PROJECT NAME: ADFI WSME Program: Enhanced Access to Finance Leveraging Data and Technology
COUNTRIES: Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique
DURATION: Eighteen (18) Months
START DATE: 01 SEPTEMBER 2025
DESCRIPTION: Firm/s consultancy services for the ADFI WSME Program _ Digital Financial Services Capacity Building
EXPERTISE: Extensive M/WSME capacity building experience; understanding of general andcountry specific gender and ecosystem access to finance dynamics; experience in digital financial services training and technological solutions relevant for M/WSME’S; application of research and human centered design for solutions training program development; experience designing and implementing large scale training programs; ability to design innovative and interactive training programs
The African Development Bank hereby invites Consulting Firms to indicate their interest in the following Assignment: DFS Capacity Building _ ADFI WSME Program: Enhanced Access to Finance Leveraging Data and Technology _ Country name, Country name, Country name, etc
The Assignment will be implemented simultaneously in 5 target countries namely; Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Mozambique, over a two and a half year period. The Consulting Firm/s will act as the program Implementing Agency (IA) in the target countries spearheading implementation and working with select service providers.
Achieving gender parity for development is a key objective of the Bank for which enhanced access to finance and technical support for upskilling women led businesses is paramount. In addition to its internal efforts to drive this critical agenda through the gender department and aligned thematic funds, the Bank works in collaboration with external partners to ensure a singleness of purpose for maximum impact.
The Bank has received Technical Assistance funding from the Women Entrepreneurship Finance Initiative, We-Fi, to implement the ADFI WSME Program “ Enhanced Access to Finance Leveraging Data and Technology” in five target countries namely; Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Mozambique. The program aims to leverage technology and data, tools that have transformed and accelerated inclusion in Africa, to support women businesses build resilience and improve overall efficiency, as well as work with financial service providers and the broader financial ecosystem to design responsive solutions.
You can learn more about the Banks gender work, We-Fi and ADFI at these links: We-Fi Finance Code | We-Fi Program | AfDB 2021 - 2025 Gender Strategy | Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) .
The WSME definition under this program is outlined below:
- ≥ 51% owned by a woman/women
- ≥ 20% owned by a woman/women; and have ≥ 1 woman as CEO/COO (President/Vice President) and have ≥ 30% of the Board of Directors comprised of women where a Board exists.
- Financing between USD 5,000 and USD 1 million
- Between 5 and 300 employees
- Sales between USD 50,000 and USD 15 million
OBJECTIVES
The program globally aims to provide WSME digital financial services capacity building to at least 12,000 WSMEs and provide digital solutions and credit to at least 8,000 WSMEs in the pilot and scale phase.
The program targets to leverage the We-Fi technical assistance funding to mobilise WSME credit funding of at least USD one hundred and five (USD 105,000,000) million across the five participating countries or an average of USD twenty one (21) million per country.
PROGRAM COMPONENTS
The program implementation comprises seven components namely, ecosystem review and stakeholder identification; partnerships development and country level program design; research and human centric product development; product stakeholder testing, training piloting and go to market planning; product scaling; communications, knowledge management, audit and project closure; overall program management. This Assignment focuses on Component 5: WSME DFS Capacity Building. The table below provides a brief description of the program components.
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COMPONENT |
DESCRIPTION |
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Component 1 |
Ecosystem Review and Stakeholder Identification
Working in liaision with the team at the AFDB and ADFI, the Implementing Agency will help identify service providers and WSMEs to participate in the program design and implementation
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Component 2 |
Partnerships Development and Country Level Program Design
Further to ecosystem review and participant identification, based on need, partnerships will be developed to facilitate effective program implementation and country level programs designed and completed. |
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Component 3 |
Research, human centered design (HCD) and Pilot Undertake HCD research on WSMEs, and engagement with providers, to inform the design of responsive financial solutions that help mitigate risk, drive business growth and enhance efficiency. This phase will include stakeholder training and culminate in a test and pilot run with a select number of WSMEs
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Component 4 |
Go to Market and Pilot Scale
IA working with the EA and program partners to develop go to market plans to disseminate and drive product and service uptake of the scale phase |
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Component 5 |
Capacity building for WSMEs, and other stakeholders on leverage of data and technology for improved business performance and access to finance, as well as on responsive digital products and business best practice
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Component 6 |
Project Management Project Management . The Implementing Agency will be responsible for onsite project management to ensure technical and operational delivery of the program. They will work directly with the Executing Agency (the Lead Financial Service Provider) in liaison with the other participating service providers
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Component 7 |
Knowledge Management (KM), Audit and Project Closure: Knowledge management will happen at all technical components and will culminate in a final KM outcome. The communications, advocacy and KM are integral program activities and will be agreed at the program planning stage. The IA in liaision with the EA and program partners will lead this component of the TA. As project manager, in liaison with the EA, they will support the closure phase of the program.
