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Background and Justification
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a triple shock to the global economy embodying the health impacts of the virus, the economic impact of the containment measures and behaviour changes, and reverberations from a synchronized global recession. All countries were affected by the pandemic leading to weakened labour markets. In this regard, job losses for migrant workers increased ten-fold negatively impacting migrant workers who had migrated irregularly. Regular migrants were not spared as most of the employers could not sustain them on payroll. Cries for repatriation of Kenyan migrant workers became louder. Majority of the returned migrants returned to Kenya empty-handed due to wages being withheld by their employers or not having much saving as the return was not planned.
According to the World Bank Report The Kenya Economic Update: Rising Above the Waves (June 2021) the working age population will increase by an average of 1 million per year between 2020 to 2029. This will exert a lot of pressure on employment and calls for innovative and creative ways of averting the crisis of unemployment and resulting negative impact. If not well managed, it might also be a reason to further push the youth to search for employment opportunities abroad. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to this already considerable challenge by disrupting economic activity and causing job losses. Unemployment increased, from 3 to 5 percent; and employment shifted from wage employment to self-employment. These changes affected the most vulnerable groups such as those living in North and North Eastern Development Initiative (NEDI) counties[1]; women; those with lower levels of education, potentially worsening pre-existing inequalities in the country.
It is estimated that 2.5 to 3.5 million Kenyans are living in the diaspora[2]. For example, between January 2019 and June 2022, GoK had facilitated 87,784 Kenyan migrant workers to the Middle East[3]. Most Kenyans migrate as skilled migrant workers to OECD countries but lately, there is huge traffic of low-skilled and semi-skilled workers to the Middle East. Recently, Kenya has experienced the explosive phenomenon of migrant workers returning home from countries of destination. Whereas some have come back after the end of their contract, an increasing number of migrant workers, especially from the Middle East countries are coming back in forceful and distressful circumstances either as deportation or escape from indecent conditions of employment. A total of 1,908 distress calls were reported between 2019 and 2021, with 883 being reported in 2019-2020 and 1,025 in 2020-21[4]. The desperate return home by migrants was more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most migrant workers arrive back home in a desperate and hopeless situation and face serious challenges reintegrating into the community. Lack of adequate return and reintegration strategy by the GoK defies the situation further[5].
The GoK has prioritized support to returnee migrant workers on various fronts. There are on-going efforts to set up migrant resource centres by National Employment Authority (NEA) and social partner, Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) to provide tailored services to the returnees. Further focus is on reviewing the pre-departure training and orientation packages to include financial literacy; entrepreneurship and start-ups. The Kenya Micro and Small Enterprises Policy for Promoting Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) for Wealth and Employment Creation (Sessional Paper No. 05 of 2020) provides a policy framework to anchor this effort. Policy statements relevant to this include among others: promoting an entrepreneurial culture; enhancing access to affordable finance; promoting start-ups; and promoting formalization of micro and small enterprises. Besides, this is in line with the current government’s aggressive campaign to lift the youth and vulnerable groups from poverty as exemplified by the launch of the Hustlers’ Fund[6] on 30th November, 2022 by the Head of State. In order to support the GoK, the ILO through its FCDO funded project Better Regional Migration Management is planning to provide support to contribute to the GoK’s efforts to ensure a successful economic reintegration of returned migrants– from providing immediate assistance upon their return home through, cash assistance, capacity building on entrepreneurship and financial education to linkages to financial services providers, to ensure longer-term economic reintegration and economic empowerment.
An integral part of the project is the roll-out of ILO’s entrepreneurship training programme, the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme as a means to develop and/or reinforce entrepreneurial competencies and business management skills of returnees. The aim of the training is to provide entrepreneurs with knowledge and skills to increase their chances of successful start-up. The ILO’s Generate Your Business Idea (GYB) and Start Your Business (SYB) training package already include extensive content on business management topics – such as HR, marketing, finance, and business planning topics.
To roll out the SIYB programme with returnees, the ILO is looking to partner with selected private or public organizations in Kenya in order to build their capacity to offer SIYB trainings sustainably. For that, the ILO seeks the services of an experienced national consultant to do a market assessment of the business development services (BDS) and entrepreneurship training landscape in Kenya. The market assessment is done to get an overview of the different public and private organizations and institutions that ILO could partner with to roll out the SIYB programme for the target group, and understand the need and demand for business management training amongst the target group in Kenya.
Objective of the assignment
The main objective of this assignment is to conduct an assessment to gather information on existing public and private providers of both financial and business development services in Kenya; their capacity, current offer and accessibility of returnees to said services. The report should identify potential service providers for the ILO to partner with to enhance the offer of both financial and non-financial services.
