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Chemonics International Inc.

USAID Small & Medium Enterprise Activity

SOW # CE-06

Scope of Work Summary:

The USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA) requires the services of a consultant to conduct secondary and primary research for the Logistics sector to identify major growth impediments faced by SME firms, clusters, and the sector as a whole. These impediments will include competitiveness issues faced by companies and policy/regulatory distortions that increase cost of doing business and further deteriorate the competitiveness of SME companies. After analytically identifying these impediments, the consultant will give recommendations on how they can be potentially overcome through provision of business development services, Challenge Fund grants and policy, regulatory and legal measures. The output of this assignment would help SMEA design and undertake specific interventions; both for enterprise competitiveness and in terms of policies/regulations applicable to the sector, during the life of the project.

1.Position Title & Department:

Logistics Sector Analysis Consultant – Competitiveness Enhancement Component

2.General Summary:

Chemonics International is implementing USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA), which is a 5-year, $35 million project that is aimed at improvement of financial and operating performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan in selected high-performing industrial, manufacturing and services sectors.

SMEA’s development hypothesis is that SME-led economic growth will result in poverty reduction, job creation, and entrepreneurship development contributing to increase GDP. SMEA will increase incomes and employment in project-assisted economic sectors and improve the enabling environment for private sector led growth in Pakistan.

One of the major objectives of SMEA is to provide support to the SMEs that will result in

  • Improved economic performance of SMEs in selected sectors including Hospitality, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), Light engineering, Agri Business and Processing (off farm), Textile (minus spinning) and Logistics.

  • Improved technological readiness and innovation

  • Increased access to markets

  • Increased access to finance

  • Enabled women led enterprises to run profitable business

SMEA has initiated design and execution of interventions in all the above sectors, except Logistics. In December 2017, a sector analysis was conducted which helped map some of the basic challenges in the sector but is deemed insufficient to design initiatives focused on SMEs in the sector. This exercise will feed into the formulation of strategic recommendations to support SMEs in the Logistics sector develop their competitiveness through the Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (Business Development and Other Services) and the Challenge Fund (competitive cash grants for innovation).

To conduct this analysis, the consultant will first conduct secondary research to map the major sub-sector or / and geographic spread of the sector and gain insights into the type of challenges faced by SMEs. Based on this, the consultant will engage with SMEs and thought leaders in the sector to validate the secondary research and identify areas of improvement and in turn prioritized sector development initiatives for SMEA.

3.Objective of the Consultancy:

The primary objective of the consultancy assignment is the analysis, identification and formulation of strategic recommendations to support SMEs in the Logistics sector to develop their competitiveness through SMEA’s mandated support mechanism.

The outputs of the consultancy to help achieve this objective are:

  1. Create a sector profile in terms of number of SMEs, geographic spread, production, employment, job creation potential, GDP contribution, exports, female participation, profitability and products/services.

  2. Based on the profile, the consultant will define “logistics” sector for SMEA (in terms of applicability and relevance per SMEA mandate) and propose the sub-sectors that have presence of SMEs and are most suited to SMEA’s offered service and support. All further analysis will be based on only these sub-sectors.

  3. Map the Logistics value chain, along with major actors, business development service providers and stakeholders.

  4. Identify major challenges / areas of improvement for SMEs in terms of enterprise competitiveness (access to technology, markets, improved management and formal sources of credit, etc.) and the applicable policy/regulator regimes.

  5. Identify key challenges (cross cutting and sector/sub-sector specific) pertaining to policy, regulatory, and legal environment, including the existing implementation mechanisms and status of implementation by the government.

