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Terms of Reference Training and BDS provision for young people and MSEs 

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Terms of Reference

Training and BDS provision for young people and MSEs 

  1. BACKGROUND

The Government of Ethiopia recognizes the critical role played by Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in creating job opportunities especially for young people and women, as well as for boosting national income and wealth that is important in igniting industrial transformation and private sector development. This is also well articulated in the second Growth and Transformation Plan, which prioritizes and identifies the development of micro and small businesses as catalyst for promoting industrial development.

As Ethiopia aspires to reach middle-income status by 2025, the country is investing heavily in building and operationalizing Industrial Parks (IPs) with the expectation that IPs will help drive structural transformation and export-led economic growth. While IPs are expected to create highly productive and decent jobs for its young population, the processes are not automatic for acquisition of industrial skills and create viable jobs in a relatively short time. Number of new jobs in IPs fluctuates heavily (from 700 a month to 4,000 a month) depending on demand, supply and attrition rate.

With the labour force expanding by two million each year, direct job creation within factories will not be enough. Thus, equally important to direct employment creation is the potential to develop Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) and create jobs for hundreds of thousands of youth engaged in them. This has been the priority of the government and has shown slight success in creating the MSEs but not necessarily in sustaining them. Lack of necessary infrastructure, access to finance and skills are some of the critical constraints hampering the growth of MSEs.

The overall objective of this assignment is to increase employment through providing exceedingly tailored training and demand driven Business Development Support to unemployed nascent youth, university graduates, higher education & TVET students, micro and small enterprises (MSEs) owners and operators.

  1. ABOUT THE BRIDGES PROGRAMME

BRIDGES is a five-year programme that aims to create employment opportunities for young women and men by unlocking the job creation potential of industrial parks (IPs), other anchor enterprises (AEs), and their surrounding ecosystem including micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). BRIDGES works to capitalize on, and scale-up its previous experiences and key learnings within the industrial sector toward creating direct employment linkages, as well as establishing sustainable market linkages between AEs and MSMEs.

BRIDGES is funded by the Mastercard Foundation and is implemented by First Consult in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works initiative. The programme supports the creation of close to 600,000 jobs for young people (consisting of 80% women), with 15,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) established, and 300,000 unemployed young women and men trained, in five years.

  1. OBJECTIVE

The main objectives of this assignment are:

  • Recruit, train and coach unemployed nascent young entrepreneurs who have foundational idea of establishing businesses to enable them to look at self-employment as a more practical alternative;
  • Provide entrepreneurial, mindset and life skills training for unemployed young people to have the right mindset and encouraging them to participate in technical skills training to increase their job creation potential and making them ready for enterprise development;
  • Provide entrepreneurial skills trainings and follow-up BDS to young people to enable them start their own businesses, run their enterprises competitively;
  • Provide tailored and effective BDS to existing MSEs to accelerate and enable them run their enterprises competitively and grow and increase their employment creation potential;
  • Provide ToT for BDS advisors and coordinate a nation-wide BDS advisory service to support enterprise creation;
  1. SCOPE OF WORK

The Service Provider firm is expected to bring its international/national experience, judgment and best industry knowledge to complete the following tasks and activities:

SOW I – Provide entrepreneurial training and follow-up BDS to University and TVET students – 10,000 students

  • Profile and recruit aspiring students from universities and TVETs;
  • Provide entrepreneurial skills training and demand-driven BDS to the registered students;
  • Support trained and coached students to produce feasible/bankable business plans;
  • Support the graduates to start their own MSEs as an individual or in groups; and
  • Connect the MSEs with partner financial institutes for access to finance.

SOW II – Identify and train unemployed nascent young entrepreneurs and support establishment of new MSEs – 5,000 MSEs/ 50,000 unemployed young people

  • Profile and recruit aspiring unemployed nascent young entrepreneurs;
  • Provide entrepreneurial skills training and demand based BDS to the recruited youth;
  • Support the trained young people to produce feasible/bankable business plans;
  • Support them to start their own MSEs as an individual or group; and
  • Link the MSEs with partner financial institutes for access to finance.

