“Malawi Innovation Challenge Fund (MICF)” Management Services
The Government of Malawi is implementing the Private Sector Development Project (PSDP), financed by DFID and UNDP, and aiming to strengthen the private sector’s ability to serve as the engine of economic growth. The goal of the project is to accelerate economic diversification and increase the opportunities for the poor to benefit from economic growth through higher incomes and better job creation, and through productive partnerships with the private sector, particularly between lead firms and poor producers and entrepreneurs, especially smallholders.
The PSDP will therefore be used as an operational tool, though a challenge funding mechanism, to support pro-poor investments in the prioritized product clusters identified in the National Export Strategy (NES). The PSDP will establish a “Malawi Innovation Challenge Fund” (MICF) that will have two funding windows aligned to the Prioritized Product Clusters of the NES:
- Agriculture Window;
- Manufacturing Window.
Against this background, UNDP Malawi, through the PSDP, intends to contract the services of a firm to provide Fund Management Services for the MICF.
The MICF Fund Management services will pertain to general functions that apply to all funding windows and more specific functions peculiar to each window. The general functions include:
- Management Systems and Process
- Marketing and Communication
- Streamlined Procedures and Effective Due Diligence
- Fiduciary Management
- Monitoring and Evaluation
The additional functions for the specific windows pertain to the Agriculture and Manufacturing Windows.
Qualifications and Experience
The successful Fund Management team will indicate its ability to competently perform the functions set in the Terms of Reference part of the RFP.
Various types of institutions, or consortia of institutions, could potentially fulfill the above functions and no type of institution will be excluded on an a priori basis. However, the processes and approach of the Fund Manager need to be private sector-friendly. In particular, the decision-making cycles of the Fund need to be aligned with the decision-making timelines and reporting cycles of private sector firms.
Duration
The contract is of an initial duration of one year with possibility of renewal.