Consultant Technoserve

1. Technoserve Background:

Everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better future. This simple idea has been at the heart of Technoserve’s work around the world for over 50 years. Technoserve is a pioneer in leveraging the power of business and markets to create sustainable pathways out of poverty.

The low-income communities in which we work are full of enterprising people. Their small-scale farms and businesses are the keys to economic development. But they face many challenges: low literacy, lack of access to jobs and markets, unpredictable political dynamics and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. For many women and young people, the challenges are even more daunting. Working with Technoserve staff, people around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty. The results are amazing…when incomes increase and living conditions for families get better, they are able to access health care and education previously out of reach. Communities and even whole countries are better off.

2. Project background and context

Technoserve and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) share a vision to increase the equality and economic resilience of Zambians. In partnership the two institutions are implementing a 3-year Food Enterprises for a Developed Zambia (FED) Project. The project aims to improve the efficiency, profitability and growth of food processing SMEs and contribute to a stronger and more inclusive sector in the country. Aligned with this vision and approach, the FED Project seeks to increase the revenues, marketable output and job security for more than 100 SMEs – 50% women-owned and led – within Zambia’s food processing sector.

Food processors make up 60% of Zambia’s manufacturing output, and 90% of processing focuses on foods (vs beverages). While there is a general understanding of the manufacturing industry in Zambia, there is need to have an in-depth grasp of specific value chains in order to provide adequate support to clients and identify appropriate opportunities. The presence of Industry Strategic Plans (ISPs) that capture the local context, smallholder farmer needs and inter-relationships amongst industry actors is necessary. These ISPs are a pre-requisite to transfer technologies successfully in any agricultural value chain.

3. Purpose of Assignment:

In order to create sustainable jobs and livelihoods that drive inclusive economic empowerment for women and young people, private sector needs to be involved. The purpose of this assignment is to recruit a Consultant whose task will be to carry out in-depth ISPs on three value chains namely Edible oil, Honey and Peanut Butter.  The development of the ISPs will take into consideration all components of the three value chains including gathering information from value chain actors and stakeholders, including private sector players and associations. The ISPs should also determine intervention activities which FED clients will be able to implement.

The Consultant will be engaged embedded at the Technoserve Zambia office to work alongside the FED Team as well as with other TNS project team members, the Alliance for Inclusive and Nutritious Food Processing (AINFP) and Scaling Up Nutrition Technical Assistance (SUN TA) projects.  The Consultant will also engage with a Technoserve appointed Advising Consultant. The Consultant will work under the leadership of Program Director

3.1. Core Objectives of the assignment

The ISPs will investigate the viability of the value chains and will be used to inform the project on subsequent activities which the businesses operating in the value chain can implement.   Specifically, the Consultant(s) will:

• Develop the Industry Strategic Plans (ISPs) for Honey, Peanut Butter and Edible Oils. The studies will assess the state of the industries today, outline a future vision for the industries, and develop a detailed roadmap outlining key activities for the project and other private and public stakeholders to achieve the vision. The gender integrated ISP will also assess the competitiveness of the local industries.
• Conduct both primary and secondary research to gather relevant information for the ISPs. This work will be achieved in collaboration with relevant stakeholder partners, private and public.

3.2. Specific objectives for the Consultant are as follows:

a. Conduct value chain analysis and industry diagnosis for Oilseed, Honey and Peanut Butter

• Carry out a value chain mapping and analysis of the select value chains. Namely, identify value chain stages and major areas of production, map sector actors and supporting institutions, relationships between actors and market segments.
• Identify and examine constraints and opportunities within the selected value chains, particularly
  • Elements of the value chain that could or should be strengthened in order to develop strong linkages between farmers and market actors
  • Potential agri-business opportunities, food production system, processing and markets
• Determine future vision and profitability for the three value chains
• Conduct fieldwork and data collection to assess growth potential, market trends and, including future prospects within the country and export market;
• Identify activities with strong female and youth participation;
• Provide a brief assessment of environmental impacts (e.g. water consumption, pollution, solid waste, energy consumption) of value chain activities;

b. Provide recommendations, indicating specific interventions for value chain actors to achieve the future vision of the value chains including:

• Capacity-building requirements of the beneficiaries/groups (e.g. production, marketing, agri-business and entrepreneurship)
• The ISPs will determine the viability of developing a unified brand where different businesses producing the same product can come together to operate under a single brand name. The purpose of this would be to increase the businesses’ market opportunities by producing larger volumes under the unified brand compared to operating as a single business

4. Methodology

• In order to achieve the above activities, the Consultant is expected to include the following interventions as a means for collecting information:
• Conduct secondary research on the three value chains
• Co-facilitate multi-stakeholder consultations and side roundtables and/or focus groups.
• Liaise closely with external stakeholders including line ministries such as the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry; Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises; etc., smallholder farmers, commodity traders, donor representatives, NGO representatives, and TNS collaboration partners as relevant (Zambia Development Agency, Zambia Cooperative Federation, etc.).

5. Deliverables and Outputs

6. The Proposed Consultancy Duration

The consultancy shall be for a period of 90 calendar days (73 LOE), beginning on Monday 21st February, 2022.

7. Proposed Costs

The budget is proposed for discussion

8. Qualifications of the Consultant

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Economics, or         something similar.
• At least 10 years high performance work experience as management consultant or similar structures, commercialization, business strategy, market and product analysis, private sector organizational change and/or similar
• Proven experience successfully helping private sector firms and/or public sector institutions achieve increased competitiveness and profitability through strategic change is a significant plus
• Agriculture sector experience an added advantage (not a must)
• Very strong analytical skills and ability to plan and structure a coherent analytical process
• Ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels and with very diverse backgrounds, Technoserve colleagues and external experts, smallholder farmers, commodity traders, retailers, donor representatives, NGO representatives, and others
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills
• Interest in mentoring and coaching local staff within area of expertise
• Enthusiastic, hardworking, and flexible within different working environments