Expression of Interest as Regional Business Development Service (BDS) Provider at The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI)
The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI)
Growth & Employment (GEM) Project – Credit No. NG- 4882
Business Development Service Providers for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Zones
Request for Expressions of Interest
The Federal Government of Nigeria has received financing from the World Bank towards the implementation of the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project whose objective is to increase firm growth and employment in participating firms in Nigeria, As part of this objective, the project will support the National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) and in particular Business Development Service Providers for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. The Federal Government of Nigeria would like to implement an innovative approach rather than the standard public provision and financing of Business Development Service (BDS) service providers. This program would raise the standard of service providers by providing them with training and by establishing a performance based relationship between BDS providers and the program team. This program will also build a portfolio of clients for the BDS providers. The Ministry through GEM will enable the market to set the stage for a sustainable provision of BDS services across the country.
Objective:
The objective of this assignment is to provide support to high growth potential MSMEs to overcome their binding constraints (being limited access to finance, poor organizational structure, lack of accountancy skills, etc) and to unlock their potential.
The goal is also to develop and implement effective programmes for those MSMEs that will enhance their capacity in the five key areas identified as follows:
(i) Assist these MSMEs in accessing formal financing channels (e.g. bank lending etc);
(ii) Assist these MSMEs in accessing new markets (i.e. through new channels, exports, new large customers etc) to grow or diversify business revenues within the engagement period;
(iii) Assist these MSMEs in reducing operational costs, and becoming more competitive;
(iv) Assist these MSMEs in formalizing their operations;
(v) Assist these MSMEs with basic skills to enhance overall entrepreneurship and business management capacity.
Scope of Work
The scope of work for this assignment includes, but is not limited to the following tasks:
Task 1 – Screening of the MSMEs
The Business Development (BD) Partners will be involved in screening of the candidates through analysis of the responses from the questionnaire and any additional resources (verification of documents provided through the application, face-to-face interviews, biometric tests etc) and scoring of the candidates,
Task 2 – Definition of the support to the MSMEs
The Business Development (BD) Partner will diagnose the problems that prevented the Awardees from growing and suggest solutions that would help them to solve these problems, ft will provide implementation support services, training and industry specific services in at least one of the five key areas: Access to Finance, Access to Markets, Skills & Technology Acquisition, Business Formalization, and Operational costs and Competitiveness.
Task 3 – Implementation of the action plan
The BD Partners will be required to carry out a weekly report of the time and staff allocated to each enterprise as Well as the list of activities/services completed in each month, and also monitoring of MSMEs towards their objective every month.
Submission of Expressions of Interest (EOIs):
Prospective Business Development Services (BDS) providers should submit Expression of Interest detailing the following information as basis for pre-qualification:
- Profile of firm consortium including ownership structure and role of each corporate entity with full contact details of each firm;
- Documentary evidence of senior expertise/experience in the areas of business development services with public or private sectors
- Details of direct work experience with MSMEs (in specific Geo – Political Zone) with identification of one specific geo-political zone of Nigeria, where Business Development Service (BDS) provider has strongest capabilities (i.e. North East, North West North Central, South West. South East or South South),
- Proof of capabilities to undertake rigorous and detailed analysis of the constraints MSMEs face in Nigeria;
- Work experience of at least 5 years as a business development service provider in Nigeria with the ability to exploit and further build networks of professionals and stakeholders to support MSM.E development;
- Proof of knowledge of strategy development tools with analytical and management skills and competence in establishing strong partnerships with the public and private sector;
- Evidence of knowledge in any of the sectors covered by GEM (ICT, Entertainment, Light Manufacturing, Hospitality/Tourism, and Construction and Real estate.
The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 1.9 of the World Bank’s Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrower, Revised January 2011. Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub consultancy sub consultancy to enhance their qualifications. A firm will be selected in accordance with the Consultants Qualification Selection (CQS) Method set out in the Consultant Guidelines.
Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 9.00 am to 4.00 pm, Monday through Friday (except public holidays) from the Project Coordinator, Tel: +2348039265356 or +2348057763523
Expressions must be submitted in five (5) hard copies (one original and four copies plus one CD Rom), in a sealed envelope clearly marked “Expression of Interest as Regional BDS Provider” to the address below in person or by courier mail not later than Tuesday. 9th December, 2014
Project Coordinator
Growth and Employment (GEM) Project
The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment
Block G. Room 225
Old Federal Secretariat
Area 1, Garki
Abuja
Tel: +2348039265356 or +2348057763523
Email: sanyunus2002@yahoo.com
- Interested Applicants should note that:
- Submission shall be in English language only
- Submission through electronic media shall be rejected; and
- Submission received after the deadline shall be rejected
- Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted
