The First Week - Company Mission & Culture
I landed a Business Development and Strategy internship at AM Power Solar after successfully passing two rounds of interviews, and of course, I was proud of myself. As “expected” of every intern in my position, I was supposed to report having expert knowledge of everything Finance, Research, Business Development, Strategy, and not forgetting Solar. On time and excited for my first day, you can imagine my shock when nobody sat me down and asked for my informed opinions on how to shift the company’s operations from my reporting date onwards in order to unlock worldwide success.
“The company’s mission is clear: To empower African businesses with reliable, affordable, and sustainable solar energy solutions by leveraging advanced technologies and flexible financing models to create long-term value (AM Power Solar, 2024).” I quickly realized that my first week was going to be more than just spreadsheets, so might as well lock in!.
How deep can solar installation go? In our beautiful continent, where power cuts are still a normal part of life, the realities hit close to home. In Kenya, for instance, the smell of rain for many still translates to “charge your devices,” and electricity bills swing unpredictably. Stable power isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity that can mean the difference between a student studying late into the night or falling behind, and in hospitals, it can be the thin line between life and death when incubators need to keep running. I always knew these facts in theory, but it was only after joining AM Power Solar that I understood just how deeply they shape everyday life and that I was being trained to be part of the solution by understanding the company’s mission.
The culture revealed itself not in a handbook, but in the small, daily moments. My supervisor didn't just give me tasks, but instead explained the strategic reasoning behind client outreach decisions. Team members supported each other in decision-making, and even challenges were met with a sense of shared purpose and underlying optimism: “We are building something bigger than us; we will figure it out.” In meetings, I observed the alignment between the company’s stated values: honesty, customer-centered relationships, economic empowerment, and actual behavior. For example, when reviewing a school’s proposal, the easy path would have been to fit them with a larger, more expensive system, close the deal, and celebrate the short-term win with a team dinner, but instead, the team pored over details, racking each other's brains and spending hours adjusting designs to match actual usage patterns. That decision screamed integrity and that the company values weren't just posters on the wall; they were principles they based all their actions on.
By the end of the week, I understood my role was bigger than the title; it was to translate AM Power Solar's mission into conversations, trust-building moments, and every business decision I made. At AM Power Solar, mission and culture are inseparable. They aren’t just slogans on a website; they’re lived daily, and I get to be part of that story. My hope is to bring you into it as we explore what it truly means to power Africa differently.
