REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department (AHHD)

Avenue Jean-Paul II, 01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire

E-mail : [email protected]; cc : [email protected]

RECRUITMENT OF AN ENTERPRISE SUPPORT ORGANIZATION FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SERVICES FOR GHANA

  1. The African Development Bank (AfDB) is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting the economic growth and social progress across the continent. The Bank delivers financial and technical supports to Regional Member Countries (RMCs) through transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty and bring 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 priorities (High 5s) have been identified for scaling up and accelerate the Bank’s delivery, namely: Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Power Africa, Integrate Africa and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. In order to accelerate the improvement of the life for the people in Africa, the Bank approved in 2016 the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy (JfYA) with the objective to create 25 million jobs and equip 50 million youth with skills for enhanced employability and entrepreneurial success by 2025. The approach of the JfYA strategy is to support the countries to build an ecosystem conducive to youth employment ;
  1. The Youth Skills and Human Capital Development Department (AHHD) therefore requires the services of an Enterprise Support Organization (ESO) for Business Development Services (BDS) for Ghana. The objective of this assignment is to :
  • Undertake a survey around entrepreneurship trends/ market assessment (Deep dive) in Ghana ;
  • Organize webinars or meet-up – Assess & document entrepreneurship development and performance in different sectors and locations in Ghana during the COVID -19 pandemic and engage with entrepreneurs as well as provide BDS to ESOs online. Based on research and demand, provide BDS services online to entrepreneurs/startups and to ESOs in specific sectors of the economy ;
  • Strengthen fund managers capacity for supporting innovation and entrepreneurship among the youth in Ghana ;
  • Strengthen the capacity of ESOs to support Ghanaian innovation and entrepreneurship activities related to the digital economy & 4th IR technologies, with a focus on: e-commerce & online shopping; Biotech, MedTech, Genetic Engineering; Fintech, InsurTech, RegTech; EdTech; IoT/MMA and sensors; AI, AR & VR; data analytics; UAVs; robotics; 3D printing; cloud services; 5G; blockchain and DLT; digital ID; facial recognition; etc. ;
  • Strengthen the capacity of Youth led startups and SMMEs in high value agricultural sectors including :
  1. Those with quick returns – Poultry, pig farming, aquaculture & high value horticulture ;
  2. Mechanization service (Equipment to aid planting, crop protection, fertilizer application, and harvesting) provision for small scale farmers ;
  3. Consumable agricultural input supply provision for small scale farmers.
  1. The services to be provided under the Assignment include (but not limited to) :
  • Entrepreneurship trends / market assessment (Deep dive) in Ghana ;
  • Webinars or meet-up – Assess & document entrepreneurship development and performance in different sectors locations in Ghana during the COVID -19 pandemic ;
  • Strengthen fund managers capacity in Ghana ;
  • Strengthen the capacity of ESOs to support Ghanaian innovation and entrepreneurship related to digital economy & 4th IR technologies ;
  • Strengthen the capacity of Youth led startups and SMMEs in high value agricultural sectors.
  1. The AfDB jobs team invites consulting ESOs to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested ESOs must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services: i) Brochure of the company, ii) Description of similar assignments, iii) References, Team composition & iv) Design Portfolio Book etc. ;
  1. ONLY Consulting firms would be considered for this Expression of Interest and not individual candidatures ;
  1. The consultancy firm should be based in Ghana and have proven records of references with Donors / Multinational companies across Africa. Having a presence in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria & Egypt is an added value ;
  1. The eligibility criteria, shortlisting and selection procedure shall be in accordance with the Bank’s Procurement Policy for Recruitment of Corporate Consultants ;
  1. The Bank is under no obligation to shortlist any consulting firm who expresses interest ;
  1. Interested consulting firms may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: 08:00 to 17:00 hours (GMT or Abidjan time), Monday to Friday ;
  1. Expressions of interest must be submitted or sent by e-mail to the address mentioned below no later than September 30th, 2020 at 05:00 PM (GMT) and specifically mentioning “Expression of interest for Business Development Services for Ghana”.

For the attention of :

Ms. Aida Mademe Sylla

E-mail : [email protected]

Copy to :

Ms. Ndeye Absa Gningue 

E-mail : [email protected]

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Recruitment of an Enterprise Support Organization for Business Development

Services for Ghana

Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department – September 2020

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Recruitment of an Enterprise Support Organization for Business Development Services for Ghana.

  1. Background :

The rate of formal job creation in Africa is insufficient to absorb the growing working age population. By 2040, Africa will house the world’s largest workforce. However, the pace of job creation remains significantly slow. African labour markets create an average of 3 million wage-earning jobs annually, a number that falls significantly short of the 10 to 12 million youth entering the labour force each year.

