| Name of Signature Program: | Naija Unlock |
| Agresso Work order: | NG1001 |
| Country: | Nigeria |
| RFP No. |
| RFP Release Date: | January 6th 2025 |
| Question/ Inquiry Submission Deadline: | January 24th 2025 |
| Proposal Submission Deadline: | January 31st 2025 |
| Performance Period: | March 1st, 2025 – May 2nd 2025 |
| Electronic submission to the attention of: | [email protected] |
| Contact information for inquiries about this RFP: | [email protected] |
Terms of Reference
I. General Information
This document is being issued to solicit applications from Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs) with key technical staff who have substantial experience in conducting Business Development Services (BDS) for start-up technological innovation companies. The BDS support is designed to build Nimsy Agro Solar Concept Limited’s capacity to manage financial resources profitably, strengthen internal business processes, improve existing products, develop new products, expand their market outreach and partnerships.
The bidder is free to seek any clarification on the methodology or expected deliverables prior to preparation and submission of the proposal. While Heifer understands that completing this assignment will require the experience of a firm with all the requisite expertise, the successful firm can sub-contract components of the assignment to appropriate qualified firms. However, Heifer Nigeria should be duly informed of the plan from the onset, and this should be clearly stated in the bid as appropriate. It should also be noted that Heifer Nigeria will make payments to the contractor based on submission and Heifer’s approval of deliverables. The award agreement will include a payment schedule with specific deliverables; all payments require 15 business days for processing after approval of deliverables.
II. Background
About Heifer International
Heifer International is a global non-profit organization on a mission to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. Since 1944, Heifer International through its work in 19 countries (in Africa, Asia, and the Americas) has supported more than 46 million people around the world to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way, and 10 million more now on a pathway to sustainable living incomes. Working with rural communities across Africa for 50 years, Heifer International supports farmers and local food producers to strengthen local economies and build secure livelihoods that provide a living income. Heifer’s foundation was built on the belief that ending hunger begins with giving people the means to feed themselves, generate income and achieve sustainable livelihoods for their households. Heifer’s global vision for 2020 – 2030 is to close the living income gap for additional 10 million families. This vision is a focused approach for the African continent to support at least 6 million smallholder farmers in Africa reach sustainable living income. As a part of this commitment, Heifer has expanded its presence in Africa to include Nigeria, with a goal of supporting at least two million households to achieve sustainable living income, through (a) strategic private and public sector partnerships, (b) unlocking demand and market opportunities, (c) investing in priority value chains, and (d) leveraging innovation and emerging agricultural technologies to reach transformational scale. More information about Heifer is available at: www.heifer.org
Heifer Nigeria Country Program
Heifer International established its Nigeria Country Program in 2021, and its Signature Program for Nigeria, named “Naija Unlock”, was designed, and launched. Naija Unlock program’s aim is to support the unlocking of the potentials in Nigeria’s agricultural sector to achieve food self-sufficiency by working with smallholder farmers and local value chain actors to increase their productivity to meet local demand for food and raw material, while closing the living income gap for families in the rice, tomato, and poultry value chains, with plans to add cattle, and small ruminant value chains. Naija Unlock, is an evidence-based Signature Program designed to close the living income gap of smallholder farmers at scale with a permanence of impact. The goal is to assist more than one million households achieve sustainable living income by 2025, and scale to two million households by 2030, through strategic private and public sector partnerships to (a) build social capital of smallholder farmers, (b) unlock farmers access to innovative financing, (c) unlock demand and market opportunities, (d) increase farmers access to mechanization and emerging agricultural innovations, and (e) increase farmers knowledge and adoption of climate smart agricultural practices. Naija Unlock program activities are being implemented currently in five (5) states in Nigeria (Ogun, Edo, Nasarawa, Benue, and Lagos States) with plans to scale to other states with potentials to make impact at transformational scale.
Business Development Services (BDS)
Heifer Nigeria is partnering with Nimsy Agro Solar Concept Limited Agritech/clean energy enterprise that builds Solar irrigation pumps, Solar grain threshers, Solar mills and dryers to help smallholder farmers reduce high operational cost, improve productivity and curtail post-harvest losses. For Nimsy Agro to meet with the ever increasing and evolving demands of the smallholder farmers in climate resilience and adaptation, it must be supported as a start-up enterprise with the requisite capacity building program that will enable it to become profitable and sustainable.
