Head of External Affairs
About the job
- Ability to manage and lead a team of seven or more people.
- Ability to engage credibly with African governments on clean cooking, carbon markets, and Article 6 cooperation at technical and senior-official levels.
- Experience or capability in government relations, policy, and partnerships across African markets.
- Ability to develop negotiating positions on host-country authorisation terms, including corresponding adjustments, share of proceeds, vintage scope, programme coverage, and renewal mechanics.
- Ability to engage with government ministries, regulators, revenue authorities, and investment promotion agencies on fiscal incentives and regulatory matters.
- Ability to prepare policy briefs, position papers, regulatory submissions, consultation responses, and government-facing communications.
- Ability to analyse legislative and regulatory developments, political risks, and fiscal exposure across multiple countries.
- Ability to recruit, coach, and develop country leads, policy officers, and analysts.
- Ability to travel regularly to support country teams and attend government meetings.
- Demonstrated integrity, sound political judgement, discretion, and confidentiality in sensitive relationships.
- Support and execute the strategy for securing and renewing host-country approvals for carbon projects across voluntary and compliance markets, escalating complex negotiations to the Global Director.
- Manage day-to-day engagement with Designated National Authorities and Article 6 contacts across assigned markets.
- Prepare negotiating positions on host-country authorisation terms for the Global Director's review and sign-off.
- Track bilateral Article 6.2 arrangements between host countries and buyer governments, and identify positioning opportunities.
- Monitor Article 6.4 implementation, national methodology approvals, baseline-setting decisions, and NDC accounting choices that affect issuance volumes.
- Support negotiation, securing, and defence of tax exemptions, customs duty waivers, VAT treatment, excise relief, and other fiscal incentives for clean cooking products and carbon revenues.
- Engage with finance, revenue, energy, and environment authorities and investment promotion agencies to progress rulings, regulatory clarifications, and statutory amendments.
- Maintain country-by-country fiscal exposure and advocacy playbooks; help defend existing exemptions during budget cycles and tax policy reviews.
- Brief the Global Director, CFO, and senior management on fiscal implications of country entry, product launches, and carbon contracts.
- Serve as a day-to-day government-facing representative and maintain stakeholder maps, engagement plans, and counterpart ownership for each market.
- Represent the company at industry and governmental convenings as delegated; manage incoming government visits, audits, inspections, enquiries, and parliamentary or committee requests.
- Monitor legislative and regulatory developments and turn intelligence into action plans for the Global Director's review.
- Support partnerships with industry bodies, think tanks, research institutions, and universities to develop evidence on baselines, additionality, and corresponding adjustments.
- Contribute to and execute policy positions on Article 6, CORSIA, voluntary carbon market integrity, clean cooking finance, e-cooking, and results-based finance.
- Draft policy asks, statutory instruments, regulations, ministerial directives, gazette notices, finance bill amendments, and DNA procedural guidance for review.
- Produce policy briefs, position papers, regulatory submissions, and consultation responses with Carbon and Legal teams.
- Run policy intelligence tracking legislative calendars, regulatory pipelines, NDC updates, and bilateral negotiations, and provide actionable analysis to the Global Director and senior management.
- Coordinate with industry associations, peer companies, and coalitions to advance policy positions.
- Help design and refine the external affairs operating model, including country coverage and in-country leadership needs.
- Support recruitment of Government Relations & Policy Leads and Policy Officers/Analysts; lead recruitment for roles on the role's own team.
- Identify and develop high-potential analysts and associates and verify that new hires have credible market relationships and relevant technical capability.
- Track country objectives and milestones, run weekly country check-ins and monthly team reviews, and contribute to quarterly business reviews and annual planning.
- Maintain stakeholder maps, engagement trackers, policy intelligence repositories, briefing-note templates, and country-plan standards.
- Apply political-risk assessment, escalation, and crisis-response standards; escalate matters to the Global Director, CCO, or senior management as appropriate.
- Travel regularly to support country teams and attend government meetings alongside country leads.
- Coach country leads and analysts, support career paths, and reinforce professional standards, evidence-based judgement, discretion, and integrity.
- Develop country-level communications plans and prepare government-facing briefing decks, position papers, fact sheets, ministerial talking points, and technical primers.
- Draft speeches, op-eds, and remarks for policy forums, ministerial roundtables, parliamentary engagements, COP side events, and partnership launches.
- Support targeted in-country media engagement, government-facing crisis communications, partnership communications, and review of partner materials referencing the company.
- Maintain country messaging frameworks aligned with policy asks and coordinate with corporate communications and brand teams.
- Coordinate government engagement with carbon project pipelines, methodology choices, and buyer commitments; ground fiscal advocacy in accurate exposure data with Finance and Tax teams.
- Partner with Legal on contract drafting, statutory interpretation, and regulatory compliance; coordinate with country managers so operational realities inform policy positions.
- Feed policy and political intelligence to the Global Director and senior management for country-entry, capital-allocation, and risk decisions.
- Report on approvals, authorisations, fiscal positions, government relationships, and political risk across countries.
- Maintain auditable records of government interactions, partnership commitments, and policy positions taken on the company's behalf.
- Support management of the external affairs budget, including consultants, advisers, external counsel, industry membership fees, and event participation.
About the company
BURN Manufacturing designs and manufactures clean-burning cookstoves in Kenya for the mass market across sub-Saharan Africa, with products sold in 13 countries. The stoves use biomass or electricity and burn fuel more efficiently and with lower emissions than traditional methods. The company earns money by selling carbon credits generated from reduced emissions, which helps subsidize stove costs for low-income households. Its goal is to expand distribution and reduce carbon emissions by delivering affordable, high-quality cooking solutions through a carbon-financed, last-mile distribution model.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
Late Stage VC
Total Funding
$48.5M
Headquarters
Vashon, Washington
Founded
2010
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- TDB Group's $80 million 2025 package funds 430,000 households across Mozambique, DRC, and Zambia.
