Deadline: 24-Mar-23
The United Nations Development Programme is inviting proposals for innovation challenge awards to support financial intermediaries and fintech firms to develop, design, pilot, and scale up financial products and services targeting informal enterprises and entrepreneurs.
The project is implemented by UNDP in partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO). The project aims todevelop and support the implementation of favourable regulatory conditions and relevant incentives for businesses to formalize. The project also addresses capacity constraints and facilitatesthe provision of innovative products and services for informal enterprises. These enterprises will be trained and strengthened to address non-regulatory bottlenecks which pertain to a lack of awareness and capacity in terms of business skills, financial and digital literacy to adapt available tools to improve productivity and enhance access to both finance and markets. At the level of key intermediaries in the informal sector ecosystem, in particular aggregators (start-ups accelerators and incubators) and financial intermediaries create.
Objectives
- This call for proposals for innovation challenge awards aims to support financial intermediaries (commercial banks, insurers, credit unions, microfinance institutions, community banks and Financial Services Associations) and fintech firms to develop, design, pilot, and scale up financial products and services targeting informal enterprises and entrepreneurs
Funding Information
- Up to US$ 150,000 to enable them to design, pilot and scale-up financial products/services targeting informal enterprises and, entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone.
- Duration of the Activity: one year
Location: Sierra Leone.
Eligibility Criteria
- All registered financial intermediaries (commercial banks, insurers, credit unions, microfinance institutions, community banks, and Financial Services Associations) and fintechs operating in the country. These may include financial institutions (Banks, MFIs, SACCOS, and others); Payment Service Providers; Agent Banking Aggregators; Mobile Network Operators; technology providers; E-commerce platform providers; FinTech companies.
- The potential applicants should meet the following criteria: –
- The applicant must be a registered entity with at least 3 years of operations in the country.
- They should have long-term viability and financially sustainable solutions.
- Experience working with MSMEs will be considered an added advantage.
- Applicants with product development experience would be an added advantage. The idea to be supported presents an opportunity for replicability and is built on technologies or methodologies that are adaptable to various contexts.
- Additionality to other existing financial solutions to maximise impact and value proposition for the target group.
Criteria for Shortlisting the Proposals
- UNDP will set up an evaluation committee, to review all proposals received using UNDP’s principles of fairness and integrity.
- The following criteria will guide the selection of the winning proposal:
- Company’s performance/track record and product development experience (30%)
- Financial viability of the proposed financial product scalability, catalytic effect, (30%)
- Impact of the proposed financial product and its feasibility with the available resources and partner contributions (40%).
For more information, visit UNDP.