Soft Skills Consultant

1. Description of the project

Following the Beirut Blast on August 4, 2020, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs - less than 10 employees) had to stop or reduce drastically their activity as they were partially or completely destroyed. For the business owners and their employees, this resulted in a direct loss of income with a risk of layouts for those who could not afford to rehabilitate spaces, repair and replace working capital. 11 months after the Blast, they are still important needs for rehabilitation and replacement of equipment. Many business owners haven’t been able to recover by themselves, and their situation got worse with the repetitive lockdowns and the depreciation of the Lebanese Pound (LBP).

Since October 2020, Mada has supported 85 SMEs affected by the Blast in Greater Beirut through different projects. The support mainly focused on rehabilitation and purchasing equipment and raw materials. In parallel to this material support, Mada and its partners are working to provide tailored support to the SMEs to build their capacities to adapt to the multiples crises and to reposition themselves in the light of the evolving context.

2. Mission

The consultant will do a detailed assessment of the needs for support of the business owners, based on which s/he will provide direct support through coaching sessions and/or tailored training. The main topics pre-identified are:

• Management/business skills
• Digital skills
• Communication/marketing: develop PR skills, communicating with customers and suppliers, market products…
• Exports and Access to credit
• Other topics to be explored.

In addition to his/her technical expertise, the consultant will help the business owners reassess their situation, review their business plan and do planning for the upcoming months. The consultant will define the needs and the areas that should be developed and will implement several sessions with each SME. Follow-up sessions will be organized at the end of the process to evaluate the progress made by the business owners and to propose further activities if necessary.

The activities will be divided into 3 phases:

Activity 1: Assessment of the needs of 10 to 15 SMEs (individual meetings) and constitution of a baseline.

Activity 2: Provide tailored training to 10 to 15 SMEs (individual sessions or reduced groups). The exact number of sessions per SME will depend on the need assessment (in average 6 sessions per SME, 1h30 per session).

Activity 3: Ensure follow-up, evaluate progress, and issue recommendations.

3. Deliverables

• Inception Report including Business Assessment (preparation of a baseline for each SME) and planning
• A written agreement between the consultant and each supported SMEs
• Minutes of Meeting after each coaching session with each SME
• Final Report (calendar of activities, list of supported SMEs, the content of the support provided, comparison before and after the support provided, list additional needs for the future).

The deliverables will be submitted in English, in a Word version. The data collected (interviews, collection of documents, etc.) will also be transmitted to Mada throughout the process.

Profile of the consultant

• Demonstrated experience in providing business development support to enterprises
• Demonstrated experience in providing business training to enterprises on specific related topics which might include (Business Planning and Contingency Planning, Digital Marketing (such as the use of social media) and Branding, improving finances and cost-effectiveness, business management, and Managing People and Performance (HR), Improving productivity, Decent Work, relations with costumers, etc…)
• Proven ability to carry out wide-ranging operations;
• Proven facilitation and coaching skills;
• Experience in working with enterprises of similar contexts in Beirut.