1. Summary
BRAC seeks an experienced consultant and/or firm to refine existing and develop new financial products tailored to the needs of young women (aged 18-35). The consultant is expected to undertake in-depth market research using human-centred design principles to segment the market and develop key client profiles, identify financial needs of potential clients, provide solutions to addressing common constraints to accessing finance of the target segment, and suggest recommendations for refining existing products and services, as well as develop new product prototypes, to cater to the needs of young women.
Countries: Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda. Interested consultants/firms may choose to apply for this engagement across all target countries or may choose between the West African and East African markets.

2. Organisational Profile
BRAC was established in 1972 after the independence of Bangladesh and currently operates in all 64 districts in the country, providing services to millions. BRAC aims to achieve large-scale positive changes through economic and social programmes that enable men and women to realise their potential. It provides services in the areas of human rights and social empowerment, education and health, economic empowerment and enterprise development, livelihood training, environmental sustainability, and disaster preparedness.
Stichting BRAC International (BI) was legally registered in the Netherlands since 2009 as a non-profit foundation to govern and manage all BRAC entities outside Bangladesh, except its fundraising affiliates (BRAC USA and BRAC UK). At present, BRAC International is operating in 10 countries, taking an integrated and comprehensive approach to health care, educational opportunities, economic progress, and overall development.
BRAC International Holdings B.V. (BIHBV) was set up in 2010 as a private limited liability company under the laws of the Netherlands and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stichting BRAC International. It is a socially responsible for-profit organisation, engaging people in sustainable economic and income-generating activities. The core focus is to provide microfinance services to people who are financially constrained and marginalised, and people who do not have access to the financing facilities offered by banks and other non-bank financial institutions.
BIHBV is owner-operator of all BRAC’s microfinance entities outside of Bangladesh, including the entities in the five target markets specified in this consultancy: BRAC Liberia Microfinance Company Limited (BLMCL), BRAC Microfinance Sierra Leone Ltd (BMSLL), BRAC Rwanda Microfinance Company PLC (BRMCP), BRAC Tanzania Finance Ltd (BTFL), and BRAC Uganda Bank Ltd (BUBL). The consultancy contract will be executed with BLMCL, BMSLL, BRMCP, BTFL, and BUBL directly.
BRAC first launched its microfinance activities in Africa in 2006 and, as of December 2022, BRAC has reached over 620,000 clients across the five markets in Africa through two main products: individual microloans for women delivered through groups, and small enterprise loans targeting both male and female entrepreneurs. Of the five BRAC microfinance entities specified in this consultancy, two are deposit-taking: BRMCP and BUBL.

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3. Objective of the Consultancy
In 2021, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, BRAC launched the Mastercard Foundation Accelerating Impact for Young Women in partnership with BRAC (AIM) programme, targeting seven countries in East and West Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda). The programme aims at creating a positive and measurable impact on 1.2 million adolescent girls and young women and 9.5 million people in the next five years across these markets.
Through AIM, BRAC seeks to integrate proven and scalable social and economic development approaches in communities to result in systemic change that creates positive and measurable impact for adolescent girls and young women. Financial inclusion of young women (aged 18-35) is a core intervention group under AIM, with the ambition to provide access to finance to 400,000 young women. Under this intervention group, BRAC seeks to cater to the financial needs of both existing/regular female clients that fall within this age bracket, as well as AIM programme participants transitioning into microfinance after social and economic empowerment interventions.
BRAC is thus looking for a competent consultant (individual or company) to conduct human-centred design (HCD) assessment and product design/refinement exercise in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda to:
1. redesign/refine elements/features of existing products to make these products more accessible and appropriate for young women
2. for young women who cannot be accommodated even after refinements to existing products (as determined by the HCD assessment), develop 3-4 product prototypes that can be pilot tested by country entities
3. identify and make recommendations for additional financial/non-financial support necessary for addressing barriers that prevent young women in accessing financing

4. Scope of Work
The consultant will conduct a client-focused need assessment in order to refine existing offerings and/or design financial product prototypes through a variety of methodologies as needed, including focus group discussions and individual interviews in local languages/dialects. The project will engage young women in multiple regions across rural, peri-urban, and urban settings. Research methodology (including indicative sample size) will be determined in consultation with BIHBV and country product teams.

