ToR Provision of TOT training and deliver tailored coaching, advisory and training support on financial management, financial literacy, formalization, business planning and business operation to informal enterprises and MSMEs

Institution: First Consult Development

Project Title: Economic Recovery for Conflict-Affected Population (ER-CAP)

Project Implementation Locations: Afar (Aballa) and Tigray (Mekelle)

ABOUT FIRST CONSULT DEVELOPMENT (FCD)

First Consult Development (FCD) is an economic development organization dedicated to empowering vulnerable communities by designing and implementing sustainable projects across various sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, and services. Our multidisciplinary teams leverage local expertise to drive enterprise growth, improve access to finance, and foster skill development. With a proven track record, we’ve successfully created jobs, generated wealth, and attracted investments, ultimately leading to the formation and growth of thriving businesses.

About the ER-CAP Programmme

The Economic Recovery for Conflict-Affected Population Project (ER-CAP) is a five-year project aiming to improve the economic adaptation, protection, and recovery of populations affected by conflict. The program led by Mercy Corps in collaboration with the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and First Consult, uses an integrated conflict-sensitive, systems-strengthening, climate-smart, and inclusive approach to enhancing systems that support the economic recovery of communities in three regions: Afar (Abala), Tigray (Mekelle), and Amhara (Woldiya). The programme aims to benefit 43,540 individuals, with a specific focus on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), host community and returnee women, youth, and other marginalized groups. The expected outcomes include resilient livelihoods, improved access to financial products and services, and enhanced capacity to mitigate protection risks through access to justice and psychosocial support.

As part of this consortium, First Consult Development primarily focuses on facilitating tailored access to finance to support conflict affected communities, such as internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, and host communities. To ensure effective implementation on the ground, it is crucial to establish partnerships with key stakeholders, including microfinance institutions, savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs), and banks in all our intervention sites. To strengthen the capacity of these financial institutions and providing technical assistance is essential.

BACKGROUND OF CONSULTANCY SERVICES

MSMEs and informal enterprises face several challenges, including knowledge gaps in business operations and management, lack of working premises, limited access to finance, and weak support systems, etc. To promote economic recovery and foster growth, various stakeholders have implemented initiatives to support and empower MSMEs through tailored coaching, advisory services, training, and enhanced access to finance. One such project is ER-CAP, which collaborates with banks, MFI, and SACCOs to enable MSMEs to sustainably access credit while enhancing the capacity of financial institutions. This ToR specifically focuses on providing TOT training and delivering coaching, advisory, and training support to MSMEs and informal enterprises in areas like financial management, formalization, business planning, operations, record keeping, and human resource management, utilizing coaching and mentoring modules developed by ER-CAP.

OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The objective of this assignment is to identify a service provider with the capacity to provide TOT and deliver tailored coaching, advisory and training support on financial management, financial literacy, formalization, business planning, business operation, record keeping and human resource management to informal enterprises and MSMEs in Mekelle and Aballa Woreda.

SCOPE OF WORK

ER-CAP has assessed both financial and non-financial services in the Tigray and Afar regions to better understand the context of informal enterprises and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) after they have accessed credit from partner financial institutions with technical support of ER-CAP programme. A list of enterprises that have already received credit will be shared with the service provider. This will allow for tailored coaching and mentoring support to be provided to these target groups in nearby areas. Additionally, the service provider will collaborate with ER-CAP to select suitable enterprises and startups for technical assistance. The primary focus sectors are agriculture and manufacturing.

The target enterprise for coaching, advisory and training support within the ER-CAP project location is listed below.

