Country Sales Manager

Country: Zambia
Type: Full-time
Start date: March 2019 (but some flexibility)

Bringing solar power to at least 15,000 rural farming households in Zambia in the next two years will require great planning and execution. In order for us to succeed, you will have overall responsibility to expand and manage our network of rural sales agents, provide ongoing training to staff, offer great technical support to customers and agents, and put out the many fires associated with operating in a developing country. The infrastructure in Zambia is a work in progress: Logistics and telecommunication challenges are plenty. We are still in the early days of mobile money adoption in Zambia and we need to successfully integrate mobile money into our payment process, so continuing to develop this network will be very important.

Your role as Country Sales Manager is to ensure that the Solar Village sales team has what they need to be successful. The success of the company hinges on how effective our sales network is and it will be your responsibility to make sure our Regional Managers, Area Managers and Sales Agents are set up to win.

We need a highly motivated, self-driven Sales Manager to be based in our Kabwe office and manage the Zambia sales operations across Central, Eastern and Southern Province.

Responsibilities

• Supervise hiring and training of Regional Managers, Area Managers and Sales Agents
• Define KPIs for various levels of the sales team and ensure agreed sales targets are achieved​
• Manage relationships with local partners - particularly in the cotton sector
• Manage mobile money within the agent network
• Work closely with the training and development lead to invest in the team’s capacity
• Work closely with the rest of the leadership team to define the best strategies and ensure execution 

 
What we are looking for

• Work experience in Sub-Saharan Africa
• ​Experience with renewable/solar energy and/or agriculture sector and rural environments
• Proven leadership ability and prior experience/interest in running/working in a start-up
• Self-driven and able to work comfortably both alone and in small teams
• Experience building and managing a culturally diverse team
• Outgoing and strong networking abilities
• Minimum Bachelor’s degree, MBA will be an advantage
• Excellent communication skills in English - both written and verbal. Portuguese is a plus
• Willing to live in Kabwe, a second-tier town in Zambia

What we can offer

• Crucial role in shaping the future of Solar Village
• Making a great impact for smallholder farmers
• Remuneration package consisting of basic salary, dation, equity and bonus payments

 
How to apply

• Send CV and cover letter to careers@solarvillage.no by 31st January 2019. Feel free to also use other means (e.g. a short video) to tell us more about who you are and why you want to work with us. You can also write to us, if you have questions about the job.