Consultants at the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN)

Development Bank of Nigeria exists to alleviate financing constraints faced by Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria through providing financing, partial credit guarantees and technical assistance to eligible financial intermediaries on a market-conforming and fully financially sustainable basis.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant

Reference Number: NG-DBN-106620-CS-QCBS
Location: Nigeria
Assignment Title: Nigeria - Technical Assistance to Participating Financial Institutions to Expand their Lending to Target Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Details
The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has obtained a loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and intends to apply part of the proceeds of this loan to engage a qualifed consulting firm for the implementation of technical assistance (TA) for commercial bank downscaling aimed at expanding their lending to MSMEs on sustainable and commercially viable terms. The goal of the technical assistance program is to augment the level of formal credit and other financial services being made available to MSMEs by improving the long-term capacity of banks to profitably and sustainably serve this market segment.

This technical assistance is to be delivered in the context of the establishment of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), a wholesale development bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, that provides long term financing and partial credit guarantees to eligible financial intermediaries for onlending to MSMEs. The establishment of the DBN is supported with projects funded by the World Bank and other development partners, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), European Investment Bank (EIB), German Development Bank (KfW) and French Development Agency (AFD) with a combination of equity, debt financing, and technical assistance support.

The DBN, which is the implementing entity for the technical assistance component of the project, has selected five commercial banks that are eligible and interested in the downscaling technical assistance program. The profiles of the selected commercial banks will be provided in the Request for Proposal stage which will be sent to short-listed firms, following this Expression of Interest stage.

An indicative list of the consulting services (“the Services”) to be provided to each of the five commercial banks over a period of up to 24 months includes:

• Institutional assessments of each of the selected commercial banks to determine specific strengths, weaknesses, technical shortcomings and gaps, including staffing level and capacity for lending to MSMEs;
• Formulation of a detailed Technical Assistance (TA) plan which outlines measurable goals and objectives to be accomplished within a defined time-frame, including certain time-bound deliverables on part of the commercial banks;
• Inputs to the Technical Cooperation Agreements (TCA) to be signed between each commercial bank and the DBN, outlining agreed services to be provided and commercial bank obligations under the technical assistance programs;
• Implementation of initial TA plans, including pilot testing of new products and services which could include: a) modified or revised processes and procedures for loan eligibility, loan criteria for MSME products and services, product and service pricing, client documentation requirements and loan review cycle procedures; b) strategies for expanding outreach to women-owned/operated MSMEs and deployment of digital financial services; c) training and mentoring of account officers, relationship managers, branch managers, MSME managers, credit committee and risk management staff; d) development of manual and automated credit analysis tools and redesigned reporting formats; e) MSME segmentation development, segment targeting, product design and/or modification; e) advice to client MSMEs, in the context of the loan application process, on relevant requirements (e.g.adequacy of financial records) for accessing loans; and f ) enhancing technology platforms for data analysis.
• Design and Implementation of the TA in the roll-out phase for each bank
• Completion report including evaluation of each commercial bank capacity for MSME lending.

The details of above outlined services are described in detailed terms of reference which can be found on DBN’s website at the following link https://bit.ly/2JDtLoB

Shortlisting Criteria
The DBN invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing these Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform these Services.

The minimum shortlisting criteria are:

• Evidence of at least 10 years of demonstrated international experience with similar advisory projects related to MSME finance.
• Evidence of international experience with at least two commercial bank downscaling projects in different regions (e.g. Asia, Africa, Europe, and others as appropriate).
• Evidence of demonstrated experience in setting up and training staff in MSME finance units in large commercial banks and of supporting banks to reach out to MSMEs beyond their traditional client base, including womenowned/operated MSMEs and utilization of digital solutions.
• Evidence of extensive capacity building experience related to strengthening understanding and usage of appropriate (e.g. cash-flow based) lending techniques, use of digital solutions and process automation tailored to emerging market environments where MSME's financial record keeping and access to collateral is limited, and where weaknesses in the financial infrastructure inhibit efficient foreclosure on collateral.

For the consulting firms meeting each of the abovementioned prerequisite minimum criteria, the following would be considered an advantage: i) demonstrated evidence of successful implementation of similar downscaling projects in Nigeria; and ii) experience on similar downscaling projects financed by international development institutions such as the World Bank Group, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and/or others as relevant.

Interested Consultants should provide the following information as part of their Expression of Interest:

• Firm qualifications and details of relevant experience specifically responding to each of the shortlist criteria above, including a brief description of the scope of the projects, the dates of implementation, budget and the funding organization;
• To illustrate achievement and sustainability, the expression of interest should indicate measurable results following each of the cited interventions (e.g. number of partner banks, volume and number of outstanding MSME loans per annum and over the period of the program, portfolio quality, average size of outstanding MSME loans,number of MSME loans per MSME loan officer and/orother relevant indicators).

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 1.9 of the World Bank's Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants under IBRD and IDA Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrowers, May 2011, revised in July 2014 (“Consultant Guidelines”) setting forth the World Bank's policy on conflict of interest. Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub-consultancy to enhance their qualifications. Each member of a Joint venture firm shall be reasonably qualified to undertake the assignment in case of withdrawal by any of the members.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost Based Selection method set out in the Consultant Guidelines.

Application Closing Date
15th August, 2019.

How to Apply
Interested Consultants should forward their Expressions of interest - citing the above Assignment Title and Reference Number in the subject - must be delivered in a written form either to the address below (in person or by mail) or preferably e-mail to:
Head, Internal Audit,
Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN),
The Clan Place,
1386A, Tigris Crescent,
Maitama, Abuja,
Nigeria.
E-mail: johioma@devbankng.com

Further information can be obtained at the contact information above during office hours [0900 to 1700 hours Monday- Friday, local time].