Business development services will enable Nimsy Agro to strengthen and optimize its internal processes, manage financial resources prudently and sustainably, help build their marketing skills and remain competitive, review product pricing, develop bankable business plan and link them to financial institutions to access affordable working capital finance.
III. Description of Expected Professional Services
- Purpose
The purpose of this request is to support the provision of business development services (BDS) to our partner: Nimsy Agro Solar Concept Ltd and help improve their business process and performance, access markets, and compete favourably within the agriculture and renewable energy sectors in Nigeria. BDS for startups such as Nimsy Agro Solar Concept Ltd can help with expanding operations, advice on how to market and sell company products and services, guide with business plan development, and validation of product-market fits through financial and non-financial services.
- Objectives:
• Identifying strengths and weaknesses: To help business diagnose its strengths and weaknesses, and provide advice on how to improve, this includes recommending subscription-based accounting software and business process platforms to help optimise business operations.
• Providing training: Provide training, coaching, mentoring, and business counselling.
• Developing strategies: To help the business create strategies for long-term success, including forming partnerships, entering new markets, improving existing products & services and developing new products or services.
• Improving marketing: To help business with marketing and lead generation, including creating effective marketing campaigns and managing online and offline channels, e.g. content creation on social media marketing platforms.
• Building relationships: Help the business build relationships with potential clients and key partners.
• Improving sustainability: Help new business become more sustainable. Introduce and embed the concept of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) into organisational day-to-day activities.
- Access to finance linkage: To help Nimsy Agro develop bankable business plans to enable them
Access affordable grant and loan funds.
- Scope:
In terms of scope, the BDS will cover key domains of effectiveness, efficiency, competitiveness, and sustainability. It will also analyse the organization’s internal management systems including financial planning, monitoring and controls, leadership skills, business operations, supply chain, partner selection and efficiency, target market(s), decision making, planning processes, advocacy, and external risks.
The scope of work above is broken down to key activities and timeline set against them, with the total number of days required to deliver each:
| S/N | Description of activities | No of days | Associated Deliverables | |
| 1 | Review and conduct assessment of organisational capacity of Nimsy Agro and develop tools, training modules and coaching plans | 7 | Submit tools, training modules and plans for capacity building | |
| 2 | Joint review of Business development tools, training modules and plans (Market Research and Analysis, SWOT, PESTEL, etc) and methodology with Heifer team | 7 | Finalize reviewed tools, training modules and plans for capacity building | |
| 3 | Induction and Onboarding of Nimsy Agro Solar Concept Ltd | 3 | Share pictures of onboarding and induction activities of Nimsy Agro staff | |
| 4 | Submission of Milestone 1 report to Heifer | 2 | Soft copy of milestone 1 report | |
| 5 | Training on Basic Entrepreneurship and Business Management | 4 | Training slides, pictures and attendance sheet of training | |
| 6 | Accounting, Invoicing, Purchasing, Inventory and Sales Management Training. Assess, recommend, procure, deploy and train on accounting software for deployment. e.g package of Quick books | 14 | Training slides, pictures and attendance sheet of training. Copies of service subscription purchase of accounting application software, payment receipts and evidence of application deployment. | |
| 7 | Strategic planning, Readiness Assessment and business modelling Training | 4 | Training slides, pictures and attendance sheet of training | |
| 8 | Financial analysis and funding Training | 3 | Training slides, pictures and attendance sheet of training | |
| 9 | Submission of Milestone 2 report to Heifer | 2 | Soft copy of milestone 2 report | |
| 10 | Innovation and emerging technologies training | 2 | Training slides, pictures and attendance sheet of training | |
| 11 | Business Plan Development, Bank Loan Documentation and Application Support. Strategies for accessing working capital loan and grants. | 7 | Training slides, pictures and attendance sheet of training. Evidence of sample business plan developed by Nimsy Agro | |
| 12 | Leadership and Management Training | 3 | Training slides, pictures and attendance sheet of training | |
| 13 | Submission of preliminary report to Heifer and review by Heifer team | 6 | Soft copy of preliminary report | |
| 15 | Submission of Milestone 3 and Final report to Heifer team | 3 | Soft copy of milestone 3 report and copy of Final report | |
| Total | 61 | |||
IV. Documents for Assessment
| Registration documents: certificate of registration, memorandum and articles of association, | Accounting Books and Records-general ledger, income and expenditure ledger, cashbook, petty cash book, payment voucher, receipt booklets etc |
| Minutes of management meetings | Annual budgets and plans |
| Minutes of Annual general meeting | Strategic Plan/Business Plans |
| Other documents requested by the BDSP/consultants | Standard Operating Policies and Procedures |
| Fixed asset register | |
| Production/Marketing and Sales Plan | |
| Loan and/or grant agreements | |
(Note, all information received will be treated as proprietary and will always remain confidential.)
