Technical Support and Capacity Building for the Disability Inclusive Incubation Centre

Background

Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development (ECDD) is an Ethiopian Development Organization established in 2005 and re-registered with the Agency for Civil Society Organizations as an Ethiopian Development Organization with Certificate № 0321 under Proclamation № 1113/2019. ECDD is working with other organizations to promote and facilitate the inclusion of persons with disabilities and disability issues in mainstream service delivery and development programs. It envisions an Inclusive Ethiopia where persons with disabilities exercise the same rights and have access to the same services and opportunities enjoyed by other citizens.

ECDD is implementing RISE Project to promote inclusive employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for youth with disabilities. As part of the project, ECDD is establishing a Disability Inclusive Incubation Centre to support entrepreneurs with disabilities from ideation to sustainable business growth enabling persons with disabilities to become successful entrepreneurs, job creators, and change agents. ECDD therefore, seeks to recruit a consultant for the establishment and management of Disability-Inclusive Incubation Center on a contractual basis. This consultancy is therefore intended to provide short-term technical assistance, systems development, development of strategic and operational documents, coaching/mentorship of experts, development of professional pitch deck and financial models, guidance on establishment of strong network of investors and resources and institutional capacity building to establish the Centre on a sound technical foundation aiming at empowering persons with disabilities as successful entrepreneurs and job creators.

Objectives of the Assignment

Overall Objective: Provide technical expertise to establish an effective and sustainable disability-inclusive incubation system that provides tailored mentorship, capacity building, and market linkage to incubated startups, enabling them to move from the idea stage to a sustainable business model.

Specific Objectives:

• Develop the incubation framework and operational systems
• Build the capacity of the Incubation Centre Manager and ECDD staff
• Develop inclusive business development tools and training materials
• Establish monitoring, quality assurance and sustainability systems

Scope of Work

The Consultant shall undertake, but not necessarily be limited to, the following tasks:

Strategic and Institutional Framework Development

• Develop a comprehensive Disability Inclusive Incubation Strategic Framework that defines the Centre’s vision, service model, incubation stages, governance arrangements, and operational approach.
• Develop the Incubation Centre Operational Manual and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) covering startup recruitment, selection, onboarding, incubation, graduation, monitoring, and exit processes.
• Develop transparent and disability-inclusive startup selection, assessment, graduation, and exit criteria.

Development of Technical Tools and Systems

• Develop inclusive Business Development Services (BDS) tools, startup diagnostic tools, mentoring guidelines, business planning templates, and investment readiness resources.
• Develop market assessment and market linkage tools to support business opportunity identification and value chain analysis.
• Design a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework, including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), reporting templates, and quality assurance mechanisms for measuring incubation performance and outcomes.

Capacity Building and Technical Backstopping

• Design and deliver a comprehensive capacity-building Programme, including Training of Trainers (ToT) modules and practical coaching for the Incubation Centre Manager and relevant ECDD staff.
• Provide periodic technical coaching and backstopping to strengthen institutional capacity in incubation management, business advisory services, disability-inclusive entrepreneurship, and quality assurance.
• Conduct periodic technical reviews of Programme implementation (specific to incubation and acceleration) and provide recommendations for continuous improvement.

Sustainability, Partnerships, and Resource Mobilization

• Develop a three-year Sustainability and Scale-up Strategy for the Disability Inclusive Incubation Centre, including institutional strengthening, financial sustainability, and long-term operational planning.
• Develop a Partnership and Ecosystem Engagement Framework to strengthen collaboration with financial institutions, private sector actors, business incubators, universities, government agencies, and entrepreneurship support organizations.
• Develop a Resource Mobilization Plan outlining potential funding opportunities, strategic partnerships, and revenue-generation mechanisms to support the long-term sustainability of the Incubation Centre.

Duration and Level of Effort

Phases	Activities	No. of Working Days
Phase I	Inception, assessment, framework, manual/guidelines, SOP, tools, templates, criteria development.	30
Phase II	Capacity building, coaching, systems rollout and technical backstopping.	30
Phase III	Review, sustainability and scaleup strategy/plan, resource mobilization plan and final reporting.	15
Total Level of Effort		75

Expected Deliverables

• Inception Report.
• Disability Inclusive Incubation Framework.
• Operations Manual and SOPs.
• Startup selection, graduation and mentoring tools.
• Market analysis toolkit.
• Inclusive entrepreneurship curriculum and ToT package.
• Capacity building workshops and coaching reports.
• Monitoring and Evaluation framework with KPIs.
• Partnership and Resource Mobilization Strategy.
• Three-year Sustainability and Scale-up Strategy
• Final Consultancy Report.

Payment Schedule

Payment Milestones:

• 20% upon approval of Inception Report.
• 30% upon completion of Phase I.
• 30% upon completion of Phase II.
• 20% upon completion of Phase II.

Time Schedule

• The assignment is expected to be completed within 75 days indicated in section 4 of this ToR. An itemized action plan indicating a description of activities in chronological sequence and dates for each activity should be submitted with the technical proposal.

Consultant Qualifications

Interested lead consultants or firms must possess:

• Master’s degree in Business Administration, Entrepreneurship, Economics or related field with at least seven years’ experience in incubation or SME development.
• Demonstrated disability inclusion expertise is required.
• Where the Lead Consultant lacks specialized disability inclusion expertise, the proposal shall include a qualified disability inclusion specialist as a key team member.
• Experience in institutional capacity development, facilitation and strategy development is essential.
• Existing incubation centers with proven practical experience and demonstrated expertise in establishing and managing business incubation programs are strongly encouraged to apply. Their prior engagement in supporting entrepreneurs, fostering innovation, and delivering inclusive incubation services will be considered an added advantage.

Evaluation Criteria

Criteria	Score
Technical (70%)
Understanding of the Assignment and Methodology	15%
Relevant Experience in Similar Assignments	20%
Qualifications of Key Experts/Team composition	20%
Quality of Proposed Work Plan	15%
Financial Proposal (25%)	30%
Total	100%

Required Skills