Request for Proposal – Terms of Reference for Business Accelerator Service Provider to Lead the Implementation of Business Incubation Facility for Women and Young Women owned Micro (women in groups) Enterprises – AECF

1.0 The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF)

The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) transforms lives by providing investment funding and technical assistance to commercially viable businesses that improve the lives of rural communities. It mobilizes donor funding to support early and growth-stage businesses in agriculture and renewable and clean energy sectors, with a focus on improving incomes and employment for rural and marginalized groups. It is a non-profit organization, with its headquarters in Nairobi and operational centres in Somalia, Ethiopia, Dar-es-Salaam, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Côte d’Ivoire.

Since our launch in 2008 at the World Economic Forum, AECF has built the resilience of rural and marginalized communities by catalyzing innovative private sector business models with patient capital and growth support services across Sub-Saharan Africa.

2.0 Investing in Women in the Blue Economy in Kenya

Investing In Women in the Blue Economy in Kenya (IIW-BEK) is a five-year gender equality and economic inclusion programme (February 16, 2022, to August 31, 2026) being implemented by AECF with the generous support of Global Affairs Canada (GAC). The programme contributes to unlocking the potential for positive socio-economic and environmental outcomes in Kenya’s blue economy in Lake Victoria and Indian Ocean regions.

The main goal of IIW-BEK is to contribute to enhanced economic empowerment of women and young women-owned enterprises, their suppliers, and those that produce for them along key supply chains where women are discriminated against in the blue economy in Kenya.

The programme seeks to:

1. Support women’s economic participation in non-traditional sectors of the blue economy.
2. Enhance private sector engagement of women as economic actors across the blue economy value chain.
3. Increase private and public sector investment in women and young women-owned Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
4. Reduce systemic gender inequalities that hinder women’s effective economic participation in the blue economy.

The immediate outcomes of the programme are.

• Increased access to affordable finance for climate-smart investments by women and young women-owned MSMEs in Kenya’s Blue Economy.
• Increased access to resilient markets for women and young women owned MSMEs in Kenya’s Blue Economy.
• Increased access to climate smart technologies for women and young women owned MSMEs in Kenya’s Blue Economy.
• Increased awareness among community members, particularly men on promoting equal opportunities and reduced gender barriers against women and young women.
• Increased private sector engagement of women and young women owned MSMEs as economic agents in the Blue Economy supply chain.
• Strengthened capacity of government and other actors to refine and implement gender-responsive economic development and legal frameworks in the Blue Economy.

The programme supports businesses through grant fund and technical support as detailed below:

1. Grant Fund provides performance-based Grants with the following objectives.
2. Enhance financial inclusivity for the women and young women-owned medium-sized and micro-small enterprises operating within the Blue Economy sector increasing access to credit, enabling market linkages, supply of inputs/products/services along the value chain and creating employment.
3. Provide targeted enterprise development technical assistance and capacity building on gender mainstreaming for enterprises.
4. Advocate and increase awareness of the business case for investing in women in the Blue Economy in Kenya.
5. Provide incentives for sustainable widespread adoption of climate-smart practices in Kenya’s Blue Economy.

The fund is administered in the following two windows.

1. Window I – Grant financing to women and young women owned medium sized companies. Women and young women owned medium sized companies applying for investment grants of up to USD$ 400,000 with a matching requirement of at least 50 per cent in-cash and in-kind.
2. Window II – Grant financing to micro-small women and young owned enterprises in the blue economy in the Lake Victoria and Indian Ocean areas of Kenya. Component 1 focuses on women and young women owned small enterprises competing for grants from USD$15,000 -USD$50,000 with a matching requirement of at least 25 per cent in-cash and in-kind with component 2 focuses on women and young women owned micro enterprises (women in groups) competing for grants below USD$ 15,000 upon graduation from the business incubation facility.

Technical Support

1. Provision of targeted technical assistance on business development services as required by the investee through the AECF Advisory Studio.
2. Assist in investment facilitation services that enable the enterprise to access follow on funding from other capital providers.
3. Create market linkages that provide access to climate-smart technologies to enhance the sustainability of business models.
4. Create pathways for market access through B2B linkages, product development advisory services, facilitation of the certification process and involvement in trade fairs among others.
5. Gender equality and social inclusion incentives which reward investees that make significant changes to their processes to be more gender-responsive and create increased opportunities for women along the value chain, develop policies and practices in response to their gender focus and monitor progress milestones.

