In Africa there are about 600 million people without proper access to electricity. This needs to change in a sustainable, innovative and accessible way. That is Spark’s goal and objective. Spark, founded in 2013, is a scale-up company specialized in designing and distributing solar devices for households in Sub Sahara African countries. With the help of impact and scale-up funding, they are now rapidly growing and boosting their market share. In order to further professionalize the finance department, Spark is searching for an ambitious, independent and proactive Controller that takes responsibility.

In this newly created role, you are entirely responsible for the finance and control of this innovative and sustainable scale-up company. You have 2 direct reports, who mainly take care of the accounting. Your focus will be to take ownership of the company’s financial management. You will support the board and shareholders by ensuring that the company is ‘in control’. It is essential to be the linking pin for the Operations and Sales team and ensure efficient supply chain and sales processes. The dayto-day finance and accounting operations will be under your responsibility. Furthermore, in this role you will develop and implement internal control procedures and policies for all processes within the company.

You will coordinate and manage the periodic closings and be the accountant's contact point. This enables Spark to make well-informed (financial) decisions. You will be an active member of the Management Team and provide them with financial insights for day-to-day and strategic decision making.

While working closely with the business, you dive deep into the numbers to understand why there are variances. Your expertise will ensure accurate budgeting, forecasting, and reporting. Cash forecasting and cash control is a crucial responsibility in this growing scale-up. You give insight into the financial performance, and you will develop operational and commercial core KPI’s. This gives insights in the impacts for the business and which actions should be taken. You clarify past results and give detailed insights in the true reason behind business performance and creating valuable forecasts.

Furthermore, you will play a vital role in implementing and improving the usage of business support tools, such as the setup of a CRM Module and actively search for optimization of processes.

You have the flexibility and drive to work in a multicultural environment and are motivated to fulfill this role with enthousiasm. In this role, you enjoy working closely with the business and you will not only be responsible for handling finance-related tasks but also have the opportunity to utilize your coaching skills to empower the finance staff. You have a can do attitude and are not deterred by obstacles in your way or unfamiliar paths. Furthermore, you get energy of being a linking pin between different departments and like to work in a dynamic environment. You are joining an ethausiastic group of chane makers and contribute to innovation in access to energy which is as much a finance challenge as a technical one.

"Solar-powered lives are future-proof lives. We deliver smart and simple solutions that are owned and operated by the people who need them most. While we work behind the scenes to build the energy network of the future, we empower emerging markets to take control of their energy needs with systems that are smartly distributed, viable and sustainable. This means that life doesn’t stop when the sun sets. Power your future with our plug & play solar kits and let tomorrow be a bright day.’’

• Bachelor and/or Master degree in Accounting, Finance or Economics;
• Minimum of 5 years experience as a Controller or equivilant; 
• Proven ability to be the commercial agitator and challenge ideas & processes; 
• You are flexible and enjoy working in a small, dynamic, rapidly changing environment; 
• Understand the dynamics of the (international) supply chain; 
• You are fluent in English

Spark connects millions of people in emerging markets to solar power. They promise the highest level of customer satisfaction, and deliver on that promise. Their modular systems are carefree and help you grow in life and work, no matter where you live, Spark’s grid allows even the smallest community to become energy resilient.

Solar-powered lives are future-proof lives. They deliver smart and simple solutions that are owned and operated by the people who need them most. While they work behind the scenes to build the energy network of the future, Spark empowers emerging markets to take control of their energy needs with systems that are smartly distributed, viable and sustainable. This means that life doesn’t stop when the sun sets. Power your future with their plug & play solar kits and let tomorrow be a bright day. Check out this inspiring video of a project that Spark is currently working on in Liberia.

Spark enables surplus energy to be shared between households. This is their vision for collaborative community energy networks. Early solar adopters in a community can inspire other households. Spark wants to connect network providers rather than build the energy grids itself. Spark’s goal is to connect villages and cities to each other, and build an energy sharing platform. Grids built with Spark tools are a co-operative alternative to the top-down energy grids.

Their impact goes beyond lighting homes in emerging markets, which you can also see in this video DRC.
The impact of a Spark Energy Kit is greatest in their last-mile communities – through access to light bulbs, lamps, portable chargers, radios, televisions and fans. Spark uses the industry certified metrics to quantify their impact, which tells the story of why clean energy matters in the world’s most remote communities.