Community Engagement Associate at Husk Power Systems

Role Summary

• Husk is seeking a Community Engagement Associate, to join the Marketing Team in Nigeria towards achieving its targets. This individual will play an integral role in coordinating progress actions for community engagement activities as the initial point of contact for the communities. You will be required to contribute to engagements for the deployment of HUSK’s mini-grid portfolio, supporting all community engagement activities.
• The role will directly support engagement across many levels of stakeholders including community representatives, local authorities, paramount rulers, and relevant industry-related stakeholders within areas where Husk is operational and/or intends to site its operations. We are looking for someone with experience in community engagement, stakeholder management and engagement, report writing, and on-ground business development support. We require someone who is a people person and understands the importance of constant engagement for achieving business objectives.
• The individual must be passionate about contributing to solving one of Nigeria’s most critical challenges – the energy access deficit. This position provides the opportunity to join a growing team that is changing the face of rural electrification in many countries in Africa and Asia.

Key responsibilities:

General

• Play a key part as a member of the Marketing Team responsible for providing support towards expanding and maintaining project sites’ portfolio.
• Work with cross-functional teams on engagement activities ensuring that relevant community stakeholder relationships are built and maintained.
• Support information and data gathering for use by the relevant teams for market intelligence insights within and around proposed minigrid deployment locations.
• Assist with robust community engagement strategies to ensure minimal community-related issues arise.
• Other duties as may be assigned from time to time.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Manage relevant stakeholder relationships within the communities through the paramount rulers, village heads, district heads, VPC, etc.
• Maintain a repository of all critical stakeholders across communities and areas where Husk is operational and/or is intending to site its operations.
• Maintain active relationships with relevant stakeholders across communities.

Regulatory Agency Engagement

• Support in providing documentation to ensure relevant regulatory permits (and submissions) are registered and/or applied for in time with regulators and other government stakeholders.
• Support in maintaining an active information base for all local government agency engagements within Husk operational areas.

Community Engagement

• Drive active community engagement with selected communities from pre-development to post-development and a successful handover to relevant teams.
• Assist the team with developing customer experience strategies for customer signups as well as collections and upselling.
• Maintain an active database of the minutes and pictures of all community engagement meetings and relevant agreement documentation.
• Provide regular updates on community engagement as required.

Business Growth

• Support the Mini Grids, Customer Engagement, and other teams during community/customer engagement exercises, as required.
• Provide relevant support for the Security Coordinator in documenting possible security insights gathered during community engagement exercises.

Qualifications

Required Skills & Attributes

• Graduate from a leading institution with a related degree in science, engineering, or social sciences. Graduate degree or relevant training or certifications in sales; a plus.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in a similar role within the power or telecommunications or other connected sectors driving economic growth in rural Nigeria, supporting project development, rural development, stakeholder management, and sales support activities
• Ability to ensure closure for tasks and business initiatives, drawing insights for business growth.
• Superb interpersonal skills, including the ability to quickly build rapport with customers, representatives, and relevant stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, multi-diverse environment coordinating with multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office, Google Suite, and other relevant tools.
• Highly motivated and target-driven with a proven track record in delivering tasks in a timely and effective manner.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Highly numerate and analytical with an ability to make strategic inputs for driving and achieving business goals.
• Responsive with great time management and organizational skills.
• Ability to create and deliver presentations tailored to the audience's needs.
• Relationship management skills and openness to feedback
• A Can-Do attitude with a knack for taking ownership of deliverables.
• Fluency in the Hausa language is an added advantage.