Request for Proposals – Terms of Reference for Development and Packaging of Training Curricula for Micro and Small Businesses in Kakuma and Kalobeyei

1.0 The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund.

The AECF is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, registered in Mauritius. The AECF (formerly the “Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund”) is a Pan-African development institution that seeks to alleviate poverty in sub – Saharan Africa by unlocking the power of the private sector to impact rural and marginalized communities. AECF’s current strategy to 2020, has a specific focus on gender[1] and working in post-conflict and fragile environments across Africa.

Launched in 2008, alongside the World Economic Forum with initial funding of US$ 34 million from 3 funders, AECF has grown to a US$ 356 million multi-donors fund. With the vision to build a “Prosperous and Enterprising Rural Africa”, the AECF has supported 267 businesses across 26 countries in Africa and has impacted the lives of 19 million people through jobs and increased household incomes, generating a total net development impact of US$ 354 million in 2018 alone – reaching cumulative impact of US$ 1 billion and leveraging over US$ 658 million in matching funds from the private sector (attracted US$ 5 for every US$ 1 invested).

In 2018, AECF raised an additional US$ 100 million from its existing funders, showing their confidence in the mission of the institution. Of this, USD 6.5 million is being invested in Kenya. This funding is expected to complement the Kakuma Kalobeyei Challenge Fund (KKCF) in supporting private sector companies willing to invest in humanitarian markets – Kakuma. AECF has signed an agreement with IFC for the implementation of this program. The program will enable better economic integration and self-reliance of refugees and host communities in the Kakuma and Kalobeyei area. The target area is Kakuma Town, Kakuma Refugee camp and Kalobeyei settlement in Turkana County, Kenya.

2.0 Kakuma Kalobeyei Challenge Fund (KKCF)

The KKCF is a competitive financing mechanism for disbursing donor funding to incentivize for-profit companies, social enterprises, and local and refugee entrepreneurs to start or scale existing operations in the Kakuma-Kalobeyei area. Attracting the private sector to the area and supporting local entrepreneurs has the potential to expand job opportunities, improve services, provide more choice, and reduce prices. This will, in turn, enhance the self-reliance and socioeconomic integration of both refugee and host communities, while also contributing to the development of Turkana County. KKCF is a program of International Finance Corporation (IFC) and AECF is the implementing partner. AECF has signed an agreement with IFC for the implementation of the Kakuma Kalobeyei Challenge Fund (KKCF).

3.0 Local Enterprise Development Window

The Local Enterprise Development (LED) Window will specifically target local small- and micro-enterprises from the refugees and Turkana County communities. The target areas are Kakuma Town, Kakuma Refugee camp and Kalobeyei settlement and Kalobeyei town in Turkana County, Kenya. Local small- and micro-enterprises operating in any business sector are eligible for funding. Women and youth owned/led enterprises are particularly encouraged to apply. The AECF will work with existing or new providers of financial and business development services (banks, microfinance institutions (MFIs), NGOs like ILO and Swiss Contact, vocational institutes, and others) to inform the support that will be provided to the local businesses. Funding is expected to be in the form of grants, where disbursements are based on mutually agreed milestones that must be achieved. Beyond the grants, technical and business development services will also be provided.

The Target Enterprises

The Local Enterprise Development (LED) Window will focus on Small and Medium Enterprises business. For the purposes of the program we shall define the target using below metrics;

1. Size: KKCF is defining LED SME as businesses with a minimum sales turnover of Kes 1.0M per annum.
2. Registration status: The businesses are either limited liability companies, Sole proprietors or individual businessmen/women being host community or refugee.
3. Location: LED is targeting businesses within Kakuma and Kalobeyei or Turkana County and have intention/strategic plans to enter Kakuma and Kalobeyei
4. Business Experience: LED is targeting enterprises run by their proprietors whose businesses have been in existence for at least six months.

