BACKGROUND
The Government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, is preparing the Sierra Leone Agro processing Competitiveness Project with financing from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group. This project was developed to support the government’s strategic objectives to promote private sector development, achieve economic diversification, and boost agricultural productivity. The project development objective is to improve the business environment in agribusiness sector and increase productivity of targeted agro-processing firms in Sierra Leone. Achieving the project objective contributes directly to strengthening agro processing competitiveness, which is defined as the ability of agro-processing firms to generate new investments and increase market share in goods and services through improved productivity. Productivity depends on improving the quality of the business environment and capability of the economy, including skills and capacity of institutions that provide services to local and foreign investors.
Brief Description of the Project
The project consists of three components:
Component 1: Promote enabling environment for agro processing sector competitiveness and growth of agribusiness firms
The objective of this component is to help reduce burdensome agribusiness sector regulations that constrain productivity and weaken incentives of existing agribusiness firms and SMEs to reinvest earnings or make new investments for sector growth and competitiveness. Project interventions also aim to improve the quantity and quality of existing agro-processing investments through enhanced focus on agribusiness investment retention and expansion and strengthening institutional capabilities that will facilitate investment and trade by agro processing firms and SMEs.
Sub-component 1.1: Enabling business regulations for competitive agro-processing. The sub-component aims to strengthen the business environment for agribusiness investors. Project support will help identify business regulations that distort or create dis-incentives for agro-processing investments, operations, and enhance dialogue between the public and private sector on agribusiness sector reform priorities. Project outputs are expected to strengthen sector productivity and competitiveness by reducing business and regulatory burdens as well as provide enhanced service delivery for agribusiness investors. The project will finance an integrated set of activities focusing on: (i) generating evidence and good practices on environmental impact assessment for agribusiness to simplify EIA procedures, reducing cost for obtaining environmental licenses, and ensuring that the existing legal framework for EIA is adequate and (ii) strengthening Public Private Dialogue mechanism to provide a structured platform for systematic engagement between the public sector and private investors in the agribusiness subsector. Specific support will include technical assistance to inform the business and regulatory reform agenda as well as funding of research and advocacy to set priorities for policy reform and strengthen engagement among public and private sector stakeholders in selected agribusiness value chains.
Sub-component 1.2: Targeted retention and expansion of agribusiness investors by the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA). This sub-component will support SLIEPA to develop and implement an aftercare program for the retention and expansion for agribusiness investors. It will include: (i) investor perception survey to generate a solid evidence base that would increase understanding of the factors that influence the investment decisions of foreign and domestic agribusiness investors and provide an analysis of current and future trends and prospects based on perception of the investment climate; (ii) implementation support for agribusiness investor retention and after care, including development of a menu of relevant and high quality investor aftercare services, capacity building, development of systems and tools (investment information system, investor relationship management system, standards operating procedures, etc.); (iii) investment grievance mechanisms to identify mechanisms to address investor grievances in the Sierra Leonean context, including host agency, and potentially establish a Systemic Investor Response Mechanism (SIRM); and (iv) devising capacity building plans to strengthen the capacity of the technical staff to be able to advocate and advice on issues relating to agribusiness investment promotion, export development and policy advocacy. Support for capacity building will focus on study tours and experience sharing visits to learn from and benchmark achievements from other Investment Promotion Agencies.
Sub-component 1.3: Building institutional capabilities in the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB) to improve market access for SMEs. This sub-component aims to strengthen institutional capacity at the SLSB to improve capabilities for enhanced compliance with standards and conformity assessments in Sierra Leone. Specifically, technical assistance will be provided to support: (i) diagnostic assessment of the current status quo of Quality Infrastructure, (QI), institutions, verification of the demand for the QI services, identify essential QI services, and training needs;(ii) identification of key compliance challenges for agro processors, SMEs, and other actors in selected agro-processing value chain; (iii) initiatives to comply with regional and international market standards in selected agro-processing value chain; (iv) upgrade of institutional capacity at the SLSB to address key compliance challenges and solutions that will expand market opportunities for agro processors and SMEs in targeted value chain; (v) information dissemination and publishing on the SLSB website; and (vi) stakeholder engagement and round table events and coordination of other stakeholders.
Sub-component 1.4: Support to MTI, MAFFS, and SMEDA for stronger SME coordination. In addition to institutional support for SLIEPA and SLSB, the project will support specific capacity building efforts (functional capacity building) at MTI and SMEDA to strengthen their capacity to provide clearly defined services to support agro-processing, including enhanced institutional coordination for SMEs and other private sector actors, strategic planning, and priority setting. Specifically, the project will support:
Component 2: Firm-level support to increase productivity and strengthen competitiveness of agro-processing firms and SMEs in selected value chains.
