in a collaborative manner to achieve the best results, but also has the ability to work independently and multitask where necessary.
• Strong business acumen and an ability to define and achieve objectives with proven competencies in project development/implementation
• Be a persuasive communicator with excellent verbal and written communication skills and proficiency in the use of MS Office Applications (MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint) 
• Has the ability to develop and increase professional knowledge and skills quickly and apply the same in the advancement of the objectives of the business
• Proven proactive approach to market development and be able to demonstrate the drive, vision and professionalism required to advance new business opportunities
• Fluency (full working proficiency) is a must, but bilingual (preferably English + French) is preferred.

Professional and Academic Background

• Bachelor’s degree (in business, business administration, development studies, economics engineering); Masters degree/MBA preferred
• 4-6 years post qualification experience working in the B2B industry in business development, consulting, project management, other commercial functions with focus working in a designated market, or a non-governmental organization serving rural populations. Added advantage if at least 2 years work experience has been gained in an energy-related sector (preferably within solar PV).

The core values of our company are: 

Excellence – Everything we do must be of the highest quality from building and maintaining solar systems, to our software systems, to our documentation.  We double and triple check our own work and each other’s work.  We take responsibility for making things great; we also take responsibility and fix things immediately with anyone who is impacted if anything is less than great.

Learning – we strive to always be learning as an organization and as individuals.  We are solution oriented in all things.   If there’s a problem, we’re always looking at ways to fix it.  If there’s not a problem, we’re always looking for ways to innovate to be the best we can be.  We set up experiments and tests to try to do things better, we learn when things work, we learn when things don’t.  We aren’t afraid to fail, we are afraid not to learn.

Honor – just as we honor each other, we honor the communities in which we work.  We respect our clients, we respect our stakeholders.   We recognize that we are working across multiple cultures and that we try to understand each other’s perspective – knowing that it is our differences that make us the best. We may not always agree with each other, our customers, our stakeholders, but at the core of every interaction must be respect.   

Teamwork – we value our team and we value each other.  We have each other’s back.  We communicate when something is working well and on track, we over communicate when something is not working well or on track.  We trust each other and trust that we are all working for the good of the company – and if something isn’t working the way we think it should, the course of action is to communicate, to be solution oriented, and to have each other’s back.
To apply, submit your CV and Cover Letter by email to:  [email protected]  before 20th July 2022.