Inventory Manager

About ENGIE Energy Access (EEA)

ENGIE Energy Access is a leading Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) and mini-grids solutions provider in Africa, with a mission to deliver affordable, reliable and sustainable energy solutions and life-changing services with exceptional customer experience. The company is a result of the integration of Fenix International, ENGIE Mobisol and ENGIE Power Corner ; and develops innovative, off-grid solar solutions for homes, public services and businesses, enabling customers and distribution partners access to clean, affordable energy. The PAYGo solar home systems are financed through affordable installments from $0.14 per day and the mini-grids foster economic development by enabling electrical productive use and triggering business opportunities for entrepreneurs in rural communities.

With over 1,700 employees, operations in nine countries across Africa (Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia), over 1 million customers and more than 5 million lives impacted so far, ENGIE Energy Access aims to remain a leading clean energy company, serving millions of customers across Africa by 2025.

www.engie-africa.com

www.linkedin.com/company/engie-africa

Job Purpose: Mission

ENGIE Energy Access Benin is looking for a dynamic and reliable Inventory Manager with excellent record-keeping abilities to take on a self-contributor role in a rapidly growing company at the front lines of renewable energy and mobile payment technology.

Under the direction of the Head of Operations, the incumbent is responsible for minimizing stock losses by implementing stock control (inventory, documentation of movements) and stock management policies (storage conditions, access control, etc.). He or she ensures that adequate stock is available at all points of sale operated by the company.

S/he ensures that relevant members of the warehouse, customer experience and sales teams are trained to understand their roles and responsibilities in inventory management and are held accountable for inventory loss.

S/he will supervise the team of Field Inventory Coordinators, the Distribution Coordinator and will carry out regular stocktaking of all warehouses in the country (warehouse, service centers, POS, field stock).

S/he will support the field teams through training and evaluation of inventory management processes.

S/he will supervise warehousing and work with the teams to ensure compliance with 6S standards in the country's warehouses.

In collaboration with the Customer Experience, Sales and Finance teams, he/she will use monitoring tools to track and centralize stock levels at the warehouses.

During the inventory, he/she supervises the counting of the items and centralises the various reports in order to compare the physical stock with the stock in the digital system (SAP, Powerhub, etc.), to have any discrepancies justified by the parties concerned within the deadlines and to draw up the final inventory report.

S/he will be responsible for reconciling the stock with the ERP system (SAP) in close collaboration with the financial team.

S/he will be creative, organised, detail oriented and able to solve problems independently.

We are looking for a self-motivated individual with good communication skills and the ability to work as part of a team as there will be a lot of coordination with the Operations, Customer Experience, Sales and Finance teams.

The role requires frequent travel to remote areas of Benin.

Key Responsibilities, Deliverables and Activities

Responsibilities

1. Inventory management and storage space
   • Produce training materials to support the performance of the warehouse team, service centres, sales and their team.
   • Plan and conduct regular support visits to retrain the warehouse, service centre and sales teams on stock management.
   • Ensure that all warehouse, sales and service centre teams receive regular training on stock control policies and their roles and responsibilities in stock management.
   • Work with the warehouse team and the sales and customer experience team to regularly review stock management standards and processes at the warehouses.

2. Inventory flow management

• Monitor stock flows (incoming and outgoing stock in the warehouse, service centers and storage points) 
• Use the physical and digital tracking system to control stock movements
• Monitor stock availability throughout the distribution network, identify the risk of stock-outs and take preventive action to reduce the risk or minimize the impact.
• Establish distribution plans (i.e. decide which products to deliver, in what quantities and to which locations) for all stocking points at regular intervals (weekly, monthly or fortnightly), taking into account sales forecasts, available stock and deliveries.
• Monitor the performance indicators introduced

3. Inventory

• Monitor stock flows (incoming and outgoing stock in the warehouse, service centers and storage points) 
• Use the physical and digital tracking system to control stock movements
• Monitor stock availability throughout the distribution network, identify the risk of stock-outs and take preventive action to reduce the risk or minimize the impact.
• Establish distribution plans (i.e. decide which products to deliver, in what quantities and to which locations) for all stocking points at regular intervals (weekly, monthly or fortnightly), taking into account sales forecasts, available stock and deliveries.
• Monitor the performance indicators introduced

Detailed Responsibilities

• Operation Processes & Controls (20%)

 Stock Taking Control - Ensure that each in Gate & Out gate in the warehouses are recorded in the Books/ Power Hub with appropriate physical support for trackability.

• Inventory Turnover, Reporting, Analytics & Performance Management (30%)

Ensure that the stock flow report’s Data is accurate (Warehouses PK10 & Kpondehou) = 100%.

• SAP Input (40%) – Monitor and post weekly inventory consumption, weekly inventory production and weekly inventory releases/ Delivery to PS. Have the posting validated by Finance approval.

• HSSE (10%)

Adherence to RG 11 (Agent/Casual worker/Intern/Employee) = 0 Variance/ Month.

Required Qualification & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration / Transport & Logistics. MBA will be an added advantage.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in progressive Logistics & Distribution sectors or in related areas.
• Capability to work under pressure.
• Attention to detail and experience reconciling data across multiple sources.
• Adopt a proactive, customer-service oriented approach.
• Highly motivated, self-starting, positive attitude, with intense desire to work hard and make an impact by improving processes.
• Interest in gaining knowledge about inventory, asset classes and process flow.
• Some exposure with statistical, SAP applications and experience with tools including.
• Skill in analyzing data to gain insight and inform decision making.
• Outstanding stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to develop relationships with key functional leads (especially Customer Finance, Customer Experience and Operations) but also with external strategic commercial & marketing partners.
• Experience with and knowledge of methods to improve business processes to increase efficiency and quality of outcomes.
• Experience related to managing product inventory, including inventory planning and tracking systems.
• Demonstrated passion for our mission, values and customers!

Languages:

• French, English.

ENGIE is an equal opportunity employer, promoting diversity and committed to creating an inclusive environment for all. All applications are screened based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without any regard to origin, age, name, sexual identity, orientation or preference, religion, marital status, health, disability, political opinions, union involvement or citizenship. Our differences are our strengths!