Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade Project

GOVERNMENT OF LIBERIA
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Ministerial Complex
Congo Town, Monrovia

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI)
(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT SELECTION METHOD)

Background

The Republic of Liberia through the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has received Financing from the International Development Association (IDA) towards the cost of implementing the Liberia Investment, Trade & Finance Project (LIFT-P) and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of the Financing towards payments under the contract for Hiring of an Individual Consultant as per the above table, for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), under the Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade Project (LIFT-P).

The overall objective of the LIFT-P is to improve the investment climate, expand sustainable access to finance, and increase the efficiency of trade in Liberia and help formal MSMEs recover from the impact of the COVID-19. The LIFT-P is an explicit contributor to the FY19-FY24 Country Partnership Framework (CPF)

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be found below.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry now invites eligible Individual Consultants (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are listed as per the Terms of Reference attached.

The Individual Consultant must have minimum qualifications and experience as per the Terms of Reference.

The Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Individual Consultant Selection method set out in the Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers (July 2016 as Revised in November 2017, August 2018 and November 2020).

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours, i.e., 0900 to 1600 hours GMT, Monday to Friday.

Expressions of Interest must be delivered in written forms to the address below (in person, or by
mail, or by fax, or by e-mail) on or before Friday July 7, 2023. Please indicate the assignment of your interest in your submission with subject:

“Re: Hiring of SME Advisor for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Ref. No.:Ref. No.: LR-MOCI-363913-CS-INDV”.

Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade Project (LIFT-P)
Attn: Mr. James Gayflor Quiqui
Project Coordinator
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (EJS) Ministerial Complex
Congo Town
Monrovia, Liberia
Tel: +231 777 240 201/775 654 713
E-mail: jamesquiqui@gmail.com 
Cc: vanyanbah.julius@yahoo.com

1. Background and General Description

The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) is implementing the Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade (LIFT) Project (P171997) with financing from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group ($40 million). This project was developed to support the government’s strategic objectives to promote private sector development. Accordingly, the project development objective is to improve the investment climate, expand sustainable access to finance, and increase the efficiency of trade in Liberia. Achieving this objective requires support for improving SME’s capabilities for accessing finance and new market opportunities, to contribute to economic growth, competitiveness and job creation. The project implementation is being coordinated by the Project Implementation Unit, under a Project Steering Committee chaired by the Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Liberia, and co-chaired by the Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL).

The project is comprised of the three components, below, and this consultancy is under component 2.  

Component 1: Investment Climate and Trade; Improves Liberia’s investment climate by strengthening institutions providing government to business (G2B) services covering investment support, business entry and international trade.

Component 2: SME Access to Markets and Finance; Improves capabilities and competitiveness of SMEs through targeted TA linking them to markets; and access to finance, through TA and a Line of Credit. 

Component 3: Digital Financial Services Infrastructure; Supports access to DFS, through a new National Electronic Payments Switch, and a Credit Reference System for individuals and firms. Further details are available in the Project Appraisal Document for the LIFT Project (P171997), available online on the World Bank’s website.  

1. Description of the SBA

The Bureau of Small Business Administration (SBA) was previously called the Small Medium Enterprise/Small and Medium Industry (SME/SMI) Division.

In 1978, the Government of Liberia with support from the World Bank funded the idea to establish a division at the then Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Transportation to cater to the needs of Liberia MSMEs by developing and promoting Liberian businesses.

During this period, the desire and potential of Liberians to establish and grow their own businesses to be the core of the domestic corporate private sector of Liberia led to the establishment of the SME/SMI division within the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

This Division was then responsible to oversee the development, regulation, coordination and promotion of small-medium enterprises and industries in Liberia.

In March 2011, Cabinet endorsed and approved the Policy on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME Policy) that identified four outstanding challenges facing Liberia MSMEs:

• Access to Finance,
• Access to Market,  
• Legal and Regulatory Reform and
• Capacity Building.

The goal of the Policy was to reduce poverty by increasing economic growth and decreasing income inequality to provide a suitable plight form for all Liberians to share in their own economy. In pursuit of growth and more equitable income distribution, the objectives of this Policy were to:

• Increase the flow of capital to MSMEs;
• Enhance the skills of small business owner/managers;
•  Build the productivity of MSMEs;
•  Increase underserved groups’ access to economic opportunities; and
•  Broaden underserved groups’ access to resources needed to respond to economic opportunities

Implementation of the Policy commenced in 2012 until December 2014 when an Act known as the Small Business Empowerment was established by an Act of the Legislature. The Act mandates the SBA to ensure that “at least 25% of all Public Procurement allocated and provided to Liberian Owned MSMEs with at least 5% to Women Owned MSMEs.

