Division/Function: Mini-Grids
Reporting To: Senior Manager, Minigrids Business

About Husk

Husk Power Systems (“Husk”) is an award-winning climate-resilient company serving rural India and Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2023, it was named “World’s Best Challenger Brand” in the energy industry and is a 3-time Global Cleantech 100 company. The CEO has been recognized by TIME magazine as one of the 100 climate leaders in the world. The company’s AI-powered platform provides 24/7 clean, renewable power to rural households, commercial customers, institutions and small factories. It also delivers a range of other products and services, including e-commerce and credit-financing of branded appliances for home and commercial use, as well as community-based solutions for e-mobility and the agricultural value chain. Husk’s mission is “Powering Rural Prosperity”, driving economic growth and social wellbeing in rural communities while also nurturing the planet by deploying low-carbon technology.

Benefits:

Husk offers flexible working conditions with employee benefits that align with global best practices. These include clear career growth planning, transparent performance review and reward processes that are gender neutral, maternity and paternity leave, gender-inclusive workplace conditions with special attention given to the safety and security of our women employees, 18-day annual paid leave, family health insurance. Husk does not believe in micromanagement and encourages its employees to have a healthy work-life balance, giving them the freedom to manage their workload to be compatible with their life.

Husk Values

Honesty and Integrity; Act with discipline and integral to your job; Respect each other; Respect Human rights within our responsibility and contractual obligations. Frugal Innovation, Quality, and Reliability; Respect for environment, health, and safety. Excellence as an attitude; We shall align perception to a common understanding of performance rating and measures., We > I, Fail Fast and Learn Faster Continuous Learning.

Husk is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, or religion. Husk is committed to improving gender balance within its teams in Nigeria and globally. Female candidates are therefore highly encouraged to apply even if not all requirements are met.

Position objective:

Husk is recruiting for an Area Sales Manager to help expand its Mini Grids business footprint within Nigeria and across other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. We seek a highly motivated and talented salesperson for our rapidly developing Nigerian market focusing on territorial sales across Husk sites and potential sites and who will be committed to executing at a high level in a fast-paced environment.

The Area Sales Manager will be accountable for the MiniGrids Sales Team’s financial performance in partnership with the Country Director and is required to drive continuous revenue growth. This position provides the opportunity to join a growing team that is changing the face of rural electrification in Nigeria and Asia.

The individual should also be passionate about contributing to solving one of Nigeria’s most critical challenges – the energy access deficit. This is a Head of Sales role with a reporting line to the Country Director.

Key Responsibilities Include:

General

• Manage, motivate, and mentor other team members along with a variety of personnel to create a positive, constructive, and performance-driven dynamic, while driving efficiencies.
• Establish the strategic vision and direction for the Hybrid Minigrids (HMG) Sales.
• Drive “Best Practices” across the business. Once a “Best Practice” has been identified, ensure that the practice is visible nationally and to another subsidiary.
• Managing sales operations with a focus on achieving predefined sales targets.
• Forecasting and planning monthly, quarterly, and yearly sales targets and executing them in a given time frame.
• Work closely with Heads of other Business Units to understand sales/business performance trends and position partnership engagements adequately.
• Negotiate solutions, resolve conflicts, and provide solutions in the best interest of Husk, and our customers/clients and employees.
• Act as a leader within the country. Understand the priorities of the country operations and support the Country Director and Heads of other Business Units when necessary.
• Support the optimization of various Husk Nigeria activities to ensure best practices are entrenched towards more efficient processes.

Business Growth and Support

• Identify new markets and business opportunities for sales and revenue growth.
• Formulating sales strategy and ensuring sales goals are achieved.
• Develop and implement robust sales management processes. Stringently monitor revenue pipeline to ensure revenue targets and achievements.
• Provide regular reporting on sales management, sales pipeline development, forecasting, key account status, market condition updates, sales results, and budget performance.
• Market research across the Hybrid Minigrid (HMG) business, including but not limited to marketing, business development, review, and budgeting, across Husk sites and Potential Sites.
• Development of accurate segmentation and targeting of the market including identification of customer and market opportunities, market entry/expansion strategy, and establishing a balance of long-term pipeline and short-term revenue.
• Create community market intelligence packs to drive customer sizing and customer pricing decisions.
• Establish scalable promotional tools and processes.
• Support business growth and continuous cost & and quality improvements in the business.

Stakeholder Management

• Coordinate, maintain regular communication, and develop positive and productive relationships with
  various stakeholders, regulatory stakeholders, customer groups, etc.
• Collaboration and convergence with the Operations/Service, Engineering, IT, and Software and the
  finance department to ensure the successful implementation of business plans.
• Build and maintain a high-performing sales team whilst promoting individual/team performance and a
  collaborative attitude across the board.

Thought Leadership

• Drive thought leadership engagements to ensure Husk maintains local visibility as an industry leader within the MiniGrids space.

Requirements:

• 7+ years of relevant sales experience, with 2 – 4 years in a similar role within the energy sector.
• Graduate from a leading institution with a related degree in Sales, Business
• Management, and marketing. Postgraduate degree in business and/or related professional qualifications, a plus.
• A clearly defined strategic thought process and a continuous improvement mindset with excellent problem-solving skills.
• This position requires an in-depth understanding of business development, sales, critical thinking, and the ability to provide time-bound solutions to the benefit of the company and projects.
• Hands-on experience in sales and Marketing within rural areas (B2C & B2B)
• Great relationship management skills and an understanding of data analysis and forecasting methods.
• Excellent skills with MS Excel, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, and project management tools (MS Project, Asana, Slack, etc.)
• In-depth knowledge of the power sector in Nigeria, a plus.

Location and Travel
This role is based in Abuja, Nigeria, and requires 70% travel to other areas of Husk Plant locations.

Compensation:
As per market standard

Husk is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, or religion. Husk is committed to improving gender balance within its teams worldwide. Female candidates are, therefore, highly encouraged to apply even if all requirements are not met.

DISCLAIMER: This is an exhaustive list of all principal accountabilities, dimensions of the job, and person specifications. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed when circumstances change (e.g. emergencies, change in personnel, workload, technological developments, or organization developments).