SELECTION OF CONSULTING FIRMS BY THE WORLD BANK GROUP
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)
Electronic Submissions through WBGeProcure RFx Now
ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW
Assignment Title: Africa SME Fashion Champions
Assignment Countries:
- Not Country Related
ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION
The SME Fashion Program is an Upstream advisory initiative led by IFC aimed at accelerating leading SMEs in Africa's fashion and lifestyle sector. The program seeks to identify, support, and equip 30 high-potential SMEs with tailored technical assistance to enhance their investment readiness and facilitate matchmaking with IFC and partner financial institutions. The ultimate objective is to enable these SMEs to secure financing, scale operations, and access new markets to become global brands.
The program will cover Africa but has prioritized Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire—countries and companies with sales over 800k, substantial export capacity.
IFC is inviting qualified consulting firms to express their interest in supporting the following key activities:
- Market Mapping and Identification:
- Conduct a comprehensive mapping of Africa's fashion and lifestyle to identify 75 high-potential SMEs with sales over USD 800K and strong growth and export prospects.
- Prioritize SMEs and short list 30 SMEs demonstrating profitability, capacity to scale fast, export track records, and alignment with gender inclusion and youth employment objectives.
- SME Needs Assessment:
- Conduct a detailed assessment and business plan for the 30 SMEs selected by IFC including their technical assistance needs to enhance investment readiness and market expansion capabilities.
3. Preparea technical assistance action plan
o Design a technical assistance plan for the 30 SMEs to meet IFC standards and financing eligibility.
FUNDING SOURCE
The World Bank Group intends to finance the assignment / services described below under the following:
ELIGIBILITY
Eligibility restrictions apply:
- [Please type list of restrictions]
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
The World Bank Group invites eligible firms to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested firms must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services (brochures, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff, etc. for firms; CV and cover letter for individuals). Please note that the total size of all attachments should be less than 5MB. Firms may associate to enhance their qualifications unless otherwise stated in the solicitation documents. Where a group of firms associate to submit an EOI, they must indicate which is the lead firm. If shortlisted, the firm identified in the EOI as the lead firm will be invited to the request for proposal (RFP) phase.
Expressions of Interest should be submitted, in English, electronically through WBGeProcure RFx Now
NOTES
Following this invitation for EOI, a shortlist of qualified firms will be formally invited to submit proposals. Shortlisting and selection will be subject to the availability of funding.
Only those firms which have been shortlisted will be invited to participate in the RFP phase. No notification or debrief will be provided to firms which have not been shortlisted.
If you encounter technical difficulties while uploading documents, please send an e-mail to the Help Desk at corporateprocurement@worldbank.org prior to the submission deadline.