The objective of this component is to increase the productivity and competitiveness of agro-processing SMEs and their suppliers in selected value chains. The project will help improve SME productivity and competitiveness through (i) establishment of a dedicated SME Technical Assistance Facility, (SME TA Facility), as the main instrument for providing technical advice, implementation support, and business development service and (ii) provision of matching grants for capital investments and technical assistance to implement SME action plans.
Sub-component 2.1 Firm-Level TA and Capacity Building of Ecosystem Players. This sub-component aims to upgrade SME productivity and competitiveness through the establishment of an SME Technical Assistance Facility. The SME TA Facility is expected to reach a total of 150 SMEs over the project life. Of these 150, 60 SMEs are expected to develop action plans that will be supported by the matching grants in sub-component 2.2. The TA facility will serve as an innovative instrument for the provision of hands-on business advisory and technical assistance to SMEs, upstream and downstream market linkages for SMEs, and investments in business innovations to companies at different stages of development within the agro-processing sub sector as well as to those providing goods and services to the agro-processing sub sector.
Sub-component 2.2: Provision of matching grants to SMEs: The TA Facility will make available the use of matching grant funds for the following purposes:
The matching grant will be managed by the TA facility, the Facility Manager supported by a service provider with experience managing similar grant schemes. There will be an investment committee, comprising of both public and private sector participants, including financial and agri-businesses experts that would evaluate SME submissions for matching grants. The investment committee will recommend potential SME beneficiaries to the Facility Manager for funding decisions. The details of selection and evaluation of proposals matching grants will be fully described in the operational manual.
Component 3: Project implementation, Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation.
The overall day to day coordination and management of the project will be carried out by a dedicated Project Coordination Unit, (PCU), under the supervision of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The PCU will be comprised of a lean team of specialists with strong project management experience whose sole function will be coordinating and managing the technical components of the project. The project will specifically support: (i) PCU staff salaries, equipment and operating costs, including operational costs required to coordinate project implementation and the costs of the National Project Steering Committee. The PCU will have primary responsibility for implementing the non-fiduciary aspects of project activities. The Project Fiduciary Management Unit, (PFMU), established under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, will be responsible for all fiduciary functions, including procurement, financial management, monitoring and evaluation, and internal audit. The Project will pay a management fee to the PFMU for the support of project related fiduciary functions. Even though monitoring and evaluation is housed in the PFMU, the project is expected to recruit a M&E officer that will be responsible for establishing an effective monitoring and evaluation framework and collect data to track performance on outcome, intermediate outcome, ant output indicators. This is necessary because the role of the PFMU is to collate data on project performance from project M&E staff.
Description of the Position
The Project Coordination Unit, (PCU), has a vacancy for a Manager for the SME TA Facility. The SME TA Facility will serve as the main instrument for providing technical advice, implementation support, business development services, and provision of matching grants to beneficiary SMEs and agribusiness firms supported by the Agro-processing Competitiveness Project. The incumbent will report to the PCU Coordinator for the Agro Processing Competitiveness Project.
Purpose of Position: The SME TA Facility Manager will be responsible for developing and executing the SME TA Facility’s strategy, recruiting and managing a lean team, developing and managing a diverse set of partnerships particularly with the SMEDA, continuously adapting and refining the Facility’s service offering, overseeing the planning and administration of the Facility, and directing all activities which support the Facility’s growth and mission.
Main Responsibilities
The SME Technical Assistance Facility Manager is expected to execute the following responsibilities:
Strategy and Planning
Client Relationship Management
Product and Business Development
General Management
Ecosystem integration
Self-Improvement
Others
Performs other job related duties as necessary or as assigned by the PCU.
Selection Criteria: This role requires a combination of technical and operational skills, in-depth expertise in relevant areas, and a high-level of motivation. The following qualifications are sought:
Mode of Application
All applications in writing should be accompanied by up-to-date Curriculum Vitae and supporting documents (Note: do not send originals) with the names and addresses of three referees, one of which should be the last or current employer and addressed to:
The Secretariat
Project Fiduciary Management Unit
Ministry of Finance
Africanus House, 1st Floor
13A Howe Street
Freetown, Sierra Leone
or
By E-mail application as attachment (including all supporting documents) to: pfmu2018@gmail.com
Please indicate clearly on the envelop (in the case of hard copy application) or in the email subject heading and attachment (in the case of electronic applications) the post for which application is made.
QUALIFIED WOMEN ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.
Closing Date:
The Closing Date and time for receipt of applications is 14th September, 2018 at 2:00 pm GMT.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
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Please, refer Kaleta.co in your application, as source of the opening.
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