Expression of Interest (EOI)

Business growth analysis for 50 women-led SME and Development of training curricula and recommendations for coaching.

Reference Number:83465109

Publication date: 09.05.2024

List of abbreviations

Introduction

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. The GIZ Office in Kigali covers GIZ’s portfolio in Rwanda and Burundi. GIZ Rwanda/Burundi implements projects on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and other commissioning authorities in the following priority areas: Sustainable Economic Development; Good Governance; Climate, Energy and Sustainable Urban Development; Digitalization and Digital Economy; and regional projects in the Great Lakes Region.

1. Context

The project “Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment in Rwanda” (WEE) was commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and is being implemented by GIZ Rwanda in cooperation with the Rwanda Ministry of Trade and Industry. The WEE project, launched in January 2024, aims to enhance the economic participation of women in Rwanda. It focuses on two main areas of activity: (1) improving working conditions for female employees and (2) improving economic and societal conditions for women-led companies. The project’s key success indicators are the creation of good jobs for women, the improvement of working conditions for women, and improved performance of women-led businesses.

The WEE project will provide support to women-led enterprises by providing training and coaching on both general business practices as well as technical topics.

In cooperation with different partner organizations, the WEE project has started identifying groups of women-led businesses to target. It is planned that one group of 50 women-led small- and medium sized enterprises (SME) will be targeted with a training and coaching program, that will encompass five two-day trainings on general business topics as well as ten days of one-on-one coaching and individualized support per business.

The WEE project is seeking the support of a contractor who will support the preparation of this planned training and coaching program. Specifically, the contractor will implement business growth analyses for the 50 women-led businesses and design curricula for the training and coaching program to address their capacity gaps.

2. Tasks to be performed by the contractor

The contractor is responsible for providing the following services:

1. Business growth analysis for 50 women-led SME
2. Development of training curricula and recommendations for coaching

Details regarding Service Package 1: Business growth analysis for 50 women-led SME

Under Service Package 1, the contractor will perform the following tasks:

• In-depth analysis of each pre-selected woman-led SME, through interviews, an on-site visit, and, if applicable, review of business plans and other documentation
• Formulation of one report per woman-led business (approx. 5 pages of text each), including:
  • Key information on the business
  • Business growth barriers and opportunities, including from operational, technical, and managerial points of views
  • Targeted recommendations on interventions needed to resolve growth constraints and take advantage of opportunities identified above.

Note on travel: Tentatively, it is planned to reach businesses located in Musanze (7 SME), Rubavu (6 SME), Gakenke (15 SME), Gasabo (5 SME), Rwamagana (5 SME), Bugesera (4 SME), Gatsibo (3 SME) and Huye (5 SME). To reach the businesses outside Kigali, the contractor may plan for up to 10 4-day and 3-night roundtrips for a team of up to two experts per trip (see Chapter 5 below).

Details regarding Service Package 2: Development of training curricula and recommendations for coaching

Under Service Package 2, the contractor will perform the following tasks based on the learnings of Service Package 1:

• Identification of five general business topics that will be addressed in the framework of five two-day trainings, selected based on the recommendations on interventions identified in Service Package 1
• Development of curricula for each of the five two-day trainings, including detailed agenda, concrete learning objectives and outcomes, topics to be covered, and teaching/assessment strategy (approx. 5 pages per training)
• Development of recommendations for business development consultants on objectives to achieve and potential content to cover in the one-on-one coaching program for each business (approx. 1 page per business)
• Development of required profiles for the business development consultants that could deliver the five trainings and one-on-one coaching program, including required professional expertise and educational background

Timeline of main deliverables

The following main deliverables, as described in detail in the work packages above, are to be achieved by the contractor during the contract term:

Period of assignment: from 06.06.2024 until 13.12.2024.

3. Concept

In the tender, the tenderer is required to show how the objectives defined in Chapter 2 (Tasks to be performed) are to be achieved, if applicable under consideration of further method-related requirements (technical-methodological concept). In addition, the tenderer must describe the project management system for service provision.

Note: The numbers in parentheses correspond to the lines of the technical assessment grid.

Technical-methodological concept

Strategy (1.1): The tenderer is required to consider the tasks to be performed with reference to the objectives of the services put out to tender (see Chapter 1 Context) (1.1.1). Following this, the tenderer presents and justifies the explicit strategy with which it intends to provide the services for which it is responsible (see Chapter 2 Tasks to be performed) (1.1.2).

The tenderer is required to describe the key processes for the services for which it is responsible and create an operational plan or schedule (1.4.1) that describes how the services according to Chapter 2 (Tasks to be performed by the contractor) are to be provided.

Project management of the contractor (1.6)

The tenderer is required to draw up a personnel assignment plan (1.6.2) with explanatory notes that lists all the experts proposed in the tender; the plan includes information on assignment dates (duration and expert days) and locations of the individual members of the team complete with the allocation of work steps as set out in the schedule, including reasons for allocating specific expert profiles to the different work steps.

