CALL FOR PROPOSALS: ENHANCING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENABLERS FOR STRONGER WOMEN SMEs IN AFRICA
The African Development Bank (The Bank) plays a catalytic role in accelerating efforts to address gender inequality and drive inclusive economic transformation for women across Africa through mainstreaming gender in its operations and implementing targeted initiatives dedicated to African women. To further push forward the agenda of gender equality and women’s empowerment across the continent, the Bank is also investing in targeted initiatives through specific projects specifically designed to impact women such as the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), a flagship program that specifically focuses on increasing inclusive finance for women entrepreneurs on the continent. AFAWA’s primary objective is to bridge the $42 billion finance gap for women entepreneurs in Africa and to unlock their entrepreneurial capacity and full potential.
The AFAWA programme is unique in that it offers a multi-dimensional approach to remove the constraints that women entrepreneurs face in Africa. AFAWA aims to unlock up to $5 billion of financing for Women Small and Medium Entreprises (WSMEs) by leveraging the Bank’s financial traditional instruments (lines of credit, trade finance, and equity funds) and through the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth (G4G), an innovative mechanism de-risking women entrepreneurs and enhancing Financial Institutions’ (FIs) appetite in lending to WSMEs. These financial mechanisms are supported by technical assistance to financial institutions and WSMEs to ensure that adequate products and services are developed to address women’s financial needs, but also ensure that women have the adequate knowledge to build bankable and sustainable projects. Given the importance of a strong enabling environment to strengthen WSMEs ability to access financing, the goals of the AFAWA G4G program cannot be achieved without inclusive regulatory policies in place, and equaly as important, the presence of enablers with sustainable programs to assist women entrepreneurs in their growth.
Enablers, such as women business associations, incubators, accelerators, cooperatives, civil society organizations etc. play an important role in promoting the development of women-owned enterprises and strengthening them to achieve growth. However, as critical as they are to the development of women-owned enterprises, they often have limited capacity to support them due to lack of value-added services, lack of funding and lack of access to key networks, which significantly affect their sustainability. Thus, as part of its efforts to enhance the business enabling environment, the Bank through the AFAWA initiative will support the enablers to strengthen the skills, wealth creating capacity of their members and create innovative and effective change in the WSME business culture. With this goal in mind, the Bank is launching a call for proposals for projects looking to enhance the viability and sustainability of women entrepreneurship enablers.
Objectives and themes for the Call of Proposals
Submitted proposals will:
- Demonstrate innovative approaches to build a supportive ecosystem for women’s entrepreneurship aimed at improving access to finance for WSMEs,
- Develop innovative ways to disseminate advisory services adressing capacity constraints, skills enhancement and digital presences for WSMEs,
- Enhance visibility and access to mentorship and role models for WSMEs.
Through the proposed interventions, the enablers must demostrate increased access to finance, skills and mentorship. The Bank seeks proposals that demonstrate the following themes:
- Track record in supporting women SMEs
- Innovation and strong development impact;
- Mobilization of additional funding;
- Partnership with both public and private sectors;
- Additionality and value for money;
- Long term plan and sustainability.
- Collaboration between two or several applicant enablers.
Funding requests may be for a specific project or for an indicative program of several projects, or over several countries. The minimum threshold for requesting funding from this call for proposal is USD 100,000 and the maximum threshold is USD 250,000.
Geographical Scope
To align with the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth 1st year program roll-out, preference will be given to proposal from the following countries: Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republique of Congo (DRC), Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa,Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia.
Funding Principles and Criteria
- The project duration should not exceed 2 (two) years for national projects and 3 (three) years for regional projects.
- The Bank invites women business associations, incubators, accelerators, cooperatives, civil society organizations and other entities to share proposals aligned to the objectives and themes of this call for proposals using the attached template.
- Proposal should strive to wherever possible align with national or regional priorities on access to financial services/financial inclusion for WSMEs.
- Recipients and project sponsors should be Africa-based or provide evidence of partnership with African entities and show that the proposed activities, operations and projects will be implemented in Africa. While not an eligibility requirement, particular attention will be paid to potential projects which benefit two or more countries and regions as this will strengthen regional integration and maximize the impact of resources. Due account will also be taken of the economic and social development plans of regional member countries.
- Applicants must be legally constituted institutions that have been in existence for at least three years.
Assessment: Proposals received will be assessed based on the following considerations:
| Criteria |
Rating Percentage |
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| Viability of the proposed project |
15% |
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| Applicants’ offering and track record in |
15% |
| relation to proposed project |
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| Leverage of other funding sources |
20% |
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| Applicant’s ability to scale |
20% |
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| Project Expected reach and impact |
30% |
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| Total |
100% |
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Application and Timelines
The call for proposals will be financed through the Gender Equality Trust Fund (GETF) of the Africa Development Bank Group.