3.0 Rationale

These terms of reference targets the provision of capacity building under Window II, Component 2. AECF is seeking to recruit a Business Accelerator Service Provider that will support the business viability of women and young women-owned micro enterprises in Kenya’s blue economy sector.  The programme component will recruit a Financial Service Provider to provide funding to women and young women-owned micro-enterprises who need less than USD$ 15,000, with an average funding requirement of USD$ 5,000.  The FSP will also include an element of basic financial literacy training within their scope of work.  Through Accelerator Service Providers recruited under this ToR, AECF seeks to incubate up to 90 women and young women owned micro-enterprises.

4.0 Scope of Work

The Business Incubation Facility is designed as an accelerator programme to deliver capacity building to women and young women owned micro-enterprises in the Lake Victoria and Coastal region of Kenya’s Blue Economy. The Accelerator Service Provider will host and lead the implementation of the BIF which will provide six-month capacity building training courses for women and young women-owned micro-enterprises in non-traditional value chains covering business skills, financial management, trade, negotiation, and group management. The BIF design consideration includes a focus on minimizing the additional time burden to women and young women who already are exposed to time poverty. The execution of the BIF is expected to follow the existing meeting cycles and duration for women in groups. The initial design proposes a six-month 4 hours per month (1 hour per week) training and follow-up sessions to enable entrepreneurs to both attend training and run their businesses, but applicants are free to propose an alternative schedule based upon their understanding of the needs of the end beneficiary community.  Upon successful graduation from the BIF, each micro-enterprise will be provided with a grant through the FSP (see below 5.0).

The Accelerator Service Provider will assume the responsibility for recruitment of new micro-enterprises into the BIF with a new cohort of trainees every six months over a two-year period and provision of business acumen training in readiness for grant funding. The Accelerator should propose a proven methodology and workflow structure for the identification, selection and on-boarding of the women and young women owned micro enterprises into the BIF.

The BIF will also be supported by local Women Rights Organisations who will specifically complement the recruitment of micro-enterprises and local Financial Service Providers (FSPs) who will support financial literacy and access to financial products, services, and channels for micro-enterprises.

5.0 Specific Deliverables

These terms of reference are intended to recruit two accelerator service providers with existing local market presence in the focus counties in Lake Victoria and Indian Ocean Regions of Kenya to meet the needs of micro women and young women owned enterprises (women in groups). The Accelerator service providers will identify, recruit, and incubate on behalf of AECF.

The specific work package includes:

1. Selection of women and young women owned micro enterprises as per the eligibility criteria (term sheet) provided using a transparent process to be proposed as part of this tender. AECF will endorse selections made by the Accelerator and will be part of the selection process.
2. Conduct capacity building training on business acumen for women and young women owned micro-enterprises being incubated.
3. Recommend review of the business acumen training modules to be fit for the targeted micro-enterprises.
4. Provide translation into local languages the business acumen training modules to be fit for the targeted micro-enterprises.
5. Monitoring the performance of progress of the women and young women micro enterprises (groups) to ensure that they meet agreed incubation milestones.
6. Co-create with the applicants a simple business plan /application form toward unlocking the performance-based grant.
7. Recommend to AECF women and young women owned micro-enterprises for performance-based grant funding.
8. Offer addition grant application support for women and young owned micro-enterprises whose application has been declined so that they can potentially re-apply in future funding rounds.

6.0 Duration of Service

The assignment will be conducted over twenty-four (24) months in Lake Victoria basin and Indian Ocean regions in up to the 11 counties – Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu, Taita Taveta, Busia, Siaya, Kisumu, Homabay and Migori. The assignment is expected to commence in June 2023.

7.0 Reporting

The Accelerator Service Provider will report to the Programme Manager, AECF.