The specific terms of reference for this assignment include the following:
• The Market And Existing Client Profiles: Review the current financial products for young women in the market and the current products offered by BRAC’s country microfinance entities with the aim of identifying unmet needs and constraints to accessing financing
• Segment existing BRAC clients by sector of activity to understand the segment(s) whose activities are inadequately catered for or touched by current offerings
• Map client segments across demography, economic activities, technology use, etc. and identify priority client segments for developing financial products with
• Refinement Of Existing Credit Products: Using a human-centred design approach, recommend refinements/tweaks to BRAC’s existing products to make them more appropriate for and accessible to young women. Refinements/tweaks must be informed by feedback from young women (aged 18-35) in rural, peri-urban, and urban areas, segmented by sector of
• new credit products: Using a human-centred design approach, develop a profile of new credit product prototypes for young women who would not be able to access existing credit products even after refinements/tweaking. Meet women and youth (aged 18-35) in rural, peri-urban, and urban areas, segmented by sector of activity, to provide credit product
• Bundling: For each product and/or prototype, assess the need for and the appropriateness of any added financial services (such as insurance), identify appropriate channels (including digital delivery channels) and alternative credit assessment models, and recommend what young women need to be successful in their enterprises beyond finance (eg. financial/digital literacy, SRHR services, mentoring, peer-to-peer learning, etc.).
• Savings (for BRMCP and BUBL only): Understand the savings needs, preferences, and behaviours of adolescent girls and young women, and current challenges (costs, convenience, appropriateness, etc.) by conducting surveys with existing and prospective clients. Use a human-centred design approach and leverage client segmentation (rural/urban, sector of activity, technology use, etc.) to inform the design/redesign of appropriate savings products
• Assess how existing savings offerings may be modified/refined, as well as whether (and what) additional savings products may need to be offered to cater to client demands
• Understand the synergies between the savings products and other product offerings
• Evaluate whether existing delivery channels are appropriate for target clients and how they may be tailored to meet their needs
• Organisational Capacity: Suggest what changes need to be made to operational processes, policies/manuals, systems, to ensure the success of proposed prototypes and any added services
• Consider the internal capacity of the BRAC entities (IT system, staff skills, financial resources needed, )
• Consider the level of the countries’ infrastructure around connectivity, financial regulations, human resource availability,
• Recommend partner organisations and private sector actors as needed (market linkages, fintechs, banking agents, )
• Consolidated Report: Share a final report compiling all recommendations with justifications and provide detailed modalities for each prototype/redesigned product. Ensure structured handover of project documents and plans to BRAC management for proper implementation and conduct short training sessions if necessary

5. Deliverables and Key Timelines
The duration of the engagement is expected to be over 80 business days counted from contract signing, taking place between May and September 2023, delivered in two parts.
Deliverable Timeline
Part 1 of the report, covering the following sections in the scope of work:
• the market and existing client profiles
• refinement of existing credit products By July 2023
organisational capacity (only as it relates to refinement of existing credit products)
Part 2 of the report, covering the following sections in the scope of work:
• new credit products
• bundling
• savings
• organisational capacity (across all areas of the scope of work) By September 2023
Activities should begin upon contract award. Delivery of Part 1 of the report is particularly time-sensitive.
At the conclusion of the project, all deliverables must be handed over to BRAC management in each country for implementation.

6. Qualification of the Consultant/Firm
The consultant/firm may apply to conduct this assignment across all five markets listed or may choose to apply only for the West African or East African markets.
• Experience in conducting client-centred research/market assessments in financial services for the bottom of the pyramid. Previous experience in similar work in the specific markets that the firm is applying for is preferred but not
• Deep understanding of issues around young women’s financial inclusion, as well as broader issues that specifically affect young women living in poverty in rural areas
• Preferably have experience in HCD approach (or other client-centric methodologies) to understand the needs, behaviours, and motivations young women, and to iteratively design product prototypes or redesign/refine existing products across the complete customer journey and product experience
• Knowledge of digital financial services/digital payment solutions and the supporting infrastructure in target markets
• Knowledge of regulatory environments of the target markets
• Strong analytical, research, and writing skills with expertise in survey and qualitative research in the form of interviews and focus groups with low-income communities (in local languages)
• Proactive project management skills with strong attention to Experience working under tight deadlines with a multilateral team across time zones and managing a rigorous schedule of data collection
• Fluency in English required

7. Submission Procedure
If you meet the above qualifications, please submit a technical proposal detailing your previous experience in conducting similar work, a proposed work plan with tentative timeline, a proposed budget, and CVs. The technical proposal should be no more than six pages (excluding budget and CVs).
All proposals must be submitted by email to info.bimf@brac.net no later than Tuesday, 2 May 2023 at 11.59pm East African Time (EAT). Any questions can be submitted to the same email address prior to the submission deadline.