Call for Proposals to establish Women Entrepreneurial Opportunity Facility in South Sudan

Deadline: 25-Aug-23

The UN Women is requesting proposals from organizations with strong and proven capacity to establish and operationalize the Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Facility (WEOF).

Through this call for proposals, UN Women seeks proposals from INGOs with strong, prior experience in implementing women’s entrepreneurship skills and grants facilities to establish and operationalize the Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Facility (WEOF) in South Sudan.

The WEOF is designed to provide women entrepreneurs with critical access to training, technical advisory services, and financing as well as to address key barriers preventing women entrepreneurs from scaling up their businesses or entering new markets.

The WEOF will provide a complementary set of technical assistance and grants to women-owned small and growing businesses, supported by a robust governance mechanism. Common issues raised by businesswomen in South Sudan and where support is needed include advice and support in developing business plans and growth strategies; optimizing their business models; assessing market opportunities; investment readiness; formalization; sourcing, marketing, sales and distribution strategies; product certification; and access to export markets

The Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Facility (WEOF) is expected to be delivered by an INGO (or responsible party). The INGO may partnership with a private sector company or other non-government organizations, in which case, they will have to show proof of the partnership at the time of submitting the proposals, with clear indication of responsibilities/lead role. The proposed project duration is three (3) years starting September 1, 2023, to August 31, 2026. Consequently, interested INGOs are expected to submit proposals covering this period.

Design of the WEOF

• The facility will operate with the following three main sets of activities:
  • Seed Lab
    • Group-based trainings, and peer learning opportunities, to small-sized women-owned enterprises, combined with catalytic grants. The assistance in the Seed Lab will be limited to enterprises with the following characteristics:
      • Annual revenue/turnover: between USD 2,000-75,000
      • Team size: 2-10 employees
      • Traction: minimum 6 months of operations
      • Business model: nature of products/ services aligned with WEOF focus areas/archetypes.
      • Leadership: entrepreneur motivation for joining program and long-term goals.
    • Technical Assistance
      • Development of basic business management skills and financial literacy (e.g., organization, record keeping, negotiation, ICT/e-commerce etc.).
      • Support refining business models and strategy to more effectively and commercially deliver products and services.
      • Provide training on gender-responsiveness (e.g., gender-responsive procurement, the importance of gender balance in hiring and promotions, flexible work arrangements, and so on).
      • Provide peer learning opportunities and deeper mentorship to the businesses with the highest potential (likely based on their success in the pitch competition at the end of their training)
    • Financial Assistance
      • Catalytic grants of USD 2,500-4,500 to businesses with strong potential to help them make key investments for growth.
      • Financing Requirements: Seed Lab participants will need to meet the following requirements at minimum: the presentation of personal information (e.g. passport) and enterprise-level information (registration and legal documents, financial records, etc.).
  • Growth Lab.
    • Tailored, high-impact one-on-one capacity building for small to medium-sized SMEs, combined with catalytic grants and results-based financing. The assistance in the Growth Lab will be limited to enterprises with the following characteristics:
      • Annual revenue/turnover: at least USD 50,000
      • Team size: 11-50 employees.
      • Traction: minimum 2 years of operations.
      • Business model: products/services aligned with WEOF focus areas/archetypes.
      • Leadership: entrepreneur motivation for joining program and long-term goals.
    • Technical assistance
      • Business diagnostics to inform the design of technical assistance and financing.
      • Support developing strong company strategies and provide coaching for successful implementation.
      • Strengthen operational processes for better execution.
      • Investment readiness support.
      • Mentoring and coaching, as well as peer-learning opportunities
    • Financial Assistance
      • Catalytic grants of USD 20,000 – 40,000 for capital expenditure (CAPEX) and/or working capital.
      • Results-based financing (RBF) of USD 20,000 – 60,000 to incentivize achievement of desired milestones/outputs.
      • Financing Requirements: Growth Lab participants will both participants will need to meet the following requirements at minimum: the presentation of personal information (e.g. passport); enterprise-level information (registration and legal documents, financial records, etc.); detailed financial statements and business growth plans. To receive results-based follow-on financing, Growth Lab participants would need to present evidence that they had successfully utilized the first round of funding and achieved pre-agreed results.
  • WEOF Connect
    • A platform and community to enable women entrepreneurs to build networks, share learnings and sign up for diverse trainings, e.g., how to navigate South Sudan’s business regulatory environment. Access and participation will be available to Seed and Growth Lab participants, alumni, and high-potential South Sudanese SMEs identified across different value chains.
    • The Responsible Party (RP) will be responsible for the following:
      • Recruit and oversee sub-contractors with experience in gender and women entrepreneurship to deliver all aspects of Seed Lab and Growth Lab across three-year program;
      • Establish WEOF governance mechanisms, including Supervisory and Grants & Technical Assistance (TA) Committee, and establish objective criteria for applicant selection (Seed Lab and Growth Lab) and allocation of results-based financing for Growth Lab;
      • Conduct awareness campaigns to attract women-led Small and Growing Businesses (SGB) applicants to the Seed Lab and Growth Lab;
      • Establish, build relationships with, and prepare meetings of the Supervisory Committee and Grants & TA Committee;
      • Execute or sub-contract the management of WEOF Connect, including all its activities;
      • Write the project operations manual that details all aspects of the operationalization of the WEOF;
      • Provide monthly progress reports to Supervisory Committee;
      • Recruit women-led SGBs into the program, including through outreach events, workshops, and marketing;
      • Develop selection criteria to be used to short-list and select SGB applicants;
      • Support Seed Lab team and Growth Lab team in screening SGB applicants into the respective labs and preparing shortlist for consideration by Grants & TA Committee;
      • Manage financial disbursements to women-led SGBs, including managing the results-based finance disbursements.
    • To perform these services, it is expected that the International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) should resource the WEOF with an equivalent team structure that can address the following roles and responsibilities:
      • Facility Managing Director (FMD): Oversees all operating activities of the facility, including the core team and the sub-contractors, and leads senior stakeholder relationship management
      • Facility Manager (FM): Supports the FMD in facility oversight and with daily responsibilities, including marketing and awareness building as well as managing WEOF Connect activities, and oversees SME shortlisting
      • Finance/Admin Associate: Manages WEOF finances and supports administration.
      • M&E Associate: Runs all monitoring & evaluation activities, including data collection from SMEs, analyses, and reporting.

