CALL FOR PROPOSALS: ENHANCING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ENABLERS FOR STRONGER WOMEN SMEs IN AFRICA

The African Development Bank (The Bank) plays a catalytic role in accelerating efforts to address
gender inequality and drive inclusive economic transformation for women across Africa through
mainstreaming gender in its operations and implementing targeted initiatives dedicated to African
women. To further push forward the agenda of gender equality and women’s empowerment across
the continent, the Bank is also investing in targeted initiatives through specific projects specifically
designed to impact women such as the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa
(AFAWA), a flagship initiative that specifically focuses on increasing inclusive finance for
women entrepreneurs on the continent. AFAWA’s primary objective is to bridge the $42 billion
finance gap for women entepreneurs in Africa and to unlock their entrepreneurial capacity and full
potential.

The AFAWA initiative is unique as it offers a multi-dimensional approach to remove the

constraints women entrepreneurs face in Africa. AFAWA aims to unlock up to $5 billion of
financing for Women Small and Medium Entreprises (WSMEs) by leveraging the Bank’s financial
traditional instruments (lines of credit, trade finance, and equity funds) and through the AFAWA
Guarantee for Growth (G4G), an innovative mechanism de-risking women entrepreneurs and
enhancing Financial Institutions’ (FIs) appetite in lending to WSMEs. These financial mechanisms
are supported by technical assistance to financial institutions and WSMEs to ensure that adequate
products and services are developed to address women’s financial needs, as well as adequate
knowledge to build bankable and sustainable projects. Given the importance of a strong enabling
environment to strengthen WSMEs ability to access financing, the goals of AFAWA G4G program
cannot be achieved without inclusive regulatory policies in place, and equaly as important, the
presence of enablers with sustainable programs to assist women entrepreneurs in their growth.

Enablers, such as women business associations, incubators, accelerators, cooperatives, civil

society organizations etc. play an important role in promoting the development of women-owned
enterprises and strengthening them to achieve growth. However, as critical as they are to the
development of women-owned enterprises, they often have limited capacity to support WSMEs
due to lack of value-added services, lack of funding and lack of access to key networks, which
significantly affect their sustainability. Thus, as part of its efforts to enhance the business enabling
environment, the Bank through the AFAWA initiative will support the enablers to strengthen the
skills, wealth creating capacity of their members and create innovative and effective change in
the WSME business culture. With this goal in mind, the Bank is launching a call for proposals
for projects enhancing the viability and sustainability of women entrepreneurship enablers. The
Bank encourages women business associations, incubators, accelerators, cooperatives, civil
society organizations to share proposals aligned with the objectives and themes set out below.
Objectives

Submitted proposals will:

i. Demonstrate innovative approaches to build a supportive ecosystem for women’s
entrepreneurship aimed at improving access to finance for WSMEs;
ii. Develop innovative ways to disseminate advisory services adressing capacity constraints,
skills enhancement and digital presences for WSMEs;
iii. Enhance visibility and access to mentorship and role models for WSMEs.

Through the proposed interventions, the enablers must demonstrate increased access to finance,
skills and mentorship. The Bank seeks proposals that demonstrate the following themes:
i. Track record in supporting women SMEs;
ii. Innovation and strong development impact;
iii. Mobilization of additional funding;
iv. Partnership with both public and private sectors;
v. Additionality and value for money;
vi. Long term plan and sustainability;
vii. Collaboration between two or several applicant enablers.

Funding requests may be for a specific project or for an indicative program of several projects, or
over several countries. The minimum threshold for requesting funding from this call for
proposal is $100,000 and the maximum threshold is $250,000.

Geographical Scope

While all countries will be considered, preference will be given to proposals implemented in the
following countries: Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republique of Congo, Gabon, Kenya,
Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa,Tanzania, Rwanda,
Zambia to align with the ongoing AFAWA Guarantee for Growth Program pipeline.

Funding Principles and Criteria

i. The project duration should not exceed 2 (two) years for national projects and 3 (three)
years for regional projects;
ii. Proposal should strive to wherever possible align with national or regional priorities on
access to financial services/financial inclusion for WSMEs;
iii. Recipients and project sponsors should be Africa-based or provide evidence of
partnership with African entities and show that the proposed activities, operations and
projects will be implemented in Africa.
iv. While not an eligibility requirement, particular attention will be paid to potential
projects which benefit two or more countries and regions as this will strengthen

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 regional integration and maximize the impact of resources. Due account will also be
taken of the economic and social development plans of regional member countries;
v. Applicants must be legally constituted institutions that have been in existence for at
least three years.

