Head of Product

About BrightLife

BrightLife — a FINCA International company — is a social enterprise which combines innovative financing, community networks and the highest quality clean energy brands to improve lives of people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) and unlock the productive potential of Ugandans. Our product line includes a growing range of solar home systems, entry-level solar lights, solar appliances, and clean cookstoves which can be purchased in pay-as-you-go instalments, and are sold through a network of direct sales agents, community networks, and strategically selected distribution partners. More than 100,000 Ugandans have already utilized BrightLife’s unique distribution and financing model to better their lives. BrightLife’s Pay-As-You-Go solar distribution model gives out affordable loans to customers who previously had no access to energy.

BrightLife is uniquely linked to the FINCA International family of social enterprises, which includes 20 financial institutions across four world regions and more than 30 years of experience in reaching underserved communities and individuals. FINCA’s financial service operations in Africa span DR Congo, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

About the role

The Head of Product will be responsible for overseeing and managing the Product and Data department to ensure BrightLife’s product mix and business intelligence systems run effectively and meet all set requirements, specifications, costs, and timelines. This role will lead the development and maintenance of software, hardware, and other technical activities necessary to help deliver energy on a loan to our off-grid customers.

We are searching for someone who is ready for challenges, wants to escape their comfort zone and have a measurable impact on people’s lives by giving them access to clean affordable energy through a mechanism of financial inclusion. Are you a problem-solving individual that can navigate ambiguity, improve our operations, and ultimately make the lives of our customers easier? Here are some of the many of the challenges we are facing every day, do you think you can solve these?

·       Very often our customers after paying via mobile money don’t receive the SMS with meter code to input into the solar home system. Why? Because their feature phone memory can support only 120 SMS. Our customers then call in to request for codes dictated, flooding our Customer Experience department, and causing increase in traffic that comes at a cost. How do we reduce customers calling in through our Toll-Free line asking for the meter codes?

·       We are a utility bank driven by technology. We asset finance energy generation products on a metered basis. The problem is that we give loans to customers that have never been banked before. It means we’re giving loans to customers that have poor or non-existent financial status. Credit scoring methods are nascent and constantly evolving. Once we reach enough data sets from our customers, we will need to develop a credit scoring model that will allow us to assess customers and decide how likely they will repay the loan. How do we make this tool assist us in de-risking our lending decisions?

·       Operating in the last-mile environment in Uganda is a costly endeavor. There are many challenges, such as high attrition of sales agents, tremendous training costs, managing brick-and-mortar style storefronts to ensure sufficient customer service levels and timely stock distribution to the field. How do we, as a last-mile PAYGo solar distribution company, create a low-touch, high-yield distribution model that uses smartphone technology and social media to recruit, train and manage sales agents effectively? What role gamification and virtual learning management systems play in increasing productivity and reducing cost and attrition of a commission-based agent fleet? What kind of processes and systems need to be in place to sustainably scale clean energy access in the most remote parts of Sub-Saharan regions?

Key Roles & Responsibilities

·       Develop, improve, and implement BrightLife’s Product and Technology long-term strategy 

·       Assist other departments in the design, planning and implementation of business strategies, plans and procedures utilizing available data and reporting 

·       Manage the operation and further development of BrightLife’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools and modules

·       Research, develop, implement, and monitor Customer Experience, Sales, Operations, Finance and Credit department data reporting systems to support the implementation of strategies set with management guidance and support 

·       Manage and support the Data Team to identify data use cases for data-driven decision making across BrightLife 

·       Manage and support the Product Team to conduct market research, set product pricing, monitor product-market fit and launch new products

·       Direct technological projects by coordinating resources, suppliers, and timelines with respective user departments in liaison with the Data Team

·       Oversee and coordinate special projects related to new technological innovations, product launches, product pricing, other strategic initiatives