Fresh Life, a social enterprise operating in Nairobi, Kisumu, and Eldoret, works closely with municipalities and urban residents to design, develop, and scale safe, citywide, inclusive, and financially sustainable sanitation solutions. The organization focuses on addressing the pressing sanitation challenges found in fast-growing cities, particularly in low-income, densely populated, and heavily built-up areas.
The mission of Fresh Life is rooted in transforming communities by ensuring safe sanitation is accessible, affordable, and sustainable for all. This vision is guided by five fundamental values: authenticity, building value for stakeholders, collaboration and teamwork, pragmatic innovation, and pursuing excellence. These principles shape the organization’s work environment, interactions with stakeholders, and its approach to growth.
As part of its expansion and service commitment, Fresh Life is seeking to recruit a Customer Support and Credit Associate. This role is designed to strengthen customer relationships, maintain high service standards, and ensure financial sustainability by managing credit and collections effectively.
The position offers an opportunity to join a purpose-driven team that values innovation and community impact. The selected candidate will play a critical role in supporting Fresh Life Operators (FLOs) and ensuring the effective delivery of sanitation services in alignment with the organization’s mission.
Position: Customer Support and Credit Associate
Location: Nairobi
Application Deadline: October 17, 2025
Job Description
The Customer Support and Credit Associate will be responsible for managing a designated customer portfolio with the goal of delivering exceptional service, ensuring timely collections, and resolving customer-related issues. The role involves close interaction with Fresh Life Operators (FLOs) to support them in maintaining sanitation standards, complying with payment requirements, and ensuring that documentation and data are properly recorded.
The scope of this role includes customer onboarding, debt collection and credit management, issue and complaint resolution, customer data documentation, monitoring of hygiene standards, and retention efforts.
The responsibilities are described in detail below.
Customer Onboarding
A key responsibility of this role is ensuring that customers joining Fresh Life services are onboarded effectively and understand their responsibilities as well as those of the organization.
- Execute customer vetting processes to ensure that only quality and compliant customers are onboarded.
- Clearly outline expectations during onboarding sessions, including both customer obligations and the organization’s commitments.
- Conduct customer training on Fresh Life’s mission and vision, sanitation and hygiene maintenance practices, the process for escalating issues, and guidelines on making payments.
- Provide clear communication that ensures customers are adequately informed before they become active service users.
Credit and Debt Collection
The Customer Support and Credit Associate will manage debt collection within the assigned customer portfolio to sustain service delivery and organizational financial health.
- Proactively engage customers through visits, phone calls, or other effective communication strategies to ensure prompt payment of invoices.
- Work closely with customers in arrears to develop and document repayment plans, ensuring agreed-upon strategies for clearing outstanding balances.
- Regularly review customer account balances to identify and resolve discrepancies by escalating issues to supervisors and ensuring timely corrections.
- Apply simple but effective problem-solving techniques to address payment-related challenges.
- Ensure that operational field data matches system records to facilitate accurate invoice generation and reporting.
- Use CLEAR conversations (a structured engagement model) to interact with customers, particularly when addressing arrears.
Management of Issues and Case Resolution
Customer satisfaction is a priority for Fresh Life, and this role will focus on timely and effective management of issues and complaints.
- Ensure that customer complaints and operational issues are escalated within appropriate timeframes.
- Collaborate with team members and other departments to resolve customer concerns efficiently.
- Use problem-solving techniques such as the “5 Whys” method to identify root causes and establish preventive measures against recurring issues.
- Address common customer issues, including repair and maintenance concerns, late or missed waste collections, payment difficulties, and other complaints raised during service interactions.
Customer Data and Documentation
Accurate and up-to-date customer records are crucial for efficient service delivery. The role requires diligence in managing and verifying customer data.
- Ensure that customer details are captured correctly in the system and that any inaccuracies are promptly corrected.
- Verify customer documentation following service launch, ensuring that franchise agreements, land approval documents, government approval forms, and related documentation are available and properly signed.
- Ensure the operational status of Fresh Life Toilets (FLTs) in the field is accurately reflected in the CRM (Odoo) system.
- Maintain thorough records of customer interactions, including documentation of issues and resolutions.
Standards and Hygiene Monitoring
The organization places high importance on maintaining sanitation and hygiene standards across its operations. The Customer Support and Credit Associate will be responsible for training and supporting customers in this area.
- Train and coach customers on sanitation and hygiene standards, monitoring their adherence over time.
- Conduct refresher training sessions for both customers and users to reinforce hygiene practices.
- Implement corrective actions for cases related to poor sanitation and hygiene, ensuring that improvements are made.
- Review results of the Quality and Compliance (QuaC) survey and provide feedback to customers, with additional training or corrective measures for those falling below standard.
- Ensure that customers receive clear guidance and support to maintain compliance with sanitation expectations.
Customer Retention
Sustaining customer relationships and preventing closures of Fresh Life Toilets is a core focus of this role.
- Engage with customers who have closed FLTs to identify underlying issues and facilitate reopening of services.
- Work proactively to prevent closures by addressing concerns that may lead to discontinuation of services.
- Monitor system data and ensure that the operational status in the CRM reflects the actual situation in the field. Promptly resolve any disparities between field observations and system records.
Qualifications and Skills
- Degree or Diploma in Business Management, Accounting, or Finance.
- Prior experience in customer service or credit management.
- Familiarity with ERP systems or advanced Excel use.
- Strong communication and problem-solving skills.
- Computer literacy, with attention to data management and reporting.
- Physical fitness to support daily fieldwork and the ability to sit for extended periods when needed.
Work Environment
The position is based in Nairobi, with regular engagement in field activities. It requires flexibility, adaptability, and resilience, particularly when working in challenging urban settings. The role involves both office-based responsibilities and active fieldwork, providing a balance between administrative tasks and direct customer engagement.
Conclusion
The Customer Support and Credit Associate position at Fresh Life provides an opportunity to contribute directly to community transformation through sustainable sanitation solutions. By managing customer relationships, ensuring effective credit collection, and upholding high standards of hygiene and service, the selected candidate will play an essential role in advancing Fresh Life’s mission of making safe sanitation accessible and affordable to all.