Proposals (Not more than 10 pages) either in English or French should be submitted using the attached template via email to the following e-mail address: [email protected] and copy to [email protected]
- Call for Proposals Issued April 26, 2021
- Call for Proposals Closed May 26, 2021 and should follow the format below.
- Awards will be announced on July 15 , 2021
Short-listing and selection shall be done in accordance with the Bank’s policies, rules and procedures. The Bank is under no obligation to shortlist any company, partnership or association
Proposal Template
Project Title:
Region/Country:
(xxxxxxx 2021)
4Introduction Basic Information
Date:
Grant Recipient:
Implementing/Executing Agency:
Total Cost:
Project Duration:
Completion Date:
Timeframe -Major Milestones
Project Information Summary
Project
Description:
Alignment to call
for proposals
requirement:
Cost Structure
and Financing
Plan:
Implementation
Arrangements:
Development
Outcomes:
Additionality and
Complementarity:
Introduction
- General/Sector Context
Guide: Provide less than a one page brief information on the market failure and specific
constraints to WSMEs entrepreneurship that the proposed project seeks to address.
- Project Rationale
Guide: Alignment with Call for proposals objectives and themes : Provide the rationale for the project, and the justification of using the Banks’ AFAWA funding
Project
- Project Description
Guide: Describe the project at a conceptual level, its overall goals and development objectives, and its ability to achieve its objectives.
Describe the main components and subcomponents of the proposed project. Specify activities under each component and subcomponent and explain the sequence and timeline of activities.
- Project Beneficiaries
Guide:
Describe the target final beneficiaries.
Describe the socio-economic status of the ultimate beneficiaries (WSMEs) and discuss the context in which they are operating, for example how social norms and the country’s legal framework affect WSMEs performance.
For the purpose of the project activities and implementation, the following definitions should be used (the thresholds for the below parameters may be adapted based on context, as necessary):
Women-Owned/Women-Led Firm
- ≥ 51% owned by a woman/woman; or
- ≥ 20% owned by a woman/woman; and have ≥ one woman as CEO/COO (President/Vice President); and have ≥ 30% of the board of directors comprised of women, where a board exists; and
- Loan size between US$5,000 and US$1 million (US$2 million in the case of more advanced countries)
- Between 5 and 300 employees
- Sales between US$100,000 and US$15 million
- Assets between US$100,000 and US$15 million
- Cost Structure and Finance Plan
5.1 Cost Structure
Guide: Include a detailed budget with budget notes/descriptions on various budget lines.
Where possible, the budget should be linked to individual activities and expected results.
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Total |
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Budget |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
(US$) |
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US$ |
US$ |
US$ |
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Cost Components: |
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Component-1 |
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Component-2 |
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Component-3 |
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Total |
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- Project related activities (i.e tools etc.)
- Consultants/expert time fee (unit price per expert)
- Local staff (labour cost, allowance etc.)
- Administrative costs (please specify)
5.2 Financing Plan
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Financing Plan |
USD |
% |
| 1 |
AfDB |
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| 2 |
Applying Entity |
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| 3 |
Other Partner |
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Total |
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- Analysis of Development Outcomes
6.1 Gender and Social Effects
6.2 WSME Development and Demonstration Effect
6.3 Funding leverage/unlocked
Implementation Arrangements
- Institutional and Implementation Arrangements
Guide: Describe each component and sub-component (in a Table), of the project, how they will be implemented and by whom.7.1
- Monitoring and Evaluation
Guide: Describe the proposed mechanisms and procedures for monitoring the project to ensure that activities (1) occur as planned, (2) remain directed towards stated objectives, and (3) reach and increase the number and/or growth of women-owned/led SMEs
Use the table below to reflect your timeline:
| Milestones |
Expected Dates |
Start of implementation
Program/project closing
- Sustainability
Guide: Provide a plan to maximize the probability of long-term impact and financial success once the The Banks funds are no longer available or have been used. Detail how the project envisions the continuation of the activities proposed.
Project Risks
- Risks and Mitigation Measures
| 10.1 |
List the risks foreseen and proposed mitigation measures |
| 10.2 |
Table X: Summary of Risks and mitigation measures |
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Level |
Mitigation measures |
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High |
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Medium |
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Low
High
Medium
Low
High
Medium
Low
High
Medium
Low
High
Medium
Low
Procurement and Disbursement Modalities
- Procurement Arrangements
Guide: Describe the procurement modalities and include a Procurement Plan Table. All procurement arrangements must be conducted in accordance with The Procurement Framework of the Bank.
- Disbursement Arrangements
12.1 Guide: Provide a disbursement schedule in form of a table
Conclusion and Recommendations
- Conclusion and Recommendations
Results Framework
Country and project name:
Purpose of the project:
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RESULTS |
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PERFORMANCE |
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RISKS/MITIGATION |
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VERIFICATION |
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