SunFarmer seeks Founding Entrepreneur for Ghana solar venture
Are you ready to lead Ghana’s next leading solar company? SunFarmer US seeks an extraordinarily talented and driven individual to act as a Founding Entrepreneur (or member of a Founding Team), and become the driving force behind a new Accra-based solar company, SunFarmer Ghana. The Founding Entrepreneur must be deeply passionate about starting their own venture, and specifically passionate about using solar energy to improve the lives of and save money for Ghanaians. We seek someone with a balance of drive and patience – eager to make progress as quickly as possible, but committed to take the time to do things right. We are also excited to consider groups of individuals (co-founders), or to pair multiple individual candidates together into a founding team.
Two profiles of candidates, with suggested experience:
- CEO
- Experience leading a start-up
- Experience leading a division or department at a high-growth company
- Experience managing a high-performing team
- CTO
- Hands-on experience installing solar + battery energy systems
- Experience building hardware projects (or hardware + software projects) from start to finish
Location
- Full-time in Accra, Ghana
- Potential for travel throughout Ghana
- Potential for occasional travel to SunFarmer Nepal’s Kathmandu office, and various conferences and events in Africa and the US
SunFarmer US
SunFarmer US is a US-based nonprofit that incubates and launches locally-run solar businesses in developing countries. Our first business is SunFarmer Nepal, a solar energy business that designs and installs world class solar energy systems for hospitals, businesses, and farms. Since January 2014, SunFarmer Nepal has:
- Installed more than 150 solar energy systems across Nepal
- Grown to a team of 15 staff
- Established and built a governing, local Board of Directors composed of business leaders who serve as mentors to the CEO
- Reached profitability
- Won recognition for its work from leading institutions such as Y Combinator, National Geographic and the Clinton Global Initiative
SunFarmer US is replicating this model by identifying top entrepreneurs in other developing countries, and spending 12-18 months supporting each entrepreneur through launch. Once the business launches, we remain on hand to offer the technical and startup resources they need to be successful. We are currently laser focused on launching SunFarmer Ghana.
Duties & Responsibilities
- Team: Build a world class entrepreneurial team in Accra, and motivate them to perform at a high level.
- Vision: Create a compelling vision for how SunFarmer Ghana will improve the lives of millions of people in Ghana and West Africa. Work closely with SunFarmer US and external product development experts to create a solar product offering that will appeal to customers in Ghana and beyond.
- Sales: Use your charisma and hustle to bring in the first customers and partners
- Cash flow: SunFarmer US will provide initial funding, but it will be your responsibility to manage the cash, report to the board, and attract follow-on capital
- Leverage experts: understand where the team’s weaknesses are, and bring in SunFarmer US or external experts to help us get to where we need to be
- Everything else: A founding entrepreneur often has to “wear many different hats” to get the job done
Must-have Characteristics
- Entrepreneurial spark: You understand that starting a new company is risky, and that it may take years of hard work before you see success, but you want to do it anyway! We’re looking for someone who isn’t satisfied taking a stable salary from a bank job, who wants something bigger and believes they can change the way Ghanaians produce and use energy.
- Hustle: You must balance creative thinking with dogged persistence to push the company forward – everything from obtaining appropriate business registrations to winning your first customer, to hiring & firing employees – SunFarmer US will play a supporting role but you are in the driver’s seat.
- Unique Strength: Whether through your charisma, your unmatched electrical engineering & technical skills, your sheer tenacity, or something else, tell us what it is that will make you a force to be reckoned with!
- Intellect: We have a high performing team, and want to collaborate with only the smartest, best people we can find.
- Integrity: We seek someone with outstanding personal integrity who is honest, treats others fairly, and is uninterested in taking shortcuts, unlawful or otherwise, in their quest to build a successful business
Other Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree from a top-tier Ghanaian or international university. Advanced degrees are a plus but not required.
- Ghanaian citizen
- Based in Accra, willing to travel