About M-KOPA Solar: M-KOPA Solar, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, is the global leader of “pay-as-you-go” energy for off-grid customers.
Since its commercial launch in October 2012, M-KOPA has connected more than 300,000 homes in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to solar power, and is now adding over 500 new homes each day.
The success of M-KOPA (M= mobile, KOPA= to borrow) stems from making solar products affordable to low-income households on a pay-per-use installment plan.
Customers acquire solar systems for a small deposit and then purchase daily usage “credits” for US $0.45, or less than the price of traditional kerosene lighting. After one year of payments customers own their solar systems outright and can upgrade to more power.
All revenues are collected in real-time via mobile money systems (such as M-PESA in Kenya) and embedded GSM sensors in each solar system allow M-KOPA to monitor real time performance and regulate usage based upon payments.
This connected design means that M-KOPA is processing vast amounts of data (i.e. over 10,000 mobile payments per day) via the company’s proprietary cloud platform, M-KOPAnet.
As of January 2016 M-KOPA employs over 700 full time staff across East Africa and sells through a network of 1,000 direct sales agents. It has also commenced licensing its technology to partners in other markets.
M-KOPA has been recognised for its pioneering business mode and scale, notably winning the 2015 Zayed Future Energy Prize, being selected as the top New Energy Pioneer at the 2014 Bloomberg New Energy Finance awards and earning the 2013 FT/IFC Excellence in Sustainable Finance Award.
Role Profile
Overall Purpose: The role is to recruit, train, coach & manage a team of up to 20 Direct Sales Representatives to meet your sales targets of M-KOPA products.
M-KOPA has a target of being in 1m homes within East Africa by the end of 2017, therefore this job will play a critical part on delivering goal and impact the lives of East Africans.
The role will involve detailed advanced planning to generate local networks to enable you to deliver current and future sales.
The majority of your time will be coaching and working with the DSRs in the field combined with strengthening local networks of customers, while fostering team spirit amongst the DSRs.
You will also assist with the resolution of customer needs as they arise.
This will be a demanding, yet personally satisfying role as you develop junior members of you team and sell a product that is upgrading peoples lives.
Key Accountabilities
Achieve and surpass sales targets of M-KOPA products
Recruit, train, coach & manage a field based team of Direct Sales Representatives (DSR) to meet the targets as set by M-KOPA
Run a team of DSR who are well disciplined in the sales process and uphold the M-KOPA brand values.
Develop local networks to assist in growing sales volume
Management of DSR inventory.
Timely reporting to line managers
Uphold the brand values of M-KOPA, including ensuring the M-KOPA shop is highly presentable to customers
Incumbent Requirements (Experience & Education)
Excellent communication skills, particularly verbal and good standard of compute literacy.
1+ year’s management experience in a related sales field. eg Micro-finance or other financial services, mobile-money, FMCG or other product/service in East Africa.
Proven ability to work in a self disciplined & proactive manner.
Proven ability to carry out direct selling
Proven track record of hitting targets
Proven ability to mentor sales staff to achieve greater sales figures
Proven ability to plan ahead.
Ability to request & receive support from the headquarters.
Experience managing inventory and stock across a network of outlets.
English and Kiswahili fluency both written and spoken.
Willingness to work in a rural areas.
Tertiary qualifications from a recognized institution in a business related field is an advantage when accompanied by relevant experience.
Remuneration: Competitive covering a monthly salary, performance bonus and medical benefits reflective of the candidate’s experience and skills.
To Apply
To apply, send an updated detailed copy of your CV and a cover letter expressing why you feel you would be an excellent candidate for the role to careers@m-kopa.com with the subject EV-FSM-2079
Deadline for applications is 5pm on Sunday 5th June, 2016
Please Note
Please note that M-KOPA, as a policy, does not collect/charge any money as a pre-employment or post-employment requirement. This means that we never ask for ‘recruitment fees’, ‘processing fees’, ‘interview fees’ or any other kind of money in exchange for offer letters or interviews at any time during the hiring process.
In addition, due to the large number of applications received by us, we regret that you will not be contacted unless you are short listed for the post and invited for an interview. Therefore, if you have not heard from M-KOPA within 4 weeks of the date of the deadline your application, you should assume that you have not been successful on this occasion.
This measure has been taken in the interests of efficiency and cost effectiveness and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.