Financial Sector Deepening Uganda hereby calls for Expressions of Interest (EOls) from Tier IV Financial lnstitutions for the opportunity to access funds to on-lend to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) to facilitate their recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Purpose of the Fund
The Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) Recovery Fund is a US$ 20 Million initiative under the Young Africa Works program, established in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Uganda with an aim of jumpstarting the economic livelihoods of entrepreneurs to secure and create job opportunities for young women and men in Uganda. The Facility Manager, Asigma Capital will coordinate and facilitate the Participating Financial Institutions to access the Fund.
How to Apply
Interested financial institutions should download and fill in the application form on https://bit.ly/3ok8Ji4 and submit it along with the required attachments by email to mse-covidrecovery@asigmacapital.com
Submission Deadline: Thursday 11th August 2022, 05.00 pm
Additional Information about the Fund
Please refer to MSE Fund factsheet and Terms of Access on https://bit.ly/3cxxiW3 for any queries.Â
This is a re-advertisement. Therefore, Financial Institutions which already submitted their applications should not respond to this advert.
Who are the DFF Panel of Advisors?
The DFF will work with various intermediaries to provide growth-stage companies enterprises with Business Development Services and Technical Assistance in thematic and specialized areas. The DFF will prequalify these intermediaries and list them as part of DFF’s panel of advisors.
Criteria for selection of Panel of Advisors either as a company or individual consultants:
For Companies:
- Legally registered in Uganda or operational in the country.
- Ability to pay taxes. The companies should submit a transactional tax clearance certificate valid up to 31st December 2022.
- Demonstrate extensive experience in providing business and transaction support to growth-stage enterprises in Uganda
- Registered with a professional body in their field of expertise, i.e., accountants fully registered with ICPAU (Provide current certificate of 2022) and lawyers with Uganda Law Society (ULS) (The lawyers should provide current practicing certificates of 2022 and the certificate of approval chambers for 2022)etc.
- Financial capability – Presentation of copies of Audited reports for the last two years.
- Submit KYC documents including the Certificate of Incorporation or an equivalent, trading license, CVs of the team that will deliver the assignment and any other relevant documents.
Individual Consultants:
- Demonstrate extensive experience in providing business and transaction support to growth-stage enterprises in Uganda
- Registered with a professional body in their field of expertise. i.e., accountants fully registered with ICPAU (Provide current certificate of 2022) and lawyers with Uganda Law Society (ULS) )(The lawyers should provide current practicing certificates of 2022) etc.
- Submit KYC documents including, your CV, proof of registration and other relevant supportive documents.
Send your Expression of Interest, including your profile and proof of the required documents to dff@fsduganda.or.ug
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Request For Expression of Interest for Digital Platforms Engaged in Digitizing Agricultural Value Chains and Trade/Services and Light Manufacturing Supply Chains
In its new five-year programmatic strategy (2021/2022-2025/2026) FSD Uganda will, in addition to investing in the growth to access of financial services, also invest in understanding and testing how the financial sector can more effectively serve the needs of real economy sectors like agriculture, agro-processing and trade, as well as social sectors like education, health, and housing. The focus of the strategy will be on building back better from the economic devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic while laying strong foundations for future resilience and sustainability.
Through a market-systems-led approach FSD Uganda will continue to facilitate an inclusive, competitive financial system that is pro-poor and responds to the needs of FSD Uganda’s target segments – women, youth, forcibly displaced people, smallholder farmers (SHFs), and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
FSD Uganda is going to take a platform approach in the execution of its strategy, seeking to leverage the economies of scale and scope possible with such platforms and their capacity to mobilize and support various actors in different value and supply chains.
Research has shown that to sustainably reach and profitably serve SHFs and MSMEs, it takes a multi-partner approach. FSD Uganda considers that digital platforms are well-placed to efficiently bring together different partners to serve these market segments better and more affordably. In supporting this approach, FSD Uganda recognizes the perceived gender neutrality of digital platforms and intends to work with selected partners to build inclusive platforms which recognize the barriers and opportunities they present for low-income market segments particularly women. Such an approach is intended to enable women to take full advantage of the economic opportunities platforms create and strengthen platforms’ business models.
It is against this background that FSD Uganda seeks Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from digital platforms to co-design program interventions that will scale the provision of inclusive financial services to SHFs and MSMEs. From the EOIs submitted, FSD Uganda plans to select at least two digital platforms, one focused on agricultural value chains and the other focused on supply chains in either Trade/services or light manufacturing sectors.