8.0 Proposal Submission

The financial service provider should submit a proposal that includes the following:

1. Methodology and approach for operationalizing ACCELERATOR SERVICE PROVIDER TO LEAD THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BUSINESS INCUBATON FACILITY, including a proposed approach for transparency in identifying, performing due diligence, and selecting participants.
2. Curriculum Vitae (CVs) for the technical team.
3. Statutory documents (Certificate of Registration/Incorporation, Tax Compliance Certificate, PIN Certificate & Business Permit).
4. Details of experience aimed at managing funding channelled to micro women and young women owned enterprises.
5. Detail of branch/agent network to facilitate funds transfer within the Lake Victoria and Indian Ocean focus regions of the programme.
6. A financial proposal showing the budget for the work to be completed.
7. As per evaluation criteria requirements
8. Technical and finacial proposal must be submitted as separate documents. Non-compliance will lead to disqualification.

9.0 Eligibility Experience

RFPs will be accepted from Accelerator Service Providers with prior experience targeting women owned enterprises.

• Registration: Must be legally registered and physically established in the Kenya
• Desired experience:
  • Organisations that have 2 referenced experiences in the last five (5) years in providing incubation support targeting micro-enterprises.
  • Specific experience of incubating women and young women enterprises.
  • Incubation delivery models tailored to a wide range audience with varying levels of literacy.
  • Graduation approach for the incubated micro-enterprises to access funding -grant and or
• Technical delivery team: Accelerator Service Provider should have a project team proposed for this assignment, their expertise, roles, and responsibilities.
• References: The Accelerator Service Provider should provide references from clients for whom they have conducted similar assignments.
• Focus Geographies: Accelerator Service Providers should have local competent teams active in the Lake Victoria basin or the Coastal regions. The geographies of focus should include Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu, Taita Taveta, Busia, Siaya, Kisumu, Homabay and Migori Counties. The Accelerator should only bid for one region.
• Impact: Applicants must focus on addressing the capacity and skill gaps for women and young women entrepreneurs of micro-enterprises in the blue economy value chains. Desired impact being an increase in number of women and young women owned micro enterprises with access to finance leading to creating of new jobs and increased incomes.
• Interested in co-creating the operational mechanism for deploying the proposed FINANCING TO WOMEN AND YOUNG WOMEN OWNED MICRO (GROUPS) ENTERPRISES as part of creating a pipeline of future clients excluded from formal financial banking.
• Financially and legally sound and pass the AECF Due Diligence including checks on AML/CTF

10.0 Evaluation Criteria  

An evaluation committee will be formed by the AECF which will include employees. All members will be bound by the same standards of confidentiality. Bidders should ensure that they fully respond to all criteria to be comprehensively evaluated. In deciding the final selection of qualified bidder, the technical quality of the proposal will be given a weighting of 70% based on the evaluation criteria below. Only the financial proposal of those bidders who qualify technically will be reviewed. The financial proposal will be allocated a weighting of 30% and the proposals will be ranked in terms of total points scored.

11.0 Pricing

The AECF is obliged by the Kenyan tax authorities to withhold taxes on service contract fees as well as ensure VAT, is charged where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their tax position with regards to provisions of Kenya tax legislation when developing their proposals.

12.0 Application

The AECF is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The AECF considers all interested candidates based on merit without regard to race, sex, colour, national origin, religion, age, marital status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

1. a) Interested Accelerator Service Provider are requested to submit their technical and financial proposals aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org by June 16, 2023, 5 pm EAT
2. b) The Subject of the email should read “ACCELERATOR SERVICE PROVIDER TO LEAD THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BUSINESS INCUBATON FACILITY”. The AECF shall not be liable for not opening proposals that are submitted with a different subject.
3. c) All questions and clarifications should be sent to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org. by  June 9, 2023

13.0 Disclaimer

The AECF reserves the right to determine the structure of the selection process, number of short-listed applicants, the right to withdraw from the process, the right to change timetables at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this call for applications at any time, without prior notice and without incurring any liability to indemnify, compensate and/or reimburse any party.

For more details: https://www.aecfafrica.org/careers/request-for-proposal-terms-of-reference-for-business-accelerator-service-provider-to-lead-the-implementation-of-business-incubation-facility-for-women-and-young-women-owned-micro-women-in-groups-e/