Chemonics International Inc. (IPA)
STTA - Investment Readiness Market Assessment Expert (Re-Advertisement)
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Posted date 5th December, 2022 Last date to apply 2nd January, 2023
Country Pakistan Locations Islamabad
Category Consultancy
Type Consultant Position 1
Status Closed

Chemonics International Inc.

USAID Pakistan Investment Promotion Activity (IPA)

 

Market Assessment for Capacity Building of Private Sector on Investment Readiness

SOW # BEE-07

Scope of Work Summary:

The USAID Investment Promotion Activity (IPA) intends to engage the services of an Expert to conduct a market sizing and demand validation exercise to evaluate the need for capacity building on investment readiness for the ICT sector. This Market Assessment will also include a gap analysis of the current capacity of ICT sector firms to identify sources of raising investment. The consultant will meet with key stakeholders within the tech ecosystem (including associations, Government bodies such as PSEB, accelerators, incubators, venture capital funds and other investors) to map investment ready/aspiring sub-sectors and explore capacity related gaps that limit firms’ abilities to raise investment. Furthermore, the expert will identify if there are any current training programs in the market on investment readiness as well as what their learnings, successes, and failures have been. The consultant will also seek constructive feedback from these stakeholders on a capacity building model developed by the IPA team (based on previous stakeholder consultations, learnings, and research) and will also gauge stakeholder willingness to participate in the model as well as challenges and opportunities the IPA team may experience before and during implementation.

 

1.     Positions Title & Department:

One short term ‘Investment Readiness Market Assessment Expert’ will be hired for this position.

 

2.     General Summary:

Chemonics International is implementing Pakistan Investment Promotion Activity (IPA), which is a 5-year, $16.8 million project that is aimed to strengthen Pakistan’s policy & regulatory regime and build institutional capacities to increase domestic and foreign investment, along with increasing bilateral trade between the United States and Pakistan.

The goal of the project is to work closely with the Government of Pakistan (GoP) and the Provincial Governments to streamline their business practices, improve operational transparency and governance, promote regulatory reforms and competition with an aim to reduce the cost of doing business, strengthen the investment climate for foreign investors in Pakistan and promote opportunities for enhanced trade and investment between U.S. and Pakistani businesses.

 

To this end, it is expected that the project will.

  • Leverage $25 million dollars of Pakistani private sector investment to support $75M of Foreign Direct Investment
  • $40M in U.S.-Pakistan trade increased
  • 2000 meetings between US and Pakistan companies facilitated.

 

IPA will be achieving its targets through three major segments (1) Business Enabling Environment, (2) U.S.-Pak Bilateral Trade and Investment and (3) IPA Fund. 

 

3.     Objective of the Consultancy:

 

Objective:      The following are the key objectives of this consultancy:

                        1. Assessing and validating the need for conducting investment readiness capacity building for firms operating within the ICT sector of Pakistan and recommending how the capacity building program should be designed to increase success and maximize results under relevant program indicators including:

                        (a): EG 2-1: Person hours of US government supported training completed in trade and investment

                        (b) BEE Indicator 2.2a: Number of business inquiries from investors as a result of USG assistance

                        (c)  BEE Indicator 2.2b: Value of business inquiries from investors as a result of USG assistance

                        3. Assessing the current ability of ICT firms in identifying sources of investment, approaching investors and converting potential deals into investments. 

                        2. Analyzing demand from venture capital (VC) firms and investors on the core themes of investment readiness and what VCs and investors look for when considering investing in a company.

                        3. Gathering feedback on the model developed by IPA for capacity building on investment readiness including which stakeholders should IPA work with and how can the model be improved.

                        4. Understanding and detailing the costs for running the capacity building program along with the potential outcome as it relates to IPA’s indicators.

 

 

4.     Principal Duties & Responsibilities:

 

This assignment will require the consultant to perform desk research and stakeholder interviews to cover the following aspects of the report:

 

  1. Consulting with and understanding the role of key stakeholders (including accelerators, incubators, venture capital funds, angel investors, domestic and foreign investors) in the ICT investment ecosystem of Pakistan. This analysis should also contain recommendations on which of these stakeholders IPA should seek to work with and in what capacity.
  2. Conducting an analysis of investments made in ICT focused companies in Pakistan in the last 5 years to highlight aspects of investment readiness that contributed to successful deals with investors.
  3. Meeting with VC’s and other investors to understand demand and what markers investors are looking for that influences their decision to invest in companies within the overall ICT sector and its sub-sectors (fintech, ecommerce, ed-tech, health-tech, prop-tech etc.)
  4. Understanding and detailing the core themes of investment readiness that hinders ICT companies from attracting investors
  5. Analyzing the structure, success and learnings of the concept and design of other investment readiness programs running in the market through accelerators, donors and other entities and recommending a design for IPA’s proposed capacity building program that builds on the learnings from other investment readiness programs.
  6. Gathering feedback from key stakeholders on the model that the IPA team has developed for capacity building on investment readiness and evaluating the willingness of these stakeholders to participate in the model.
  7. Gathering information and details on the estimated costs for running an effective capacity building program on investment readiness for the ICT sector through identified stakeholders.

 

Note: A list of relevant reading material required for the assignment is attached as Annex B.

 

5.     Specific Tasks of the Consultant:

 To achieve the above, the consultant will be responsible for the following:

  1. Hold meetings with the IPA team and USAID (if necessary) to understand the scope of the assignment and the expectations.
  2. Develop and present a work plan to IPA team for carrying out the assignment
  3. Conduct a comprehensive literature review using available resources and publications including reports and data on investments within the tech ecosystem
  4. Conduct regular consultations / meetings with key private sector stakeholders including accelerators, PSEB, incubators, venture capital firms and other investors
  5. Prepare a final report on USAID approved format including a PowerPoint presentation deck. The consultant is liable to produce and provide all type of back-end work, analysis, research methodology, primary research data, meeting notes and essential data as an annex to support the overall narrative of report.