SOW III – BDS provision for accelerating existing MSEs – 2000 existing MSEs

Conduct a quick scan of the list of MSEs provided to identify which MSEs have a potential to expand and grow and identify the binding constraints the MSEs are facing holding them from expanding their business and accessing credit from banks and MFIs and provide necessary support to ease the constraints;

  • Onboard selected MSEs that have a potential to grow and create jobs through provision of necessary support;
  • Conduct a baseline survey of the selected MSEs to profile their capacities, current number of employees, existing challenges and opportunities with a particular focus on market linkages and access to finance;
  • Provide appropriate and continuous support to the growth-oriented MSEs to help them grow, increase their number of employees and accelerate their expansion and transformation into SMEs;
  • Apply demand-driven BDS support and introduce public private partnership model.

SOW IV – Provide ToT for BDS advisors and coordinate the BDS advisory service to support enterprise creation throughout the country – 100 business advisors

  • Develop module for ToT on demand driven entrepreneurship and BDS for advisor;
  • Recruit and conduct refresher training to 100 shortlisted BDS advisors;
  • Coordinate the BDS advisory service provided by the BDS advisors and verify their performance periodically;
  • Verify the result made by each business advisor;
  • Design a result-based incentive scheme for the BDS advisors.

SOW V – Support unemployed youth through entrepreneurial mindset and life skills trainings

  • Profile and recruit unemployed young people in collaboration with job creation offices at regional levels;
  • Develop module and conduct ToT on mindset and life skill trainings for master trainers/facilitators;
  • Administer and conduct mindset and life skills training in collaboration with regional job creation offices;
  • Compile data and follow-up enterprise creation following mindset and life skills training.

This assignment is open for firms only. The assignment can be divided between firms depending on their specialization (e.g. a firm can apply for one or more activities out of the five areas of assignments listed under Scope of Work)

  1. WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

The service provider(s) will work closely with the Bridge’s Programme Team and will report to the relevant Bridge’s Team Lead.

  1. EXPERTISE REQUIRED/QUALIFICATION
  • Understanding of the MSME sector;
  • Experience in providing mindset, life skills, entrepreneurial skills trainings and/or BDS;
  • Experience and familiarity with challenges facing MSME’s growth potential;
  • Excellent analytical, technical and conceptual knowledge about management and grasp of business management principles and practices;

Ability to provide the required services will be assessed through submission of:

  • Company profile, if applicable, with relevance to required work.
  • References on previous similar assignments.

 

  1. APPLICATION PROCESS

Applicants should email their proposal (technical and financial) to bids2@firstconsultet.com with the relevant information detailed in technical and financial section of a proposal. The subject of the email should say “Training and BDS provision for young people and MSEs”. Proposals must be received no later than 5 PM on August 29, 2021. For any queries relating to this assignment please contact Kalkidan Alemseged at kalemseged@firstconsultet.com no later than August 26,2021. Description for the technical and financial section of the proposal are presented below: –

Technical Proposal:

Interested parties should submit a technical proposal of maximum of 5 pages plus CVs providing the following information:

  • An outline of their methodology and previous relevant experience.
  • A project input timeline detailing the timing of the bidder’s team inputs as well as anticipated delivery dates of the defined deliverables.
  • CVs of key team members;
  • Confirm availability and start date to undertake the assignment.

Financial Proposal:

Interested bidders should provide a detailed budget for the assignment. Since the budget depends on the number of trainees and the number of MSEs supported, a clear budget breakdown showing assumptions (cost per trainees/number of MSEs supported) should be provided. Upon selection of the successful bidder, the proposed budget will form the basis for a milestone-based contract. The financial proposal should include all relevant taxes and should be in Ethiopian Birr.

 

The covered call trading option for Bitcoin

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The covered call trading option for Bitcoin

In recent weeks, Bitcoin prices rose by 50%, giving rise to a new mania. So, what’s the best way to trade it? Because of Bitcoin’s extreme volatility, it does not provide a steady income. Its other drawback is that it does not provide a predictable stream of income. Fortunately, we can generate income by using options on Yuan Pay Group Website.

