CrossBoundary Energy – Business Development Director

About the Firm

CrossBoundary Energy (CBE) is the leading provider of clean, renewable, reliable, and affordable electricity directly to African businesses. According to World Bank data, access to reliable and affordable electricity is the most significant constraint on economic growth on the continent. CBE addresses this challenge by providing African corporates with fully financed renewable power. Through this approach, we are building a disruptive, distributed, renewable utility that can unlock sustainable growth in Africa.

We are already making rapid progress towards our vision. CBE is currently delivering a portfolio of over $200M of solar, wind, and storage projects for businesses across Africa. Our clients include Actis, Diageo, Heineken, Rio Tinto, Syrah Resources, Unilever, and other leading regional companies.

But most of our potential impact still lies ahead of us. Now CBE needs your help to convert Africa's largest industries to cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable power. Learn more at www.crossboundaryenergy.com/energy.

CrossBoundary Energy is a member of the CrossBoundary Group, a mission-driven investment firm committed to unlocking the power of capital for sustainable growth and strong returns in underserved markets. Learn more at www.crossboundary.com.

Job Description

CrossBoundary Energy (CBE) is recruiting a full-time Business Development Director to actively support and drive the team in identifying, developing, and signing renewable energy hybrid projects. CBE’s renewable energy financing contracts secure cheaper, cleaner power at no upfront cost to African companies. The Business Development Director will primarily be responsible for the commercial development of complex energy solutions for Africa’s leading businesses, especially in the mining sector. You will meet with target clients, develop and present bespoke proposals for local, regional, and global decision-makers, and negotiate and close energy financing contracts. In addition to project activities, you will also periodically evaluate our strategy, tools and processes, and implement improvements to them, including developing new products. This role reports to the Chief Commercial Officer.

Beyond your job description, CBE will look to you for practical insights on how to make discrete business decisions that will directly affect our overall business outcomes.

Who We Are

The CrossBoundary Energy team is a unique group of people who are genuinely excited by the opportunity to make a difference in some of the world's most challenging and exciting renewable energy markets. The chosen candidate will play an important role in a unique team with the opportunity to make a large impact on the clean energy landscape in Africa. Team members come from diverse backgrounds but share several qualities: curiosity, humility, integrity, a drive for excellence, and a bias for action.

Who You Are

• Self-starter who is passionate about clean energy and its potential to transform underserved markets across Africa

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; crisp, clear, concise, and persuasive communicator

• Strong quantitative skills; mastery of building, manipulating, reviewing, and correcting financial and pricing models

• Empathetic and thoughtful listener who strives to learn from clients’ perspectives

• Articulate, assertive negotiator who enjoys challenging preconceived notions and welcomes debate and disagreement as learning opportunities

• Experienced at identifying champions and building coalitions within corporate bureaucracies to get things done; recognizes the unique challenges of business-to-business sales

• Sound business judgment; able to independently evaluate and prioritize commercial initiatives

• Fast learner who can effectively distill complex issues down to simple, clear, targeted messaging

• Ability to identify and connect with a broad range of audiences

• Comfort with ambiguity; thrives in a changing, challenging context

  Required Qualifications

  Ideal candidates will have the following skills and qualifications:

• 4+ years business experience at a top tier management consulting or investment firm

• Bachelor’s and master’s degrees with either or both degrees related to business or energy

• Work experience across multiple African countries

• Work experience in the energy sector, renewable energy is a plus

• Fluency in a relevant local or regional language, e.g., French

  Required skills and qualifications:

• 4+ years business experience at a top tier firm

• Bachelor's and master’s degrees

• Work experience in emerging markets

• Experience or deep interest in investing

• Mastery of Excel and PowerPoint

  Primary Responsibilities

• Support, evaluate, and improve CBE’s overall lead generation strategy throughout all relevant geographies

• Develop and iterate bespoke pricing for various project structures such as Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), leases, and loans across multiple geographies

• Develop and present custom proposals to clients and answer questions about the commercial, financial, legal, and technical aspects of a solar PPA contract

• Identify gaps in CBE’s value proposition to clients and generate new ideas for how to better server them

• Support and problem solve with other BD team members to progress their projects to closure

• Advise and lead negotiations for a variety of renewable energy financing contracts with support from legal and other internal teams

• Assume responsibility for conducting diligence on complex large-scale projects to ensure they meet specified investment criteria

• Manage and update internal tools and systems to maximize efficiency of the BD process

  Think you have what it takes but not sure you check every box? Research shows that while men apply to roles when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women often only apply when they meet every requirement. If you're passionate about what we're building, we want to hear from you!

  Location

  The successful candidate can choose to join our team in Nairobi, Kenya or Cape Town, South Africa. This role will involve travel.

  Equal Opportunity Employer

  CrossBoundary is an equal opportunity employer. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request to human.resources@crossboundary.com

  Contact

  Interested candidates should apply at https://www.crossboundary.com/careers/.

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