6.     Job Qualifications

 

This consultancy requires services of a consultant having relevant experience to complete similar type of assignments in past. The consultant is expected to have a reasonable number of years of experience in their respective field especially of business analysis, market assessment, investment and trade, research and analysis. 

 

 

 

Person Specifications

 

Level of Effort

Investment Readiness Market Assessment Expert

The position requires a master’s degree in Business, Economics or Investment or other relevant field from a reputed local or international university (preferred), with a minimum of 8-10 years of experience of working on similar assignments in the field of market assessment, research, business analysis, capacity building, investment analysis, investment promotion, sectoral research and/or program analysis. Strong research, analytical and writing skills are needed. Furthermore, the consultant should have experience of engaging with the ICT sector and ecosystem and have in-depth knowing the current and emerging trends. Familiarity with USAID funded projects and donor funded business enabling environment, policy related or capacity building within the tech sector would be an advantage. 

 

 12

 

7.     Duty Station:

The consultant will work with the related IPA personnel, based in Islamabad. Field visits to various locations for consultations may take place.

 

  1. 8.     Workspace and Use of Personal Laptop and Software(s):

The consultant will be required to use their own personal laptop and must certify that all software used are genuine and licensed; to ensure that the project’s IT resources are protected from accidental destruction or deliberate attempts at sabotage by computer viruses and other hazards.

 

9.     Reporting:

The consultant will report to the IPA Business Enabling Environment (BEE) Lead. The consultant will be required to interact and work in coordination with IPA BEE and Regulatory Reform Specialist for purpose of completion of this assignment.

 

10.  Duration of the Assignment:

This job is planned to take place as per a start date of on or around 25th December 2022 and end-date of on or February 28th, 2023, hereto, for a total of 12 person days, level of effort.

 

11.  Deliverables:

 

The following are the key deliverables and their associated deadlines. The timeline for the LOE assigned for each activity as mentioned in the following table will be discussed and agreed with the technical team and the consultant. Final deliverables under this assignment will be:

 

Market Assessment Final Report as per USAID Format (February 20th, 2023)

 

No.

Activity / Deliverable

LOE Required

1

Inception meeting with relevant IPA staff and review of project documents

0.5

2

Development of work plan to carry out the assignment

0.5

3

Desk Research / Literature Review of investment and ICT sector related reports and publications

1

4

Meetings with relevant private sector stakeholders including accelerators, incubators, venture capital firms and other investors

6

5

Drafting and submitting Market Assessment report

2

6

Submission of Final report addressing IPA’s comments and feedback

1

7

Preparation and delivering a presentation on the overall findings of the assessment to IPA

1

 

TOTAL

12

 

 

 

  1. 12.  Monitoring and Evaluation

Data gathered during the implementation of this activity (quantitative and qualitative) in the form of list of stakeholders and their contact details, meeting minutes/notes, meeting pictures (screenshots of virtual meetings), FGD notes, interview questionnaires, etc. will be required to be shared with IPA M&E team for reporting.

 


 

Annex A: Deliverable Report Template (If applicable)

Cover Page

 

Title Page

 

Data Page

 

Abstract

 

Acronyms

 

Table of Contents

List of Tables

List of Figures

Exchange Rate (if used)

 

Executive Summary:

A self-contained paper of two (2) pages that summarizes essential information on the subject being the purpose and objectives of the assessment, project description, environmental description, the most significant findings, impacts and mitigation measures, monitoring plan, conclusion, and recommendations.

  1. 1.     Introduction:

1.1.  General

1.2.  The Program

 

  1. 2.     The Study

2.1.  Purpose of the Study

2.2.  Objectives of Study

2.3.  Scope of the Study

 

  1. 3.     Study Methodology

3.1.  The Study Methodology (Survey / Secondary Research etc.)

3.2.  Sample Size Calculation (if applicable)

3.3.  Data Collection Instruments (if applicable)

3.4.  Quality Control

3.5.  Limitations of the Study

 

  1. 4.     Study Findings

 

  1. 5.     Conclusions and Recommendations

 

  1. 6.     Annexure/Appendices

6.1.  Sow of the assignment

 

  1. 7.     References

Provide all reference in APA Style

  1. 8.     Endnotes (if required)

 

Note: Detailed template and style guide will be shared later and will be discussed with the study team before report writing starts.

 

 

 

Annex B: Background Reading Material

The Consultant team shall read, but not be limited to, the following materials related to fully understanding the work specified under this Consultancy:

  1. Chemonics International Inc. USAID Pakistan IPA proposal
  2. IPA Work Plans
  3. IPA MEL Plan
  4. Other relevant literature
  5. Private Sector Capacity Building Model for Investment Readiness Trainings developed by IPA

 

Annex C: Background Interviews

 

The Consultant(s) shall interview stakeholders including the following individuals or groups of individuals in order to fully understand the work specified under this Consultancy:

 

IPA Project Chief of Party

IPA Senior Policy Advisor

IPA BEE Lead

IPA Deputy Chief of Party

IPA Investment Policy & Promotion Specialist

IPA Regulatory and BEE Reform Specialist

Other stakeholders as relevant

 

Apply By:

Please send electronic submissions of your CV, Cover Letter and 3 professional references when you apply to [email protected] by 5:00 PM January 2, 2023. Please include the position you are applying for in the subject line. Only applications sent to the listed email will be considered. Applications without these items may not be considered. No telephone inquiries, please. Finalists will be contacted only.

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