Marketing Consultant At FCA Investments

FCA Investments Ltd is looking for a Marketing Consultant for concept design as part of Essential services to seize the Missing Middle Opportunity project during November 2021 – April 2022.

Background info on FCA Investments Ltd and the project

FCA Investments (FCAI) is an impact-driven com­pany specialising in Small and Medium-sized Enter­prise (SME) development. FCAI believes in the role of responsible and scalable SMEs as a driver for building sustainable and inclusive economic growth in devel­oping countries. Therefore, FCAI aims to leverage the power of finance and business development support to turn the missing middle challenge into an invest­able opportunity.

The scope of the MMOF project is about designing a commercially viable technical assistance facility (called essentials as a service) aimed at building SMEs’ capacities in crosscutting areas like marketing, ESG management, accounting, and financial management. This is believed to help tackle the missing middle challenge by making those target SMEs more transparent and compliant with related national and international standards and requirements, and eventually, increasing their investment readiness. There is currently an insufficient number of investable SMEs in developing countries while (impact) investors’ interest in Sub-Saharan markets is constantly growing. That requires efforts on the ground to address the root causes of the SME’s lack of access to finance and to give those responsible SMEs a competitive advantage in the process. The project will be implemented between October 2021 and August 2022. The project will be managed by FCA Investments from its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland.

Scope of work

FCA Investments is seeking a Marketing Consultant to conduct the following work packages:

Work package 1: Mapping Kenyan and Ugandan SMEs’ development challenges and capacity limitations in marketing and sales.

This will be implemented by interviewing (in depth) at least six SMEs in Uganda and six in Kenya either in person or remotely (if covid19-situation in the countries prevents travelling to project sites). FCAI’s local staff will provide contact to interviewee companies and make related arrangements.

Work package 2: Conduct a market research to determine the level of marketing capacity that Ugandan and Kenyan SMEs (FCAI’s investee companies) need to achieve to be profitable and competitive, to realize growth potential and make them more investment-ready.

Work package 3: Design a concept, the related tools and materials to bridge the gap between typical (investee) SME’s current marketing/sales capacity (baseline) and the capacity level that needs to be achieved (ax ante).

You may find more details on the project and the marketing consultancy in the attached Terms of Reference.

Duration of contract:

Work packages will be carried out in three to five months during the period between 8.11.2021 and 7.4.2022. The active working days are not expected to exceed 80 days unless justified.

Duty station:

The Consultant will undertake a mix of desktop research conducted in Finland and field work carried out in Kenya and Uganda (during two trips, each ten days) based on the agreed work-plan and methodology.

Budget:

The maximum amount for the entire marketing consultancy is 30 000 euros (+ VAT), excluding travel expenses (flights, accommodation, daily allowance, field transport etc). In addition, FCA Investments will cover the Consultant’s travel expenses.

Required expertise and qualification:

• Education qualification of the consultant:

Master’s degree (or preferably PHD) in Business Management and/or Economics or other relevant field.

• Experience of the Consultant:

The consultant has previously worked with SMEs in Uganda and/or Kenya. The consultant has extensive (work related) experience and knowledge of SME sector in Uganda and/or Uganda, go-to-markets planning, value chains analysis, strategic marketing and international business.