Crypto stocks like Coinbase are popular, so we could look at how we can generate income by using option income strategies. Alternatively, if you want a less volatile strategy, you can trade covered calls on the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF. While this exchange-traded fund is very much volatile, it is still less volatile than Bitcoin and other crypto shares.

The pool of securities in BLOK consists of investments in companies specialized in blockchain production, including PayPal, MARA, Square and Nvidia. Here is how a covered call trade on BLOK works.

How to trade Bitcoin using the Covered Call option

An option to buy a 55-call contract that expires in September was trading Monday for around $1.55 per share, generating $155 in profit per share. Selling the call option generates an annualized income of around 30% in less than two months, equal to 3.13% in just under two months.

Selling the call option generates an annualized income of around 30% in under two months, equal to 3.13% in just under two months. Moreover, selling the call option has some upside potential as well. When the shares are called away at 55, the trader will have gained $555 on the shares bought at 51, in addition to the $155 premium option. It is equivalent to a 10.9% profit.

Any gains you make from selling this Bitcoin-linked ETF may be erased if the ETF drops. Investors should be aware that options are risky, and they can lose their entire investment.

Fixed-income profits are desperately sought by institutional investors since traditional finance typically offers yields below 5%. Although you can receive 4% a month with bitcoins because there are certain risks involved in using derivatives on trades with low risks.

According to Paul Carpelli talking to Cointelegraph, the deflationary schedule of issuing bitcoin and its stable supply curve makes bitcoin a demanding hedge against poor money policies and inflation which can cause to cash to devalue over time. Most centralized services like BlockFi, Nexo, and Crypto.com yield between 5% and 10%/year for depositing stablecoin. To raise payout, you must face huge risks, which need not mean a lesser-known intermediary.

However, Bitcoin derivatives can be used to attain a 2%/week. At present, the liquidity of those instruments resides on exchanges. So, when analyzing such trades, you can look into account counterparty risk.

Selling the covered call may be a partially fixed business

An option buyer can buy Bitcoin on a set date at a fixed time in the future. To obtain this right, you have to pay upfront. Usually, buyers of this instrument pay for it as insurance, while sellers see it as a semi-fixed instrument.

As each contract sets a strike price and expiry date, it is possible to estimate losses and gains ahead of time. By selling covered call, most above the current market price, a covered call strategy is used to hold bitcoin and increase its value.

Bottom Line

In my opinion, it would not be fair to call the trade fixed income because the trade raises the Bitcoin balance, but does not protect against negative prices for those returnsdollars.

The strategy does not increase the risk of any Bitcoin holder since the position remains unchanged whether the price rises or falls.

 

COVID 19, Conflict and Hunger

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COVID 19, Conflict and Hunger