Roles

• Role I: Establish and help oversee WEOF governance bodies
  • Establish a Supervisory Committee and ensure a balanced composition of members from the Government, World Bank, UN Women, the private sector, civil society, in business networks.
  • Establish and oversee Grants & TA Committee, including ensuring balanced membership from a rotating set of Supervisory Committee Members, the International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO), and Seed and Growth Lab Managers, as well as ensuring it efficiently performs its program admission and grant recommendation and disbursement functions.
  • Determine criteria used to admit firms into the Seed Lab and Growth Lab, as well as for the size of grants and disbursement of results-based financing for select Growth Lab participant firms.
• Role II: Manage senior stakeholder relationships, core teams, and subcontractors
  • Interact regularly with a diverse range of actors such as UN Women, MGCSW, GoSS, civil society organizations, media organizations, private sector actors, other donors, all program stakeholders, and women entrepreneurs’ networks;
  • Manage all sub-contractors.
• Role III: Oversee all facility operations
  • Marketing and awareness building;
  • Women-led SGB shortlisting and scoping of technical and financial support packages;
  • Coordination and integration of activities across the Labs and WEOF Connect;
  • Quality assurance for all activities conducted and services provided;
  • Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E).
• Role IV: Manage WEOF Connect
  • Collaborate with coworking spaces for entrepreneur ‘hot desk’ access and venue rentals that are accessible and safe for women;
  • Facilitate peer learning and exchange sessions with relevant authorities and experts;
  • Facilitate networking events for all WEOF participants, including alumni;
  • Source marketing agency for a national awareness campaign for labs, develop messaging, and monitor.

Funding Information

• The budget range for this proposal should be (Min USD 8 Million – Max.10 Million).

Timeframe

• The WEOF will be a three-year program, running from 2023-2026. A Responsible Party is expected to be successfully recruited by end of September 2023. Further, with the Responsible Party in place, screened, and accepted, Seed and Growth Lab applicants should be ready to begin their training programs no later than January 2024.

