Business Development Director Job at Powerhive


Powerhive is a technology venture founded in 2011 that partners with utilities and independent power producers to provide access to productive, affordable, and reliable microgrid electricity for millions of rural homes and businesses around the globe. Our proprietary technology platform and business model enables the financing, monetization, and management of distributed microgrid solutions. We are headquartered in Berkeley, CA.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Director, Business Development - West Africa

Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Job Type: Full-time
Hiring Manager: VP, Business Development
Department: Business Development
Intended Start Date: July/August, 2016
Language Requirement: English and French
Travel: Up to 60% of the time
Relocation: Local hires are preferred. A relocation package will be considered for exceptional candidates only.

Requirements & Qualifications

  • 5+ years' experience developing and leading infrastructure projects, ideally in the energy/utilities or telecom sectors. Demonstrated experience working on complex transactions including mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and/or asset sales.
  • University Degree in Finance, Law, MBA, or Project Management.
  • Superior communication/presentation skills - both written and oral AND good listening skills; Demonstrated ability to express complex ideas in simple unambiguous form, whether visual or numerical.
  • Understanding of the off-grid and micro-grid markets in particular, and the renewable energy sector in general.
  • Understanding of energy markets, utility rates and consumer and channel partner value propositions for residential and commercial solar.
  • Strong understanding of West African cultures, governance, and economies.
  • Advanced negotiation skills.
  • Thorough understanding of project finance and process of getting projects funded.
  • Highly organized, ability to track and follow up multiple deals/projects concurrently and timeously.
  • Strong quantitative analysis skills including the development of business cases and other relevant transaction support analysis.
  • Proven ability to manage multiple simultaneous transaction processes and close complex deals with significant contracted revenues / customer targets.
  • Proficient with modern productivity tools such as MS Office, Google Apps, Asana, Slack, Salesforce.


Job Description

  • As a senior member of the business development team, you will work closely with VP, Business Development to lead Powerhive’s efforts in new markets within West Africa and initiate and develop off-grid renewable energy projects across the region.
  • You will be responsible for sourcing and developing a substantiated pipeline of projects using in-market resources or Powerhive teams and ensuring bankability through efficiently coordinated diligence processes.
  • You will work with cross functional internal support teams, including Project Finance, Engineering, and PMO to help bring projects to Execution.

Key Responsibilities

  • General -10% - Help refine development, assessment and due diligence processes and workflows; Create compelling analysis and clearly-articulated presentations for executive management and board-level stakeholders in order to support executive decision-making; Be part of Investment Committee meetings to present deals and projects.
  • Market Entry -25% - Competitive research, assessment of competitive activities within the micro-grid and energy access sector; Contribute to twice-annual Market Prioritization exercise to help set overall BD goals; Identify key local stakeholders and partners, and develop relationships; Investigate business climate and key factors including permits and land acquisition; Support negotiations, transaction structuring and successful execution of varying form of transactions and partnerships
  • Project Pipeline -50%- Drive delivery of pipeline (i.e. shovel-ready connections, including concession, customer contracts, all commercial arrangements, etc.) to Operations for execution; Lead opportunity screening by conducting preliminary analyses of investment opportunities; Contribute to company-wide monitoring of RFQs and similar government/DFI-led project opportunities for cheap financing and/or suitable subsidies; Perform/drive financial and modeling analysis for potential projects, partnerships, RFQs, and acquisitions; Lead government relations in the region and source local representatives with right political pedigree to develop appropriate relationships that lead to bankable greenfield concessions; Source M&A opportunities for expedited acquisition of pipeline. Create term sheets, coordinate legal documents and gain internal approvals for various partnership and M&A transactions; Engage with Powerhive stakeholders in various functions to create, present, and follow up on partnership and/or M&A proposals with prospective companies; Work with Strategic Relationships managers to identify specific opportunities provided by existing partners pertaining to key countries or projects under development; Leverage existing deal structures in other countries to identify suitable partnerships.
  • Project Execution - 15% - Work hand-in-hand with joint development partner(s) and other strategic partners (e.g. equipment suppliers, EPC, O&M contractors) in region to ensure that the BD team delivers fully defined project to Operations; Support CIO in achieving financial close; Work closely with PMO to ensure smooth handover to Operations team for project Execution.

Personal Characteristics:

  • Work well under pressure
  • Team player, able to achieve results through others
  • Self-starter with excellent organizational and planning skills
  • Comfortable with ambiguity
  • Sunny disposition and good sense of humor
  • Driven to excel, and perform; not a 8-5 mentality.

Basic Information
In your first...

  • Month - In the first month, you will familiarize yourself with our business model and do a deep dive on the West African region to develop your goals and priorities. You will have traveled to each country to assess the potential on the ground. You will also take control of our market and project development in Nigeria and personally manage the efforts in-country.
  • 90 DAYS - In the first three months, you will have personally initiated operations in one new market, defining the opportunity, establishing key stakeholder relationships and scouting local talent. You will have identified several solid opportunities for greenfield development and/or M&A and have brought on dedicated resources in each of your focus markets and have detailed goals, timelines and (preliminary) budgets in place.
  • 180 DAYS - After 6 months you are in advanced stages of acquiring concessions/permits in your focus markets, have a well-defined opportunity and project for each and have achieved sign-off from the Investment Committee.
  • One Year - After a year, you and your team will have developed a ready-to-build pipeline of ≥500k connections, opened up at least 2 new markets and are ready to hand over at least 100k connections to the Operations team for


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