TERMS OF REFERENCE

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Consultant: Coordination, Partnerships and resource mobilization for Agri-SME Financing and Development

 

  1. 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 Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department works closely with the Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department and the Regional Directorates to provide support for the delivery of the Feed Africa Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa, 2016-2025.

The core mandate of the Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department is to develop the strategy of the Bank related to agricultural and rural finance and rural development, execute sovereign and non-sovereign operations for the transformation of value chains, represent the Bank with external stakeholders, provide sector expertise to the regions by gathering experts who can be consulted by operations and closing the financing gap for private sector-led development of agricultural value chains. The Department is to mobilize and deploy the required expertise and provide support for the design and implementation of Agricultural finance and rural development operations for key commodity value chains. The Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department is structured into two divisions: (i) Agriculture and Rural Finance Division; and (ii) Rural Infrastructure Development Division.

The Department has the following deliverables, related to this position:

  • Mobilize and deploy blended finance solutions to de-risk lending, and leverage private sector capital to invest, into agribusiness small and medium enterprises (agri-SMEs), as well as support capacity building via technical assistance;
  • Mobilize concessionary capital for an Agri-food-SME Catalytic Financing Mechanism Multi Donor Trust Fund (ACFM MDTF) from various donors seeking to underwrite transformation for agri-SME investing along impact areas that include climate resilience, gender and inclusivity and/or the provision of healthy, nutritious foods;
  • Build partnership, trust and maintain effective corporate relationships with donors, investors strategic partners and other DFIs;
  • Coordinate and manage the activities related to setting up a Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) or special fund;
  • Support the integration of risk sharing facilities in sovereign operations targeting financial and sector development support to small and medium sized agro-companies;
  • Identify and coordinate amongst all of the different parties working on SMEs within and outside Bank to ensure collaboration;
  • Participate and draw support from the relevant global discussions related to agri-SMEs (UNFSS, AGRA AGRF etc.)
  • Support an enabling environment for private sector development for de-risking investments, and financing agri-SMEs.
  • Lead strategic partnerships with key government ministries, private sector clients, financial institutions, other development institutions, commercial banks and technical partners to finance priority agriculture value chains.

  1. Objective and Activities of the Assignment

Context:

The role of agri-SMEs and their critical importance to meeting the Feed Africa strategy goals are well recognized. 80% of all food consumed across the African continent is produced, transported, processed and sold by SMEs. SMEs also constitute up to 70% of formal employment in SSA and up to 90% in the informal sector. Despite this, agri-SMEs in Africa are critically underfunded with an annual financing gap of approx. $100bn for enterprises with financing needs between $25K and $5m1. This gap has been further exacerbated by Covid-19 and the pressure it has put on SMEs operating within agri-food supply chains.

To advance and accelerate the Feed Africa strategy, there is a growing commitment to enhance support to agri-SMs financing and business development. Consistent with a Bankwide effort to increase investments in SME programs and their impact across sectors, the Feed Africa team aims to (i) mobilize concessionary impact capital from donors to flexibly deploy in targeted blended financing structures attractive to SMEs, (ii) support targeted advisory and business development to increase bankable demand from agri-SMEs, (iii) build partnership that could lead to impactful largescale agri-SME support projects through either private operations, or integrated into public operations or through innovative PPP projects, and (iv) coordinate and manage the activities necessary to structure a fund to invest in agri-SMEs.

Across the Bank ecosystem, there is a growing number of targeted Funds, Facilities and specialized programs that share complementary objectives (e.g., Horn of Africa-HoA; Entrepreneurship https://ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/aceliafrica/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/08173725/Aceli-Africa_Full-Benchmarking-Report.pdf

Establishment Program-EEP; Affirmative Financing Action for Women in Africa-AFAWA; Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank-YEIB; Climate Smart Agriculture; Multi-sectoral Nutrition Action Plan etc.) that can be leveraged to systematically enhance our support to agri-SME financing and development across targeted Bank operations. Similarly, outside the Bank, a growing number of countries, development organizations, international finance institutions, foundations, and private sector companies are dedicating increasing resources to support SME initiatives across the agri-food value chain as a means to delivering on inclusive job provision and impactful Agricultural transformation.

