Volunteer
Opportunity description
Uganda
Fellowship
Summer 2015
Job Description
Position
Title:
Potential Energy Fellow, Uganda
Duration:
2 – 3 months, flexible start & end date depending on academic schedule.
Some pre-summer and post summer prep and follow-up may be required.
Location:
Kampala, Uganda
Type:
Full-Time
Compensation:
Psychic Income (this is an unpaid fellowship). Unfortunately, Potential Energy
is not able to support travel or living expenses, but we are willing to provide
any support we can to help Fellows obtain outside funding from their academic
programs.
The Company:
Half the world – over 3 billion people – cook their daily meals over an open
fire. Smoke from cooking fires kills 4 million people each year…that’s more
than AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis combined. Potential Energy, Inc.
(www.potentialenergy.org) is a non-profit social enterprise based in Berkeley,
CA working to solve this problem. We support the development of local stove and
fuel enterprises that deploy best-in-class stoves, fuel and home energy systems
to meet the needs of customers with a range of income levels. In Sudan, we have
co-created a stove enterprise that has served over 40,000 customers. In Uganda,
we are in the early stages of building a stove and fuel business in conjunction
with a local Ugandan partner, Eco Group. This business aims to eliminate the
use of dirty fuels and cooking methods through deployment of gasifying stoves
paired with locally produced pelletized fuel.
The
Opportunity:
We’ve accomplished great things in Sudan, and we’re aiming to replicate this
success in other markets, with technologies that are appropriate for the local
market. We’ve completed early trials of advanced stoves and pelletized fuel in
Uganda, and we’re now looking to expand the scale of our trials in order to
better understand our customers, develop a range of offerings based on customer
feedback, and develop the tracking and monitoring mechanisms needed to bring
this enterprise to scale. During the Summer of 2015, we’ll welcome our 2nd
Fellowship Class, which will include 1-2 Fellows in Uganda, as well additional
fellows who will serve as New Market Scouts. Our fellows are dynamic, smart and
creative individuals who will help us expand our impact and better understand
our customers. The size of the class will depend on the quality of the
applicants; we care first and foremost about making sure we get the right
people on-board.
Main
Responsibilities:
As a Uganda Fellow, you will be responsible for:
- Working
closely with Potential Energy and our local partner, Eco Group, to expand
our sales trials and document learnings - Representing
Potential Energy for all in-country interactions with both our local
partner, clients, and external stakeholders - Creating
Tracking Systems to monitor customer purchases and repayments - Developing,
documenting and refining operational processes for procurement and
delivery of product - Developing
pricing, marketing and sales strategies for lease and lease-to-own
customer contracts - Refining
PE’s financial model and business planning tools based on feedback from
the field, in conjunction with the PE team - Creating
an in-country business plan, in conjunction with the PE team - Contribute
to PE’s communications via bi-weekly blogs, client stories, and social
media
In order to do this,
you will:
- Become
an expert on cookstoves, fuel & cooking patterns in Uganda - Become
an expert on topics relating to smoke emissions & smoke inhalation - Research
and gather knowledge regarding legal, social or other concerns related to
manufacture, distribution, sales or import of cookstoves in country or
countries of placement - Work
with PE staff, as well as our in-country partner Eco Group, to develop
marketing, business planning and customer segmentation strategies that are
appropriate for the local market
Who Should
Apply
You are:
- A
talented, smart, motivated individual looking to gain experience running a
startup in a developing country by working in the field with an innovative
and smart social enterprise - You may
be an MBA student, in between your first and second year of school
(non-MBA applicants are accepted) - You
believe in the power of small organizations to use innovative
solutions-based-thinking and program design to solve large global problems.
In addition, you
are:
- The
kind of person that thinks on your feet, recognizing opportunities and
acting on them - Someone
that has already proven, through past life and work experience, that you
can be adaptable to multiple cultures and contexts - Not
afraid to get your hands dirty - Highly
self-motivated – you care deeply about creating positive change in the
world - Analytical
– you’re great at working with spreadsheets, data and numbers (you love
excel!), but you’re even better at translating data into real-world
applications - The
kind of person that can follow directions, but that also pushes beyond
your workplan as you identify issues or discover opportunities - An
international person – you’ve traveled or worked in a developing country,
ideally in Africa - Ready
to take ownership of your own work and view your Fellowship as an
opportunity to experience a real position in the development field
How
to apply
To apply
please send a cover letter and resume to info@potentialenergy.org with ”
[Your Name] – Uganda Summer Fellow Search” in the subject line.