S/N	Region/Town/Woreda	# of informal enterprises and MSMEs Receiving coaching and mentoring support
1	Mekelle city- Tigray Region	450
2	Aballa Woreda-Afar Region	50
	Total	500

 

SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES

The service provider is expected to bring its experience and knowledge to complete the following tasks:

Activities	Deliverables	Date
Initiation	Inception report	December 2025
Business diagnosis/gaps assessment for the enterprises	Business diagnosis/gap assessment report from each enterprise.	December 2025-January 2026
Provide five-day TOT training for selected 50 TVT, OSS, Financial institution, private actor and Cooperative agency staff on coaching, advisory and mentoring service for MSMEs in Mekelle and Aballa	TOT training report	December 2025-January 2026
Preparation and coaching/mentoring delivery based on the gap assessment result	Understanding of coaching/mentoring and training materials (Contextualization whenever relevant)	December 2025-January 2026
	Onboarding the teams of coaches and mentors in alignment with program quality standards	December 2025
	Coaching and mentoring delivery according to the gap’s findings	January 2026-March 2026
	Design and implement follow-up for each enterprise to achieve the intended outcome. Each enterprise must be coached, trained and visited face-to-face on weekly basis for three consecutive months.	December 2025-May 2026
Report	Progress reports	Periodic
	Quarter reports	Periodic

1. Work plan and strategy

• Produce a detailed work plan to reach the targeted number of enterprises within the stated period.
• Develop a strategy for delivering effective business development services (BDS) tailored to the target enterprises, ensuring they can leverage these services to enhance their performance and generate revenue.
• Develop a strategy on how to help enterprises transition from informal to formal, to economic recovery, to profit and revenue generation.

2. Internalize exiting training materials/methods, provide TOT training and deliver tailored support

• Ensure uniform service delivery by internalizing the training materials (module, facilitator guide and presentation PPTs).
• On-boarding of coaches and mentors sufficiently to ensure familiarity with training materials, methodology and ensure program quality is maintained throughout the BDS implementation.
• Deliver support for target informal business and MSMEs by considering ER-CAP is economic recovery focused and inclusive program.
• Deliver tailored support for targeted enterprises that can make them recover, grow and transform from micro to small enterprise.
• Conduct filling out baseline data to profile existing situation of the enterprises and ease the monitoring & evaluation activities.
• Support participants to fill out session evaluation tools whenever relevant.
• Design effective follow-up and implement for informal business and MSMEs to extend coaching, advisory and training support them in implementing newly gained knowledge and achieve recovering of enterprises.

DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAMES

Required Qualifications

The service provider is expected to have:

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in coaching, mentoring and advisory provision to MSMEs.
• Hands-on experience, knowledge and skill in coaching, mentoring and advisory provision.
• Technical skills and/or graduates in agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
• Working with informal enterprises and MSMEs.
• Experience and familiarity with challenges facing informal and formal enterprises, and barriers to formalization and growth.
• Excellent analytical, technical, and conceptual knowledge of business management, as well as a strong grasp of business management principles and practices
• Regional existence and a team that is familiar with local contexts and can communicate in the local languages of the several regions.
• The capacity to conduct face to face support for MSMEs and informal enterprises, with the potential to implement simultaneous support in different regions, is a plus.

WORKING ARRANGEMENT AND REPORTING

• The service provider will be working under a contract with First Consult Development (FCD). They will report directly to the ER-CAP A2F Team and will also work with other key stakeholders, such as:
• Financial institutions.
• One-stop shops/services (OSS)
• Regional officers
• Other stakeholders

The service provider will work with these stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of this consultancy program. The service provider is expected to work within the required deadlines and be available in accordance with schedule, which can be adapted as needed.

Evaluation Criteria

	Description	Weight
1	Technical Competency	70%
1.1	Understanding of ToR	20%
1.2	Methodology and Work plan	30%
1.3	Team composition both professional and gender balanced and Internal System	20%
2.	Financial feasibility/budget)- detail cost structure needs to be included	30%

• Those candidates who scored below 50% on the technical evaluation will not be considered for financial evaluation.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

Interested consulting confirms to send a technical and financial proposal detailing the experience and qualifications of the firm to execute the assignment. The potential consultant should prepare a budget based on the proposed methodology and resources required for the assignment. The financial proposal should include daily fees for the assigned personnel and the total cost to execute the assignment.