20 Business Development Services Providers (BDSPs)

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ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION SUPPORT PROJECT
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (EOI)
(INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT)
20 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS (BDSPs)
Financing Agreement Reference: 2100150036596
Sector: Enterprise Development
Project ID No.: P-LS-KF0-002

The Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho has received financing from the African Development Fund towards implementation of the Economic Diversification Support Project and intends to apply part of the agreed amount for
this loan to payments under the contract for Business Development Service Providers (BDSPs). In order to build on the
success of the PED project and to facilitate the recovery of the Lesotho economy especially post the COVID-19 pandemic,
BEDCO intends to upscale business support to the MSMEs. Towards this, through the support of the African Development
Bank (AfDB), the Corporation has launched the second round of the Business Plan Competition (BPC) which is intended
to award 50 start-up youth MSMEs.
The purpose of the consultancy is to provide incubation services to the 100 business plan competition winners.

The aim of the assignment is to; i) Carry out a diagnosis of the assigned incubatees and develop Business Development Plans (BDPs) for each of the incubatees; ii) Provide incubation services to the assigned incubatees; iii) Provide generalized support to allocate BPC winners; iv) Provide additional support in other general business development areas that will have been highlighted as weak by the MSME BDP. Such areas may include assistance with business registration; establishing a digital footprint; bookkeeping; tax planning; HR management; strategy evaluation; and market access support; Monitor the entrepreneur’s progress along the business development trajectory and leverage necessary resources and expertise as required; v) Focus on strengthening key areas of weakness as identified by the winner’s Business Development Plan (BDP); iv) Provide on-going coaching and mentoring, with specific deliverables in the BDP, and Progress Reporting against the milestones that have been specified in the BDP.

The estimated duration of this assignment is two (2) months from the date of signing the contract.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry, Business Development and Tourism now invites eligible Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in providing these services. Interested consultants must provide their Curriculum Vitae (CVs) indicating that they are qualified to perform the services (Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration or similar field; Post Graduate qualification will be an added advantage; Experienced and knowledgeable in mentoring and coaching to be able to offer guidance and advice; At least five (5) years’ experience in business incubation or equivalent; At least three (3) years practical experience working with business enterprises and providing training and capacity building services; Evidence of the introduction of innovation/innovative practices as an incubator manager or equivalent for minimum of one (1) assignment)

Establishment of the short-list and the selection procedure shall be in accordance with the Procurement Policy and Methodology for Bank Group Funded Operations, dated October 2015, which is available on the Bank’s website at http://www.afdb.org.

Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information and the Terms of Reference for the assignment from Economic Diversification Support Project (EDSP) offices during office hours (08.00 hours to 16.30 hours) at the below physical address or request electronic copies of the document via the below email address.

Expression of Interest (EOI) should be hand delivered to the address below or via email by the 25th November 2022 at 16:30pm, clearly marked “20 Business Development Services Providers (BDSPs)”.

The Project Manager
Economic Diversification Support Project
1st Floor, Matanki House
Corner Kingsway and Balfour Road
P.O. Box 747, Maseru 100, Lesotho
Email: [email protected] with a copy to [email protected]
Tel.: (+266) 22 315 100

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