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IMPLEMENTATION AND REPORTING ARRANGEMENT
Implementing Agency/ies will be the Banks primary contact with Executing Agency/ies, other program partners and participating WSMEs, working closely with the assigned in-country Bank teams and a program lead who will serve as the focal point. As a Service Provider, the firm/s recruited for the DFS Capacity Building workstream will work under the guidance of the Implementing Agency and the Bank’s program lead (PL) and country level assigned task manager/officer. The PL will provide direct oversight for the Bank/ADFI team across the entire program and will actively engage with in-country Bank teams assigned to the program, the Implementing Agency and program service providers and participants, as and when required. They will participate in partnership development and product design engagements, ensuring quality and alignment with the Bank, ADFI and We-Fi objectives, streamline stakeholder communication, consolidate inputs, flag challenges requiring intervention, closely monitor developments, attend key engagements as needed etc, all with a view to supporting a seamless and timely program delivery.
The WSME Capacity Building service provider/s will establish overall and country level project implementation teams with assigned leads who liaise as focal points with the EA, IA, PL and Bank assigned task manager/officer.
Interested consulting firms must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the WSME capacity buildings services (brochures, description of and experience in similar assignments, adequate availability of appropriate skills, etc). The firms should demonstrate/provide;
- Comprehensive understanding of MSME and WSME issues and financing options
- Extensive record of working with WSMEs on digital financial solutions and general finance, governance and capacity building programs
- Adequate professional teams to deliver the projects on an accelerated basis without compromising on quality
- Evidence of delivery of innovative and engaging training programs using hybrid approaches
- Demonstrable experience on the Bank and We-Fi gender programs or projects is an added advantage
- Ability to provide multi lingual training programs and material
- Consulting Firms may submit the EOI with respect to one or more countries. Multi country submissions and experience, will be a highly added advantage.
- Working level fluency in english will be required for all applicants with bilingual teams fluent in french and Portuguese for Cameroon and Mozambique teams
- Summary work plan and proposed implementation methodology
Whereas Consulting Firms may partner with other entitities to deliver on this assignment, contracting will be with the applying/lead firm and they will remain responsible for full delivery of their scope of work. Evidence of MOU’s and partnership agreements will be required prior to contracting, with the Bank’s No Objection a pre-requisite for any proposed changes. Applying firms should provide high level details of proposed/ potential partnerships at the REOI submission stage and their expected role.
Eligibility criteria establishment of the short-list and the selection procedure shall be in accordance with the African Development Bank’s “Rules and Procedures for the use of Consulting firms.”
The estimated duration of the DFS capacity building aspect of the project and contract is eighteen (18) months (end-to-end), structured as a one off contract.
The duty station for the role will be a hybrid of remote and onsite. The service provider should specify their proposed approach to this aspect in their REOI submission. Specifics will be agreed at the negotiation stage.
The target date for commencement of the contract is 1st September 2025.
Expressions of interest must be delivered to the e-mail address below by 17.00 hours Abidjan Local time on 23 May 2025, and with the title and/or mention “Expression of Interest DFS Capacity Building _ADFI WSME Program: Enhanced Access to Finance Leveraging Data and Technology _Country name, Country name, Country name”.
The Expression of interest must be delivered (via pdf electronic copy) to the address below for the attention of: ADFI Team
Email: [email protected]
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SHORT LIST
A shortlist of three to six consulting firms will be established at the end of the REOI to proceed to request for proposal stage. Shortlisted firms will be judged on the following criteria:
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Criteria |
Weights |
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Experience relevant to the Assignment |
20% |
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Understanding of the Terms of Reference and proposed methodology |
20% |
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Relevant experience and qualifications of key personnel |
35% |
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Experience with the Bank/Multilaterals, We-Fi programs, gender programs |
15 % |
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Relevant experience and/or operations in the target countries/continent |
10% |
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Total |
100 % |
Note: Due to anticipated volume of submissions, the Bank will only provide comprehensive responses to shortlisted applicants.