Job Opportunity at Greenlight Planet, Inc.

Job description

About the Role

Greenlight Planet is hiring a leader to develop new, innovative products and business models which leverage our ‘pay as you go’ solar financing channels to bring critical financial services to underserved families in rural communities. Greenlight is the largest seller of pay-as-you-go solar home systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: over 40,000 off-grid homes purchase our ‘pay as you go’ Sun King solar systems with financing each month through our network of 2,500 field sales agents, 120 branch stores and partner distributors in ten countries. Customers pay about $15 upfront to have a solar home system installed in their house, then pay 50 cents per day through mobile money-- generally from kerosene savings-- to pay it off. The solar energy systems are integrated with their user’s mobile money account and, as security for the loan, the system can be shut off remotely if a customer stops making daily payments.

Once a customer’s solar loan is paid off, the solar system’s ‘pay as you go’ metering can be re-
enabled to provide financing for other exciting purposes-- for instance, to finance agricultural inputs and insurance to improve productivity and reduce risk, farm animal loans to help clients diversify income streams and cash loans to support important but often ill-timed expenses such as school fees.

This person must first apply consumer research to dream up new financial services products and business lines which can deliver significant customer and social value. He or she must then lead the hard work of bringing these to market through commercialization pilots, refining the offering, operations and business model to ultimately build new business lines which can deliver value for customers and scale into sustainable and profitable business lines.

Key Responsibilities:

This person’s primary focus will be to design, organize and lead pilot agricultural input financing programs with an aim towards growing agricultural productivity and income for Greenlight's >500K PAYG customers. This role involves:

• Developing a strong understanding of client needs and Greenlight’s operational capabilities to craft product offerings delivery business models
• Recruiting and coordinating with suppliers, including commercial negotiation
• Planning and leading pilot execution through a pilot team comprising several branch stores, 30-50 agents and an addressable client base of >3,000 clients; setting up systems to monitor customer and commercial outcomes and continuously refining the program to deliver customer and financial success
• Once operationalized and validated in a pilot region, expanding the program into a fully-formed business unit. Working cross-functionally to scale the business model across
• Greenlight’s distribution networks, developing operational models and technology to operate efficiently and scale and adapting the offering and model to new regions

Requirements:

• 4+ years’ experience in product management, new product development or go to market execution in mass market-focused organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa, ideally related to financial services, smallholder agriculture or microfinance.
• An entrepreneurial mindset, passionate about understanding customers’ needs and developing new, innovative solutions to address them.
• A track record of strong collaboration skills and the ability to learn and prototype rapidly.
• A willingness to be based in Nairobi, Kenya and travel extensively in rural East and West Africa.

They are looking for someone who is driven, passionate and excited about the opportunity to bring honest, affordable, energy to homes in Africa and Asia. If this sounds like you, they would love to hear from you.

Greenlight Planet offers a competitive salary, a fun, supportive work environment and opportunities for continued professional growth within a fast-growing global enterprise.

Greenlight Planet believes in equal opportunity for all people, everywhere. It is the reason we exist! So, regardless of your race, color, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, HIV/Aids status, disability or any other protected characteristic as established by law, we will accept your application and make a decision based on your suitability for the position.