Consultancy services for the development of an ‘African Youth (especially women) Entrepreneurship Online Portal’
The Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development Cluster (IGSDC) of the UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA) aims to contribute to “growth and development that are inclusive and sustainable, incorporating productive capacities that create employment and livelihoods, especially for the poor and excluded” in Africa. Through its dedicated unit on private sector development and engagement, the cluster implements activities which contribute to, among others, inclusive business and entrepreneurship so as to help realize Africa's potential to transform poverty into prosperity for all.
Specifically, the Private Sector African Facility for Inclusive Markets (AFIM) unit within the IGSDC works to “enable regional systems and institutions to achieve structural transformation of productive capacities that are sustainable and employment intensive” by supporting inclusive economic growth and Inclusive Market Development (IMD) across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In addition, the team works to enhance and transform productive as well as institutional capacities at the regional level so as to facilitate knowledge sharing, linkages, access to finance and the dissemination of best practices on private sector approaches to engagement in development.
The UNDP private sector AFIM unit is mandating a consultancy to:
Develop a Strategic (business) plan for the development of an online African youth (especially women) entrepreneurship portal by UNDP, and based on this plan, support UNDP to create an online African youth (especially women) entrepreneurship portal.
The consultancy will be divided into two phases:
In Phase I:
The firm will support the UNDP private sector (AFIM) unit to assess the most feasible way to develop an online African youth entrepreneurship portal, and develop an action oriented strategic (business) plan in this regard.
In Phase II:
The strategic (business) plan developed by the consulting firm will be used to design and create the ‘African Youth (especially women) Entrepreneurship Online Portal.’
III. SCOPE OF THE SERVICE / WORK
The private sector AFIM unit of the UNDP RSCA’s IGSDC requires the services of an international consulting firm to conduct an assessment, initial data collection and develop a strategic (business) plan framework and support the development of an online portal for young African entrepreneurs.
Specifically, the consultancy will conduct the following tasks:
Phase I (February – June 2016):
Assess the most feasible way to develop an online African youth entrepreneurship portal, and develop an action oriented strategic (business) plan in this regard.
- Mapping:
- Identify existing online portals and resources available to young (especially women) entrepreneurs for business creation, establishment and development in Africa[1]. [2]. These portals and resources can cover both cross-sector and sector-specific topics. This will include identifying gaps in existing online portals for young entrepreneurs in Africa as well as concrete areas for UNDP’s value addition. The firm will then suggest concrete responses on how to address the identified gaps, including proposing and supporting the design of the best ways in which the UNDP portal will address these gaps and challenges.
Identify existing online funding platforms targeting young African entrepreneurs, disaggregated by sex. The mapping should include information on which already existing platforms and awards schemes (which may be offline) may be the best ones for us to partner with, i.e. to establish links to other existing fund, investors, awards and schemes etc. to pool resources. The consultancy will then propose a model for an award/challenge/tournament to support funding of young entrepreneurs’ business ideas, targeted at entrepreneurs at different stages of business development.
[1] Rough draft initial mappings already exist based on work done by volunteers through the YALE MAM programme and the UNV online volunteer system. The firm would build on this work, verifying and making additions and corrections where necessary
[2] Rough draft initial mappings already exist based on work done by volunteers through the YALE MAM programme and the UNV online volunteer system. The firm would build on this work, verifying and making additions and corrections where necessary................
Phase II (June – December 2016):
Design and create the ‘African Youth (especially women) Entrepreneurship Online Portal,’ based on the strategic (business) plan developed in phase I:
- Design and create a ‘Young African Entrepreneurs’ Online Portal’:
Based on the strategic (business) plan developed in phase I, the firm will design and create a ‘Young African Entrepreneurs’ Online Portal’ with at minimum, content on:
- Information for young African entrepreneur businesses;
- access to mentorship (both specific to the portal launch as well as links to other existing programmes);
- space for Networking for young entrepreneurs from all over Africa at the various levels;
- access to funding (both specific to the portal and links to existing schemes, grants and other funding sources);
- any other opportunities identified in the mapping to which the UNDP portal will add value...................
VIII. PAYMENT MILESTONES AND AUTHORITY
Prospective Service Provider will indicate the cost of services for each deliverable in US dollars when applying for this consultancy. The Proposer will be paid based on the effective UN exchange rate (in case of other currency denomination), and only after approving authority confirms the successful completion of each deliverable as stipulated hereunder. In accordance with UNDP rules, the lump sum contract amount to be offered should consider the professional fee inclusive of travel, living allowances, communications, taxes, out of pocket expenses, and other ancillary costs.
For Request for Proposal (RFP)
BID SUBMISSION INSTRUCTION:
- Strictly follow the instructions indicated in the RFP Proposal Submission Form uploaded hereto
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED:
The following proposals must be prepared as per the prescribed standard format indicated in the respective RFP Bid Document. The Proposals shall be submitted before application deadline March 14, 2016 via UNDP Ethiopia Secured mail address: procurement.et@undp.org
- Technical Proposal in pdf under file name: RSC-RFP-2016-01– TP - [insert Company Name]
- Financial Proposal in pdf under file name:: RSC-RFP-2016-01– FP - [insert Company Name]
Please note that these proposals shall be submitted to the designated secured email into two files but in one email unless both Files are Greater than 9MB file size
EMAIL SUBJECT LINE WHILE SUBMITTING PROPOSAL:
- While submitting your proposals to procurement.et@undp.org be sure your email subject line is RSC-RFP-2016-01– TP.
| Link | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=28236 | UNDP Procurement Notices |