Avis d’appel à manifestation d’intérêt pour le recrutement d’un Expert en soutien à la mise en œuvre pour soutenir l’Initiative des Banques d’Investissement pour les Jeunes Entrepreneurs (YEIBs), Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

TOR 2: RECRUITMENT OF AN IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT EXPERT TO SUPPORT THE YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP INVESTMENT BANKS (YEIBs) INITIATIVE

Financial Sector Development Department (PIFD)

Avenue Jean-Paul II, 01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire

Email: s.sekioua@afdb.org and m.r.ndiaye@afdb.org

1. THE BANK: Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative interventions that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In addition to providing finance, the Bank is Africa’s voice on global economic, financial and development issues, a role that has taken significant importance considering increasing global integration and interconnected risks. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas, all of which will accelerate delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; energy, agrobusiness, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa.

2. THE COMPLEX: The Vice Presidency for ‘Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s TYS and High 5s priority of “Industrialize Africa” and “Integrate Africa”. The Complex also plays pivotal role in the implementation of the other High 5s, namely Power Africa, Feed Africa and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. The objectives of the Complex are to: (i) develop the ‘Africa Industrialization Strategy’; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by leveraging on experienced individuals who can be consulted on complex transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) act as the Bank’s spokesperson on “Industrialize Africa”. The Complex is also responsible for the overall coordination of the Private Sector, Non-Sovereign Operations (NSO) and SME-related activities across the Bank; working closely with other sector Complexes. In this regard, the complex leads the development and implementation of the Private Sector Development Strategy, the Financial Sector Development Strategy, the Industrialization Strategy including the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Action Plan, the PPP Strategic Framework, and the related action plans and policy guidelines. These responsibilities also include business development, transaction support, Equity oversight, Corporate Portfolio Management, standards enforcement, oversight, monitoring, and reporting. The Complex is at the centre of the Bank’s Private Sector and NSO development and delivery.

3. THE HIRING DEPARTMENT: The Office of the Vice-Presidency, Private Sector, Infrastructure, and Industrialization (PISA) provides strategic guidance to the overall functioning of the Complex through its support to the Vice President. The Office is responsible for the coordination of the overall work, including Operations, Policy, and Economic Sector Works, partnership, client relationship management and work with Directors and Managers within and outside the complex, to ensure effective delivery of the mandate of the Complex. The Office, under the oversight of the VP, coordinates all private sector and NSO work across all sector complexes, and provides leadership for the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB) as well as insight for Bank’s overall financial inclusion and MSME engagement and support programs.

4. THE POSITION: The AfDB is supporting Regional Member Countries in the setup of Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks (YEIB) to address market failures and fragmentation in the provision of financing and non-financing services for youth entrepreneurs in Africa. YEIBs are national anchor institutions that will coordinate the delivery of these financial and non-financial services in a systemic, scalable, and sustainable manner. YEIBs will invest in and support youth entrepreneurship ecosystem services through multi-stakeholder partnerships to enable young people to start, improve and grow businesses, while creating jobs.

5. At a national level, each YEIB will provide financial and non-financial services to youth entrepreneurs. A Regional Centre of Excellence (or “Centre”) will complement the YEIB model and facilitate its roll-out for regional member countries. The African Development Bank Group, through its Financial Sector Development Departments, is therefore seeking the services of an Implementation Support Expert who will be responsible for supporting the overall implementation of country specific YEIBs.
6. The Consultant will work closely with the Financial Institutions and Inclusion (PIFD.1) team under the general guidance of the manager of PIFD.1 and the YEIB coordinator. He/she will work under the direct supervision of the YEIB coordinator.
7. Responsibilities of the YEIB Implementation Support Expert will include, but will not be limited to:

• Provide technical support to country level YEIB project implementation units, executing agencies, consultants, implementing agencies;
• Prepare YEIB portfolio updates and related reports, memos and talking points;
• Support the coordination of cross-function teams within the Bank and at country to ensure YEIB operations are implemented on time;
• Provide technical input, guidance, and processing on ToRs, request for no objections, disbursement requests etc.… and prepare relevant memos as required in collaboration with the relevant Task Manager;
• Monitor (desk and field levels) the progress of country level YEIBs, identify risks and issues, and propose mitigation strategies, including to the YEIB coordinator;
• Ensure country level YEIBs are compliant with Bank rules and procedures in their implementation;
• Ability to effectively plan, direct, organize and administer diverse activities, to ensure effective delivery; and
• Deliver on other tasks and provide technical input related to advancing the YEIB initiative objectives, as requested by the YEIB management team.

8. KEY DELIVERABLES: The deliverables under this assignment include and are not limited to:

• Up-to-date briefs, reports, presentations, etc.…;
• Country level YEIBs implemented on time with no red flags; and
• Monthly activity report.

9. At the conclusion of the assignment, the Consultant’s outputs will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
10. Professional competence
11. Analytical, reasoning, organizational and communication skills

• Reliability and organization

1. Output
2. Quality of work produced
3. The Financial Sector Development Department invites individual consultants to indicate their interest in providing the above-described services. Interested eligible individual consultants shall provide information on their qualifications and experience demonstrating their ability to provide the services (capability statement with references for similar services, experience in comparable assignments, availability of qualified staff, etc.).
4. The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Procurement Policy for Recruitment of Individual Consultants.
5. The Bank is under no obligation to shortlist any individual consultant who expresses interest.
6. Interested individual consultants may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: 08:00 to 17:00 hours (GMT/Abidjan time), Monday to Friday.
7. The recruitment of the consultant will be in two stages. i) Shortlisting/evaluation of candidates based and the criteria below. A shortlist of three (3) to six (6) consultants will be established.

1. Consultants having scored over 75 at the shortlisting stage will be invited to take part in a panel interview focused. Interview scores will be used to rank candidates.
2. The consultant to be recruited should have the following qualifications:

• A minimum of a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Accounting, project management or related field;
• A minimum of ten (10) years working experience in project implementation/management, preferably in finance, investment, SMEs;
• Excellent project management skills with experience in liaising with colleagues across departments and/or various countries;
• Strong knowledge of African SMEs, start-ups and youth entrepreneurship ecosystems, including markets, challenges and innovations;
• Familiarity with the functioning or previous experience with a multilateral development finance institution, a bilateral institution, investment, consulting firm, and/or commercial bank;
• Excellent and advanced knowledge of Microsoft applications (Word, Power Point, Excel);
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and/or French. A good working knowledge of the other language would be an added advantage;
• Proven ability to manage and deliver products in a timely manner and handle multiple tasks at the same time;
• Results-oriented, proactive, self-motivated, and able to work both with autonomy and with a team in diverse national and cultural contexts;
• Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills;
• Tactful, with experience managing sensitive and confidential information; and
• A national of a Bank’s Member Country.

16. DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT AND REMUNERATION: The assignment will commence at completion of the selection process and upon contract signing. The contract with the selected Consultant will last for a period of 12 months, with the possibility of further renewal, based on satisfactory performance and relevant rules. Remuneration will be competitive and based on the qualifications and experience of the selected consultant, in line with the Bank’s guidelines on individual consultant remuneration.

17. Expressions of interest must be submitted or sent by email to the addresses mentioned below no later than December 15^th, 2023 at 05:00 PM (GMT) and specifically mentioning in the subject area: “TOR 2: EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR OF AN IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT EXPERT TO SUPPORT THE YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP INVESTMENT BANKS (YEIBs) INITIATIVE”.

For the attention of:

Mr. Sofiane Sekioua, Email: s.sekioua@afdb.org

Mr. Rachid Ndiaye, Email: m.r.ndiaye@afdb.org