The assessment should include an estimate of the market size and demand and supply conditions. Furthermore, it is expected that the market assessment will produce information about the literacy levels of the ultimate target population and measure capabilities at the enterprise as well as at the level of (public and private) support institutions to work with the SIYB programme. The assessment should, where possible, disaggregate all data by sex, and it should explicitly identify any significant differences between the situations of female and male entrepreneurs, and their respective needs and access to/use of services.
Scope of Work
The following areas should be covered:
General economic situation, growth prospects and information about the returnees and MSME sector
The national consultant should provide an initial overview that contains key information about the current state of the economy in Kenya and the specific situation of returnees and their inclusion in the labour market. This should rely on secondary information sources and key informant interviews and should cover:
- An analysis of the role and situation of returnees, micro and small enterprises, including specific strengths and weaknesses in the sector. The sector analysis should explore the existing business linkages and employment opportunities for returnees and potential migrant enterprenuer.
- Existing and planned donor and agency/institutional interventions in the field of private sector development.
Supply side
The Supply side assessment will produce an in-depth understanding of existing financial and business development support services both on the public as well as the private side.
Financial and business development services:
The assessment will analyse the functioning of the business service and entrepreneurship training market and information on the existing public and private service providers. The assessment should provide insights into the current capacity and sustainability of providers, their income sources and payment for services. The assessment will result in a list of existing public and private service providers in both regions and collect information on these service providers as follows:
Organizations: What organizations/providers/programs are providing services? Do they have- a mandate and experience in micro and small enterprise development?
- credibility and reputation among micro and small enterprises in their geographical area of intervention?
- the necessary means (financial and logistic) to carry out SIYB programmes?
- a sound foundation to enhance the sustainability of their SIYB programme in the future?
- consideration for returnees as viable clients?
What organizations/providers/companies/programs are not providing services to returnees but could be? Do they have:
- incentives to deliver SIYB trainings to returnees (for example, this could also include the delivery of training as a corporate social responsibility strategy)?
- the necessary means (financial and logistic) to carry out SIYB programmes?
- a sound foundation to enhance the sustainability of their SIYB programme in the future?
- consideration for returnees as viable clients?
- incentives to deliver SIYB trainings to returnees (for example, this could also include the delivery of training as a corporate social responsibility strategy)?
Market Size: what type of services (training, coaching, other services) are currently provided by these public and private institutions? The report must include specific information about training services, their outreach quality, prices and funding mechanisms as far as possible.
Target Group: What type of returnee-led businesses or small businesses and sectors (manufacturing, trade, food processing services, etc) do existing providers target?
Training curricula: What types of trainings are currently provided and what topics are covered?
Capacity: How many employees work for the providers? How many trainers, consultants and coaches are in their employ?
Trainers: What is the qualification (education level, experience with business start-ups) of trainers employed by these service providers? How committed motivated and active are they?
Prices: Are fees charged for services and training?
Promotion: What ways of promotion are service providers using to reach out to potential clients?
Even though the analysis should be on the general business development service provision, particular attention should be given at the existing network of SIYB trainers in Kenya.
Demand side
To better understand the demand side of business services the assessment will take into account existing secondary data and will conduct primary qualitative research. The research aims to get a clear picture of the current demand for enterprise support services by returnee micro and small entrepreneurs as well as potential start-up entrepreneurs. The research will include investigations into:
Capacity and challenges of returnee-led MSMEs to effectively manage their businesses (in particular capacity to correctly calculate costs, revenues, profit and productivity)
Awareness of financial and business development services, with a particular focus on:
- Awareness of the Services: in areas where services are available, how do returnees know about offered services?
- Awareness of Providers: Does the target group know about the providers of business development and financial services?
- Awareness of Need: Does the target group feel any need for entrepreneurship training? Are they interested in loans and other financial products?
Entrepreneurship Training
- Previous Attendance/Experience of Entrepreneurship Training: What are reasons for attendance / non-attendance?
- Self-reported Impact/Perception of Entrepreneurship Training: If target group had access to training previously, has it had any impact on their capability to run their business? If yes what type of impact, if no, why not?
Services and payments: Is the target group willing to pay for services that can potentially help them to better manage their business\es? What specific services are they currently paying for?
Relevant actors
Instruments to obtain the above information shall consist of (but not be restricted to) the following:
- Interviews with private support service providers including freelance trainers, private training institutes, lead agri-food firms, incubators and co-working spaces, and other business development service providers. These will partly be identified by the demand side study as often private providers operate under the official “radar screen”
- Interviews with public service providers including public training institutes, incubators, universities, TVT, etc.
- Interviews with banks, microfinance institutions and other financial and non-financial service providers
- Interviews with government institutions at the national, entity and local level that provide enterprise support services
- Interviews with business associations, associations of financial service providers, and other umbrella organizations
- Interviews with international agencies and international and national NGOs providing enterprise and returnee support services
- Interviews with Chambers/Associations or other related institutions focused on the sectors that returnees are in.