In response to this crisis, the African Development Bank has adopted a strategy called Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA) for the period of 2016 – 2025. This strategy responds to the priorities in the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy and the New Corporate Priorities1. Creating productive jobs for the youth would help improve their living conditions, while providing the much-needed human capital to transform Africa’s energy, agriculture, industrialization and regional integration efforts.

The JfYA strategy is built on three pillars, namely Integration, Innovation and Investment. Under the integration pillar, the Bank will amplify its impact on employment by bringing a youth employment focus to all Bank operations. The innovative pillar aims to develop, scale, and replicate flagship programs that create new economic opportunities for tens of millions of youth in sectors driving Africa’s growth. Three sectors have been identified for these interventions: agriculture, industrialization and ICT. The Investment pillar of the initiative seeks to put in place an investment facility that will catalyze financing for youth employment initiatives.

Through the innovation pillar of the strategy, the Bank aims to launch an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab e-platform (The Lab). The objective of the Lab is to support Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem by incubating and piloting promising new ideas and assessing best practices for existing interventions in support of youth employment. In addition, the Lab will provide knowledge resources to help mitigate the constraints and challenges entrepreneurs face in Africa and allow them to successfully launch and grow their businesses.

The Lab will achieve this goal by :

  • Increasing the capacity of “enterprise support organizations” (ESOs) such as incubators, accelerators, hubs, financial intermediaries and other specialized firms, operators and networks that provide capital ;
  • The High – 5 : Light up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa ;
  • Mentoring, coaching, networking, technology and management skills, linkage to other Business Development Services, and other resources and accompanying measures that are required to create and support viable entrepreneurship ecosystems across Africa ;
  • Creating a network of ESOs & entrepreneurs across Africa to promote learning and exchange, business and market linkages, and investments.
  1. Scope of Work :

Broadly the assignment shall include the following activities (but not limited to) :

  • Entrepreneurship trends / market assessment (Deep dive) in Ghana. It will include among others ;
  • Mapping the entrepreneurship ecosystems in Ghana to show the nature and structure of the entrepreneurship and startup market in Ghana. This will include identifying trends, sectors of focus, technologies, and practices favored, a SWOT analysis with recommendations ;
  • Analysis of the national ambition and economic-growth scenarios ;
  • Make some recommendations for Organizations, Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Government to improve business environment ;
  • Webinars or meet-up – Assess & document entrepreneurship development and performance in different sectors locations in Ghana during the COVID -19 pandemic and engage with entrepreneurs and provide BDS to ESOs online. Based on research and demand, provide BDS services online to entrepreneurs and to ESOs in specific sectors of the economy ;
  • Strengthen fund managers capacity for supporting innovation and entrepreneurship among Youth in Ghana ;
  • Strengthen the capacity of ESOs to support Ghanaian innovation and entrepreneurship related to digital economy & 4th IR technologies, with a focus on: e-commerce & online shopping; Biotech, MedTech, Genetic Engineering; Fintech, InsurTech, RegTech; EdTech; IoT/MMA and sensors; AI, AR & VR; data analytics; UAVs; robotics; 3D printing; cloud services; 5G; blockchain and DLT; digital ID; facial recognition; etc. ;
  • Strengthen the capacity of Youth led startups and SMMEs in high value agricultural sectors including :
  1. Those with quick returns – Poultry, pig farming, aquaculture & high value horticulture ;
  2. Mechanization service (Equipment to aid planting, crop protection, fertilizer application, and harvesting) provision for small scale farmers ;
  3. Consumable agricultural input supply provision for small scale farmers.
  1. Eligibility Criteria :

The JfYA Team invites ESOs having expertise in research, business development services satisfying the following said conditions :

  • ESO should have minimum experience of 5 years in the field of Business Development Services ;
  • ESO should have permanent staff in the described services and be based in Ghana ;
  • ESO should have proven record of experience with Multinationals and International Donors.
  1. Engagement Period :

The period of contract shall be between 1st of November 2020 to 01st of February 2021.

  1. Deliverables / Outputs :

The ESO shall provide outputs referred to in proposed scope of work :

  • Workplan for 03 months on activities related to the current project ;
  • Entrepreneurship trends / market assessment (Deep dive) in Ghana ;
  • Webinars or meet-up ;
  • ESOS trained across Ghana ;
  • 5 Specific Industries targeted (Agriculture, Fintech, Services, Healthcare ;
  • 5 Webinars organized and production of whitepaper o 01 Virtual networking event organized ;
  • Up to 1800 startups/entrepreneurs reached.
  1. Remuneration :

The consulting firm will be paid in accordance with the established rules and procedures of the Bank’s procurement model.