4.0 Objective and Scope of the Assignment

Because small businesses are weary of off-the-shelf training programs that are often general in nature and not tailored to their environment and unique needs, AECF is looking for a curriculum development specialist who will, in consultation with critical players on the ground, design and develop simple, practical curricula tailored to the KKCF/LED and well aligned with KKCF Operations Manual. The curricula and training materials will be administered by local business coaches as they build the capacity of the small local enterprises in the Kakuma-Kalobeyei regions in North-eastern Kenya. The curricula will mainly cover the following four pillars of business planning, financial management, business operations and marketing, sales and service. All training will be delivered in Kakuma-Kalobeyei, with an element of digital delivery where possible.

4.1 Specific Duties and Responsibilities of the Consultant

The following are the specific responsibilities for the consultant:

• Conduct a desk-based assessment/preliminary review of the business environment in the target region of Kakuma Kalobeyei, the capacities of the small businesses and develop the curricula and training materials (content, design and approach) that will suit this clientele and objectives of the KKCF program (LED window). The curricula will mostly be used by SMEs that have already been contracted by KKCF
• Ensure that the training modules are fit for purpose for micro and small business in the region.
• Include detailed session plans and training guides for trainers.
• Design and build in tools and evaluation mechanisms that the coaches/trainers will use to assess progress made by entrepreneurs who are trained.
• Develop a training program that does not rely so much on physical meetings, but also uses more digital tools.
• The Consultant will support the LED Coaches to deliver the training, through:

1. Conducting training of trainers sessions with the LED coaches to familiarize them with the curricula, training manuals and tools.
2. Pre-test the curricula with the LED Coaches and selected entrepreneurs and improve the final versions of the curricula and training material/manuals and delivery mechanisms.

• Develop detailed training modules and manuals to cover the following pillars and sub-pillars (not limited to only the below):

Description

Module 1: Business Planning (Lot 1)

• Business concepts
• Developing a business plan
• Demand forecasting & Growth and opportunities
• Financial Projections
• Entrepreneurial Leadership
• Negotiation

Module 2: Financial Management (Lot 2)

• Being bankable – to increase access to financing
• Book-keeping
• Money and metrics
• Finance IT (Excel, accounting packages)
• Budgets & Financial Planning
• Unit economics and simple modelling
• Managing working capital
• Other compliance requirements for AECF financing and other financiers
• Financial statements reporting

Module 3: Business Operations- systems, processes, governance (Lot 3)

• General business management
• Supply chain management
• Internal controls
• Formalization (Legal and contracting, etc)
• Risk management
• Talent management
• Product/service development/improvement
• Integrating Technology

Module 4: Marketing and Selling (Lot 4)

• How to conduct a market assessment
• How to create and/measure demand
• Pricing
• Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning (STP)
• How to create business networks
• Customer Experience and branding
• Sales planning
• Route to market
• Distribution

4.2 Specific Deliverables

The deliverables for this assignment will be:

• Four detailed modules/curricula as described above with a clear training plan. The training plan should outline the objectives, needs, strategy, and curriculum to be addressed when training users on the four modules. This information will include the format of the training program, the list of topics to be covered, materials, duration, space requirements, and proposed schedules
• A detailed training manual providing standard operating procedures for training, and a consistent method of communicating trainings & instructions to trainers on how to perform the functions of delivering the trainings.
• Four simple and appropriate slide decks with guiding talking points/notes on each slide, to guide the trainers/presenters
• Training of Trainers delivered to the LED business coaches and AECF staff in each of the curricula and the manual.
• Metrics and tools developed for evaluation of the effectiveness of the trainings/curricula
• Translation of the curricula to Swahili, Arabic, Turkana and Somali.

