Consultancy – Secure External Funding for Vietnam Innovation Incubator

Background

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is a non-profit, international development organisation founded 50 years ago, and now operating in 38 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Our global team of local and international advisors use their expertise in Agriculture, Renewable Energy, Climate Change and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene to contribute to solving some of the leading problems facing the world today. We work with local partners to equip communities, businesses and organisations with the tools, knowledge and connections they need to increase their incomes and gain access to basic services – empowering them to break the cycle of poverty and guide their own development.

SNV has been working in Vietnam since 1995, and currently has over 80 national and international staff. SNV Vietnam’s team works hand-in-hand with communities, government agencies and businesses, in some of the remotest and poorest areas of the country, to strengthen their capacity to effectively reduce poverty. SNV Vietnam operates from a head office in Hanoi and is present in more than 50 out of 63 provinces in Vietnam.

For decades, SNV has developed and leveraged market-based solutions and innovations to accelerate economic development opportunities for the low-income segment. SNV developed and pioneered the Inclusive Business (IB) approach as a comprehensive pro-poor market-based solution developed with the direct participation of the private sector stakeholders, including an alliance with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) since 2006.

To date, SNV has successfully supported approximately 200 inclusive business endeavours (with both MNCs and domestic companies) in sectors such as agribusiness, mobile banking, energy, tourism, infrastructure and basic services, health, ICT, renewable energy, textiles and others. SNV’s IB offering was developed with the private sector market as the client for revenue generation in mind, however we have also applied our methodology to work with donors and NGOs interested in developing public-private partnerships.

In Vietnam, SNV manages two large donor-funded inclusive business programmes, the Vietnam Business Challenge Fund (VBCF, www.vbcf.org.vn) and the Inclusive Business Accelerator (IBA, https://iba.ventures/), both of which focus on helping SMEs operating in Vietnam design and implement business plans, bring like-minded business partners and investors together and deliver economic and social impact at scale.

Under the auspices of the IBA program, SNV and its Vietnamese partners are now developing the Vietnam Innovation Incubator (V2i). It is a hybrid incubator, accelerator and research lab for food value chains in the Red River Delta which works to address local enterprises’ needs for access to new and relevant technology for highly value-added processing and production of high quality products, access to financing for technology transfer and innovation in Vietnam, as well as access to international markets. V2i will provide one-stop-shop services to comprehensively cater to innovative growing SMEs and start-ups in the food value chain throughout the Red River Delta region.

V2i is supported in part with funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Innovation Partnership Program (IPP) of the Governments of Finland and Vietnam, but is seeking additional external resources. We are seeking an experienced consultancy firm or individual(s) to advance its offering as detailed below.

Objectives & Scope of Work

Under the supervision of and with the direct support of the IBA Vietnam Program Manager:

1. Review and gain a thorough understanding of SNV Vietnam’s approach and service offerings under the IBA program generally, and particularly under the V2i project.
2. Based on this review, identify and prepare a short-list of international foundations or other relevant donors that would have the means and interest (based on geographic and topical priorities) to provide co-financing to V2i.
3. With the additional support of SNV Vietnam’s Business Development team, develop and submit proposal(s) for funding and secure co-financing funds from one or more relevant donors/foundations/family offices (“donors”).

In order to achieve these main objectives, the following scope of work will be undertaken and delivered by the consultant:

• Identifying donors who are able to potentially provide funding and developing a database of relevant potential donors;
• Based on identified donors & researched database, formulating strategy and action plan, implementing and monitoring it in order to effectively raise fund from potential donors;
• Preparing funding proposal or funding application materials;
• Preparing, developing or providing inputs for V2i’s marketing and capital raising materials (including but not limited to teasers, pitch-books etc.) to be presented to potential donors;
• Approaching, connecting and/or matchmaking with potential donors in order to enable V2i to raise (more) capital from those donors;
• Representing V2i to meet investors when needed;
• Closely coordinating with V2i to follow up discussions; identifying and addressing issues as well as facilitating information exchange with donors;
• Preparing periodic and ad-hoc reports with respect to fundraising activities of V2i; and
• Other related activities related to fundraising for V2i.

Deliverables

• Approach and proposal to donors;
• Short-list of relevant donors;
• A database of potential donor candidates in Microsoft Excel format. The database will provide general relevant information and should at least include information such as full name, type of donor, short description, contact detail/address, contact person, geographical coverage, funding parameters, available capital etc.;
• Match-making activities and face-to-face meetings with the potential donors; and
• Periodic progress reports.

Time Frame

The duration of this engagement is expected to be 5 months from September 2015 to January 2016.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated track record in fundraising on behalf of international; development and/or impact incubator and accelerator organisations;
• Demonstrated network with key decision-makers at international donors (bilateral, multilateral, foundation, family office);
• Good understanding of private sector development and concept of impact incubator/accelerator; 
• Good understanding of field realities in emerging markets; ability to link different sectors (private sector, government and NGOs);
• Good understanding of food value chain will be an advantage.

Proposals

Consultancy firms or individual consultant(s) are invited to submit a competitive proposal for this assignment, including:

• Brief technical proposal to conduct the assignment (understanding, team structure and profiles, summary approach, and draft work plan should be included);
• Brief financial proposal;
• Relevant qualifications and past experience, including CVs and at least 3 references.

Please submit your proposals and questions to Manoli Strecker, Business Development Manager, at [email protected]. Proposals must be received by September 21, 2015.

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Address: 2nd floor, Building K, La Thanh Hotel, 218 Doi Can Street, Ba Dinh, Ha Noi, Vietnam
Tel:        84 43 8463 791/2
Fax:       84 43 8463 794