- Interviews with returnee/potential migrant led micro, small and medium enterprises.
Deliverables
The ILO is expecting to receive an assessment report of a maximum length of 30 pages excluding annexes, that summarizes and analyses the information collected as listed above.
All documents have to be submitted in English.
The national consultant is expected to deliver the following outputs:
- Output 1: Work plan with list of organizations to be interviewed and interview questions, no later than 15 February 2023.
- Output 2: Final report summarizing all findings and recommendations, including Annex with contacts of persons/organizations interviewed, to the satisfaction of ILO, no later than 28 February 2023.
Confidentiality Statement
All data and information received from ILO for this assignment are to be treated confidentially and are only to be used in connection with the execution of these Terms of Reference (TOR). All intellectual property rights arising from the execution of these ToRs are assigned to the ILO. The contents of written materials obtained and used in this assignment may not be disclosed to any third parties without the expressed advance written authorization of the ILO.
Timeframe
Number of working days: 20
Step
Working Days
Secondary research conducted 4
Design instruments and establish research appointments 3
Conduct research 9
Systematise and drafting the report 3
Incorporation of ILO comments and delivery of final report 1
Total days 20
Start date: 1st February 2023
Draft submission: 15 February 2023
Final submission: 28 February 2023
Reporting
The National Consultant will report to the Entrepreneurship Team based in the ILO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, ayalal@ilo.org , BRMM Chief Technical Advisor in ILO Addis Ababa Office, aida@ilo.org and National Project Coordinator for Kenya, Wycliffe Ouma, ouma@ilo.org.
Qualification and Experience
- The national consultant should have experience in private sector development.
- Experience working on developing business linkages, organizing entrepreneurship training, value chain development and awareness campaigns.
- Proven expertise in conducting surveys, and assessments in relevant areas.
- Experience undertaking similar projects and assignments in Kenya.
- S/he should have the ability to write reports, and have communication and coordination skills, and ability to facilitate focus group discussions in the English language.
- Experience with the SIYB training programme would be an advantage.
Fees and Payment Schedule
The payments will be made in three instalments as detailed below and upon completion of all work to the satisfaction of the ILO.
- 20% of the agreed sum upon submission of the Inception report by 5 February 2023.
- 60% of the agreed sum upon submission of the Draft report by 15 February 2023.
- 20% of the agreed sum upon submission of final report to the satisfaction of the ILO, by 28 Frbruary 2023.
Evaluation Criteria
The successful candidate will have a mix of expertise and qualifications in the focus areas
related to this assignment. Evaluation of the suitability of the Consultant to work on this
assignment will be made against the following technical criteria:
Evaluation Criteria
Maximum mark
Expertise/Qualification
The individual consultant should have at least three years of experience in private sector development 10
Experience developing business linkages, organizing entrepreneurship training, value chain development and awareness campaigns. 10
Proven expertise in conducting surveys, and assessments in relevant areas 5
Experience undertaking similar projects and assignments in Kenya 5
Maximum Points 30
Proposed approach to deliver the ToR’s scope of work
Applicant demonstrates (via submitted technical proposal) their expertise. The technical proposal includes a realistic action/work plan. 40
Quality of the sample report suggests that the applicant possess the required level of knowledge, analytical skill and ability to write the final report of the activities. 30
Maximum Points 70
Total for Both Section A (30 Points) and Section B (70 Points) 100
Minimum Acceptable Score for the Proposal to be considered for financial evaluation. 70
Recommended presentation of proposal
Interested consultant must submit the following documents/information:
Technical Proposal, specifying the understanding of the assignment, methodology, approach, proposed work and management plan, key personnel qualifications and relevant experiences of the consultant; Sample(s) of accredited publication(s)/reports of similar work done previously. Personal CV, indicating all experience from similar assignments, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
Financial proposal, the interested consultant is requested to provide a financial offer that is deliverable based AND includes separately professional fees related to the activity and costs for field mission dates and days, travel cost and daily allowance if needs be.
The ILO promotes equal opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive employment in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.
[1] Covers ten counties: Garissa, Isiolo, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, and West Pokot.
[2] Kenya Government’s 2014 Diaspora Policy, and Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) 2021
[3] A Report on Systematic Investigation into the Plight of Kenyan Migrant Domestic Workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabiaby the Office of Ombudsman, 2022
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Revolving fund aimed at providing capital to the underprivileged masses in Kenya
How to apply
All interested individual/consultant can send questions if any to the ILO’s Procurement Unit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ADDIS_PROCUREMENT@ilo.org) until 5th January 2023. Questions will be answered and shared with the interested organizations by Close of Business on 10 January 2023.
Completed technical and financial proposals are to be submitted to ADDIS_PROCUREMENT@ilo.org by Close of Business on 20 January 2023.
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