5.0 Qualifications and experience

The minimum competencies and qualifications include:

• Minimum of ten (10) years of substantial professional experience in supporting small businesses.
• Prior experience in curriculum development and training
• Experience in developing simple, practical and scalable training programs that are tailored to different contexts, especially for small and informal businesses
• Experience in developing highly simplified and interactive material with gamification, illustrations, assessments that are delivered through digital platforms
• Knowledge and understanding of the Kakuma-Kalobeyei economic context is an added advantage.
• Good analytical and presentation skills. Proficient use of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, data analysis software and internet is an added advantage.
• Demonstration of capability to translate the materials to the five languages of Turkana, Somali, Arabic and Swahili

6.0 Reporting

The consultant will report to the Advisory Manager AECF.

7.0 Duration of the assignment

The assignment is expected to take at least 50 days over a period of two and a half months. A firm may bid for all lots or a particular lot that they feel they would deliver with excellence

8.0 Evaluation Criteria

An evaluation committee will be formed by the AECF and may include employees of the businesses to be supported. All members of the committee will be bound by the same standards of confidentiality. The consultant should ensure that they fully respond to all criteria to be comprehensively evaluated.

The AECF may request and receive clarification from any candidate when evaluating a proposal. The evaluation committee may invite some or all the candidates to appear before the committee to clarify their proposals. In such event, the evaluation committee may consider such clarifications in evaluating proposals.

In deciding the final selection of qualified bidder, the technical quality of the proposal will be given a weighting of 80% based on the evaluation criteria. Only the financial proposal of those bidders who qualify technically will be opened. The financial proposal will be allocated a weighting of 20% and the proposals will be ranked in terms of total points scored.

The mandatory and desirable criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are identified in the table below.

Key Areas for Evaluation/ Assessment

Weighted Award

(A) Technical Proposal- 80

i) An understanding of the consultancy requirements; 20

• Demonstrates an understanding of the assignment
• Demonstrates an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the Kakuma-Kalobeyei (or other fragile economic context, with a specific focus on the informal sector and what business development support would work and not work in this setting
• Demonstrates the unique factors that will contribute to the design of simple, practical, and effective curricula and tools for the small business sector

ii) Methodology and work-plan that will deliver the best value on the assignment: 30

• Demonstrates the capacity to deliver each of the task(s) within a realistic timeline, underpinned by value for money.
• Demonstrates detailed and clear strategy and methodology to deliver the assignment
• With COVID-19 restrictions, demonstrates creative ways to incorporate digital delivery aspects in the delivery of the training program designed

iv) Relevant services undertaken by the bidder in the past engagements: 25

• Demonstrates relevant experience and recent engagements centered on developing curricula in a business context.
• Demonstrates experience working with businesses in informal sector

v) Detailed reference list indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments: 10

• At least 2 Letters of reference from past customers or associates to the consultant

(B) FINANCIAL PROPOSAL 20

• Clarity, relevance, reality to market value/ value for money of cost for the assignment (inclusive of any applicable tax, reimbursable and travel)

9.0 Proposal submission

Qualified consulting firms/individual experts are invited to submit a proposal that includes the following:

• Qualification and experience of the consultant/firm.
• Approach and methodology to undertake this assignment underpinned by a demonstration of value for money (Specify which Lots the consultant will bid for). Consultants can bid for any or all the Lots.
• Previous experience in similar assignment(s). At least three references should be included from previous clients
• Languages the consultant is proficient in English (understanding of Swahili, Arabic, Turkana or Somali is an advantage)
• A detailed financial budget (in USD) and work plan.
• The technical and financial proposals will need to be submitted as separate documents.

10.0 Application details

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

• Interested consultancy are requested to submit their technical and financial proposal to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org by 31^st October 2021, 5pm (EAT)
• The subject of the email should read “CONSULTANCY FOR DEVELOPMENT & PACKAGING OF TRAINING
  MODULES FOR MICRO AND SMALL BUSINESSES”. The AECF shall not be liable for not opening proposals that are submitted with a different subject
• All questions and clarification should be sent to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org

11.0 Pricing

The AECF is obliged by the Kenyan tax authorities to withhold taxes on service contract fees as well as ensure that 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 Disclaimer

AECF reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party.