Duma Works is recruiting a Kenya Program Manager for a cutting edge clean technology company to head up the company’s sales, marketing, and commercial operations in Kenya for the revolutionary.
The world’s first ultra-clean, highly efficient biomass cook stove that also generates electricity from the flame to charge mobile phones and lights.
Location: Nairobi
Hours: Fulltime
Reports To: East Africa Program Manager & Director of Operations
Start Date: End of September 2015.
About: The company is a dynamic, rapidly growing, and profitable social enterprise that develops, manufactures, and markets consumer energy products for off-grid communities around the world.
Our business serves two distinct markets:
1) Developing world families living in energy poverty, and
2) Outdoor enthusiasts seeking fuel-independent cooking and off-grid power.
We address these markets simultaneously through parallel innovation: by incubating core technologies that can serve users in both markets, we are able to invest near-term revenue to solve long-term, high-impact problems.
Over the last four years, our team has quadrupled, and sales have doubled each year. Dedicated to constant innovation, we have launched six products, with further launches scheduled every year.
We are currently starting operations in Kenya, by introducing the, and are excited to grow this as one of our key markets in East Africa and the world.
Key Activities
Business Development: As the in-country lead, you will be responsible for building and maintaining relationships with a variety of partners: including national distribution organizations, finance institutions, and SMEs.
Manager (sales, operations, and logistics): Working directly with distribution partners you will manage the overall business strategy to sustainably grow sales of the company and other energy products. You will strategize, plan, and drive commercial projects to meet project milestones and timelines, as well as help recruit, lead and motivate a team of dedicated project associates, sales agents and other staff on best practices in marketing, sales, distribution, and customer relations.
Navigator: As Kenya Program Manager, you will serve as the company’s eyes and ears on the ground – working closely with the Kenya team and Brooklyn-based management. Your daily insight and experience will help chart the course for our Kenya operations, and you will play an integral role in laying the foundation for achieving scale for the Home Stove.
Ambassador: As the in-country representative for the company, you will represent the company at every level of the business – working with diverse partners ranging from our customers in the field to private-sector partners, NGOs, government, and research entities.
Designer: Working for a company focused on continual design improvement, you will be expected to gather and test product feedback for the company and design teams to help inform product development. You will also play a direct role working with our graphic designers to create and/or guide the development of the program’s visual collateral (presentations, marketing, training, sales, & service material)
(Novice) Engineer: The Company prides itself on getting its hands dirty! You’ll need to rise to the challenge of fully understanding (and explaining) the technology behind our products, including (but not limited to materials and manufacturing processes, concepts of basic combustion & thermodynamics, digital electronics, and simple circuitry.
Researcher: Procured and analyze a wide variety of subjects, such as market research and government policies.
Required Qualifications & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree; Preferably a Master’s in Business, Public Policy, Engineering or related field
- Relevant field experience; 5+ years of experience working in bottom of the pyramid (Bop) markets in rural & peri-urban areas
- Project management and sales; experience creating and successfully executing timelines, budgets, and forecasts
- Leadership experience; proven ability to motivate and inspire
- Team player and self-starter; ability to work collaboratively, but also self-managing and work well independently
- Flexibility; able to transition from a variety of roles- seamlessly transitioning from a remote village to negotiating shipping logistics, to delivering a presentation at an industry conference
- Strong analytical and communication skills; experience to effectively synthesize data and prepare clear, compelling and high-quality reports and presentations via Excel, PowerPoint, Word and other analytical and visual communication tools (and corresponding Google equivalents: Sheets, Slides, and Docs)
- Strong work ethic, with a willingness to work a nontraditional work schedule
- Balance; combining patience, empathy, and honesty with the assertiveness, clout and drive to see any job through to the end
- Familiarity with working in remote areas of Kenya
Desired Experience
- Kenya / East Africa experience – applicant must understand the business and cultural landscape of Kenya as (or having been) a resident
- Supply chain and logistics experience, preferably in an emerging market context
- Experience in the renewable energy sector
- Experience with start-ups
- Raising capital, including the procurement of grant funding
- Basic engineering skills and hands-on shop experience, specifically with metal fabrication, digital electronics and circuitry
Desired Skills
- Kiswahili
- Accounting and finance
- Sales and account management company’s technologies and Markets.
How to Apply
Applications letters and detailed CV are to be sent by email to apply@dumaworks.com marking the subject as “KPM 1838″, Your Full name & Phone number.
If you don’t follow these instructions, your application will not go through.
