📋 Tender Overview
About the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF)
AECF (Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund) is a leading non-profit development organization that supports innovative enterprises in the agribusiness and renewable energy sectors with the aim of reducing rural poverty, promoting resilient communities, and creating jobs.
We catalyze the private sector by surfacing and commercializing new ideas, business models, and technologies designed to increase agricultural productivity, improve farmer incomes, expand clean energy access, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve resilience to the effects of climate change. We finance high-risk businesses that struggle to access commercial funding; we are committed to working in frontier markets, fragile contexts, and high-risk economies where few mainstream financing institutions dare to go.
Over the course of 15 years, we have supported 425 businesses in 26 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, impacted more than 31 million lives, created over 29,000 direct jobs, and leveraged US $808 million in matching funds. More about AECF can be found on www.aecfafrica.org
About the Investing in Women in Benin and Burkina Faso programme
The Investing in Women in Benin and Burkina Faso (IIW-B&BF) is a six-year gender transformation and economic inclusion programme implemented by AECF with funding from Global Affairs Canada. The programme aims to economically empower women as entrepreneurs in sectors of activity with a high positive impact on the climate in the fields of technological innovation, digital technology, agriculture, production, processing, crafts and trade in order to remove the obstacles preventing them from contributing to the development of their activities.
The programme aims to improve the participation and economic resilience of women entrepreneurs in a greener economy in Benin and Burkina Faso. These include access to finance for women-owned SMEs, women's cooperatives and emerging women entrepreneurs emerging women entrepreneurs; improving the capacity of women owners and managers of of SMEs and women's cooperatives to sustainably develop the value chains in which they primarily value chains in which they mainly work, using climate-smart approaches; and overcome entrenched social and cultural resistance to women's empowerment at national, sectoral and community levels.
The expected results of the programme are
Improved performance, climate resilience and sustainability of women-owned micro, small and/or medium enterprises in a greener economy
Improved policy, legal and regulatory environment for effective participation of women entrepreneurs in a greener economy.
The IIW-Benin & Burkina program includes the following main elements:
Window 1 part 1: Investment in SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises)
For SME concessional loans
Allocation of a minimum fund of 50,000 Canadian dollars
And a maximum amount of 750,000 Canadian dollars
For grants to SMEs (non-refundable)
Allocation of a minimum fund of 50,000 Canadian dollars
And a maximum amount of 750,000 Canadian dollars
The funding provided must have a grant/participation ratio of at least 1:0.5 (100% grant/50% participation). The AECF may, in exceptional circumstances, provide lower matching funds (1:0.25) to highly innovative or high-impact businesses, owned and led by women, who request smaller entry tickets, less than 200,000 Canadian dollars. For invested companies, counterpart contributions, which can be made in cash, can also be made in kind (up to a maximum of 75% of their counterpart for very innovative companies)
Window 1 part 2: Investment in FIs (financial institutions and financial services intermediaries)
For FI concessional loans
Allocation of a minimum fund of 150,000 Canadian dollars
And a maximum amount of 750,000 Canadian dollars
For FI audited grants (non-refundable)
Allocation of a minimum fund of 100,000 Canadian dollars
And a maximum amount of 500,000 Canadian dollars
For financial institutions and financial services intermediaries (FIs), the financing range which can be a mix of grants and loans, or 100% loan is contained between a minimum of 100,000 to 1,000,000 Canadian dollars.
Duration of the financing agreement: 4 years
The funding provided is accompanied by a grant/participation ratio of at least 1:1 (100% grant/100% participation).
Window 2: Investment in Cooperatives and Women's Organizations
Allocation of a minimum fund of 75,000 Canadian dollars
Maximum fund amount 300,000 Canadian dollars
The funding provided has a minimum grant/participation ratio of 1:0.25 (100% grant / 25% participation).
All matching contributions may be in kind and may also be made in cash.
Duration of the financing agreement: 4 years
Technical assistance– IIW-Benin & Burkina will provide technical assistance on gender equality, women's rights, business and management, climate-smart agriculture. The program will promote partnership and close coordination with multiple stakeholders. These include professional organizations, community organizations, women's rights organizations (WROs), financial institutions (FIs), and government ministries and agencies including agriculture, gender, environment, commerce, industry among others.
Purpose of the assignment
These terms of reference are developed to define the scope of work and services for the recruitment of a technical assistance provider (firm or individual consultant) who will work with the AECF team in Benin and/or Burkina Faso to implement specific activities to achieve the overall objectives of the project. Agricultural value chain experts are expected to support AECF in carrying out due diligence on applicants for the programme's various funding windows.