- Deliverables: The expected deliverables of this request for proposal are as follows:
The expected deliverables of this task are as follows:
- An Inception Report with clear proposed methodology, detailed activity work plan, time scale, and validation plan for the delivery of the Business Development Services to Nimsy Agro Solar Concept Limited, Capacity building of internal processes and submission of milestones reports.
- In depth review of the current organizational capacity status of Nimsy Agro Solar Concept Ltd with a view to making appropriate and evidence-based business recommendations to Heifer.
- A detailed final report that covers all the objectives of this assignment and detailed review, analysis, and recommendation for overarching key performance improvement business plans Nimsy Agro Solar Concept Ltd.
- Detailed cost breakdown for deployment of recommended accounting software and any other application and possible financing or business model.
- Slide Deck version of findings and final report.
- Presentation of findings to Heifer team.
Notable: All deliverables shall be submitted in softcopy in editable format.
Expected Roles of Heifer Nigeria
- Finalize and sign the contract with the consultant.
- Participate in project inception meeting with consultant.
- Review and validate all the deliverables and tools that will be proposed by the consultant,
- Ensure that all payments are done as stated in the contract.
- Expertise
Heifer Nigeria is looking for either an individual consultant or a consulting firm with key technical staff who have substantial experience in conducting Business Development Services (BDS) for start-up technological and Innovation companies in Nigeria. More specifically, the consultant or lead consultant should have a proven track record in conducting similar services in Nigeria. The consultant should have expertise in analytical skills and report writing skills in English.
- Experience
- Have a proven professional experience of at least ten (10) years (with at least five years professional experience in working with tech and innovation start-ups. Experience in providing BDS to young solar energy-based enterprise will be an advantage.
- Have a good knowledge of the institutional environment in Nigeria, as well as a good understanding of the challenges of start-ups in Nigeria.
- Application/use of innovative and effective tools for organisational capacity assessment.
- Strong presentation skills
- Knowledge and experience on conducting trainings and impacting knowledge.
- Good communication and facilitation.
- Excellent analytical and writing skills.
- Have excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
- Excellent analytical, facilitation and communication skills for effective stakeholder engagements/workshops.
- Evidence of having undertaken similar assignments; and
- Ability to work efficiently and deliver on committed outputs under the assignment within agreed timelines and deadlines.
- Eligible to work in Nigeria.
Duration: The implementation period for the consultancy services is for 61 days from the date of contract award.
(vi) Application Process
Individual or Consulting Firm Submission Requirements: All interested individuals or firms will submit their organization’s profile with the following information:
Technical Proposal (not to exceed 10 pages)
General information (not to exceed 2 pages)
- Organization or highly experienced individuals overview highlighting related assignment completed with client name, contact person and mobile number.
- Capacity statement
- Legal registration to work within Nigeria.
Technical Approach (not exceeding 8 pages)
- A detailed methodology on how the assignment will be conducted, training and coaching methodologies, data assessment tools and collection methods and systems/technology to use, field procedures, quality control practices, risk analysis, and data analysis.
- List and briefly describe the team and its proposed personnel, indicating what role each proposed individual will have; CVs of team members to be provided in an attachment. Lead Consultant’s (who will lead the assignment) Maximum 3-page CV highlighting related assignment completed, role in the completed assignment. Other Team members’ (who will be involved in the assignment) 2 paragraph short CV highlighting related assignment completed and role.
- A clear and comprehensive work plan (draft), outlining the major activities, people responsible and time schedule.
- Organizational or individual capacity statement, including past experiences and activities related to the theme of the study. Reference information must include the location, award numbers, and brief description of work performed.
