Request for Proposal: Consultancy for origination training - March 2025

Request for Proposal: Consultancy for origination training - March 2025

Reports to: AECF Head of HR and Administration

Closing date: 27/03/2025

Introduction 

The AECF, LLC (Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund) is a leading non-profit development organization that supports innovative enterprises in the agribusiness and renewable energy sectors with the aim of reducing rural poverty, promoting climate-resilient communities, and creating jobs.

We catalyze the private sector by surfacing and commercializing new ideas, business models, and technologies designed to increase agricultural productivity, improve farmer incomes, expand clean energy access, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve resilience to the effects of climate change. We finance high-risk businesses that struggle to access commercial funding; we are committed to working in frontier markets, fragile contexts, and high-risk economies where few mainstream financing institutions dare to go.

To date, we have supported over 510 businesses in 26 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, impacted more than 33 million lives, and created over 35,000 direct jobs.

AECF is headquartered in Kenya and has offices in Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Sudan, Benin, and Somalia.

Objective of consultancy

The objective of this consultancy is to design and facilitate an Origination Training session in April 2025. This training will build the capacity of AECF staff by enhancing their skills in identifying, sourcing, and engaging high-potential businesses and investment opportunities that align with AECF’s strategic goals.

The training aims to:

• Strengthen participants’ understanding of the origination process — from identifying potential investees to conducting preliminary assessments.
• Equip participants with practical tools and strategies for building a pipeline of innovative and impactful businesses.
• Enhance participants’ ability to conduct market scans and opportunity mapping to identify and target businesses that meet AECF’s investment criteria.
• Foster skills in stakeholder engagement and relationship management to build strong partnerships with entrepreneurs, investors, and other ecosystem players.
• Improve participants’ capacity to gather and analyze key business information to support informed investment decisions.

The training will be tailored to program staff, including those involved in business development, partnerships, and investment teams.

Scope of work

The scope of this assignment includes the design, development, and delivery of a tailored Origination Training session, focusing on practical strategies and tools for sourcing high-potential investments. The training will be interactive, with real-world examples relevant to AECF’s mission of supporting businesses in agribusiness, renewable energy, and climate resilience.

The consultant will be expected to:

1. Design and deliver Origination Training for approximately 20 participants.
2. Develop training materials that cover key aspects of origination, including:
   • Identifying and sourcing high-potential businesses.
   • Conducting market scans and opportunity mapping.
   • Assessing business models for alignment with AECF’s investment strategy.
   • Building and managing a strong investment pipeline.
   • Effective networking and relationship management with ecosystem partners.

3. Facilitate practical exercises and case studies to strengthen participants’ ability to:

• • Analyze potential investees’ business models.
  • Develop origination strategies tailored to AECF’s thematic areas.
  • Create tools for tracking and evaluating investment prospects.

4. Engage participants in group discussions and role-playing scenarios to build confidence in pitching AECF’s value proposition to potential investees and partners.

5. Provide a pre-training assessment to gauge participants’ existing knowledge and tailor content to their needs.

6. Conduct post-training evaluations to assess knowledge gained and gather feedback for continuous improvement.

Deliverable outputs and target dates

The activities and expected outputs are as follows:

• Prepare and submit a course outline indicating the proposed course content and the program for the training.
• Submit an inception report describing the training methodology, approach, and tools to be used.
• Deliver on-site and virtual training sessions.
• Facilitate an Origination training exercise in April 2025.
• Provide relevant training materials on Origination to an internal and external audience. The training materials will include MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel, and participant handouts (as required).
• Provide participants with hands-on activities, case studies, and tools to apply their knowledge in identifying high-potential investees.
• Provide the HR Unit with a feedback analysis report from participants on training.
• Facilitate a post-training exercise to allow participants to build competencies and apply their expertise.
• Post-training report, including feedback analysis report on the exercise, recommendations, and next steps.

Qualifications/experience required

•  At least 10 years of prior relevant work experience.
• Minimum university degree in Business Management, Finance, Economics, or any other relevant qualifications or any other relevant field.
• Experience in evaluating training effectiveness and making improvements as needed.
• Proven experience working with donor-funded programs, impact investing, or private sector development, with a focus on agribusiness, renewable energy, gender-lens investing, or climate resilience.
• Strong understanding of partnership development and collaboration strategies to identify and engage high-potential investees.
• Excellent analytical skills, with the ability to assess market opportunities and identify innovative business models aligned with AECF’s priority sectors.
• Expertise in designing and delivering practical, hands-on training sessions for diverse audiences.
• Ability to facilitate interactive and engaging learning experiences.
• Have proven work experience with private sector /DFI space.
• Experience using various blended learning approaches, including virtual training and workshops.
• Familiarity with development partners’ expectations and requirements in investment origination and deal sourcing.
• Multi-cultural and multi-country training experience.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in developing training curricula and training materials.
• Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills in English.

Reporting

The consultant/firm will report to the AECF Head of HR and  Administration.

Proposal submission

While submitting the proposal, the applicant shall ensure to attach the following:

• A profile of the consultant (max. 3 pages) explaining why they are the most suitable for the work.
• Relevant Experience (max 2 pages).
• Recent consultants’ CV (s).
• A proposed work plan, including timelines and budget breakdown.
• An understanding of the training requirements.
• Course outline including a summary of the content areas to be covered and daily program of activities.
• Detailed reference list indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments.
• Registration and other relevant statutory documents are required.
• Financial proposal in USD showing clearly the budgeted cost for the work to be conducted (to be submitted in a separate document from the technical proposal).
• Technical and Financials must be submitted separately.
• The preferred format for the submission is PowerPoint or PDF.

Evaluation criteria

The AECF will form an evaluation committee that includes employees. All members will be bound by the same standards of confidentiality. The trainer/training provider should ensure they fully respond to all criteria to be comprehensively evaluated.

The AECF may request and receive clarification from any consultant when evaluating a proposal. The evaluation committee may invite some or all the consultants to appear before it to clarify their proposals. In such an event, the committee may consider such clarifications in evaluating proposals.

In deciding the final selection of a qualified bidder, the technical quality of the proposal will be given a weighting of 80% based on the evaluation criteria. Only the financial proposal of those bidders who qualify technically will be opened. The financial proposal will be allocated a weighting of 20% and the proposals will be ranked in terms of total points scored.

The mandatory and desirable criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are identified in the table below.

Pricing

The AECF is obliged by the Kenyan tax authorities to withhold taxes on service contract fees and ensure 16% VAT is charged where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure that they clearly understand their tax position regarding provisions of Kenyan tax legislation when developing their proposals.

Application details

The AECF is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It considers all interested candidates based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, marital status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

• All clarifications and/or questions should be sent to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org on 20 March 2025, 5 pm (EAT)
• The AECF invites qualified consultants/firms to send a proposal to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org, clearly marked read “Proposal Origination Training—2025.” to receive no later than 27 March 2025, 5 pm (EAT) time. addressed to: AECF, Procurement Department.

Disclaimer

AECF reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, the number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice, and the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party.

NB: The AECF does not charge an application fee for participation in the tender process and has not appointed agents or intermediaries to facilitate applications. Applicants are advised to contact the AECF PROCUREMENT DEPARTMENT directly.