It also mandates the SBA to design activities and programs to address the following challenges faced by MSMEs:

• Access to Finance
• Access to Market
• Capacity Development and Training
• Creating the enabling environment for MSMEs growth

The SBA is supervised by a Deputy Minister who serves as a principal assistant and advisor to the Minister on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) matters. The Deputy Minister’s principal assistant is the Assistant Minister who is the technical manager of the SBA. According to section 2.2 of the Small Business Empowerment ACT, the SBA is responsible for the following:

• Promotion, development, regulation, control, operation and control loan facilitation to MSMEs, with particular focus and emphasis on Liberian Owned Businesses
• It shall monitor and evaluate the development and performance of Liberian Owned MSMEs and shall include a writing assessment of such development and performance
• It coordinates programs for small business development and entrepreneurship with funding provided for such purpose. It shall on an annually basis report on MSME activities in Liberia.
• It prepare statistics semi-annually relating to small businesses in Liberia and submit such statistical report to the President , Cabinet and Legislature upon preparation
• The Bureau is also responsible for the functions formally delegate to and performed by the then Division of MSMEs.

At the moment, the SBA lacks the technical capacity and funding to deliver on many of its main functions; The Ministry of Commerce and Industry intends to use portion of the World Bank funding to hire an Advisor who will build capacity and lead reforms.

Objectives

The SME Advisor will be responsible for providing technical advice on SME related issues and support capacity building at the SBA, with the aim of leading policy reforms, SMEs and entrepreneurship development.

Scope of Work

The SME Advisor will:

1. Provide high level policy, strategic and technical advice to the SBA Minister on SME development in line with the 2011 MSME Policy and the 2014 Small Business Empowerment Act.
2. Support SBA to identify opportunities to develop strategic linkages and partnerships with other public and private stakeholders for effective and streamlined support to SMEs.
3. Contribute to institutional capacity building for SBA including

1. Developing tools and procedures to track progress and measure impact,
2. Support development of systems for the collection and usage of data to inform SBA’s work
3. Assist in the development and review of technical reports for the sector and
4. Provide technical guidance in the procurement of key technical consultancies under Component 2.1 of the Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade (LIFT) Project; including participating in evaluation committees as and when deemed necessary.

1. Enhance skills and expertise of SBA staff to undertake and manage varied task associated with developing the SME and entrepreneurship ecosystem through practical on the job mentoring and training.

The specific tasks of the SME Advisor are as follows:

1. Identify policies and strategies for supporting SME sector development including the SME entrepreneurship ecosystem and provide strategic and operational support in the implementation of such polices and strategies.
2. Support the identification of solutions to address the binding constraints to enterprise development in Liberia including but not limited to

1. Limited access to finance;
2. Limited access to market;
3. Low access to information
4. Legal and Regulatory Reforms
5. Weak capacity to scale business, etc.

1. Assess the effectiveness of existing SME polices and strategies in supporting Government’s Pro-Poor Agenda objective with a view of providing technical advice on improving such policies and strategies.
2. Provide technical support in the development and review of technical documents inter-alia sector strategies, concept note, feasibilities studies etc.
3. Ensure constant flow of relevant information on SME development including dissemination and analysis of relevant statistical data.
4. Advise SBA on the implementation of SME development activities in the 2011 MSME Policy including the identification of risks and advice on the mitigation of such risks.
5. Provide technical oversight in the development and review of technical documents relating to SME   including work done by consultants under the LIFT-P to ensure high quality studies, reports, activities and deliverables.
6. Provide technical guidance in the hiring of consultants for the LIFT-P activities relating to SME by participating in evaluation committees.
7. Conduct a training needs analysis, develop a training plan and implement systematic training and capacity building for the SBA.
8. Provide technical support in organizing public-private sector engagement on SME development issues with a view to strengthening the policy-making process and empowering decision-makers through informed analysis and relevant contributions from the private sector.
9. Works with stakeholder in addressing investment climate constraints and market failures constraint-supporting SMEs with market information, trends and requirements. 
10. Undertake technical tasks assigned by the Minister or Deputy Minister forSBA

Qualifications and Experience

 The SME Advisor must fulfil the following criteria:

1. Advanced University degree (Masters and or PhD) in Social Sciences including Economics, Finance, Commerce & Trade, Policy, corporate law, etc.
2. At least 10 years’ working experience in supporting SME ecosystem development
3. Demonstrable experience in achieving reforms and improved capacity building in private or public sector ministries, department and agencies.
4. Previous experience as an Advisor to senior government officials in SME related work in countries with similar socioeconomic context as Liberia, preferably in the region.
5. Knowledge and experience in facilitating public-private dialogue and establishing strategic partnerships is an advantage.
6. Practical experience in mainstreaming gender in SME support is an advantage.

Reporting

The SME Advisor will report to the Deputy Minister of SBA, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and will be required to submit monthly activity report to the Minister of Commerce and Industry through the Deputy Minister for SBA.

Key Deliverables

1. Conduct capacity needs assessment and undertake training and development of relevant management tools
2. Report on the review of existing sector policies and strategies including recommendations
3. Develop strategy documents to guide SBA in addressing the sector challenges
4. An updated database to support SBA’s activities
5. Facilitate at least 3 dialogue between SBA and SMEs to inform policy decisions and to promote dissemination of information on the sector

Key Competencies which are a desirable

Duration of Assignment

The SME Advisor will provide technical advice to the SBA. The position will be on a consulting contract for an initial 6 months with a potential for extension for another 6 months.  The position is located in Monrovia with some travels in the leeward counties.