Component Outputs/Results

• The following are the key outputs/results to be achieved during the implementation of this component utilizing the WEOF:
  • Output 1: 1,200 Women are better equipped to establish and grow profitable Small and Growing Businesses (SBGs), through their improved access to technical assistance, and business and financial management skills.           
    • Sub-component 1.1. Technical Assistance to Women Entrepreneurs.
      • Through the WEOF, the project will provide technical assistance and capacity building to women entrepreneurs to enable them to grow their business enterprises. Technical Assistance (TA) to be provided will include, business model development, operational efficiency, sales and customer relationship management, HR management, effective FM to optimize profitability and growth, good financial management practices (e.g., separation of household and business finances) use of sales and discounts, product selection, etc. the TA will also include leadership and personal initiative training and coaching, which will consist of psychological entrepreneurship training/coaching to equip women entrepreneurs with a proactive mind-set and to strengthen business confidence.
    • Anticipated Result: Number of women owned SGBs receiving technical assistance.
    • Target: By end of 3 years, a total of 1,200 women entrepreneurs have received technical assistance for them to grow their business enterprises.
  • Output 2: 200 women-led businesses are boosted through the provision of business grants and financial assistance.
    • Sub-component 2.1: Provision of Grants to women entrepreneurs.
      • The project will also provide business grants to up to 200 women entrepreneurs through the Seed Lab and Growth Lab described above. The project will deploy catalytic grants to businesses with strong potential to help them make critical investments for growth. The precise size of the grants will be determined by a market assessment and facility design consultancy managed by the World Bank on behalf of the MGCSW. Under this component, it is anticipated that four (4) to five (5) women-owned SGBs will graduate to the next level through access to market-based finance.
    • Anticipated Result: Number of women owned SGBs receiving business grants.
    • Target: By end of 3 years, a total of 200 women entrepreneurs will have grown their businesses from grants they have received.
  • Output 3: Strong management of the WEOF
    • Sub-component 3.1: Establishment of the WEOF Supervisory Committee
      • Under this sub-component, the project will establish a WEOF Supervisory Committee. The selected Responsible Party will lead in the establishment of an overall Supervisory Committee to provide strategic oversight & support, with a separate grants & TA committee. This governance arrangement will ensure smooth management and mitigate the risk of potential bias accusations in the management of the facility. The final governance arrangements will be agreed with the MGCSW. The Responsible Party will oversee all facility operations, marketing and awareness building, SGB shortlisting and M&E
    • Anticipated Result: A Supervisory Committee is established and well-informed to provide strategic oversight & support to the establishment and operationalization of the WEOF.
    • Target:
      • By the end of 2023, a supervisory committee is in place.
      • Supervisory Committee is provided with monthly progress reports for the duration of the project.
      • Regular meetings of the supervisory committee meetings are held throughout the project lifecycle.

Competencies

• The selection of the Responsible Party will be based on the following criteria:
  • At least 7 years of experience in establishing and operationalization of entrepreneurship facilities that provide business/financial grants/loans and entrepreneurial skills to women-owned businesses.
  • At least 3 years of field experience in Africa and preferably in South Sudan.
  • At least 7 years proven experience in managing complex, multi-year, private sector and donor-supported development programs in Africa with focus on economic growth, resilience building, and market systems development.
  • Demonstrated record of achieving results, using innovative and experimental programmatic approaches, and consortium management and management of sub-contractors.
  • At least 7 years’ experience in project grants management, including project design and sub-grant management, budget management, governance, preferably for grants from multiple public donors and large private foundations.
  • Good knowledge of SGB ecosystem in South Sudan, as well as industry/market associations representing and working with women led SGBs and Government agencies whose policies bear on their success/growth.
  • Strong capacity in monitoring business performance and the development of sector-specific performance assessment tools/improvement plans
  • Key staff have at least 5 years’ relevant experience in SGBs support, especially women-led firms in Africa.
  • Ability to locate WEOF-focused staff on the ground in South Sudan for extended periods to advance key work streams (the bidder need not have a permanent presence in South Sudan).
  • Have presence (an office with staff capacity) in South Sudan. Alternatively, applicants should demonstrate that they have existing partnerships or will establish partnerships with CSOs/NGOs in South Sudan. In such cases, applicants will indicate potential partnerships and will subsequently need to enter an MOU as part of this engagement.

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