- BURN's 2026 Newcastle? No, Malawi launch and Nigeria factory output show expanding capacity quickly.
- Calyx Global rated BURN's Kenyan project AA on March 2, 2026, boosting credibility.
What critics are saying
- BURN depends on host-country authorizations; Nigeria and DRC approvals took months in 2026.
- Carbon-credit demand is policy-sensitive; CORSIA rules and buyer scrutiny can delay revenue.
- If Article 6 or CORSIA access stalls, BURN loses subsidy funding for stove sales.
What makes BURN MANUFACTURING unique
- BURN secured Article 6 authorizations in Nigeria, DRC, Tanzania, and Ghana during 2026.
- BURN combines local manufacturing with IoT monitoring, enabling traceable carbon-credit generation and sales.
- BURN's Malawi factory and Kano plant anchor continent-scale production near end users.
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1%Ending 2025 on a high: Verra joins Gold Standard in approving Oka as CORSIA policy provider. Dec 19, 2025 As 2025 draws to a close, Oka is making meaningful momentum across sales, partnerships, and underwriting capacity. Read the highlights and find out what's in store for early 2026. Registry approvals: Oka is now embedded in CORSIA I'm thrilled to close out 2025 with news that translates into material tailwinds for Oka as Carbon Insurance Company step into 2026. Today, global carbon registry Verra approved Oka's Corresponding Adjustment Protect (CAP) as an official policy for credits traded under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). The Verra announcement comes two months after fellow registry Gold Standard approved CAP, making it one of the few policies available to developers seeking access to the (world's first) global and mandatory private-sector offsetting scheme. This latest update formalises insurance (and CAP, specifically) as part of the regulatory infrastructure. The policy - now procurement requirement - provides developers with a clearer and faster route to market, while also supporting airlines planning forward purchases before mandatory offsetting enters effect in 2027. Since inception, Oka has designed risk solutions to help the carbon market scale with integrity. This latest milestone supports that ambition directly: * Backed by an approved policy, developers can access the market without delay, injecting much-needed credit supply and returning material commercial benefits. * International airline buyers gain assurance on credit validity and regulatory compliance: a baseline risk-management standard in other mature markets. * By unlocking supply and facilitating early contracting, insurance boosts confidence in the world-first global private sector offsetting scheme - setting an important precedent for climate action. With nearly 50m credits in the CORSIA pipeline, this milestone is just the beginning. With registry approvals in place, Oka has gained fast traction with early movers. Since October, Carbon Insurance Company has been working with a number of leading developers applying for CORSIA tags - just this week, BURN Cookstoves unveiled the first CORSIA credits tagged through CAP. CORSIA stole the headlines this quarter, but CAP is not the only policy making market inroads - and firsts. This quarter, Carbon Insurance Company announced two further partnerships: with Argentinian exchange BACX on insured exchange-traded carbon credits; and with trading platform 1089 on insurance-backed Advanced Fuels Credits. Each is an industry 'first' and brings Carbon Insurance Company closer to establishing embedded insurance as an industry standard, validating Oka's starting thesis that every carbon credit must ultimately carry cover. Together, these partnerships demonstrate how insurance can unlock high-quality supply and lower-friction routes to capital for developers. Building on recent foundations, its 2026 focus will be to scale distribution reach and underwriting capacity. Carbon markets are finally converging: compliance dovetailing with voluntary; local initiatives feeding into national policy and international interoperability. Thanks to the commitment of its team and partners, Oka is concurrently cementing its position as a leading player in the fast-moving global ecosystem. To that end, my focus for next quarter will be boots-on-ground engagement, as I visit and meet with policymakers and developers across its key markets in Asia (January), the Middle East (February), and Africa (March). Expect further partner announcements as pipelines continue to convert to signed placement; additional registry approvals as assessment processes come to a close; and new product and policy innovations as Carbon Insurance Company accelerate progress towards Oka's founding mission.
Kenya's BURN has secured $80 million from TDB Group to expand its clean cookstove operations in Mozambique, DRC, and Zambia, targeting 430,000 households. The investment will subsidize customers in exchange for future carbon credits. BURN's IoT-enabled stoves aim to reduce emissions and indoor air pollution, impacting over 2.1 million people and preventing 3 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions. The funding supports BURN's growth across Africa, enhancing energy access.
Kenya-based BURN has secured a Sh10.4 billion financing package from the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) Group to expand clean cooking solutions in Mozambique, DRC, and Zambia. The funds will help supply clean cookstoves to 430,000 households, benefiting over 2.1 million people and reducing 3 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions. The project uses future carbon credits to subsidize stove costs, aligning with TDB's ASCENT Platform and Mission 300 goal.
Burn Manufacturing, a Nairobi-based climate tech firm, has secured $80 million in funding to expand its clean cooking operations in Zambia, DRC, and Mozambique. The investment, comprising debt and performance-based grants, was facilitated by the Trade and Development Bank Group and supported by the World Bank's ASCENT program. This funding will help distribute Burn's IoT-enabled cookstoves to over 429,000 households, contributing to the Mission 300 initiative to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the Trade Development Fund (TDFD) have joined forces with the Oil Sustainability Program (OSP) and BURN Manufacturing to roll out a clean cooking initiative aimed at transforming household energy use in Nigeria.