Recruitment of a consulting firm to assess financing demand and supply

Introduction

First Foods Africa seeks to incentivize local production of nutritious, safe, affordable and sustainable first foods, targeting ingredients that are missing from children’s diets, to prevent malnutrition. First foods include formulated complementary foods, food ingredients, healthy snacks, food supplements and nutrition supplements (refer to this document for more details). 

As mandated by UNICEF, the purpose of the First Foods Africa Market Scoping Exercise (“Market Scoping Exercise” or “FFASE” or “exercise”) is to better understand the dynamics of the financing demand and supply for First Foods producers in 6 out of 14 Africa countries targeted by First Foods Africa in Phase 11 and the investment needs of those markets, in terms of both capital and business advisory services. The 6 countries are : 

West and Central Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Nigeria 

Eastern and Southern Africa: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya 

Moreover, specific companies and investment opportunities identified in different countries can also be assessed.

The Market Scoping Exercise will segment both demand and supply, and address how the needs of the market are currently served (or not) by the available offer. A focus will be given particularly to SDG-positive financing needs. It is worth noting that preliminary market scans in the 14 Phase 1 countries have been carried out by UNCDF as well as an Expression of Interest (EOI) undertaken by UNICEF to identify prospective companies as part of the phase I of the First Foods Africa (FFA) initiative. The Market Scoping Exercise will leverage on the 14 preliminary market scans and the EOI results. 

More specifically, the Market Scoping Exercise will identify the best financial architecture including both Investment and Technical Assistance (“TA”) that could support the First Foods producers in the target countries. It will also help in making informed decisions about market entry and portfolio growth strategies for any financial vehicle (fund and /or facility ) in the FFA countries. 

To this end, a market scoping report will be produced and complemented by an initial and detailed pipeline vetting in terms of fit, impact potential, and bankability of the identified prospect investees. 

The specific objectives of the exercise are: 

1. Provide in every country a detailed overview of investment landscape for first foods manufacturing, linked to value chain of first foods’ ingredients (i. animal source foods – eggs, fish, poultry, meat; ii. pulses, nuts, seeds; iii. vegetables; iv. Fruits and level of operations in value chain, including main ecosystem players, being investors/financial intermediaries, donors and government programs which are providing capital, credit or TA to players these value chains from bottom to top (farmer to local consumer or exporter) including identifying: 

Needs 

Gaps 

Risks 

Challenges 

2. Assess the size and quality of the market opportunities. 

3. Identify target prospective investees and TA recipients and describe needs in terms of financing and TA within selected countries. (the “prospective investment pipeline”). 

4. Propose financing options for various investment size and risk levels (or a set of direct and indirect financial interventions) for investments under the First Foods Africa initiative and proof the market need

Interested suppliers must submit their offer directly in the system as instructed in the solicitation document, following the instructions in the available user guide. n case you have never registered before, you can register a profile using the registration link shared via the procurement notice and following the instructions in the guides available in UNDP website:  https://www.undp.org/procurement/business/resources-for-bidders. Do not create a new profile if you already have one. Use the forgotten password feature in case you do not remember the password or the username from previous registration.

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