TERMS OF REFERENCE

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Consultant: Pipeline and business development for Agri-SME Financing and Development

  1. 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 the 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:

  • Develop and deploy blended finance solutions to de-risk lending and leverage private sector capital into inclusive agribusiness small and medium enterprises (agri-SMEs), and support business development services for transformational enterprises along the value chain;
  • Mobilize concessionary capital seeking to underwrite transformation for agri-SME investing along impact areas that include climate resilience, gender and inclusivity and/or the provision of healthy, nutritious foods.
  • Identify viable pipeline including a mix of financial institutions and private sector organizations targeting agri-SMEs that could benefit from the facility;
  • Design non-sovereign and sovereign investments for private sector intermediaries supporting SME-led agricultural transformation;
  • Support the integration of risk sharing facilities in sovereign operations targeting financial and sector development support to small and medium sized agro-companies;
  • Support an enabling environment for private sector development for de-risking investments, and financing agricultural value chains;
  • Lead strategic partnerships with key government ministries, private sector clients, financial institutions, other development institutions, commercial banks and technical partners to finance priority agriculture value chains.

  1. 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-SMEs 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.

To advance and accelerate the Feed Africa strategy, there is a growing commitment to enhance support to agri-SMs financing and business development. Consistent with a Bankwide 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 complementary objectives (e.g., Affirmative Financing Action for Women in Africa -AFAWA; Youth Entrepreneurship Program; Climate Smart Agriculture; Multi-sectoral Nutrition Action Plan etc.) that can be leveraged to systematically enhance our support to 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 support SME initiatives across the agri-food value chain as a means to delivering on inclusive job provision and impactful Agricultural transformation. https://ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/aceliafrica/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/08173725/Aceli-Africa_Full-Benchmarking-Report.pdf

 

  1. Duties and Responsibilities: Pipeline and Business Development

Within this context, this assignment, which focuses on developing a suitable pipeline of bankable projects that advance the agri-SME development agenda include: the following key tasks and deliverables.

  • Pipeline Development. Building a strong pipeline of potential investees, companies, financial services organization and business development services organisations serving the agri-SME ecosystem ;
  • Develop an investment strategy to define the potential investment themes, specifically the investee profiles (borrower, financial intermediaries, TA beneficiaries etc.) for intermediaries for agri-SMEs suitable for AfDB financing ;
  • Engage with key players to source and structure a number of potential private sector agri-SME pipeline transactions including innovative ways to integrate with larger agribusiness companies or investible intermediaries ;
  • Develop a pipeline along the key criteria and impact metrics required by the Bank or target financing facility that prioritize agri SMEs, or intermediaries, that are gender and youth inclusive, climate resilient and sustainable ;
  • Prepare project material and design options. Contribute to the design and structuring of project documents ;
  • Prepare assigned reports, studies and the required analysis to introduce, promote and obtain the necessary approvals internally and externally ;
  • Prepare briefing notes, design power point presentations, and draft concept notes and knowledge products to socialize and present proposed pipeline projects ;
  • Provide day-to-day technical support to the agri-SME manager and team to support strategic business planning, workplan development, coordination, and implementation.

  1. Administrative and Technical Reporting

The Consultant will be under the overall supervision of the Lead, AgriSME Development and Finance, AHFR.0.

  1. Duration of the Assignment

The assignment will be for six (6) months with the possibility of an extension. The assignment is expected to start on 15 August 2021.

  1. 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 minimum of a Masters’ degree in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Accounting, Agricultural Sciences, Development Studies or related field;
  • A minimum of ten (10) years working experience, preferably with a track record of agriculture transactions, SMEs, including experience in pipeline development, project management, undertaking business development, research and marketing activities;
  • Excellent technical and analytical skills and established track record in developing pipeline for the agriculture sector by identifying viable companies that are ripe for investments;
  • Demonstrable technical expertise in facility structuring and/or fund management, PPP 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;
  • 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 30 July 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