- At least three references of other clients for which similar assignments were undertaken with contact information for each.
Financial Proposal (in Naira)
- Itemized budget
- Narrative explanations of line items
Interested firms legally eligible to implement this assignment in Nigeria are requested to submit a proposal. Please include the name of the person in your organization who will be negotiating the contract, as well as your telephone and email contact information. Submissions must be in English and typed single-spaced using Times New Roman font size 12, with a complete set of appendices/attachments as applicable. All pages must be numbered and include the SOW reference number on the cover page and the name of the organization at the bottom of each page.
The successful consulting firm will be required to produce the following documents before entering into an Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA) with Heifer:
- Certificate of Incorporation or Business Registration Certificate.
- A Partnership Deed if you are running a partnership business.
- Audited account for the past 3 years.
- Tax Compliance Certificate.
- Physical location, including town, building, room number, and postal address.
- Trade reference and clientele list of similar work done, including their respective contacts.
The technical and financial proposals should be submitted by 31st January 2025 through [email protected]. Please quote ““Heifer Nigeria Supported Business Development Services to Nimsy Agro Solar Concept Limited” in the subject line.
Heifer retains the right to terminate this RFP or modify the requirements upon notification to the Offerors.
VII. Selection Criteria
Submitted proposals must clearly demonstrate alignment with the scope of work outlined above and with the appropriate level of detail. Heifer’s goal is to ultimately sign on with the Offeror whose proposal best follows the instructions in this RFP, includes the strong evaluation team, and is most cost-effective. Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
| Proposal evaluation focus | Percentage |
| Accuracy and relevance of the proposed technical approach and methodology | 20% |
| Completeness of proposal according to the RFP (general information, activity plan, risk assessment and mitigation plan, | 20% |
| budget, team expertise, etc.) | |
| Proposed team: expertise and competencies to address project components | 20% |
| Relevance and capability/skill to implement/manage the assignment | 20% |
| Budget justification and costs realism | 20% |
The selection committee will evaluate the technical proposal based upon the criteria listed above, and they will evaluate the financial proposal based on cost reasonableness and cost-effectiveness in the budget.
VIII. Validity of Proposals
Proposals submitted shall remain open for acceptance for 14 days from the last date specified for receipt of the proposal. This includes, but is not limited to, pricing, terms and conditions, service levels, and all other information. If your organization is selected, all information in this document and the negotiation process are contractually binding.
IX. Award Process and Contract Mechanism
| No. | Activity | Due date |
| 1. | Proposal reception | January 31st 2025 |
| 2. | Selection Committee review | February 7th 2025 |
| 3. | Notification of award | February 18th 2025 |
| 4. | Award agreement negotiation | February 24th 2025 |
| 5. | Signing award | February 27th 2025 |
Heifer will issue a fixed award agreement based on the submission and Heifer’s acceptance of deliverables. Once an award is issued, it will include the payment schedule with the deliverables specified above.
X. Limitations
This Request for Proposal does not represent a commitment to award a contract, to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of a response to this RFP, or to procure or contract for services or supplies. Heifer reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted and reserves the right to accept or reject in its entirety and absolute discretion any proposal received in response to the RFP.
XI. Intellectual Property
- Ownership Generally.
Any intellectual property (including but not limited to copyrights, trademarks, service marks, and patents), intellectual property rights, deliverables, manuals, works, ideas, discoveries, inventions, products, writings, photographs, videos, drawings, lists, data, strategies, materials, processes, procedures, systems, programs, devices, operations, or information developed in whole or in part by or on behalf of Contractor or its employees or agents in connection with the Services and/or Goods (collectively, the “Work Product”) shall be the exclusive property of Heifer International. Upon request, the Contractor shall sign all documents and take any actions necessary to confirm or perfect Heifer’s exclusive ownership of the Work Product.
- Prior-Owned Intellectual Property.
Any intellectual property owned by a Party before the Effective Date (“Prior-Owned IP”) shall remain that Party’s sole and exclusive property. Regarding any of Contractor’s Prior-Owned IP included in the Work Product, the Contractor shall retain ownership and hereby grants Heifer a permanent, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, irrevocable right and license to use, copy, reproduce, publicly display, edit, revise, perform, and distribute said intellectual property, in any format or any medium, as part of the Work Product.
