TERMS OF REFERENCE

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Consultant : Agri-SME financing and business development into private and public sector operations for the Agricultural Finance and Rural Development Department (AHFR)

 

 

Introduction and Background :

The Bank :

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank (the “Bank”) is the premier Pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s) have been identified for scaling up, namely; light up and power Africa, feed Africa, industrialize Africa, integrate Africa and improve the quality of life for Africans.

The Hiring Department :

The Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department works closely with the Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department and the Regional Directorates to provide support for the delivery of the Feed Africa Strategy for Agricultural Transformation in Africa, 2016-2025.

The core mandate of Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department is to develop the strategy of the Bank related to Agricultural and rural finance and rural development, execute sovereign and non-sovereign operations for the transformation of value chains, represent the Bank with external stakeholders, provide sector expertise to the regions by gathering experts who can be consulted by operations and closing the financing gap for private sector-led development of Agricultural value chains. The Department is to mobilize and deploy the required expertise; and, provide support for the design and implementation of Agricultural finance and rural development operations for key commodity value chains. The Agriculture Finance and Rural Development Department is structured into two Divisions: (i) Agriculture and Rural Finance Division; and (ii) Rural Infrastructure Development Division.

The Department has the following deliverables, related to this position :

  1. Develop and implement innovative financing products and services and mobilises new sources of financing (including climate financing, impact capital etc.) that seeks to de-risk lending to Agricultural SMEs, provides capacity building services and targets women and youth ;
  2. Support an enabling environment for private sector development for de-risking investments, and financing Agricultural value chains ;
  3. Develop non-sovereign operations for enhancing Agricultural industrialization and related infrastructure investments with solutions to reach smallholder farmers, and productive enterprises (particularly women and youth) ;
  4. Lead strategic partnerships with key government ministries, private sector clients, financial institutions, other development institutions and commercial banks to finance priority Agriculture value chains ;
  5. Provide high-quality and innovative debt/equity/ quasi-equity/ guarantee investments for private sector development aimed at Agricultural transformation ;
  6. Mobilize resources and blended finance initiatives to close the financing gap for private sector led development of Agricultural value chains ;
  7. Support the integration of private sector components of Sovereign Operations (“SO”) targeting financial and sector development support to small and medium sized agro-companies.

 

Objective and Activities of the Assignment :

Context :

The role of Agri-SMEs and their critical importance to meeting the Feed Africa strategy goals are well recognized. 80% of all food consumed across the African continent is produced, transported, processed and sold by SMEs. SMEs also constitute up to 70% of formal employment in SSA and up to 90% in the informal sector. Despite this, Agri-food enterprises in Africa are critically underfunded with an annual financing gap of approx. $100bn for enterprises with financing needs between $25K and $5m1. This gap has been further exacerbated by Covid-19 and the pressure it has put on SMEs operating within Agri-food supply chains.

Within the African Development Bank, and specifically to advance and accelerate the Feed Africa strategy, there is a growing commitment to enhance support to Agri-SMEs financing and business development. Consistent with a Bankside effort to increase investments in SME programs and their impact across sectors, the Feed Africa team aims to (i) mobilize concessionary impact capital to flexibly deploy in targeted blended financing structures attractive to SMEs, (ii) support targeted advisory and business development to increase bankable demand from Agri-SMEs, (iii) develop impactful largescale Agri-SME support projects through either private operations, or integrated into public operations or through innovative PPP projects, and (iv) support enabling environment efforts around policy and regulation, and digitally enabled monitoring and impact assessment.

Across the Bank ecosystem, there is a growing number of targeted Funds, Facilities and specialized programs that share overlapping objectives (e.g., Affirmative Financing Action for Women in Africa -AFAWA; Youth Entrepreneurship Program; Climate Smart Agriculture, Risk Sharing Facilities etc.) that can be more effectively leveraged to systematically enhance our offering to support Agri-SME financing and development across targeted Bank operations. Similarly outside the Bank, a growing number of countries, development organizations, international finance institutions, foundations, and private sector companies are dedicating increasing resources to : https://ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/aceliafrica/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/08173725/Aceli-Africa_Full-Benchmarking-Report.pdf support Agri-SMEs initiatives across the Agri-food value chain as a means to delivering on inclusive job provision, and impactful Agricultural transformation.