The two successful applicants will receive up to USD 300,000 in grants and technical assistance over a period of three years. The assistance will cover program interventions in any or a combination of the following areas:
i) Developing appropriate inclusive value and supply chain financing business models and financial solutions which address the needs of SHFs and MSMEs.
ii) Building strong and sustainable partnerships in the platform economy to deliver profitable, affordable, and inclusive quality financial services to SHFs and MSME owners.
iii) Developing appropriate bundled/embedded financial products/solutions to enhance agricultural productivity, business revenues and profitability and to increase access to quality education and health care for women and men.
iv) Developing strong and sustainable Agency Networks (Cash-in, Cash-out infrastructure, Village/Digital Agents/Entrepreneurs etc..) to reach the remotest of areas with financial services, financial and digital literacy.
v) Developing sustainable Big Data business models and products/solutions to increase access to and utilization of gender-inclusive financial services. Focus will be on how data from the technology platforms is collected, validated, authenticated, analyzed, transformed into digital profiles, and shared across platforms and how this can help understand the behaviour and choices of women and men users.
If interested, kindly submit an Expression of Interest (EOI). Your EOI should cover the following details and any other information that you may deem valuable in line with the objectives of the Program:
- Legal Status: (Certificate of Incorporation and any statutory licenses and or registrations where applicable)
- Year of the Platform commenced operations
- Number of Staff
- Collective experience of senior management (i.e., the number of years of experience for the senior management and broadly in which areas of expertise)
- Services/Products/Solutions provided, including any products tailored to FSD Uganda’s strategic priority segments (women, youth, refugee populations)
- Size of customer base/Participants
- Number of Platform partners (e.g., Off-takers, Input providers, distributors, Financial Service Providers, Digital Payment Service Providers etc.)
- Estimated number of customers (e.g., Small Holder Farmers, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises etc.) with sex-disaggregated data where available
- Extent of outreach (i.e., Regions/Districts Served) across the country - Predominant Agricultural Value Chains/ Trade/ Service/ Light Manufacturing Supply Chains on the platform
- Does the platform use agents to support its operations and to on-board SHFs and MSMEs? If yes, what is the current number of agents deployed?
- List of current and past donor partnerships with specific details of the partnerships (i.e., Name of Donor, nature, and size of support)
- In not more than 2500 words provide a summary of your work to date or strategy to increase service provision to women.
- In not more than 2500 words provide a brief on the area (s) where you would require support to scale the provision of financial services to SHFs and MSMEs.
Digital platforms will be selected in accordance with FSD Uganda Investment guidelines.
EOI Timelines
Activity | Date |
---|---|
Publication of Notice of expression of interest | 10th June 2022 |
Closing date for receipt of expression of interest | 1st July 2022 |
Submit your EOIs by email to procurement@fsduganda.or.ug not later than 5:00 PM, 1st July 2022.
Who are the DFF Panel of Advisors?
The DFF will work with various intermediaries to provide growth-stage companies enterprises with Business Development Services and Technical Assistance in thematic and specialized areas. The DFF will prequalify these intermediaries and list them as part of DFF’s panel of advisors.
Criteria for selection of Panel of Advisors either as a company or individual consultants:
For Companies:
- Legally registered in Uganda or operational in the country.
- Ability to pay taxes. The companies should submit a transactional tax clearance certificate valid up to 31st December 2022.
- Demonstrate extensive experience in providing business and transaction support to growth-stage enterprises in Uganda
- Registered with a professional body in their field of expertise, i.e., accountants fully registered with ICPAU (Provide current certificate of 2022) and lawyers with Uganda Law Society (ULS) (The lawyers should provide current practicing certificates of 2022 and the certificate of approval chambers for 2022)etc.
- Financial capability – Presentation of copies of Audited reports for the last two years.
- Submit KYC documents including the Certificate of Incorporation or an equivalent, trading license, CVs of the team that will deliver the assignment and any other relevant documents.
Individual Consultants:
- Demonstrate extensive experience in providing business and transaction support to growth-stage enterprises in Uganda
- Registered with a professional body in their field of expertise. i.e., accountants fully registered with ICPAU (Provide current certificate of 2022) and lawyers with Uganda Law Society (ULS) )(The lawyers should provide current practicing certificates of 2022) etc.
- Submit KYC documents including, your CV, proof of registration and other relevant supportive documents.