  6. Identify key public sector stakeholders/agencies that play an active role or have influence in proposing, formulating or implementing policy

  7. Analyze/Indicate challenges and opportunities in the emerging trends of logistics such as businesses operating as a part of the shared economy (e.g. Careem, Uber) and use IT enabled services as a part of their business models (complexities and costs in doing business) to draw out potential scope for SMEA interventions

  8. An analysis of the challenges and opportunities for SMEs arising as a result of CPEC and the capacity building needs for SMEs to compete in domestic markets against new international entrants, capitalize on opportunities and identify areas of competitive advantage that can help trigger SME growth

  9. Women participation in the sector in terms of employment and entrepreneurship – potential and existing

  10. Recommendations on initiatives that can be undertaken for SMEs in the sector covering the following focus areas:

    1. Improvements that can be made in terms of provision of business development services including trainings, business planning, certifications, market access and intelligence, access to software and information technology and access to finance

    2. Improvements in the current provincial and federal policies and their corresponding regulatory frameworks that can help support the growth of SMEs in the sector including (but not limited to) a supportive business environment, progressive and SME friendly policies, promotional regulatory frameworks, efficient standards and compliance regimes, along with effective implementation and enforcement mechanisms.

    3. Key sectoral challenges that can be addressed by providing grants to private sector companies to design and launch products and services that can address these challenges in a commercially viable manner (as a part of SMEA’s Challenge Fund)

To achieve the given objectives of the consultancy, the consultant is required to perform given below tasks successfully;

4.Principal Duties & Responsibilities:

Under the given consultancy assignment, the consultant will be responsible for performing each task / activity related to the assignment. All the activities performed by the consultant must be in line with the awarded contract and scope of work. The consultant will perform the activity by keeping in view the business protocols/scope and quality parameters defined in the contract as per Chemonics policies. The consultant will be responsible to produce and submit all deliverables with supporting documents mentioned in deliverables schedule.

5.Specific Tasks of the Consultant:

 Meet with SMEA senior management and the Competitiveness Enhancement team to understand the specific requirements of the scope of work and the project as a whole. This would include the team leads for the CE, CF, BEE and M&E Components and also the Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of Party and Senior Policy Advisor.

 Study and understand the project background, approach and objectives and review other relevant studies/ material including, but not limited to:

  • USAID SMEA’s Market Led Sector Analysis

  • USAID SMEA’s BEE Analysis

  • Karandaaz Paksistan’s Report on the Transport and Logistics Sector

  • Government of Pakistan, Planning Commission’s “Transport and Logistics” Plan1

  • Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Communications “National Transport Policy”

 Design and develop a work plan/action plan within the first week of signing the contract and submit an inception report to SMEA. The work plan should be inclusive of major activities, methodology review, proposed meetings, tools and other required formats/instruments.

 Undertake desk research pertaining to the logistics sector to create a sector profile including sub-sectors and geographic spread, production, revenue, exports, contribution to GDP, numbers of enterprises, employment, sector trend over the previous 5 years, current domestic and export markets, service categories, women participation, major sector players/stakeholders, existing initiatives, challenges and opportunities and value chain network.

  • Based on the above, the consultant will identify major sub-sectors within the sector including, but not limited to, transportation (freight and passenger), warehousing, packaging, freight support services and others. Furthermore, the consultant will prioritize sub-sectors for SMEA based on two major variables:

    1. Presence of SMEs

    2. Suitability to the suite of services and support offered by SMEA

  • Hold the meetings with major stakeholders / actors, located in major cities (Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Multan and others identified during the profiling stage) to gather quantitative and qualitative information, leading to sector analysis and recommendations.

 Competitiveness Analysis for only prioritized sub-sectors:

    • Market knowledge of SMEs – how well do the SMEs in the market understand consumer demand and are responsive to changing needs of customers?

    • Industry concentration, structure and fragmentation – does the sector consist of a small number of large players or a large number of small players and what are their relative market shares?

    • Industry innovation – how have products and services changed in recent times and how has the introduction of ride sharing services affected traditional businesses?

    • Access to finance – to what degree do SMEs in the sector have access to or avail financial services such as credit and leasing. What factors restrict this access and what can be done to improve financial access?

