Job Description
Role Summary
Husk is recruiting for a Head, Interconnected Minigrids (IMGs) & Public Partnerships to coordinate and drive high-level stakeholder engagement efforts within Nigeria. This role is a leadership role that requires a strategic thinking individual, who will drive engagement strategies with national and sub-national stakeholders in alignment with functional leadership whilst providing support in driving best practices across the business.
The candidate will also have a track record of proven leadership abilities (communication, relationship building, training & development, commercial acumen etc.) as well as in-depth industry knowledge with a robust industry and stakeholder network. The individual should also be passionate about contributing to solving one of Nigeria’s most critical challenges – the energy access deficit.
Key responsibilities:
General
- Work closely with the Country Director and other members of the Nigerian Management Team to deliver on country business objectives.
- Support the optimization of various Husk activities in Nigeria to ensure best practices are entrenched towards more efficient processes.
- Support in driving “Best Practices” across the business. Once a “Best Practice” has been identified, ensure that the practice is visible nationally and to another subsidiary.
- Understand the priorities of the country operations and support the Country Team when required.
- Other duties as may be assigned from time to time.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Develop, drive and implement a robust Stakeholder Management Strategy and supporting processes with structures for Husk in Nigeria.
- Own stakeholder mapping efforts towards identifying relevant stakeholders within and outside the industry for structured engagements with commercial outcomes.
- Engage with stakeholders at national and sub-national levels to drive active policy advocacy efforts and ensure a conducive regulatory and business environment.
- Coordinate external relations efforts with the host state governments, supporting agencies, and traditional and local institutions to strengthen working relationships with these entities.
- Monitor the wider policy environment to identify and exploit opportunities for future work supportive of Husk’s strategic plans.
- Develop leads to establish relationships with policy makers, critical influencers etc and identify opportunities for collaboration where possible.
- Share intelligence gathered via stakeholder engagements to relevant internal stakeholders.
Interconnected Mini-Grids (Business and Project Development)
- Drive and co-ordinate a data-driven actionable strategy for engagements with power distribution companies (DisCos) within focus areas.
- Lead and drive project development engagements for the IMGs’ portfolio in alignment with set objectives.
- Regularly interact with various high-level internal and external stakeholders on IMG project development.
- Work with relevant teams to set relevant site selection criteria, for viable IMG locations.
- Ensure support for other Business Units to drive alignment with IMG-related activities.
- Own market research activities across the IMG business, including but not limited to business development, stakeholder mapping, and IMG landscape analysis.
- Prepare and deliver commercial proposals to internal and external stakeholders, power distribution companies (DisCos), communities, etc.
Portfolio Growth and Business Support
- Identify possible inorganic site portfolio growth opportunities within focus areas.
- Coordinate with the relevant teams and external stakeholders on inputs regarding inorganic site portfolio growth.
- Prepare and deliver site acquisition proposals to internal and external stakeholders, communities, etc. where suitable opportunities are identified.
- Support efforts for business communications internally and externally, including project press releases, case study development, and videos.
Funding Submissions
- Own site-specific submission process for funding where Husk is already pre-qualified to access.
- Seek out potential funding sources for IMGs, stakeholder management support and the source's conditions within agreed time frames and within Husk’s funding objective framework.
Thought Leadership
- Drive thought leadership engagements to ensure Husk maintains local visibility as an industry leader amongst stakeholders within the off grid power space.
Qualifications
- 10 years of work experience with at least 5 years of experience in engaging high-level stakeholders and fostering synergies for a conducive business environment.
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Sciences, Management, Business, or related degree from a top-rated institution. Postgraduate degree or relevant business certifications; a plus.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
- Excellent organizational, problem-solving and time management skills required.
- Excellent people skills, and ability to engage in a multicultural and diverse environment, with multiple internal and external industry stakeholders.
- This position requires commercial acumen, experience in ideating and conceptualization, critical thinking, and the ability to negotiate with high level industry stakeholders for positive outcomes for Husk.
- A clearly defined strategic thought process and a continuous improvement mindset with excellent problem-solving skills.
- Demonstrates a high level of accountability and ownership of tasks.
- Ability to influence through data and business analysis.
- Confident in liaising at all levels, articulate with good presentation skills.
- Ability to work and lead effectively in cross-functional teams.
- Excellent skills with MS Office, Google Suite, and relevant tools
- Most importantly, the candidate must fit a company spirit where people work smart, play hard, have fun, and are dedicated to success.
- In-depth knowledge of the power sector in Nigeria and experience working with a company within Nigeria’s power generation, transmission and distribution space, highly desired.