Consultancy Opportunity: MESPT Board Evaluation 2022 (Eligible to Kenyans Firms Only)

ABOUT MESPT:

The Micro-Enterprises Support Programme Trust (MESPT) is a development organization that has since its establishment in 2002 developed a niche in supporting the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises by providing integrated business solutions for sustainable development.

The Trust is jointly founded by the Government of Kenya and the Royal Danish Embassy in Kenya, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA). It operates in the context of the financial services and the agricultural sectors to promote economic growth, employment creation and poverty alleviation. Currently, MESPT is working in 25 counties of Kenya.

MESPT achieves its objectives by predominantly developing agricultural value chains whilst embracing the green growth philosophy which entails sustainable management of natural resources. The focus on the agricultural sector is informed by its critical contribution to Kenya’s economic development notably through informal employment creation especially for the marginalized. The Trust has implemented its mandate through two key segments namely, Value Chain & Enterprise Development (VC&ED) and Financial Services (FS). VC&ED have largely focused on value chain and market systems development while FS has been geared towards wholesale lending and capacity building of financial intermediaries with a focus on creating financial inclusion in targeted excluded enterprises.

In its Strategic Plan (2021-2025) MESPT has a clear growth path and development orientation that will shape its profile and ensure that it remains relevant to the spirit and expectations of its founders, customers, and key stakeholders. By the end of the strategic plan period (2025) therefore, the Trust is expected to have achieved the following strategic objectives.

1. Facilitate the establishment and growth of 100 sustainable agri-business MSMEs and integrated at least 75,000 smallholder farmers in targeted Value Chains.
2. Grow MESPT niche in financial access and inclusion.
3. Increase agricultural productivity and food safety for 75,000 smallholder farmers.
4. Increase awareness, investments & adoption of green interventions.

During this strategic period, the Trust’s development approach has four thematic areas that provide holistic interventions that intend to ultimately improve the livelihoods of its clients and beneficiaries. These broad areas are: – (1) Agri-Enterprise development, (2) Access to Finance, (3) Agricultural productivity and Food Safety and (4) Green transformation.

MESPT Currently has five (5) Board of Trustees members.

PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY:

MESPT would like to carry out a board performance appraisal to assess the performance of the board as a unit and the contribution of each of the Trustees with a view of building a high performing board, which is equipped to anticipate, meet, and overcome future challenges and ensure alignment with the Trust’s long-term goals.

SCOPE OF WORK:

1. Evaluate the general operations of the Board and to assess whether:

• The structure of the Board (this includes Board organization and dynamics, such as the mix of skills, knowledge, diversity, experience and independence)
• Board efficiency and effectiveness (this includes clarity of purpose, roles, functions and responsibilities direction and values of the organization; quality of leadership and key Board relationships)
• Risk management and governance.
• Strategic review and resource allocation.
• People issues and succession planning.
• Ethics management.
• Business performance (this includes the level and quality of reporting)

1. Evaluate the effectiveness of the collective Board, the individual Trustees and the Chairman of the Board, in terms of:
   • Meeting attendance; agenda and the Board papers; management, effectiveness and appropriateness of meetings
   • Adequacy of information flow and communication to and from the Board
   • Strategy, stewardship of resources, talent (management of the human capital), risk & knowledge management, and in enhancing innovative creativity/strategic thinking
   • Exercising leadership, integrity and judgement in providing direction and effective oversight to the organization in the performance, transformative leadership, compliance and concordance roles
   • Assess the objectivity, independence and impartiality of the Board and Management
   • Assessing the implementation of work plans/recommendations made from the previous year’s assessment and measure changes if any in performance of the Board
   • Assess the Board mechanism for assessing the performance of the CEO and make recommendations
2. Appraisal and review of governance instruments and frameworks to assess Trustees management of risk, legal compliance and accountability. In this regard, the Consultant should consider:
   • The adequacy of the governance framework, policies and instruments and their suitability of purpose now and into the future.
     • The adequacy and suitability of the governance framework, policies, instruments and documents now and into the future
     • The overall effectiveness of the governance structures, processes and systems in place
   • Analysis of the impact and results obtained from implementation of the governance processes.
3. Conduct a board capacity assessment and develop a two-year board capacity development plan
   • Design a tool for use in conducting the capacity assessment
   • Using the tool conduct a capacity assessment and develop a capacity development plan of the Board

DELIVERABLES

1. BOT Evaluation report and action plan
2. Board capacity assessment tool and capacity development plan

PROPOSED WORK SCHEDULE

The firm will include the following in their work schedule:

1.Inception

• • Develop a detailed methodology and work Implementation Plan
  • Develop a performance assessment tool for the Board of Trustees

2. Review of Existing Documents and Records

Review relevant documents including but not limited to:

• Board Charter and all instruments of governance
• MESPT Trust Deed
• MESPT Strategic Plan
• MESPT’s relevant policy documents

3. Collection of Primary Data and Data Analysis and Interpretation

• • Determine the best approaches to collect the relevant primary data and carry out the data analysis and interpretation of the same.
  • Data analysis will involve extraction of meaningful information from raw data. The analysis will be guided by the terms of reference.

REPORTING

In Execution of this assignment, they will work closely with the Founders of MESPT and report directly to the Board

Any queries or comments concerning this TOR, or any aspect of the assignment are to be directed to procurement@mespt.org

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE FIRM

• Should have at least 7 years’ experience and expertise in corporate governance and in appraisals and board evaluations
• Should have strong interpersonal skills; results-oriented and -focused; ability to interact with senior executives; can work within reasonable timelines
• CVs (maximum 3 sides of A4 paper each) of key individuals, tailored to the assignment
• Outline of team structure, including roles and responsibilities of team members
• Provide a summary of the relevant experience
• In addition, bidders are expected to provide an itemized budget with professional fees and reimbursable expenses where applicable (including fee rates, number of days and a breakdown of expenses). The financial proposal should include all applicable taxes i.e., VAT, WHT etc.