Hub Manager – (South West) at Jaza Energy

Company Overview

Jaza is a solar energy start-up working to power Sub-Saharan Africa. We build solar-powered shops which charge batteries customers use to power their homes.

Since 2022, we’ve achieved over 3 million battery swaps, providing approximately 225,000 people access to clean, affordable energy.

We employ women from each community (known as Jaza Stars) to run the service, empowering our team to become leaders, entrepreneurs and drivers of economic growth within their communities. For more information on what we are building, check out www.jazaenergy.com and watch the video the BBC made about Jaza here.

We’ve already successfully entered the Nigerian market, piloted several sites here and will grow to hundreds of locations over the next year. To support this expansion, we’re planning to hire over 200 people over the next 6 months.

Position Overview

To support this rapid expansion, we are seeking exceptional individuals to manage the launch of new hubs and support their growth and profitability.

As a Hub Manager, you’ll be responsible for recruiting, training, and supporting our Jaza Stars (the people who actually run the hubs). You’ll also be overseeing day-to-day hub operations which includes customer acquisition and inventory management. Each Hub Manager could be managing up to 10 hubs and 20 Jaza Stars at a time, supported by one Field Service Engineer.

This role requires significant travel within Nigeria, as Jaza is expanding across the South-West states, with 21 hubs currently located in Oyo State. This role provides an excellent opportunity for someone looking to develop their project & people management skills and contribute directly to the critical growth stage of a business. Ideal candidates have a strong entrepreneurial mindset, sales experience, leadership capabilities, and excellent interpersonal skills.

Role and responsibilities

Serve as a Jaza ambassador, embodying and championing our mission, values, and culture. Your role extends beyond daily tasks, encompassing the responsibility to promote our organizational ethos both internally and externally.
Recruit, train and manage the Jaza Stars. You will coach the Jaza Stars on best practices for customer acquisition, customer service, and inventory management.
Lead customer acquisition and retention initiatives, such as door-to-door sales with Jaza Stars to grow the number of active customers.
Supervise inventory management at each hub by conducting standardised stock counts and flagging missing battery packs.
Report regularly to the Regional Coordinator on Jaza Stars and hub performance.
Support site construction, validation and launching of new hubs.
Build and maintain relationships with the local community leaders at sites of operations.

Who you are

You have a background and/or experience in Sales, Customer Relations, Entrepreneurship or other related fields.
Strong leadership capabilities. Ideally, you’ve led, managed or trained a team previously.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds.
You are data-driven and can make analytical decisions.
You are excited about our mission of increasing access to energy and employment for women.
Bonus points if you have prior experience selling products to or working in rural communities, managing a distributed team of field staff, or speak multiple local languages.
Note: We do not care about your educational background. It’s more important to us that you’re ambitious and driven to succeed.

Why you should apply

Be part of the most exciting growth phase of a company.
Work with great teammates in an international environment. Our team is spread across Canada, the USA, China, Tanzania, and Nigeria. You’ll be interfacing with our Regional Coordinator regularly.
Gain hands-on experience. Although we are a startup, we don’t expect you to just figure it out alone. You’ll be given lots of responsibility but also lots of support to help you succeed.
We offer health insurance coverage, paid annual vacation & sick leave, as well as airtime, data & transport allowance.

This is an onsite role based in one of our regional offices in South West Nigeria. It will require frequent travel.