Few years ago, Swedish diplomat Jan Eliasson observed that unless we made peace with nature, we would never be able to solve the problems of global hunger. Jan Eliasson suggested to the community of food experts to consider the nexus of a sustainable food supply with the ongoing threat of climate change.
As the world observed World Food Day on October 16, it is pivotal to consider the challenges of eradicating global hunger in the context of the warming of our planet. Until 2014, the decades-long-decline in hunger in the world was one of the great achievements of progress, the world’s ability to grow enough food to feed billions of people. Hundreds of millions of people in Africa, Latin American and especially Asia were lifted out of poverty.
Today, that global progress is in jeopardy. Johanna Forman, a scholar-in-residence at American University’s School of International Service noted that, we ignore this reality at our peril. She stated that the ranks of the food insecure are increasing. In March 2020, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) sounded an alarm as the initial data on global hunger confirmed what we already suspected. More than 60 million undernourished people, up by 10 million people between 2018 and 2019, joined the ranks of the food insecure. In 2019, over 1.25 billion people experienced moderate food insecurity, and 750 million experienced severe food insecurity. The majority of hungry people worldwide live in countries wracked by conflict, 489 million people. The arrival of the COVID 19 pandemic only aggravates these pressures further.
Johanna Forman further stated that with ten years to go until 2030, the year the United Nations set as the target to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we are now off track to achieve them. The SDG target of zero hunger by that date is no longer in reach. If the global community continues to keep the discussions about solutions to hunger separate from ways to tackle climate change, we will certainly lose the battle for survival.
The United States and China, the two largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, have taken irresponsible positions regarding ways to keep the earth’s temperature stable. So, what can citizens do to create a global grassroots movement that will help put the planet on a more hopeful trajectory to address hunger and the continued warming of the earth?
For this end, the young generation plays a key role in this battle. Young people are individually very much aware of the connections between agricultural production and climate. The young Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg, has inspired a generation to call out their governments and local communities to make changes in the way they manage food waste and generate energy that do not pollute the atmosphere.
Ford Runge, Director of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy stressed that mobilization requires the private sector to operate its own campaigns to use their businesses for good purposes. There are many multinational companies that are signing on to agreements to address their carbon footprints. This movement must now also be duplicated in both small and medium-sized enterprises. A new initiative, 10x20x30 intends to get 10 major retailers to enlist 20 suppliers to commit to meeting the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goal to cut food waste by half.
Ford Runge argued that the technology sector has created a remarkable array of options for generating energy that will not emit carbon. It must now insist that these options for wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy generation are made available at low cost to all countries that are at risk of falling further back in feeding their populations. According to Ford Runge, there must be financial incentives that both sovereign lenders and the international financial institutions provide to those countries at the greatest risk especially small island states where rising sea levels threaten their very existence. This is possible if a target list of priority states starts the process of energy sector modernization.
The fossil fuel production companies talk a good line about transitioning to renewable energy. But they are still focused on further extraction of oil in spite of all the warning signs of disaster. The United States and Saudi Arabia, the two largest oil producers, could better serve the global community if they agreed to reduce harm to the respective energy sectors. This is where citizen mobilization could play a major role as investment dollars could be conditioned on an energy transition.
Johanna Forman stressed that food growing companies worldwide can become a positive force in each of the countries where they operate by providing a decentralized approach to agriculture. This would allow them to produce what the world needs to eat, while creating mechanisms to give those in the most remote parts of the world a way to reach markets. They can achieve that by guaranteeing these small farmers a means to sell their products locally. Big companies have the logistical capacity to help governments develop these types of decentralized approaches to their agricultural policies.
Dealing with food waste as a major issue in tackling the dual global hunger and climate change challenge. It needs to be tackled at the systems level rather than by looking at it as a piecemeal solution to reducing carbon emissions. According to Project Drawdown, if landfills were a country, they would be the third largest emitters of greenhouse gases, coming only after China and the United States. A global approach to landfills, while not easy to implement, could also help focus attention on food waste. This would create an enduring solution to one of the greatest offenders to the environment.
Observing World Food Day may give people around the globe a chance finally to consider how their own impact on the planet must be considered in light of the threats we all face. As Johanna Forman suggested, all United Nations member states must take responsibility to protect the earth. Now is the moment to act on this, for failing to act will be done at our peril. It is indeed a must to make peace with nature.

Kidus Amanuel

Metasebia Teshome
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Kidus Amanuel

Name: Kidus Amanuel

Education: Degree student

Company name: Ballager Life Style Co.

Title: Co-owner

Founded in: 2021

What it does: Makes different kinds of clothing

HQ: Addis Ababa

Number of employees: 24

Startup Capital: Confidential

Current capital: Growing

Reasons for starting the business: Entrepreneurial mindset

Biggest perk of ownership: Time freedom

Biggest strength: Passion for craft

Biggest challenging: Capital

Plan: Expanding the business

First career: None

Most interested in meeting: No one

Most admired person: Successful people in different sectors

Stress reducer: I don’t encounter stress

Favorite past time: Reading books

Favorite book: Think and grow rich

Favorite destination: Anywhere in Ethiopia

Favorite automobile: Ford

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