Job title: SME Advisor or Senior SME Advisor
Reports to: Director, Advisory Services
Based in: Nairobi, Kenya (with periodic travel in East Africa)
Background
GVEP is an international advisory organization supporting the energy sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. We deliver demand-driven, practical, and customised support to SMEs, project developers, social enterprises, and micro-enterprises that provide renewable energy services to off-grid communities.
Our team of 90 people includes primarily locally based professionals who are supported by a small head office in London. The organization is comprised of:
· Five Country Teamsin Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal. These teams provide business and technical skills training and mentorship to micro-enterprises that deliver “last-mile” energy services, and support them to access finance from MFIs, SACCOs and local banks.
· Advisory Services teamin Nairobi that provides consulting and advisory to SMEs, project developers and social enterprises, and supports them to secure corporate/project financing.
· Administrative and support staff based in our London HQ and Nairobi regional head office. GVEP is funded by major development agencies e.g. Sida (Sweden), DfID (UK), World Bank, USAID, Barclays, OFID, and EU. Our FY2014 revenues were ~$5m, and since our founding in 2006, we have leveraged $55+ million of grant funding to support more than 2,700 businesses
Role
This role is within Advisory Services, a Nairobi-based team of professionals from a range of private sector backgrounds including investment banking and private equity, management consulting, law, entrepreneurship, infrastructure project development, micro-finance and engineering.
Our clients are primarily based in East Africa and range in the stage of their development from ideation/pre-pilot to scale-up. We work with companies employing a range of business models and technologies. Many are developing small-scale assets for power generation and distribution (e.g. through mini-grids) using solar, biomass gasification, or hydropower, while others produce or distribute solar lights or home systems, clean cook-stoves or biomass-based fuels.
Our common near-term aim is to help our client develop into a business that will withstand a due diligence process designed to assess its financial, operational and technical robustness. Our ultimate goal is to increase the likelihood that the company matures into a profitable commercial enterprise that plays a meaningful role in electrifying the 1.3 billion people currently without power. In short, we work with companies to increase their prospects for survival and growth.
We help companies develop their business model, enhance operational execution, and access financing. Engagements typically consist of some combination of management consulting or capital advisory, market research, and assistance developing new partnerships. Many clients find significant value in our knowledge of, and preparation for, financiers – from commercial private equity firms, to impact investors or donors.
We have completed more than 150 engagements with 60 companies, and our clients have raised a cumulative $74 million of debt, equity and grants since engaging with us.
Responsibilities for the role include:
· Conducting or leading advisory engagements (which span strategy consulting, investment readiness, partnership facilitation, project development support, and customized projects) with renewable energy SMEs, social enterprises and project developers.
· Supporting clients to access financing, and using GVEP institutional knowledge and relationships with financiers, investment requirements, and transaction structures to advise clients and help them be successful in closing transactions.
· Developing a pipeline of projects that fit GVEP’s priorities and capabilities with clients.
· Helping to develop GVEP’s internal processes and knowledge of technologies, business models, regulatory issues, financing process, etc.
· Delivering high quality work product and providing high quality inputs to colleagues, with attention to detail and a focus on results.
Requirements
· Experience:
o 4+ years (8+ years for Senior Advisor) experience in management or strategic consulting or financial advisory,
(and/or)
o 4+ (8+ years for Senior Advisor) years experience in energy project development, operations, or financing; or experience in early-stage entrepreneurship,
(and/or)
o Experience in early-stage business building as an entrepreneur, investor (PE/VC/impact investor), or other service provider e.g. incubator.
o Degree in economics, business administration or other related field or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
· Attributes:
o Very strong communication skills, both oral and written.
o Good team building and motivational skills with an ability to work with a diverse mix of professionals and deliver.
o Ability to see the big picture and connect the dots – a strategic mind.
o A can-do and collaborative mind set – comfortable with the ambiguities and demands of a rapidly evolving and entrepreneurial environment with a team from diverse backgrounds
o Passionate about working in the impact space.
· Preferred: Experience working with rural and off-grid business models and technologies, and an understanding of unique challenges faced by businesses operating in Africa