Assessment: Proposals received will be assessed based on the following considerations:

Criteria Rating Percentage

Viability of the proposed project 15%
Applicants’ offering and track record in relation to proposed project 15%
Leverage of other funding sources 20%
Applicant’s ability to scale 20%
Project expected reach and impact 30%
Total 100%

Application and Timelines

The call for proposals will be financed through the Gender Equality Trust Fund (GETF) of the
African Development Bank Group.

Proposals (Not more than 10 pages) either in English or French should be submitted using the
attached template via email to the following e-mail address: Benard Chitunga:
[email protected] Senior Officer- Partnerships, Donors and Special Projects, AFAWA and
copy Esther Dassanou : [email protected]. Manager, AFAWA.

• Call for Proposals Issued April 30, 2021

• Call for Proposals Closed May 30, 2021 and should follow the format below.
• Awards will be announced on July 15 , 2021.

Short-listing and selection shall be done in accordance with the Bank’s policies, rules and
procedures. The Bank is under no obligation to shortlist any company, partnership or association.

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Proposal Template

Project Title:

Region/Country:

(Date)

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 Introduction Basic Information
Date:
Grant Recipient:
Implementing/Executing Agency:
Total Cost:
Project Duration:
Completion Date:

Timeframe -Major Milestones

Activity Target time

Project Information Summary

Project
Description:
Alignment with
call for proposals
requirement:
Cost Structure
and Financing
Plan:
Implementation
Arrangements:
Development
Outcomes:
Additionality and
Complementarity:

Introduction

1. General/Sector Context

Provide information on the market failure and specific constraints to Women Small and
Medium Enterprises (WSMEs) entrepreneurship that the proposed project seeks to address
(one page maximum).

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2. Project Rationale

Provide the rationale for the project and demonstrate the alignment with the objectives of
this call for proposals.

3. Project Description

Describe the project at a conceptual level, its overall goals, development objectives, and
its ability to achieve its objectives. Describe the main components and subcomponents of
the proposed project. Specify activities under each component and subcomponent and
explain the sequence and timeline of activities.

4. Project Beneficiaries

Describe the socio-economic status of the ultimate beneficiaries (WSMEs) and discuss the
context in which they are operating, for example how social norms and the country’s legal
framework affect WSMEs performance.
For the purpose of the project activities and implementation, the following definitions
should be used (the thresholds for the below parameters may be adapted based on context,
as necessary):
Women-Owned/Women-Led Firm
• ≥ 51% owned by a woman/woman; or
• ≥ 20% owned by a woman/woman; and have ≥ one woman as CEO/COO
(President/Vice President); and have ≥ 30% of the board of directors
comprised of women, where a board exists; and
Small and Medium Enterprise
Project beneficiaries must meet one of the following criteria.
• Loan size between US$5,000 and US$1 million (US$2 million in the case
of more advanced countries)
• Between 5 and 300 employees
• Sales between US$100,000 and US$15 million
• Assets between US$100,000 and US$15 million

5. Cost Structure and Finance Plan

5.1 Include a detailed budget with descriptions for each line item. Where possible, the
budget should be linked to individual activities and expected results.

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 Total
Budget Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 (US$)
US$ US$ US$
Cost Components:
Component-1
Component-2
Component-3
Total

Categories may include:

- Project related activities (i.e tools etc.)
- Consultants/expert time fee (unit price per expert)
- Local staff (labour cost, allowance etc.)
- Administrative costs (please specify)
- Operating costs
- Goods and services
- Others (please specify)

5.2 Financing Plan

Financing Plan USD %

1 AfDB
2 Applying Entity
3 Other Partner
Total

6. Analysis of Development Outcomes

6.1 Gender and Social Effects

6.2 WSME Development and Demonstration Effect

6.3 Funding leverage/unlocked

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 7. Implementation Arrangements

In a table provide the implementation plan and for each component and subcomponent
(simplementing partners and timeline).

8. Monitoring and Evaluation

Describe the proposed mechanisms and procedures for monitoring the project using the
table below to ensure that activities (1) occur as planned, (2) remain directed towards stated
objectives, and (3) reach and increase the number and/or growth of women-owned/led
SMEs. Please include your M&E framework with specific indicators.

Results Framework

Country and project name:

Purpose of the project:

PERFORMANCE
RESULTS MEANS OF RISKS/MITIGATION
INDICATORS
CHAIN VERIFICATION MEASURES
Indicator Baseline Target
IMPACT
OUTCOMES
OUTPUTS
ACTIVI
TIES
KEY

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9. Sustainability

Demonstrate the proposal potential for long term impact and sustainability.

10. Risks and proposed mitigation measures

Table X: Summary of Risks and mitigation measures

Risks Level Mitigation measures
High

Medium

Low
High

Medium

Low
High

Medium

Low
High

Medium

Low
High

Medium

Low