  1. Duties and Responsibilities: Partnership and Resource Mobilization

In this context, the assignment will support the Department’s objective to develop a systematic agri-SME program and increase the volume and impact of projects supporting SME financing and business development across the Feed Africa portfolio.

The key tasks and deliverables to achieve the objectives of this assignment, which has its focus around developing strategic partnerships and mobilizing suitable financial resources, will include the following:

  • Strategic partnership and coordination. Agri-SMEs are the focus of a number of initiatives within and outside of the Bank. There is a need to build strategic partnerships and help advance the department’s agenda around food system SMEs and enhance the visibility and impacts of the program. 
  • Create a mapping of the existing programs and initiatives with shared complementarities, within and outside the bank, and seek synergies and collaboration opportunities.
  • Support the day to day engagement and follow-up with strategic partnerships bringing together investors, businesses, government, development partners, farmers organizations and others supporting agri-SMEs as a key vehicle for inclusive and impactful Agricultural transformation.
  • Develop assigned briefs, presentations and communications materials to socialize stakeholders – internal and external – to advocate for the agri-SME agenda and mobilize the requisite support.
  • Identify concrete ways to partner with mission aligned institutions to collaborate on existing programs targeting agri-SMEs and developing new impactful programs (UNFSS, AAAP, SAFIN etc.)
  • Identify specific related financing mechanisms for agri-SMEs or related projects under development to draw actionable insights on how to integrate, adapt and scale effective models for agri-SME projects.

Provide assistance with resource mobilization. Draft and submit funding proposals to mobilize concessionary resources for investment to sovereign and non-sovereign

operations or programs supporting the financial institutions, enterprise support organizations and other entities servicing SMEs across the agri-food system.

  • Map and report on the donor landscape and financing opportunities both external and within the Bank that seem to support investments around the agri-SME ecosystem.
  • Conduct outreach to potential donors and develop requisite documentation for responding to related proposal requests. This could include, but is not limited to, applying for grants, completing funding requests, and other diligence documents.
  • Identify concrete opportunities to mobilize resources for pipeline initiatives from sources both external, e.g. the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Food and Agricultural Security Program (GASFPs), as well as internal AfDB resources from the various funding windows available (Regional Public Goods, African Development Fund, and the range of available Trust Funds).
  • Develop the necessary proposal documents including detailed concept notes, resource mobilization strategies etc. to mobilize capital and identify co-financing opportunities for agri-SME financing projects and program components. This will include coordinating with all the relevant teams including FIRM, AHGC, Legal etc.
  • Conduct frequent donor outreach and stakeholders’ engagement to create more visibility for the fund and to link financial and private sector service providers to the Fund’s work, thereby enhancing the financial sustainability of the fund.

  1. Administrative and Technical Reporting

The Consultant will be under the overall supervision of the Lead, Agri SME Development and Finance, AHFR.0.

  1. Duration of the Assignment

The assignment will be for six (6) months with the possibility of an extension. The assignment is expected to start on 15 August 2021.

  1. 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 minimum  of  a  Masters’  degree  in  Business  Administration,  Economics,  Finance, Accounting, project management or related field;
  • A minimum of ten (10) years working experience, preferably in the area of finance, investment, fundraising SMEs, including experience in writing funding / grant proposals, project management, agriculture, undertaking business development, research and marketing activities;
  • Excellent technical and analytical skills and established track record in mobilizing resource and raising funding for development institutions;
  • Proven ability in project management, and coordinating amongst multiple parties;
  • Demonstrable technical expertise in facility structuring and/or fund management, PPP particularly for the agriculture sector and working with small and medium enterprises;
  • Strong knowledge of the African Agriculture and Agribusiness sector, including Agriculture finance, Agriculture risk mitigation and insurance, value chain analysis, markets, challenges and innovations;
  • Familiarity with the functioning or previous experience with a multilateral development finance institution, a bilateral institution, investment or commercial bank:
  • 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.

The AHFR department invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested Consultants shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to undertake this Assignment (documents, reference to similar services, experience in similar assignments, etc.)

The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Rules and Procedure for the Selection of Corporate Consultants. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist.

Expressions of interest must be received at the address below no later than 30 July 2021 at 17:00 GMT.

For the attention of Ms. Grace Ochola

E-mail : [email protected]

African Development Bank – AHFR Department

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire