Consultant: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Technical Assistance Facility Manager Consultancy

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:

1. • Component 1: Promote enabling environment for agro-processing sector competitiveness and growth of agribusiness firms
   • Component 2: Component 2: Firm-level support to increase productivity and strengthen competitiveness of agro-processing firms and SMEs in selected value chains
   • Component 3: Project implementation, coordination, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E)

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:

• MTI to strengthen their capacity to (i) provide clearly defined services that support agro processing, including enhanced institutional coordination for agro processing actors and related institutions and other private sector actors, strategic planning, and priority identification; (ii) strengthen communication activities to disseminate the significance of the project, expected deliverables, and linkages with other projects; (iii) support development of a cadre of senior and mid -level professionals on agribusiness through targeted training activities.
• MAFFS – Support “Just In Time Agrimarket Initiative” to create business linkages between producers of agricultural commodities, processors and consumers and provide timely information about the availability and demand for agricultural commodities to support agro processing and marketing. Project support will be directed toward the provision of logistics for effective communication and information dissemination and capacity building for field staff.
• SMEDA – institutional development at SMEDA focusing on (i) review laws, policies and/or institutions to inform the formulation of reform proposals for a more conducive environment for sustainable enterprises and (ii) support for implementation of the Country operational plan for market-driven BDS provision to MSMEs (action plan for coherence amongst MSME players, guidelines for environmentally-friendly and viable business models for support services to women and men entrepreneurs in fragile setting).

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.

1. • Direct Implementation Support to SMEs: The project will aim to recruit cohorts of between 15 to 20 SMEs annually to join the SME TA Facility as beneficiaries, in which they will receive specialized deep dive diagnostic services, and technical assistance to implement specific action plans. The project will source SMEs to join the Facility through relationships with known lead firms, supermarkets, industry associations (such as SLECAD and the Association of Small-Scale Manufacturers), and previous and ongoing donor projects’ application lists (such as the Sierra Leone Agribusiness Development Fund, SLADF). Business action plans will describe specific managerial, technical, production, operational, supply chain, or marketing gaps, and suggest tailored solutions to address bottlenecks. SME support will involve training modalities that will include coaching/handholding through the venture lifecycle, involving one-to-one personalized training, and mentoring to growth-oriented enterprises, based on their specific demand.
   • Access to day-to-day services: The SME TA Facility will provide access to a suite of “everyday” BDS, such as accounting, legal, financial, and technical services, along with access to shared physical workspace, housed in the PIU offices.
   • Market Linkages Facilitation: The TA Facility will aim to facilitate both upstream and downstream market linkages for SMEs. The SME TA Facility will provide information such as regular spot prices of agricultural goods, market intelligence that forecasts information on a range of products, and updated quality and quantity demands from buyers will strengthen the entire market system for agro-processed products. The SME TA Facility will also play a key role in helping to foster commercial linkages between various market chain actors, that will include corporate lead firms, supermarkets, distributors, and input suppliers by utilizing a “bottom-up” approach, customizing training to the needs of SMEs to position them as suppliers to larger firms that have been pre-identified.
   • Ecosystem Strengthening: The TA Facility will help strengthen the wider agribusiness market ecosystem by supporting existing initiatives that have proved successful, such as pitch nights, entrepreneur meetups and coffee hours, farmers’ markets, and hackathons. The Facility will also address overall coordination gaps in the wider ecosystem, with an aim toward connecting SMEs to other market chain actors, by communicating the needs of wider market actors to the SMEs. This could include delivering specific trainings to market chain actors, such as supermarkets, distributors, transport and logistics companies, wholesalers, and input suppliers. Including in the ecosystem strengthening is enhanced support to BDS providers on agribusiness-specific topics.

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:

• Matching grants for capital investment: The TA Facility will manage a fund that will provide matching grants to selected SMEs for specific business or operational needs that are identified in the action plans developed as part of the deep dive exercise conducted to help upgrade SME productivity and competitiveness
• Matching grants for technical assistance and expert advice: Grants will be made available to SMEs to fund advice by an outside expert consultant, advisor, or from a service that can be provided by a BDS provider from a roster of providers that have been trained and credentialed by the Facility. This will occur when an SME’s business action plan has identified specific technical assistance areas that the firm could benefit from, that exist outside the expertise contained internally within the Facility (design, packaging services, supply chain consultancy etc.). This window will provide grant funding to selected SMEs to cover the expenses of such advisory services, and can cover up to 80 percent of the total support costs, with firm contribution being either cash or in-kind.

