Open Book Trading- Request for Consulting Services Proposal on Use of Agricultural Collection Centres Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda

Background
Since early 2012 techfortrade has been actively involved in the co-creation and development of social impact ventures that have the potential to create systems change in trading value chains. For the past two years, through a techfortrade and IFAD co-funded project, we have been validating the business model for Open Book Trading, a business service, supported by trading software which is designed to reinvent the role of the middle-man in agricultural trading, bringing professionalism and transparency to smallholder trade and potentially putting millions of dollars of additional income into the pockets of East African farmers. By 2020 Open Book Trading hopes to recruit and support a professional and profitable trader network that will link at least 40,000 smallholder farmers in East Africa to reliable markets, and improve farmer incomes by at least 20%.
To date, OBT has recruited around 30 trading networks across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania linking over 1,000 farmers to local, cross border and export markets. OBT has tested the provision of working capital finance for these traders so that they can pay farmers upfront for their produce and with funds provided by IFAD the OBT team have also been able to test the provision of various types of collection centres for some of the networks. The collection centres vary in size, cost and approach, but they were all intended to provide networks with the ability to aggregate produce more effectively, manage quality and also potentially add value to the produce bought from farmers to improve market readiness. The expectation was that this investment would ultimately improve the profitability of the networks’ businesses as well as influencing trade and production in the locality where the collection centre was constructed, drawing from business activity around it.

Objective of the assignment
The objective of this consultancy engagement is to gain an understanding of the impact that the collection centre investments have had on the networks’ business, how the centres are being managed and what opportunities exist for Network Managers to operate them as sustainable investments going forward as well as any support requirements networks might have to achieve this. OBT has some remaining budget for investment in collection centres and the output from this engagement should directly inform the team’s plans for further investment.

Scope of work
The consultant will report to the OBT Director and work closely with all of the OBT team based in Nairobi.

Specific Tasks

1. Undertake background research into current best practice in the construction, location and use of agricultural collection centres.
2. Undertake field visits to assess the impact of the collection centres already provided on the profitability of the networks using them as well as the effectiveness of the networks in the management of the collection centre assets. The five collection centres we have supported include;
   a. Fairtrade enterprises Collection centre situated in Njambini, supporting on their snow peas and sugar snaps for export value chains
   b. Fairtrade enterprises Collection centre situated in Timau, supporting on snow peas and sugar snaps for export value chains
   c. Mary Mwangi Collection centre situated in Ruiru, supporting on her maize cross border trade value chain
   d. Kimana group renovated collection point situated in Amboseli, in support of for their fresh vegetable value chains supply to Amboseli Serena hotel
   e. Agrinet network Collection centre situated in Soroti Uganda, in support to for their sorghum and barley value chains
3. Report on the effectiveness of specific collection centre processes such as management of aggregation, certified seed production, management of farmers supplying to the centre, packaging, and marketing.
4. Provide actionable recommendations on how OBT might improve the impact of existing collection centres and specific support strategies that would help network managers implement these improvements.
5. Provide recommendations that can be used to inform our strategy for future investment in collection centres, including location and value chain selection criteria, construction strategy, and support requirements to build the capacity of network manager realise the business potential of these facilities.
   Deliverables
   1. Collection centre best practices research findings report;
   2. Field visit report including conclusions regarding collection centre impact, profitability on-going sustainability and recommendations for improvement, including needs assessment and improvement plans for selected networks.
   3. Report (max 20 pages) distilling the specific overall observations and providing recommendations to inform future decisions on further investments, and strategies on how to ensure future social and financial return on current and future investments. Timeline
      The advert will close on 24th of March 2016, and the start date for the assignement is planned to be 1st of April 2016 with submission of all expected outputs to be completed by May 31st 2016.
      Qualifications
      • Over five years’ experience in providing business development support services to agricultural based enterprises.
      • Relevant academic background, including but not limited to agricultural economics, business management, commerce
      • Demonstrated ability and experience in managing such assignments in East Africa or regions with similar agricultural trade and economic contexts
      • Demonstrable knowledge in agricultural trade development, social and economic issues in Kenya and generally in EA
      • Excellent communication and writing skills in English and Swahili Schedule of services and payment
      30% of the agreed fee will be paid upon signing of the contract.
      40% of the agreed fee will be paid upon satisfactory submission of Deliverables 1&2.
      30% of the agreed fee will be paid upon satisfactory submission of Deliverable 3.
      All documents and data produced during the contract period will be sole property of techfortrade and the consultant will not be authorised to use the information, in any form.
      The consultant will be required to provide a detailed work plan including scheduling of their field travel itinerary once finalised. techfortrade staff may accompany the consultant on selected field visits.

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested candidates should send their proposal for undertaking the assignment and budget tokevin.kinusu@techfortrade.org by no later than 5pm EAT 24th March 2016. The proposal should include:
• A statement of relevant experience.
• Proposed approach to conducting the work.
• Names & qualifications of consultants that will undertake the assignment.
• Anticipated number of days and day rate.
• Details of budgeted expenses for all disbursements, including travel, accommodation and research expenses.
• Names & contact details for two references for which the consultants have undertaken similar work within the past 12 months.

Please specify the title of the consultancy in the application.