Technical Consultant – AF165202201- The Food System Challenge (WFP)

Context & Background  

Berytech is a leading organization in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Lebanon, that aims to provide a conducive environment for the creation and development of startups, through incubation, business support, counseling, funding, networking, and the company hosting, hence taking part in the economic revival of the country, participating in wealth and job creation, and retaining graduates and high-level skills in Lebanon.  

Objectives & Key Activities

Berytech has recently launched the call for applications. Twenty SMEs and cooperatives were shortlisted out of which 10 entities were selected to receive a support package of one hundred thousand dollar (USD 100,000) in cash grant and technical assistance to help them develop their solutions. Selected participants were chosen based on their project’s final impact on the food system in Lebanon, throughout the food value chain, be it on the producer end or at the consumer level. Impact includes improved food security, impact on local rural producers and communities, labor, and consumer. Within that framework, Berytech hire technical consultants to deliver the assistance within a specific scope determined on case-by-case basis after a thorough business needs assessments.

Berytech seeks an external consultant to support a well-established company in developing its dehydration process. Established in 2015 agricultural and agri-food sector, the company is specialized in producing fresh cut vegetables under Global G.A.P., ISO 22000 and Yum! The company grows most of its own produce (75%) on community farms stretching over 100 hectares all over the Lebanese territory, through contract farming whenever possible. The company has developed its added value is in sorting the vegetables, shredding, sanitizing, cutting, and packing them using the Modified Atmosphere Packaging, extending shelf life of products. The company offers around 250 products, sourced from 50 different types of vegetables to over 250 businesses (B2B) of which major restaurant chains, namely KFC, Domino’s, Crepaway, Zaatar w Zeit, Roadster, and over 15,000 B2C accounts, through 25 retailers, with country-wide footprint. Estimated minimum daily aggregate vegetable production is of 20 tons, currently.

Scope of Work, Outputs, & Deliverables

The Consultant will have the following general and specific abilities:

• Advise the company on all modalities and best practices related to the dehydrated vegetable and herbs production and deliver trainings in that scope.
• Highlight critical points to particularly process onions, carrots, thyme, parsley and garlic.
• Assist the company in optimizing the dehydration production line
• Advise on storage specifications and initial drying of inputs for processing.
• Deliver the necessary training and training materials (power point presentations, documents, on the overall dehydration processing in terms of choosing the operating points and process optimization).

• Provide the FSC team, at the end of the intervention, a briefing clearly and thoroughly demonstrating the milestones achieved in terms of the beneficiary’s understanding of the above-mentioned training terms and the remaining areas of development within that scope.

Applicants must fulfill the following requirements:

• Be able to comply with national fiscal context and rules for receipt of international funds.
• BSc/BA diploma in food or agro-food processing; MSc/MA is a plus
• 7 to 10 years of extensive experience in food processing and in-depth understanding of dehydration processes.
• Proven experience in delivering trainings and training materials and in developing production lines.
• Excellent communications and report writing skills.
• Fluent in English and Arabic