REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR INDIVIDUAL LONG-TERM CONSULTANT

African Development Bank

Avenue Joseph Anoma | 01 B.P. 1387 Abidjan 01 | Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department (AHFR)

Agriculture and Rural Finance Division (AHFR.0)

Title of assignment : Individual Long-Term Consultant – SMEs Support

Brief description of the assignment : The Individual Long-Term Consultant (the “Consultant”) will provide immediate wide-ranging research and analytical support to the Agriculture and Rural Finance Department to facilitate its business development in innovative financing and Small Medium Enterprises.

Department / Division issuing the request : Agriculture and Rural Development Department (AHFR)

Place of assignment : Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Duration of the assignment : Six (6) months

Tentative date of commencement : 15 January 2021

Deadline for applications : 10 December 2020

Expressions of interest should be submitted to : Grace OCHOLA: [email protected] with a copy to Henry VERDIER, Jr.: [email protected]

INDIVIDUAL LONG-TERM CONSULTANT TO PROVIDE IMMEDIATE SUPPORT TO THE AGRICULTURE AND RURAL FINANCE DEPARTMENT TO FACILITATE INNOVATIVE FINANCING AND SMALL MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

Introduction and Background :

The Bank :

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank (the “Bank”) is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s) have been identified for scaling up, namely; light up and power Africa, feed Africa, industrialize Africa, integrate Africa and improve the quality of life for Africans.

The Hiring Department :

The focus of the Agricultural Finance and Rural Development Department (the “Department”) is aligned with the Feed Africa strategies for food and agriculture development in Africa. Specifically, the Department seeks to achieve the following outcomes: i) contributing to the elimination of extreme poverty in Africa by 2025; ii) ending hunger and malnutrition in Africa by 2025; iii) making Africa a net food exporter; iv) and moving Africa to the top of export-orientated global value chains where it has comparative advantage. The Department has the mandate to achieve the goals of the Feed Africa Initiative by working with and providing financing to the public and private sector to improve agricultural efficiency, output and access to markets throughout value chains.

The Department has the following deliverables :

  1. Support Non-Sovereign Operations (“NSO”) targeting large and medium sized agro-companies, private equity funds and impact funds ;
  2. Support an enabling environment for private sector development for de-risking investments, and financing agricultural value chains ;
  3. Lead strategic partnerships with key private sector clients, financial institutions and commercial banks to finance priority agriculture value chains ;
  4. Provide high-quality and innovative debt/equity/ quasi-equity/ guarantee investments for private sector development aimed at agricultural transformation ;
  5. Catalyze capital flows, especially commercial lending and private investment to scale agribusiness; and
  6. Mobilize resources and blended finance initiatives to close the financing gap for private sector led development of agricultural value chains ;
  7. Develop and implement innovative financing products and services and mobilises new sources of financing (including climate financing, impact capital etc.) that seeks to de-risk lending to Agricultural SMEs, provides capacity building services and targets women and youth.

Objective and Activities of the Assignment :

Due to a variety of factors, SSA is not a region with significant presence of equity, mezzanine or debt funds made available to the specific segment of SMEs, particularly small enterprises.

Within the Bank, and with growing interest and commitments across the ecosystem to provide concrete support to SMEs and to build a dedicated team and set of instruments to increase our impact on SME development within the continent, there is a need for enhanced internal collaboration to exploit synergies in learning and opportunity. As a narrative, there is a much more powerful and coherent story that we could tell to support effective resource mobilization and targeted deployment. With agri-SME development a key priority within Feed Africa, coordinating efforts is particularly critical as the market segment is complex and risky, needs dedicated and follow up along the full cycle of support of the investee. Developing structured lines of communication and feedback amongst all these groups working on MSME within the Bank could help have a more comprehensive approach for investing in this segment.

Across the Bank ecosystem a growing number of targeted Funds, Facilities and specialized programs that share overlapping objectives (e.g., Boost Africa, Youth Enterprise Investment Bank, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa etc.) that can be more effectively leveraged to systematically increase our support to agri-SME development across the agri-food value chain. The Bank also has a small but growing portfolio of agri-SMEs supported through investments in private equity funds, and dedicated risk sharing facilities.