4. Personnel concept

The tenderer is required to provide personnel who are suited to filling the positions described, on the basis of their CVs (see Chapter 6), the range of tasks involved and the required qualifications.

The below specified qualifications represent the requirements to reach the maximum number of points in the technical assessment.

Team leader

Tasks of the team leader

• Overall responsibility for the service packages of the contractor (quality and deadlines)
• Coordinating and ensuring communication with GIZ, network partners and others involved in the project

Qualifications of the team leader

• Education/training (2.1.1): University degree in Business Administration
• Language (2.1.2): C2-level language proficiency in English
• General professional experience (2.1.3): 10 years of professional experience in the SME support sector
• Specific professional experience (2.1.4): 5 years of professional experience in designing training/coaching programs for SME;
• Leadership/management experience (2.1.5): 3 years of management/leadership experience as project team leader or manager in a company
• Development cooperation (DC) experience (2.1.7): 4 years of experience working in projects funded by international donors
• Other (2.1.8): demonstrated knowledge on design of gender-sensitive inclusive business development programs (e.g. 1 reference project implemented, 1 professional development course absolved).

Short-term expert pool 1 (min. 3, max. 6 experts)

Note on the assessment of the expert pool: an average score will be computed per criteria based on the CVs of all submitted experts.

Tasks of short-term expert pool 1

• Providing technical insights to guarantee the timely and high-quality delivery of service packages.
• Day-to-day communication with target group (women-led businesses) and implementation of the service packages

Qualifications of short-term expert pool 1

• Education/training (2.6.1): University degree in Business Administration
• Language (2.6.2): C1-level language proficiency in English, C2-level language proficiency in Kinyarwanda
• General professional experience (2.6.3): 8 years of professional experience in the SME support sector
• Specific professional experience (2.6.4): 4 years of experience analysing, training and one-on-one coaching of SME
• Other (2.6.7): demonstrated experience in implementing gender-sensitive, inclusive business development (e.g. 1 reference project implemented, 1 professional development course absolved).

Soft skills of team members

In addition to their specialist qualifications, the following qualifications are required of team members:

• Flexibility and constructive attitude in face of changing circumstances
• Excellent communication skills
• Collaborative working style
• Efficient partner- and client-focused working methods

The tenderer must provide a clear overview of all proposed short-term experts and their individual qualifications.

5. Costing requirements

The bidder is required to include in the expert fee the costs for the provision of adequate working space, workstations, all required IT and telecommunication equipment. None of these costs shall be reimbursed under this contract.

All business travel must be approved in advance by GIZ staff in writing. The amounts below for travel expenses and other costs are the GIZ standard rates.

Specification of inputs

6. Requirements on the format of the tender

The structure of the tender must correspond to the structure of the ToRs. In particular, the detailed structure of the concept (Chapter 3) should be organised in accordance with the positively weighted criteria in the assessment grid (criteria not weighted with zero). The tender must be legible (font size 11 or larger) and clearly formulated. It must be drawn up in English.

The complete tender must not exceed 5 pages (excluding CVs). If one of the maximum page lengths is exceeded, the content appearing after the cut-off point will not be included in the assessment. External content (e.g. links to websites) will also not be considered.

The CVs of the personnel proposed in accordance with Chapter 4 of the ToRs must be submitted using the format specified in the terms and conditions for application. The CVs shall not exceed 4 pages each. If one of the maximum page lengths is exceeded, the content appearing after the cut-off point will not be included in the assessment. CVs must clearly show the position and job the proposed person held in the reference project and for how long.

Please calculate your financial tender based exactly on the parameters specified in Chapter 5 Quantitative requirements. The contractor is not contractually entitled to use up the days, trips, workshops or budgets in full. The number of days, trips and workshops and the budgets will be contractually agreed as maximum limits. The specifications for pricing are defined in the price schedule.

Annex / Attachments

Submission of offer: The Expression of Interest should contain the following:

1. Technical Proposal:

• A cover letter expressing your interest in this assignment
• Technical proposal with a brief description of why you would be considered as the most suitable for the assignment, relevant expertise, and a detailed, clear methodology, your approach to complete the assignment, template attached.
• Company registration certificate (RDB)
• VAT-Registration certificate
• Latest tax clearance certificate
• Proof of successful completion of related assignments.

2. Financial Proposal: The price per service category must contain all relevant costs supported by a breakdown of each cost. The costs must be in RWF and VAT

Please submit electronically your EoI (technical & Financial offer) in 2 separated emails and should be in PDF files to this email ONLY: RW_Quotation@giz.de until latest 24^th May 2024

Please you must write on each email subject this sentence: 

83465109 Technical/financial offer, without this sentence, your offer may not be considered

Hard copies are not allowed this time

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