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

• Prepares an annual business plan to achieve the SME TA Facility’s mission and a sustainable business model.
• Implements a results-based management framework to ensure the continual development of the Facility. Introduces and monitors Key Performance Indicators and Key Performance Targets for the Facility. Analyses performance against Key Performance Indicators and Key Performance Targets and takes corrective action as appropriate.
• Work with key staff in the PCU and PFMU to develop the Facility’s human resource, financial and operations planning and recommends goals for program development.
• Plan Facility’s service offerings.
• Seek strategic relationship with key partners such as the SMEDA and other development partner business advisory initiatives that support SMEs and agribusiness firms

Client Relationship Management

• Manages the selection process of SMEs with high potential for growth to participate in the Facility.
• Monitors supported enterprise business performance, and provides guidance and coaching to resolve potential business problems or capitalize on opportunities.
• Resolves grievances and issues raised by supported enterprises and staff.
• Solicit on-going feedback on quality and level of services and facilities provided.

Product and Business Development

• Introduce and manage new value-added services in response to the growth opportunities and needs of the SME clients of the Facility.
• Work with key staff of the PCU and other stakeholders to mobilize resources through conventional and innovative programs.

General Management

• Leads coordination of activities with PCU, other WB supported projects, and other implementation partners to promote the SME TA Facility and ensure implementation of agreed initiatives and delivery of outputs
• Manage the business of the Facility to meet financial and growth objectives.
• Support the PCU and PFMU to oversee the financial management of the Facility.
• Implement policies and procedures as approved by the PCU.
• Manage the operations of the Facility and the administrative set up including human resource.
• Manage the provision of support services and facilities to entrepreneurs within the Facility.
• Prepare and present reports and other documentation to the PCU as requested from time to time.

Ecosystem integration

• Represents the Facility vis-à-vis financiers, corporate bodies; academia, farm-level organizations, and government agencies that affect the ability of agro-processing entrepreneurs to succeed in Sierra Leon.
• Develops and implements an effective marketing strategy to recruit qualified entrepreneurs to the Facility, and to develop effective shared value partnerships with financiers, corporations, academia, and farm-level organization and government agencies.
• Works with the PCU and other stakeholders to organize workshops, seminars and other fora to promote the TA Facility and the work of entrepreneurs that are supported
• Ensures wide distribution and awareness of the TA facility activities, reports, and other deliverables; serves as spokesperson for TA activities and messaging within and outside the country
• Supports other related, and potentially broader, initiatives the promote SME and entrepreneurial growth in agribusiness and related sectors.

Self-Improvement

• Keep up to date with developments in enterprise development, acceleration, supply chain linkages, incubation, innovation, and entrepreneurship as these relate to the objectives of the Facility.
• Keep up to date with local, regional, global economic and market trends affecting agro-processing in Sierra Leone.

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:

• An advanced level business degree (MBA) or Masters in other relevant areas such as Economics, Finance, Agricultural Economics, or International Development, from a recognized educational institution.
• Entrepreneurial experience in having successfully started and/or run a business preferably in the agribusiness sector would be an advantage.
• Minimum working experience of 7 years, including several years in developing countries, and at least 5 years of middle to senior management experience (either in a small, medium, or large business) preferably in an agribusiness company or organization working with agribusiness or SMEs. A proven track record of general management must be evident in the career including:
  • Strategic management such as demonstration of substantial responsibility for strategic direction setting and implementation.
  • Evidence of business growth resulting from managerial activities and negotiation.
  • Human resource management (including organizational development, career development, mentoring and coaching experience).
  • Financial management.
  • Agribusiness operational management.
• Demonstrated understanding of issues relating to SME development and entrepreneurship. Prior involvement in the management of a SME support organization, business incubator, or entrepreneurial experience from running a business would be an advantage
• Evidence of networking ability. A track record of established networks with the business community and development partners supporting private sector initiatives in Sierra Leone would be an advantage to have
• Demonstrated understanding of the local context and ability to interact with key stakeholders, from both public and private sectors.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and knowledge of one or more local language would be an advantage
• Strong commitment to knowledge-sharing

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.