This is a need to draw actional insights from these initiatives, mobilize targeted resources and develop a clear action plan for an agri-SME investment and financing platform complete with a growing pipeline of bankable opportunities, strategic partners and identified bottlenecks for advocacy. This investment/financing platform to fill-in the gap for tailor-made finance and technical support for agro-preneurs which could be provided by incubators, and enterprise support organizations. It requires understanding all the instrument and vehicle within the bank that aimed to support SMEs and given the internal structure of the bank how to best utilize these resources to serve SMEs.

Partnerships are critical, with both development partners and key private sector organizations. In supporting SMEs, partnering with institutions such as the Rockefeller foundation, Technoserv, IFAD, IFC etc. will help mobilize greater resources.

The key tasks to achieve the objectives of the assignment will include the following :

  • Coordinate internally with different departments working on SMEs, particularly on working out solutions that will work for agribusinesses, and mobilize resources for related projects ;
  • Support the development of a strategy and workplan for the agri-SME business development team and help to mobilize resources for it ;
  • Discuss with strategic external partners on their SME portfolio (Rockefeller foundation, Technoserv, IFAD, IFC etc.) and identify areas of follow up and concretely working together ;
  • Identify specific related Feed Africa projects under operation or development to draw actional insights into how to integrate, adapt and scale working models (e.g. risk sharing facilities such as GIRSAL, or PEF investments) into other operations ;
  • Help with the coordination of the SME coordination group.

Deliverables :

The Consultant will be responsible for delivering the following milestones :

  1. Contribute to the strategy document that will make the business case and need for the AHFR SME Team. The paper will indicate the role, action plan, operational framework and objectives of the AHFR SME team based on proven solutions and interventions from other studies, research papers, and other development institutions and partners ;
  2. Draft a proposal for an Agricultural Multi donor trust fund that would be dedicated to investing and supporting medium size enterprises in agriculture ;
  3. Create a linkage tracking sheet that maps priority programs instruments, funds and facilities within other departments (FIST, PIFD, FIRM, PITD etc.) at the bank to Agri SMEs or programs targeting that segment. Based on the linkage document the goal will be to have two priority programs that have been identified based on the objectives, eligibility criteria and any other relevant conditions and put together the proposal to the relevant teams to support specific Agri SMEs initiatives (i.e. propose a FI that has been to target Agri SMEs for financing through the SME Program in PIFD etc.) ;
  4. For capacity building purpose, create a presentation with 1-2 case studies of selected programs that has been implemented internally or externally and share lessons learned to inform our narrative/strategy but also draw specific lessons from this to share with the Feed Africa team.

Administrative and Technical Reporting :

The Consultant will be under the overall supervision of the Director (AHFR.0).

Duration of the Assignment :

The assignment will be for six (6) months with the possibility of an extension.

Qualifications and Experience Required :

The Consultant shall demonstrate appropriate qualifications and skills necessary for the assignment as described above.

Candidates should demonstrate the following qualifications and skills :

  • A Masters’ degree (or equivalent) in Business Administration, Economics, Finance / Banking or related field ;
  • A minimum of three (5) years working experience, including experience in undertaking business development and marketing activities ;
  • Experience with creating pitch books and presentations used by Management in client meetings ;
  • Experience in knowledge management and proven experience in coordinating the preparation, overseeing, and dissemination of knowledge products ;
  • Prior experience  with  sector  diagnostics  and  analysis  of  major  players  and  business opportunities in the African Agribusiness space ;
  • Familiarity with the functioning or previous experience with a multilateral development finance institution, a bilateral institution, investment or commercial bank will be an advantage ;
  • Excellent and advanced knowledge of Microsoft PowerPoint applications ;
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and/or French. A good working knowledge of the other language would be an added advantage ;
  • Proven ability to manage and deliver products in a timely manner and handle multiple tasks at the same time; and
  • A national of the Bank’s Member Country.

Remuneration :

The Consultant will be paid a competitive monthly lump sum for the entire period in accordance with Bank’s remuneration guidelines for Individual Long-Term Consultants.