Business Development Consultant

1. Background and objectives of the project
The project Sustainable Agriculture supplying Urban Farmer Markets for Increased Food Security (SAUFF) aims to support blast-affected communities by providing them with access to food at affordable prices. This objective will be achieved by working with the most vulnerable smallholder farmers in the surrounding area of Beirut and linking their production directly to Beirut affected households. The purpose of this project is to respond to the rapidly deteriorating food security situation of vulnerable people in Lebanon. The project is implemented by JIBAL in partnership with HELVETAS and funded by Swiss Solidarity.
The three outcomes of the project are:
1. Smallholder farmers adopt and practice sustainable farming practices
2. Service providers are in place, and provide responsive and quality services and inputs
3. Beirut-based food insecure communities establish a fresh market supplied by smallholder farmers practicing sustainable production methods
The Terms of Reference for this assignment will focus on the second outcome i.e Service providers are in place and provide responsive and quality services and inputs.
2. Assignment Objectives and Scope of work
The main objectives for this assignment:
- Provide a needs-based capacity development plan for selected service providers
- Business models for service providers which will enable sustainable services delivery
Results achieved:
- An assessment of operational and strategic performance of service providers
- Identification and description of gaps with respect to operational and strategic capacities and incentives of service providers that need to be addressed to enable them and provide quality services to smallholder farmers
- Outline of a set of interventions required to address and fill the gaps identified
- An outline of business models for the sustainable operation of selected service provider businesses and guidance to adopt the business models by service providers
The consultant is expected to:
Selected support services (at least 5) needed by smallholder farmers to shift towards sustainable agricultural practices, at the time of the actual shift and in a recurrent mode in future.
Include in your assessment (non-exhaustive list of questions): What is their product? How has the product developed over the past 3 to 5 years? Technical experience and competency of the service provider; how have they acquired skills and experiences? Volume of services delivered; development of the volume during the past 5 years Quality of the services (satisfaction of customers, objective criteria for quality) How do service providers manage their relationships with clients? Do they have a marketing concept? How do they communicate with clients? What partnerships with other companies / resources organizations do they have? How do service providers relate with each other? Brief assessment of their internal systems: accounting; HR What is their turnover? Cost of operation? Annual earnings?
- Describe gaps in the operational and strategic capacities of service providers. Describe what drives them to deliver high quality service and what hinders them to do so
- Develop scenarios and models how support services can be delivered in a sustainable and responsive way to farmers
- Develop business models
- Provide recommendation for training and coaching required (roadmap)
Methodology: The consultant (s) is expected to submit a clear methodology in its proposal with a participatory and inclusive approach. Jibal and Helvetas will agree with the consultant(s) on the different milestones to provide frequent feedback and discuss.
3. Deliverables
The business development consultant is expected to deliver the below:
- Organizational and business models (plan) for sustainable and responsive service delivery
- Interventions required by the project to support service providers and farmers to operate a sustainable service delivery
- Coaching work plan for each service provider
- Final report with main assessment, interventions, and recommendations for the future
4. Qualifications of consultant
- Experience in supporting SMEs, entrepreneurship/enterprise development and developing business plans.
- Experience in coaching and training new established startups and SMEs.
- Deep knowledge of and connections in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, including private sector and public sector actors
- Problem-solving skills to propose mutually beneficial solutions
- Strong verbal and written communication skills in English (French and/or Arabic a big plus)
5. Consultancy timeline:
The assignment will take place between August 2021 and October 2021. Budget 7,000 USD.