| Overview : Consultancy Title: Lead SME Business Expert Project name: Entrepreneurship Platform Description of the assignment: Substantive and operational management of the country Youth Entrepreneurship Platform and its business incubators/accelerators. Duty station: Sao Tome, Sao Tome and Principe Period of assignment/services (if applicable): 12 months Proposal should be submitted at the following address to procurement.st@undp.org no later than 15 mars 2020 at 22h00 GMT Any request for clarification must be sent by standard electronic communication to the address or e-mail indicated above. The procuring UNDP entity will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants. SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK The selected Lead IC should take the overall leadership in managing and make effective the functioning of the platform as well as of the 4 business incubators/accelerators. The previous projects on youth entrepreneurship showed high levels of interest, and 30 local mentors were successfully trained to support the beneficiaries of that project. By building on this, the Entrepreneurship Platform will develop a more professional framework for business development for young entrepreneurs and start-ups whilst continuing in enhancing the capacities of the mentors. The Lead IC has the main responsibility of designing and lead the Entrepreneurship Platform, whose online version will be developed by a private company, and developing the business services for the incubators, by building and upholding the necessary contact network and dialogue (among the private businesses, banks, stakeholders and government entities, donors, etc.), providing the necessary substantive material for the development of the training curriculum and other advisory services while supervising and reporting over their overall functioning and results. The Lead IC is expected to report to the project manager and ultimately to the UNDP resident representative. As the Lead and more experienced IC, he/she will be entrusted with more responsibilities, especially on the design of the training and advisory services linked to the platform and incubators, though being supported in the implementation by another IC who will also be recruited to this end. Given the evolving nature of this pivotal work that is characterized by a degree of innovation and testing, it is expected that both recruited ICs will be flexible, positive and open minded, active team members, and with a demonstrated capability to collaborate and capacity to adjust in an evolving context thus maximize the impact in those areas of interventions in which the IC can contribute the most. Specific tasks include: - Lead the substantive support of the Youth Entrepreneurship initiative
- Close engagement with communities for problems and challenges identification and respective solutions
- Strong advocacy and outreach for partnerships, resources mobilization and diaspora engagement
- Design of the training curriculum of the business incubators
- Define the advisory services to be provided to youth entrepreneurs
- Develop further the substantive capacity of the existing teams of local mentors empowering them to become actors of change
- Lead the design and establishment of rigorous and transparent protocols/criteria and selection governance for selecting project beneficiaries and grants allocation
- Responsible for due diligence and required to show highest standard of integrity and transparency in managing the selection process
- Provide final quality control in the bankable projects developed by the incubators and identify further business advisory services to enhance the chance of success
- Provide top-notch advisory support services including in terms of financing and marketing to existing businesses with market research, reviews of existing business plans and organizational design
- Lead knowledge building and knowledge sharing
- Lead the support to national and local policy dialogues envisaged by this program on developing local business and Industrial economics
- Timely inform and advice UNDP on problems and possible solutions/interventions
- Provide guidance and advice to clients/beneficiaries for the mobilization of additional funds and/or partnerships with other relevant actors
- Engage professional relationships with relevant private sector representations, women and youth associations, national and international partner agencies, relevant developing programmes/projects
- Lead the preparation of regular reports on key project activities, issues and required action points as planned, including annual review report on the progress and results achieved by the incubators as needed
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