Assignment and deliverables :

In this context, the assignment will support the Departments objective to develop a systematic Agri-SME program and increase the volume and impact of projects supporting SME financing and business development across the Feed Africa portfolio.

The key tasks to achieve the objectives of the assignment will include the following :

  • Undertake analysis, identify opportunities, and write proposals to mobilize capital and identify co-financing opportunities for Agri-SME financing projects and program components ;
  • Source, structure and provide advisory for private sector Agri-SME transactions including innovative ways to introduce to Agri-SME ecosystems within related sovereign operations and in partnership with larger Agribusiness companies ;
  • Support the development of innovative financial solutions in private sector led, public sector enabled arrangements for Agri-SMEs to address financing and business development needs across the Agri-food value chain ;
  • Contribute to the design, implementation and execution of an Agri-SME catalytic financing mechanism to enhance resources available to Bank-led Agri-SME initiatives ;
  • Identify specific related financing mechanisms for Agri-SMEs or related projects under development to draw actionable insights on how to integrate, adapt and scale effective models for Agri-SME projects ;
  • Support engagement and follow-up with strategic partnerships bringing together investors, business, government, development partners, farmers organizations and others supporting Agri-SMEs as key vehicle for inclusive and impactful Agricultural transformation ;
  • Prepare briefing notes, design power point presentations, and draft communication materials and knowledge products to socialize and present our agenda to both external and internal stakeholders.

Deliverables :

The Consultant will be responsible for delivering the following milestones :

  • Prepare project material and design options : Prepare assigned reports and offer design for agribusiness transactions enhancing SME financing and business development in an efficient, cost effective and impactful manner. This could include, but is not limited to: timelines for legal work, business plan and budget estimation, stakeholder consultations, resource mobilization, etc. Propose structure and financing mechanisms that would respond to the needs of the public and private actors complete with pipeline of opportunities, SMEs, and other governments and development partners ;
  • Resource mobilization : Draft several funding and resource mobilization reports to support availability of concessionary capital and blended finance to invest into attractive operations in support of SMEs across the agri-food system. Develop the necessary proposal documents including a detailed concept note, resource mobilization strategies, project appraisal reports etc. ;
  • Communication materials and coordination. Develop assigned briefs, presentations and communications materials to socialize stakeholders, internal and external, advocate and mobilize support on the Agri-SME agenda. Help to build collaborations and strategic partnerships and help advance the department’s agenda around food system SMEs and enhance the visibility and impacts of the program. In addition, promote existing programs and transactions that had a significant SME component to promote knowledge sharing.

Administrative and Technical Reporting :

The Consultant will be under the overall supervision of the Manager of AHFR0.

Duration of the Assignment :

The assignment will be for six (6) months with the possibility of an extension. The assignment is expected to start in April 2021.

Qualifications and Experience Required :

The Consultant shall demonstrate appropriate qualifications and skills necessary for the assignment as described above. Candidates should demonstrate the following qualifications and skills :

  • A Masters’ degree (or equivalent) in Business Administration, Economics, Finance / Banking or related field ;
  • A minimum of five (5) years working experience, including experience in writing funding / grant proposals, reports, undertaking business development, research and marketing activities ;
  • Demonstrable technical expertise in PPP, facility structuring and/or fund management, particularly for the agriculture sector and working with small and medium enterprises ;
  • Strong knowledge of the African Agriculture and Agribusiness sector, including Agriculture finance, Agriculture risk mitigation and insurance, value chain analysis, markets, challenges and innovations ;
  • Prior experience with sector diagnostics and analysis of major players and business opportunities in the African Agribusiness space ;
  • Familiarity with the functioning or previous experience with a multilateral development finance institution, a bilateral institution, investment or commercial bank ;
  • Excellent and advanced knowledge of Microsoft PowerPoint applications ;
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and/or French. A good working knowledge of the other language would be an added advantage ;
  • Proven ability to manage and deliver products in a timely manner and handle multiple tasks at the same time; and
  • A national of the Bank’s Member Country.

The AHFR department invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested Consultants shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to undertake this Assignment (documents, reference to similar services, experience in similar assignments, etc.).

The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Rules and Procedure for the Selection of Corporate Consultants. Please, note that interest expressed by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include him/her in the shortlist.

Expressions of interest must be received at the address below no later than 22nd March 2021 at 17:00 GMT.

For the attention of Ms. Grace Ochola

E-mail : [email protected]

African Development Bank – AHFR Department

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire