The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) has developed a global programme called CleanStart to support 2.5 million poor people to obtain access to reliable and affordable clean energy through microfinance. To this end, the CleanStart programme will support 18 financial service providers (FSPs) across six countries in Asia and Africa to build their capacity in providing financing for clean energy solutions. In parallel, the programme will also strengthen the supply chains of technologies being financed and advocate for policy and business environments that promote the growth of energy markets serving low-income people.
CleanStart will finalise three programme countries in Q2-3, 2014. Potential countries include Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Cambodia. From these countries, CleanStart will invite financial service providers to submit an expression of interest to participate in the programme. FSPs that are short-listed will be invited to participate in a business planning training on energy microfinance.
The training will take FSPs through a step-by-step process of formulating a business plan that will later guide the development of financial products for clean energy technologies or services. For CleanStart purposes, the business plan will also serve as one of the key determinants for awarding risk-capital grants.
The training would likely take place within the FSPs’ region, in a country that has various examples of expanding energy financing for low-income people and where it has been able to demonstrate commercial viability.
Further, CleanStart will develop a “public good” tool for energy financing business planning that will be available to financial service providers and practitioners globally.
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Objective of Assignment:
CleanStart seeks the assistance of an experienced training expert to organise up to three (3) trainings for financial service providers on how to develop business plans to introduce financial products for clean energy, and, in addition, to develop a training tool kit for business planning for financial service providers
The first objective of the training is to build the awareness and confidence of financial service providers in energy financing. By end of the training, participants will have:
- A deeper understanding of the potential value and challenges of introducing an energy portfolio;
- An understanding of the main elements of a business plan for energy financing;
- Exposure to various financing models and technologies in various countries; and
- A detailed understanding about the CleanStart programme and the Request for Proposal requirements
The training will be participatory and encourage participants to openly and critically think through issues among a group of peers and experts. The training will include lectures, case studies, one-on-one consulting on each institution’s business plan, and field visits.
The second objective of the training will be to develop a training tool kit for business planning, which will be generally applicable for financial service providers interested in entering the energy financing sphere and will be made available as a “public good.”
Scope of Work:
Up to three (3) trainings in Asia and Africa will be organised by the consultant. Each training will be at least five (5) days with up to 20 participants. (The number of days and participants is subject to change based on discussions with the CleanStart Programme team.)
Indicative timeline:
- Uganda: Quarter 2, 2014;
- Tanzania/Ethiopia and/or Cambodia: Quarter 3-4, 2014;
- Energy financing business planning tool kit: Quarter 4, 2014.
I] In developing and delivering the training, the expert will be responsible for the following:
Pre-training and training
- Advise on country suitable for the training to take place;
- Provide substantive inputs (and tools) to the Request for Proposal requirements and templates provided by the CleanStart team to FSPs;
- Tailor the training programme and materials to the markets, institution-types and interests of the FSPs. To this end, the expert will review Expression of Interest submissions from the FSPs and conduct pre-meetings with FSPs;
- Develop case studies and facilitate group sessions;
- Organise one-on-one sessions with FSPs to review individual business plans;
- Ensure there is space daily for participants to share their thoughts on the training;
- Identify energy service providers, microfinance providers and others with vast experience in delivering energy services to the poor and offering innovative financing solutions (to invite and share experience);
- Organise field visits;
- Facilitate logistics, including identification of training venue, transportation, accommodation, meals, and field visits;
- Address queries from participants regarding the substance or logistics of the training.
The contents of the training should take into account the types of institutions and characteristics of the microfinance and energy sectors in the countries from which the FSPs are coming from to ensure relevance of the training contents to participants.
Post-training
- Synthesize key issues discussed during the training, group work and one-on-one consulting sessions.It is important that the synthesis report describes specific areas that FSPs view as opportunities and challenges, as well as areas where they need support from CleanStart. The report will provide specific recommendations on how CleanStart can better support FSPs and improve the quality of similar trainings and programmes;
- Questions from FSPs should also be recorded in detail to make sure the EoI and RFP requirements/processes are improved in subsequent rounds (in other countries);
- Evaluate quality and usefulness of the training;
- Continuously update the training programme and materials to be current and responsive to FSPs’ feedback and learning needs.
The key elements of the above should be summarized in a synthesis report, which will serve as a tool for continuous improvement.
II] Finally, the expert will draw on his/her experience from delivering the business plan trainings in multiple countries to develop a training tool kit for energy lending which will be made publicly available:
- The initial business planning training tool kit should be prepared after delivering the first training, should be tested during the second training, and refined subsequently (including but not limited to the following as elements): General Market Analysis; Overview of Target Market for Business Plan; Roll-out and Phasing of Programme; Organization, Leadership and Partnership Arrangements; Partnership Models and Innovation; Financial Projections (including own resources); SWOT and Risk Mitigation Strategy; Technical Assistance Requirements; Revenues that could be generated from energy financing, including carbon revenues.
- The training tool kit should also take into consideration international experience in delivering energy financing to low-income people, through soliciting inputs from similar programmes and businesses/organizations;
- The tool kit should be designed in a way that takes a step-by-step approach for the training and includes a trainer guide, trainee manual, exercise material, case studies
- The tool kit should include an excel tool that can be used for modeling basic financial projections for a range of different business plans and financial service providers;
A tested and refined business training tool kit including financial projection tool should be available and usable as a “public good” well before the conclusion of this assignment.
Final Products/Deliverables:
The consultant will deliver the following final products keeping in mind the requirements under the above Scope of Work
- Initial proposal on training methodology, training programme and consultancy work-plan;
- Brief scoping report following country visits (where required) and pre-meetings with FSPs;
- Background material for circulation before training (e.g., agenda, pre-reading materials, presenter profiles);
- Training curriculum and materials (e.g., presentations, hand-outs);
- Study visits and external presenters organised;
- End-of-training report per training (refer to scope of work for more detail);
- Synthesis report (refer to scope of work for more detail);
- Complete energy lending business development training tool kit (with all components, including an excel tool for financial projections).
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Education:
- Bachelor Degree in business, finance, economics, and other related fields.
Experience:
- At least 4 years of working experience in the microfinance sector, preferably in multiple countries and those included in the list above;
- Excellent business planning skills and experience;
- Strong knowledge of the latest Base-of-Pyramid energy technologies and financing solutions;
- Experience in market assessments, financial product development, particularly linking financing with energy products/services;
- Experience in developing partnership arrangements between energy and financial service providers;
- Experience in delivering training specifically to tailored to financial institutions, employing a variety of training/learning methodologies;
- Experienced in developing training content and supporting materials, with an easy to use, well-illustrated approach (including use of info-graphics);
- Experience in the countries mentioned is an asset;
Language Requirement:
- Fluency in written and spoken English.
Documents to be included when submitting the application form online:
Interested individual consultant must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate your qualifications:
- Proposal (Reply online): Brief motivation letter indicating why the applicant thinks is an outstanding candidate for the job (not more than 500 words), with a brief description on how the scope of work will be dealt with (not more than 5,000 words);
- Financial proposal (Reply Online): The financial proposal must indicate daily professional fee in USD;
- Detailed Personal CV and/or UN P.11 Form ( Upload Online).
Evaluation Criteria:
Technical Criteria weight: 70%
(Experience related to services: 30%; Written proposal/test and interview result: 40% and Expertise & Availability: 30%).
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Financial Criteria weight: 30%
The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
- Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
- Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
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