Antecedentes

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital.  UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia and the Pacific, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis.  It provides seed capital – grants and loans – and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.

In 2019 UNCDF formulated its strategy ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’. The strategy is based on 10+ years of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable Development Goals aligns with the vision of promoting inclusive digital economies. UNCDF aims to empower people through improved access and use of services that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

In partnership with BongoHive, UNCDF in Zambia, is implementing a FINTECH4U programme with a focus on unlocking and demonstrating the potential of DFS and support the growth of the digital economy and increase access to financial services for all Zambians, to improve livelihoods.

The Zambia FinTech4U Accelerator Programme is a 3-month accelerator programme designed for entrepreneurs who have recently started a fintech or digital financial services business that has the potential to grow throughout Zambia and the regional market.

The programme is aimed at supporting 10 FinTech/SME’s to navigate the regulatory, licencing and compliance requirements with relevant regulators such as, Bank of Zambia (BOZ), Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA), Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in Lusaka, Zambia.

The FinTech4U accelerator programme also intends to create a FinTech regulatory play book through an iterative process with the various stakeholders covering regulation, financing, product development and partnership that can simplify start -up /FinTech journeys from start to scale.

BongoHive seeks to catalyse the growth of Zambian entrepreneurship, innovation and technology through support programmes, workshops and events.

While the Digital Economy ecosystem in Zambia is much more advanced than in some neighbouring countries, there are still several critical challenges preventing the acceleration of the growth of the Zambian Digital Economy to address the Real Economy issues everyday Zambians face. The main gaps are:

1. Understanding the real challenges of the customers. Consequently, the solutions they develop are not aligned with the market needs and therefore fail;
2. Failing to have the opportunity to test-pilot their innovations with a reputable organisation / partner to iterate / fine-tune their innovations to better suit the market need;
3. Poor ability to “plug in” to bigger partners and DFS providers;
4. Navigation of regulatory gaps when products or services are new and/or unique to the market;
5. Matching existing and potential financing mechanisms and actors to help start-ups grow when reaching small-scale success;
6. A lack of local and global mentors to support the burgeoning Digital Economy SME ecosystem.

To address gaps within the Zambian Digital Economy and FinTech ecosystem, the UNCDF and BongoHive have partnered to create a platform for start-ups/entrepreneurs by bridging the gap between the regulators, technology platforms, financial service providers, and the market. The FinTech4U accelerator programme aims to achieve this by working with 10 Zambian FinTechs that offer innovative and effective digital financial products and services to all Zambians, especially those that are traditionally underserved or “left behind.”

UNCDF, having worked with various players in the DFS industry, has realised that FinTechs face various operational challenges which affect product development, testing and scaling of solutions. Whereas UNCDF has been involved in promoting digital payments, we realise that addressing the fundamental barriers that impact the growth of FinTechs has the potential to solve some of the other operational pain points that have affected the further adoption and usage of DFS in Zambia.

On the other hand, there are various actors e.g. regulators, established DFS providers, development partners, government bodies and donors who have various challenges, which have potential digital solutions. UNCDF and BongoHive will engage with various stakeholders in the Zambia start-up and innovation ecosystem to:

1. Support FinTechs and SMEs to develop relevant digital finance solutions for the market, with specific targets that improve women and youth customers;
2. Support BongoHive and potential partners develop “a menu of options” for the various partnership models that could accelerate growth of innovation;

To achieve the set-out objectives, UNCDF seeks the services of an individual Partnerships Strategy consultant, to conduct a scoping and analysis of the needs of potential partners to BongoHive including, regulators, donors, public and private organizations. The analysis will contribute to the development of the various playbooks, designed to support the Zambian FinTech journey, and will also highlight the needs of potential partners.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Scope of Work

1. Conduct a stakeholder mapping  and analysis of the needs of potential partners of BongoHive including, regulators, donors, public and private organizations.
2. Develop of a draft Partnership Strategy for Donors, Public and Private Sector organizations interested in partnering with BongoHive.
3. Support the development of a Technical Assistance to FinTechs regulatory playbook to guide emerging FinTech companies from setup to scale.
4. Conduct an analysis on strategy & Technical Assistance performance, and recommendations on how the FinTech4U Accelerator platform could be “regionalized.”

Expected Outputs and Deliverables 

Institutional Arrangement

The Partnerships Strategy consultant will report to the Country Digital Lead/ Project Manager - UNCDF, who will approve for the deliverables. The Partnerships Strategy consultant will provide weekly progress updates to the Project Manager – UNCDF and submit monthly progress reports. The monthly progress reports will be presented in the project management meetings, attended by the Country Digital Lead, BongoHive Directors, and project managers from UNCDF and BongoHive.

The Partnerships Strategy consultant is expected to liaise with the Country Digital Lead/ Project Manager at the UNCDF, and Executive Director at BongoHive.

Competencias

• Excellent organizational and analytical skills
• Ability to act independently and exercise sound judgment
• Proficient in MS Office Software applications, data analysis and technical presentations.
• Relationship-builder with an ability to engage, connect, and maintain relationships with a wide diversity of individuals
• Skills in partnerships and business development, including identifying leads, building relationships, storytelling, negotiating, closing, etc.  
• Exemplify a strong attention to detail and professional management of confidential information
• Comfortable and capable with both developing strategies and executing on them
• Data-driven and results-focused
• Creative, flexible, and solution-oriented

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

•    A Minimum BSc Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Law or related field with the equivalent experience is mandatory.

Experience: 

• At least 8 years of professional experience in partnerships and/or business development is mandatory.
• At least 3 years of experience in a management position, including responsibility for building a business development or partnerships team is mandatory.
• Proven track record of building new business relationships and signing significant deals is mandatory.
• Familiarity with the key issues confronting the Digital Financial Services ecosystem will be an advantage

Language requirements:

• Written and spoken proficiency in English is mandatory.

Timeline, total number of working days, duty station:

The expected time to complete the assignment is 9 months and the expected date of full completion is February 2021. The estimated lead time for review of outputs is 10 days.

Location: Lusaka , Zambia

Standard travel costs and living expenses:

N/A.

Progress Controls & Payments:

Payment will be made against satisfactory completion of each deliverable. All payments shall be disbursed only upon written confirmation of acceptance of the outputs and authorization for payment by the UNCDF Country lead.

Application process:

Interested individuals must submit the documents mentioned below as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications. 

All applications must contain the following information:

• Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies and motivation rationalizing how the applicant meets the qualifications and can deliver the requirements of the Terms of Reference (TOR);
• Earliest availability and proposed schedule for consultancy;
• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability
• Personal CV or P11 indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and the names of at least three (3) professional references (e-mail addresses, telephone numbers);
• Signed financial proposal for the assignment outlining: all-inclusive fee (including professional fees and other professional expenses, such as insurance, taxes, etc.). Template for this is available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916).
• All proposals must be expressed in a Lump Sum Amount. The following conditions apply:
• The lump sum amount must be “all-inclusive”; 
• The contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components.

Evaluation: 

Step I: Desk review

Education 20 points

Mandatory experience 70 points

Preferable exprience 10 points

Total 100 points

Step II: Financial Evaluation: Only candidates with scores above 70 Points will be considered. 

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

Award Criteria:

The contact shall be awarded to the applicant whose offer have been evaluated and determined as: Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and Having received the highest combined weight (technical scores) 70% + financial 30%= 100%.

Both individual consultants and individual employed by a company or institution are welcome to apply. 

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.

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