  • Policy and Regulatory Environment

      • Sectoral/sub-sectoral policy, regulatory and legal constraints acting as a hindrance to business growth

      • Prioritization of -constraints in terms of binding and non-binding, to identify potential growth impact for businesses if these bottlenecks are redressed.

      • Existing implementation frameworks and institutional capacities to enforce mandated policies, regulations, and compliances.

  • Recommended Interventions for the sector

      • Relationship Matrix – For each recommendation, explain what impact this would have on SMEs in the sector and how exactly it addresses one or more of the challenges identified in the analysis earlier

 Identify specific areas in the logistics sector for foreign direct investment and collaboration / partnership of the Pakistani private sector (SMEs) with US based companies.

 Make recommendations on sector specific interventions on the enabling environment and for firms that will help increase FDI, generate more domestic and international revenue, create additional jobs, improve productivity and improve the usage and adoption of ICT/IT in the sector. The recommendations should also cover areas of increased access to finance and technology in the sectors and improving the economic participation of women. The recommendations should be in line with SMEA’s mandate and scope.

 Develop and present a PowerPoint presentation and a report prior to end of the assignment with SMEA’s management and technical teams.

 Conduct key information interviews with the sector stakeholders (where necessary) with a prior submission of written justification.

6.Job Qualifications

 

Position

Person Specifications

 

Level of Effort

Logistics Sector Analysis Consultant

  • Master’s degree in economics/ development economics/ development studies/ strategic management, or equivalent, from a reputed national/international university

  • 7 years of experience, undertaking research and diagnosis of industries/sectors

  • Demonstrated experience of working in or on analyzing the Logistics sector of Pakistan developing pro-market feasibility and business plans preferred

  • Knowledge in concepts of international business, competitive analysis, trend analysis, industrial analysis etc.

  • Good understanding of the policy and regulation constraints faced by the SMEs at the federal and provincial levels

  • Previous experience of engaging with the private and public sectors for a robust assessment of the constraints underlying SME growth

  • Previous experience of working with USAID projects in economic growth will be preferred

  • Experience of working with donor projects in the SME space will be preferred

  • Excellent communication and report writing skills

30 person days

 

7.Duty Station:

The consultant will be available to work out of the SMEA’s Islamabad and/or Lahore office and will be required to travel to all parts of Pakistan that are hubs of logistics; the costs of this travel will be paid for by the project.

  1. Workspace and Use of Personal Laptop and Software(s):

The consultant will be required to use his/her own personal laptop. Thus, he/she must certify that all software used is genuine and licensed.

9.Reporting:

The consultant will report to the Component Lead for Competitiveness Enhancement or any other designated staff. He / She will work closely with component leads of Competitiveness Enhancement, Business Enabling Environment (BEE), Monitoring and Evaluation and other relevant members of the SMEA team.

10.Duration of the Assignment:

This assignment is planned to take place as per a start date of on or around February 1, 2019 and end date of on or around March 30, 2019 up to a total of 30 days level of effort (LOE)

11.Deliverables:

The following are the key deliverables and their associated deadlines. The timeline for the LOE assigned for each activity as mentioned in the following table will be discussed and agreed with the technical team and the consultants.

No.

Activity / Deliverable

LOE Required

Due Date

1

Inception Report and Work plan (along with work plan narrative)

4 Days

February 5, 2019

2

Logistics Sector Profile (based on secondary research)

5 Days

February 14, 2019

3

Sub-Sector Prioritization Matrix and KII interview list

2 Days

February 17, 2019

4

Competitive Analysis

7 Days

February 25, 2019

5

Enabling Environment/Policy Analysis

5 Days

March 4, 2019

6

Sub-Sector Specific Recommendations And Presentation

3 Days

March 9, 2019

7

Final Report

3 Days

March15, 2019

 

Total

30 (person) Days

 

 

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1 https://www.pc.gov.pk/uploads/plans/Ch27-Transport-logistics2.pdf