Short-Term Expert Pool for the Consulting Services for the “Several Credit Lines regarding MSME and pertinent Accompanying Measures in the area of capacity building, administrational support, and environmental & social management"

Client: 
KfW
Position: 
Short-Term Expert Pool
Region: 
Southeastern Africa
Country: 
Mozambique
Languages: 
Portuguese; English
Nationality: 
open
Status: 
Tenders
Deadline: 
Monday, December 5, 2022
Description: 

Background:

As of today, Mozambique is in midst of an economic crisis, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and slowing down economic growth and job creation opportunities especially for MSMEs. Although the promotion of the MSME sector has gained importance in recent years, the agricultural sector is however still insufficiently promoted by banks and microfinance institutions, who are not represented nationwide.

The MSME sector: About 87% of Mozambique's MSMEs are in rural areas and by employing around 5.4 million people, the sector plays an important source of employment in Mozambique. Of these, however, about 4.5 million are MSME owners and only about 850,000 are employees. Management systems and quality controls are inadequate. This is particularly true in rural areas, where adequate (financial) education, infrastructure and market connectivity are generally lacking. According to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (2016), the lack of access to financial services is the main obstacle (core problem) for both the start-up and growth of MSMEs. In the category "access to credit", Mozambique has fallen from rank 130 to rank 165 (2020) since 2014. The supply gap is partly since MSMEs very often have neither standard bank collateral nor credit history.

The main challenges to tackle for MSMEs in Mozambique, especially in the agricultural sector includes 1) low productivity, 2) poor market access (especially access to finance, markets and information), 3) food insecurity (especially loss of family income due to HIV-AIDS and Malaria) and chronic malnutrition, 4) access to land, water (or irrigation systems) and other natural resources, and 5) a complex institutional environment (especially with regard to responsibilities in the agricultural and fisheries sectors). This is exacerbated by the fact that many banks are not present in large parts of the country. In 2019, about 25% of all 128 districts in the country did not have a bank branch. Furthermore, lack of telecommunication and electricity infrastructure, as well as the low-income and dispersed rural population, discourage banks from opening branches in remote communities. Poorly verifiable property rights can also cause problems with loan collateral. MSMEs in the agricultural sector often lack collateral, as land titles (DUAT) in particular, are not recognized by banks.

 

Objectives:

This assignment aims to streamline the implementation of the credit lines and agricultural financing provided by KfW to the BdM and enhance the potential impact through technical assistance. This shall be achieved by supporting the BdM throughout the implementation as well as strengthening the capacity of the institution and further selected financial institutions. Additionally, the access to and use of demand-oriented financial services targeted to the needs of MSMEs – preferably in rural regions – shall be institutionalized and sustainably provided. Within the frame of additional Technical Assistance, MSMEs in the respective regions and sectors shall be supported and trained to significantly increase their access to financial products in general and KfW credit lines.

 

Qualifications: 
  • Degree in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Agriculture, Social Science or Project Management
  • Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience
  • Sound knowledge of the banking and financial sector in Mozambique
  • Strong track record in implementing similar projects
  • Fluent in Portuguese and ideally English 
Start / Duration: 

36 months

Contact: 

Please upload your latest CV here. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.