Over the past year, the Global Development Incubator (GDI) and the Council on Smallholder Agricultural Finance (CSAF) have teamed up to develop Aceli Africa, a market-based platform to increase lending to inclusive agricultural SMEs in East Africa. With support from leading bilateral and philanthropic funders, including Ceniarth, DFID, MacArthur Foundation, MasterCard Foundation, Open Society Foundation, Rabo Foundation, Small Foundation, and USAID, Aceli Africa is now poised to transition from design to set up and launch in early 2020.

Agricultural SMEs that link smallholder farmers to markets, generate employment, and increase the availability of food in domestic markets have the potential to make significant contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goals 1 (no poverty), 2 (zero hunger), 5 (gender equality), 8 (decent work), 13 (climate action), and 15 (life on land). However, agri-SMEs have yet to realize this potential in large part because they fall into the “missing middle” in the capital markets – i.e., too large for microfinance but unable to access loans from commercial banks – a gap that is estimated at $65 billion across Sub-Saharan Africa.

To address the agricultural missing middle, Aceli Africa proposes a demonstration model that includes financial incentives for lenders and technical assistance for agricultural SMEs in order to mobilize $700M in agri-SME financing in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda by 2025. The technical assistance facility will help address constraints such as lack of organized financial records that prevent SMEs from accessing credit and growing to realize their potential. Lenders and other referral partners will be able to recommend high-potential enterprises that need technical assistance. The enterprises will be approved to work with a network of accredited TA providers and receive vouchers to cover a portion of the TA costs.

Aceli Africa is looking to bring on a consultant to develop a $10M technical assistance facility, incorporating lessons learnt from existing market interventions, in order to address specific gaps in the agricultural finance sector. The consultant will build upon the existing Aceli Africa concept for a TA facility, as well as a mapping of initiatives on both the capital supply and demand sides, that Aceli Africa is conducting in each of the four focus countries and that will be completed in September.

It is expected that the assignment will commence in October 2019 and will be concluded within a period of 6 calendar months. Following the completion of the assignment, there may be an opportunity to join the Aceli Africa team to manage the TA facility. The consultant will be based in Nairobi and work closely with Aceli Africa team and GDI Kenya. S/he will receive guidance from and report to the Head of Operations for Aceli Africa.

The consultant will i) enhance the existing knowledge base regarding effective technical assistance for agricultural SMEs through additional information gathering; ii) draw upon these inputs to design the parameters for the facility; and iii) set up the facility so that it is ready to launch in Q2 2020. Specifically, the consultant will:

• Benchmark other TA funds for agricultural SMEs, as well as relevant learning from other sectors, to identify best practices around design and implementation of TA facilities for the target market.
• Build upon existing relationships developed by Aceli Africa to engage TA providers, diagnostic partners, and referral partners with the aim of identifying their capacity to increase addressable demand for finance among agricultural SMEs. 
• Assess ability of agri-SMEs to pay for technical assistance and benchmark against other models in the market.  
• Manage the process for selecting referral partners, diagnostic partners, and TA providers for implementation.
• Develop processes and procedures to implement the TA facility.

Deliverables 

• Project document detailing the design and objectives of the proposed TA facility, including an overview of the market gaps, solution and delivery approach, key stakeholders to involve, an implementation plan with budget, and the expected results
• Procedures and tools for the selection and management of referral partners, diagnostic providers, and technical assistance providers
• Policy guide for delivery of technical assistance to agricultural SMEs
• Selection of implementation partners (i.e. referral partners, diagnostic providers, and TA providers)
• Standardized one-day diagnostic tool for assessing the capacity of agricultural SMEs designed in coordination with implementation partners
• Process flow for how referrals proceed from diagnostic to TA provision, including payment parameters, reporting requirements, and oversight
• Inputs into evaluation plan developed in coordination with Aceli Africa research partner 
• Inputs into procedures for managing the Facility Administrator that will accredit TA providers and issue vouchers to SMEs eligible for TA.

The consultant should have: 

• A minimum of a Master’s degree in Business Administration or a related field
• 7-10 years’ experience in Technical Assistance project design and implementation preferably in East Africa
• Minimum 3 years of experience in agricultural finance
• Experience delivering TA interventions that address challenges faced in the agricultural value chains
• Deep sector networks in the private sector and development organizations involved in supporting finance for agricultural SME
• Have a good understanding of financial institutions’ approaches to SME lending and risk mitigation strategies
• Willingness to travel across East Africa
• Availability to commence the assignment immediately
• Excellent report writing and communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and communicate regularly and clearly with remote supervision 

Consultants should submit the following documents: i) CV including three references ii) cover letter summarizing the candidate’s relevant experience and interest in the consultancy as well as expected fees.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis; the final date for submission is 16 September 2019.