Sun King

Off-grid solar home systems provider

Zonal Business Manager - Coastal Zone

Field SalesUpdated on Nov 13

Full-timeNairobi, KenyaNo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

A degree in a business-related field is required; an MBA is an added advantage.
At least 6 years of sales experience, including 3 years in a senior managerial position, preferably in distribution, microfinance, banking, or BOP business.
Proven strategic business capability and the ability to engineer solutions, transform teams, and drive business processes.
Passion for working with rural, off-grid consumers and resolving their issues.
Motivation by the social mission of providing energy to consumers and employment to rural communities, with a value-oriented approach.
Good communication skills and the ability to build and manage large field sales executive teams.

Responsibilities

Drive sales, collections, and business operations across the assigned zone for direct distribution of Sun King Solar products through the EasyBuy business unit.
Hire, retain, and motivate the zonal team, building a disciplined, process-oriented team focused on customer experience.
Train the team on sales, collections, products, technical matters, inventory, and logistics, and ensure professional and ethical conduct.
Clarify day-to-day tasks, sales and collections plans, routes, and targets for Regional Business Managers, Area Business Managers, and Sun King Store Executives; ensure sales teams are prepared to demonstrate and sell products, resolve basic customer queries, and access support.
Conduct weekly joint fieldwork with Field Sales Executives to provide sales and collection training and drive engagement, including night and market activations and visits to communities, SACCOs, self-help groups, retail centers, and markets.
Meet or exceed sales and collection targets agreed with sales supervisors each month.
Provide daily and weekly updates on sales, Field Sales Executive recruitment, customer issues and resolutions, and new area launch preparations to the Country Business Leader.
Review sales and collection progress daily and train the team in collections, customer and area profiling, timely follow-ups, issue resolution, payments, and system repossession as a last resort for customer defaults.
Resolve customer issues related to product delivery, product-use and payment training, installation, and after-sales warranty matters; work with Field Sales Executives to resolve issues within 24 hours.
Provide marketing assistance and necessary equipment, such as smartphones, to all areas, and maximize return on investment in marketing, supply chain, store maintenance, and smartphone issuance.
Ensure Regional Business Managers and Area Business Managers hold periodic review meetings with their Field Sales Executives; conduct surprise field visits to check sales processes and standards; recognize outstanding performers and maintain team motivation.

Location: Coastal Zone, Kenya

About the role:

The Zonal Business Manager will drive sales, collections, and entire business operations in the entire zone they are assigned to, for the direct distribution of Sun King Solar products sold on Pay-As-You-Basis (also called and recognized as “EasyBuy” Business unit). This is done through a large network of agents called Field Agents who visit door-to-door and sell. EasyBuy technology and services allows customers to purchase units by paying for their Solar products in small installments, thus ensuring they are extremely affordable for off-grid or rural customers. The Zonal Business Manager is ultimately accountable for generating sales, ensuring collections are timely and accurate and keeping the entire direct distribution network growing rapidly in a sustainable manner, with the help of their team that typically consists of Regional Business Managers, Area Business Managers, Sun King Store Executives, Customer Loyalty Executive and all field agents in the region.

Hire, retain and motivate the entire zonal team for the best performance:

The Zonal Business Manager’s team typically consists of Regional Business Manager, Area Business Managers, Sun King Executives, and Field Sales Executives (there may be some variations based on the region).
The Zonal Business Manager is expected to ensure they create a world-class winning team in their zone that is disciplined, process-oriented, and devoted to delivering the best customer experience.

Training:

Provide training on several aspects of the business such as sales, collections, product, technical, inventory and logistics related.
Ensure the team is fully aligned and managed professionally, demonstrating the highest level of integrity, ethics, and professionalism while dealing with Sun King customers.

Provide role clarity to Regional Business managers, Area Business Managers and Sun King Store Executives:

Provide complete clarity to the team related to their day-to-day tasks, sales & collections plans, routes, and targets. This includes ensuring that your sales team has a pre-settled sales route/area to sell in, they acknowledge how to demonstrate and sell Sun King products, they have the confidence to be able to present and resolve basic customer queries on the spot, and they have access to Regional Business Manager at all times in case of questions and concerns.

Conduct Joint Fieldwork with Regional Business Managers:

Conduct joint fieldwork with Field Sales Executives to provide sales and collection training on a weekly basis and drive Field Service Executives' engagement. This includes doing night activations, market activations, visiting local communities and gatherings such as SACCOs, Self Help groups, retail centers and markets to make group sales.

Exceed your sales & collections targets:

Meet or exceed sales and collection targets established and consented upon on the second of every month with your sales supervisors.
Provide daily and weekly updates on sales, Field Sales Executive recruitments, customer issues and resolutions, and New Area Launch preparations as expected and aligned with the Country Business Leader.

Drive robust field sales processes:

Review sales and collection progress daily and provide adequate training to the team on better collections in your areas. This includes customer and area profiling, ensuring regular and timely collection follow-ups, resolving customer issues to ensure they make payments, and repossessing the systems as a last recourse if the customer defaults.

Resolve Customer Issues:

Provide world-class assistance to your customer as it relates to product delivery, training on how to use and make payments, installation, after sales warranty issues.
Ensure that you work with Field Sales Executives to establish clear expectations and processes to resolve all customer issues within 24 hours.

Control Marketing and other assistance spend:

Provide adequate marketing assistance and equipment (such as smartphones) necessary to all your areas.
Ensure we get maximum return on investment for all the costs we incur in areas of marketing, supply chain, store maintenance and smartphone issuance.

Review meetings with Areas:

Ensure that Regional Business Managers and Area Business Managers are conducting periodic table meetings and reviews with all Field Sales Executives under their purview.
Conduct surprise visits to field meetings and areas to ensure that the sales processes and standards observed are of the highest quality.
Recognize outstanding performers from time to time and ensure the motivation of the entire zonal team is maintained at an all-time high.

Have a degree in a Business-related field, with an MBA as an added advantage.
Have at least 6 years’ experience in sales, of which 3 years in a senior managerial position, preferably having worked in Distribution, microfinance, Banking, or BOP Business
Have proven strategic business capability with the ability to engineer solutions, transform teams and drive business processes.
Passionate about working with rural, off-grid consumers and resolving their issues.
Motivated by the social mission to provide energy to consumers and employment to rural communities. Should be value-oriented.
Good communication skills and ability to build and manage large field sales executive teams.

About the Company

Sun King

Off-grid solar home systems provider

Sun King designs, manufactures, distributes, and finances solar home energy products for off-grid communities in Africa and Asia. Its range includes solar lanterns and solar home systems with inverters and storage that can power lights, radios, phones, and household appliances, all financed through a pay-as-you-go model with small mobile money installments after a low upfront payment. The company differentiates itself with an end-to-end approach—handling product design, manufacturing, distribution, and financing—supported by a large field-agent network and strategic acquisitions like PayGo Energy to expand into clean cooking. Its goal is to increase energy access by helping households leapfrog kerosene and unreliable grids, aiming to reach millions of homes and businesses, including over 2 million in Ethiopia by 2030.

Company size: 1,001-5,000
Company stage: Debt Financing
Total funding: $864.9M
Headquarters: Chicago, IL
Founded: 2008

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