About Solar Panda
Solar Panda is a high-growth, clean-tech company providing home solar systems and appliances to customers in Africa without access to electricity. In Kenya, our first market, we have served over 350,000 customers and we are profitable. Our pay-as-you-go model allows families to afford reliable electricity and life-changing appliances that can drastically improve their lives. Over 1 billion people in the world lack access to electricity, and we believe that access to electricity should be a right for everyone, everywhere.
Solar Panda is a Canadian company with a small team focusing on hardware development, software development, financing, and general strategy. In Kenya, we have 56 shops across the country, 300 full-time employees, and over 2000 commission-based sales agents. Find us at https://www.solarpanda.com.
About The Role
After proving our model in Kenya, we are looking to replicate our growth across many new markets in Africa. Several of our target markets are Francophone, and therefore we are seeking a strong bilingual leader to spearhead our expansion into these new markets. While we will provide best-in-class hardware and software, as well as handle the financing needs and orders from the factory, we are looking for an autonomous leader to oversee all aspects of the expansion and growth into these new markets. This would include hiring the local teams, helping those teams to set up the required infrastructure (warehouse, office, call center, shops, etc.), and helping to oversee operations, sales, and customer loan performance. While we can provide a blueprint from what is working in Kenya, there may also be local nuances or requirements in other markets.
The ideal candidate must have proven success in leading large teams, fostering culture, and driving strong business results. Experience in some or all of the critical functions of Solar Panda (strategy, sales, customer service, operations, bookkeeping) will be an asset. The successful candidate will have a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience, a strong sense of ownership and accountability, and a passion for working in a dynamic, entrepreneurial, high-growth company.
To be successful at this job, a candidate must:
• Foster a successful culture that embraces openness, fairness, accountability and empowerment of all people in the organization
• Demand high standards of all direct reports so that this mindset spreads throughout the organization—this can be demonstrated as attention to detail, high quality of deliverables, meeting deadlines, etc.
• Drive efficiency and a lean mindset throughout the organization—this can be demonstrated through finding ways to reduce non-value-added costs, efficient staffing structures, embracing automation, etc.
• Understand that sales growth and high repayment are two of the most critical success factors for Solar Panda and ensure all team members are aligned towards these dual goals
• Have a working knowledge of all relevant departments or be able to learn about them quickly in order to evaluate performance and identify improvement opportunities—sales, finance, operations, customer service, training, and HR
• Have strong skills and experience in HR-related areas (recruiting, hiring, performance evaluations, terminations, etc.)
• Embrace diversity and inclusion in all people-related matters
• Be capable of hosting investors or lenders who want to visit our operations on the ground while performing due diligence about Solar Panda
The right candidate must have the following traits:
• Always acts with integrity and demands the same from everyone around
• Has a growth mindset and is always pushing for new opportunities to scale the business
• Passion for customers and ensures all departments are putting the customer at the forefront of all decisions
• Analytical abilities and practices a data-driven, analytical approach to problems—gather relevant information, evaluate options, make sound strategic decisions
• Ability to analyze and interpret data for reasonableness and insights: must “own” Solar Panda’s results and financials in the countries they are managing and understand what they mean (not just read numbers)
• Take initiative and be curious: initiate and execute projects and analysis with limited direction or oversight
• Believe in the company’s mission of improving the lives of millions of off-grid customers in Africa
• Be fluent in French and English
How to apply
If this position sounds like a good fit for you, please submit your cover letter and CV to [email protected]. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Kindly reference the job title in your application.
Solar Panda is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from qualified individuals regardless of race, religion, national origin, or disability.