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| Title | Scaling for Impact - SME Challenge Fund |
| Status | Tender |
| Position | International and Regional Experts |
| Origin of funding | GIZ |
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The Green Resilient Agricultural-Centred Private Sector Development (GRAPE 2) project supports gender-transformative and climate-resilient economic development in Nepal, placing women and youth at the forefront of new growth opportunities in the agriculture sector. As part of this project, GIZ is setting up an SME Challenge Fund to help enterprises that provide agricultural products and services scale their solutions across the country. The assignment covers the full cycle of the Challenge Fund — from designing eligibility and evaluation criteria and launching a nationwide call for applications, through regional bootcamps and a national pitching competition, to milestone-based business development support and financing for the selected SMEs. The overall goal is to strengthen inclusive, biodiversity-friendly and climate-resilient value chains while improving smallholder farmers' access to affordable products, services, and markets.
The project takes a holistic approach that includes strengthening gender-equitable reform processes and policy frameworks, improving gender-responsive support services, promoting local value chains with high female participation, and increasing the visibility of women’s economic contributions.
Experts' Profiles:
Team Leader (international experience): Holds overall responsibility for the advisory package, coordination with GIZ, and staff management, and guides the design and delivery of business development services to SMEs. Requires a university degree in business administration, economics or entrepreneurship, 15 years of professional experience in SME development, and 10 years of international experience in business development and investment acquisition.
Business Development Expert (national experience): Designs the Challenge Fund's guidelines and evaluation criteria, facilitates bootcamps and pitching sessions, and provides business advisory support and milestone monitoring to selected SMEs. Requires a relevant university degree, 7 years of professional experience in private sector or SME development, and fluency in English and Nepali.
Finance and Investment Expert (national experience): Supports SMEs in financial planning, investment readiness and access to finance, and co-leads monitoring and reporting related to milestone-based disbursements. Requires a university degree in finance, economics or business administration and 7 years of experience in investment advisory or SME finance.
- Monitoring, Learning and Communication Expert (national experience): Oversees data collection and analysis for the fund's M&E system, develops bilingual communication materials and multimedia content, and documents lessons learned and success stories. Requires a degree in social sciences, communication or a related field and 5 years of relevant professional experience.
- Finance Manager (national experience): Leads financial management and procurement, conducts financial due diligence on shortlisted SMEs, and ensures compliance with donor and GIZ financial standards. Requires a degree in finance, accounting or business administration and 7 years of relevant financial management experience.
- Short-term Expert Pools: Two pools of specialists (one with international, one with national experience) covering agricultural and non-agricultural sectors — including agribusiness, value chains, climate-smart technologies, digital agri-solutions and inclusive finance — who provide targeted technical assistance to SMEs throughout the programme