Beschreibung der Beschaffung
Since the mid-1990s, the Rwandan economy has grown by an average of about 8 %, however wood industry has not performed well in last decade and Rwanda is utterly an importer of wood products. The causes include insufficient market and customer orientation, inadequate sustainable business models, low productivity, lack of technique and management competencies. The strengthening of the wood sector was one of the major recommendations of the 13 National Leadership Retreat of 2016.
The National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA), has the mandate to improve the competitiveness and to upgrade technological operations of existing industries, including wood sector, in order to increase their potential to undertake import substitution.
The bilateral Economy and Employment Promotion Programme (EcoEmploi), as part of the Rwandan-German Development Cooperation, aims to increase growth and employment in selected Value Chains (VC).
The scope of this project, supported by GIZ EcoEmploi, is to create a twin Incubator/Accelerator Facility (I/A) hosted by NIRDA as a tool to move the Rwandan wood industry towards higher capacity, innovativeness and new investments as well as via a feedback mechanism to the market and Government institutions.
The I/A aim to:
— strengthen the knowledge and competencies of entrepreneurs and management teams, provide insight on what entrepreneurs and management teams should expect as they evolve/develop through Incubation and Acceleration;
— support the growth and technological upgrading of more mature start-ups and SMEs via the provision of structured and studied interventions through an acceleration program to prepare them to meet the requirements at specific stages of capital raising (seed stage, early stage, venture capital stage, later growth stage capital) as well as scaling the individual companies;
— strengthen the capacity of national institutions involved in the wood value chain development to light up and broaden their vision in decision-making processes for modernization of the wood sector in Rwanda;
— facilitate the business networks and linkages of local PS operators with foreign legal timber suppliers and wood products markets.
Bidders interested in apply must be able to demonstrate experience in:
— supporting and backstopping wood sector businesses development and technical upgrade;
— conducting focused surveys on the furniture sector and its entire value chain, assist in in data collection and analysis, quantitative and qualitative approaches, forecasting.
They should have immediate access to a significant in-house database of wood sector information and possess a global network of sector experts, professionals and potential investors from at least two different continents including Africa.
An international long-term expert (LTE) with Wood Sector Specific Technical Background will assume the role of team leader and ensure the overall management and tasks of the I/A. A second international LTE with wood sector specific economic background will support him as deputy team leader. They will be responsible to jointly strategize the interventions and coordinate the activities for the implementation of all Working Packages defined in TORs.
The I/A concept is centred on multi-disciplinary services. The bidder must demonstrate to be able to support beneficiaries of incubation and acceleration services at various stages of project/company development and need (Ideation, Seed, Angel, Venture Capital and Growth Capital), and to be able mobilise specific technical expertise in terms of business strategy, business analysis, institution coordination, wood technology and industrial development. The approach will aim at providing complementary tailored expertise through I/A staff and other locally available Short Term Experts (STEs), or international STEs when local expertise is not available.
The range of specific know-how of STEs should cover the following skills and competences:
— tree nurseries management, seed selection, trees propagation, seedlings production, forest management and forest engineering,
— timber first processing (industrial sawmilling),
— wood secondary processing (timber drying, CLT, glulam, finger joints, intermediary elements for furniture and fixtures, CAD/CAM/CNC processing, wood preservation treatments),
— wood tertiary processing (carpentry, joinery, cabinetmaking, carving and inlaying, wood finishing),
— industrial planning, design and access to technology,
— interior design,
— company and cooperative management (accounting, fund raising, process management, investing, HR, management, business modelling and strategy, data and decision-making, marketing, market strategy, customer behaviour, branding, negotiation, tax schemes, tariffs, incentives),
— marketing, contract fulfilment, customer care, e-commerce, Visibility and communication,
— ICT (computers and software), mobile technology in business,
— processes and wood products certifications and standardizations, quality control, monitoring.
The bidder must provide a panel of proposed key STEs in order to cover with at least one expert each point in the list of specific qualifications, each expert can cover more than one field of expertise. The experts together must cover all fields.
In order to ensure sustainability for the project also after the initial 2-year programme supported by GIZ, and to manage daily tasks the I/A should be staffed also with Permanent National Personnel (PNP) and national long term experts with a core team including at least a Head I/A Office and a Technical CAD/GIS clerk (national LTEs), a secretary/accountant and a driver (Support Staff).