SunCulture – Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Manager

About SunCulture:

Founded in 2012, SunCulture’s Vision is to build a world where people take control of their environment in rewarding and sustainable ways. SunCulture does this by developing and commercialising life changing technology that solves the biggest daily challenges for the world’s 570 million smallholder farming households. We are the largest distributor of solar water pumps / solar irrigation for smallholder farmers in Africa and were selected by Fast Company as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies in 2021. Here is a good explainer video recently made by CNBC. Over the last 5 years the company has grown significantly and now employs 400+ people around the world. 

About the role: SunCulture is looking for an ESG Manager who will work with our senior management and stakeholders to advance and execute on the Company’s environment, social, and impact strategy and policies during our ambitious growth phase. You will be responsible for implementing, and advancing, our ESMS, and setting the sustainability agenda of an industry-leading 200+ person scale-up in an multi-country emerging market environment. The incumbent will provide technical expertise on key issues related to environmental and social impact assessment and on sustainability risks in the design, preparation, implementation and supervision of SunCulture’s operations taking into consideration best industry practices and standards. The ESG Manager will be responsible for designing and implementing an ESG reporting framework to satisfy regulatory and stakeholder reporting requirements, and that provide key insights into the business that enable best in class impact reporting, whilst informing management and board decision making, and enabling effective communication with existing and potential stakeholders. 

We are looking for someone who is excited to find solutions to problems that we haven’t yet solved. You will be working extensively with different teams across the organisation, including People & Culture, Operations, Carbon, Software, Legal and Finance. The ESG Manager will be required to build relationships with individuals in each part of the business.

You will be based inSunCulture’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. There will be occasional travel to rural areas in Kenya and our offices in e.g Uganda and Côte d Ivoire.

Responsibilities

Compliance and Operations:

• Implement, advance and monitor a corporate-level E&S Management System (“ESMS”), covering all business areas, across all operational levels.

• Review corporate activities and ensure compliance with E&S Policies, Management Plans and Procedures. Provide action plans to close identified gaps.

• Provide guidance and advice to the Country HR teams on the requirements of identifying and implementing local E&S related laws and regulations and monitor the compliance.

• Drive the education, communication, training, and implementation of the ESMS across the company in all operational areas, including its associated business activities, sub-contractors and supply chains, where relevant.

• Work with the Carbon team to ensure impact reporting is incorporated in the general ESG reporting framework.

• Maintain, develop and execute an ESG Action Plan to manage key ESG implementation and compliance deliverables across the organisation, and use it to coordinate with other groups functions (People & Culture, Legal, Operations).

Environmental, Health and Safety Role

• Support the leadership in developing and implementing proper management system for improving the overall EHS performance of the company as an integral part of the ESMS. This management system is to be in line with international standards and guidelines and to include safe work procedures, corporate emergency preparedness and response plans.

• Takes part in accident/incident investigation and carries out analysis of statistics and suggesting improvement plan and reports on any accidents/incidents and ensures a register of the same is maintained and updated.

• Conducts EHS Operational Audits, analyse EHS data and records from all countries to ensure the quality of implementation for the EHS management system.

• May act as an EHS (Environment, Health and Safety) SME (Subject Matter Expert) for external stakeholders.

Reporting:

• Development and updating of a register of ESI reporting obligations, and reporting metrics

• In coordination with key SunCulture individuals, identify ESG KPIs for internal and external reporting.

• Lead the workstream of creating and managing a dynamic ESG report to be used for internal and external reporting (supported by key SunCulture colleagues).

• Design solutions to ensure alignment with external stakeholder reporting format, and ensure timely ESG and impact reporting to SunCulture stakeholders (internal and external).

• Continuously update our ESG reporting framework according to stakeholder requirements.

Risk Management

• Identify, measure and manage (in conjunction with business units) ESG risks, including;

  • E&S Risk Assessments: updating risk register and assess the impact of various ESG risks.

  • design appropriate procedures for mitigating and addressing risks.

  • prepare, organise, and maintain inspection records and investigate complaints and suspected violations.

Strategic:

• Development and updating of strategic vision for E&S vis-a-vis its contribution to the vision and mission of the Company, including of how E&S data contributes to strategic decision making, and working with the marketing team to develop and communicate the corresponding ESG narrative, and positioning SunCulture as an ESG and impact industry leader in Africa.

• Develop impact measurement tools, in conjunction with our stakeholders, that best describe our impact on our customers, and are formulated and communicated in such as way as to help the company achieve its strategic objectives

• Stay updated on trends, stakeholder sentiment and best practices within the ESG space.

Qualifications

• Strategic mindset (to merge ESG and Company-wide strategic objectives (i.e. OKRs))

• Proven experience in designing, executing and continuously managing/updating ESG policies (i.e. turning ideas into action)

• Up-to-date on ESG compliance, legislation, standards and best practices within the SHS/AgTech/agricultural sector, i.e., IFC Performance Standards, BIA, GIIRS ESG Manager

• Experience in working with a multitude of external stakeholders (e.g. institutional investors, impact investors, donors, lenders, NGOs, governments, private sector companies)

• Experience in conducting supplier audits, and implementing OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) program

• Ability to work in an international environment with teams across multiple geographies

• Understanding of, or experience in, working with data reporting flows (qualitative and quantitative data)  

• Strong organisational skills

• Has commitment to high quality work product 

• Ability to manage multiple work streams at one time 

• Ability to think creatively and to be comfortable at ambiguity

• Ability to professionally interact with a wide range of individuals

Does this sound like you?

The core determinants for this role are someone:

• Who is a culture fit

• With strategic vision

• With ability to execute on multiple work streams at once

• With commitment to high quality work product

• Who is comfortable at ambiguity 

• Who has the ability to professionally interact with a wide range of individuals from C-Suite professionals, to external stakeholders, to junior staff

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

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