Background to the Assignment
The Ghana Enterprises Agency in partnership with the German Cooperation's 'Invest for Jobs' (an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), is implementing a Women SME Innovation Programme – Digitalize for Jobs.
The project seeks to provide capacity-building to women-owned/led SMEs on different aspects of digitalization and how their companies can grow from its use and increase their process efficiency and competitiveness by providing access to knowledge, digital tools, and expertise in the field of digitalization and innovation management challenges. It will Create a digitalized business environment conducive to the rapid growth of SMEs in Ghana, ensuring that they are creating jobs after the program.
Objective and Tasks of the Assignment
As part of this project, GEA seeks to engage a competent and highly qualified IT consultancy firm / Digital Services Provider, that has the required capability and experience in the development of digital solutions for SMEs, to lead the development or customization of (Open Source) software solutions based on key needs and demands of selected SMEs in Ghana.
The objective of this assignment is to support the digital transformation of selected women-owned SMEs in Ghana thereby increasing their process efficiency and competitiveness by providing access to demand-based digital software solutions complementing the technical assistance in terms of training and mentoring that the project offers.
The IT consultancy firm should be able to identify the needs and challenges of the target SMEs, advise on appropriate solutions to support their businesses operations, to recommend innovative open-source solutions - without license costs - that could be considered for adoption/customization to address SME’s constraints in the following areas but not only limited to these.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Invoicing, Order, and Sales Management
- Bookkeeping and Accounting
- Inventory Management
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
- eCommerce
The software solutions shall be easy to handle, user-friendly, and simple but include necessary core functions, a very affordable model, context-specific and modular.
The underlying approach is not to develop new software solutions from scratch but to explore whether appropriate and effective existing open-source solutions are available on the local market that can be customized to the needs of Ghanaian SMEs.
Sustainability is key - The proposed software solutions need to be adapted to the local market so that maintenance and IT Support in Ghana are guaranteed.
The customization/configuration of the software solution shall be complemented by training/capacity building of SMEs as users but also administrators (for later adaption/configuration).
Scope of Work
The scope of work of this assignment includes the following:
- Identification of digital software solutions for Ghanaian SMEs: The Consultancy Firm shall undertake a desk study or leverage the needs of the selected SMEs as part of the “Women SME
- Innovation Programme – Digitalize for Jobs (D4J)” to identify potential software solutions, which address the digitalization pain points of SMEs in Ghana. This would also include an analysis of open-source software solutions to be acquired off-the-shelf and to be customized.
- Development and customization of digitalization tools - The Consultancy Firm shall customize digital solutions for the selected SMEs.
- Conduct training on the procured software solutions - The Consultancy Firm shall be responsible for conducting training for the various SMEs to enhance their understanding and use (and administration) of the customized procured solutions.
- Provide post-implementation support - For the developed solutions, the Consultancy Firm shall be responsible for providing support to the SMEs post-implementation, to ensure the sustainability of the intervention.
- Identification/Marking of the solution – The Consultancy Firm shall include logos or text at the footer of the solution information provided by GEA.
Expected Deliverables
Considering the scope of work of this project and based on the proposed project development & implementation methodology, the Consultancy Firm must provide a complete list of all deliverables that will be produced throughout the entire project timeline whether those are plans, reports, applications, etc. in a table format mentioning the stages, activities, and timelines.
Some examples of the deliverables are mentioned here under for your reference.
- Inception report
- User manuals for developed solutions.
- Digital solutions deployment report with specific indicators to be provided by GEA.
- Functioning solutions
- Comprehensive report
Qualification and Experience of The Consultancy Firm
This is a national assignment with utmost importance to GEA, thus the Consultancy Firm must prove that they have a solid technical background and operational strength to undertake and take this work forward without any hindrances. The Consultancy Firm must also have adequate technical ability, human resources, and processes. As such, the following are defined as minimum eligibility criteria:
- Degree in Computer Science / Information Technology, Digitalisation, or related fields
- A minimum working experience of 5 years in developing digital solutions and services for SMEs
- Excellent knowledge of the SME landscape (their needs and challenges) regarding digitalization
- List of developed digital tools for Ghanaian SMEs and training conducted
- Demonstrated experience and qualifications of key staff to be placed on the project
- Excellent research, analytical, communication, and writing skills
- Excellent teamwork and participatory process skills
Submission of CV
The CV shall be submitted by 12:00 pm/noon (GMT) on Monday, September 12, 2022, in a sealed envelope delivered to Procurement Officer, GEA, and be clearly marked "Digital Tools Development / Customization or Acquisition"
Applicants may obtain further information on the requirements including the criteria for shortlisting by applying to procurementgea@gmail.com, procurement@gea.gov.gh during office hours.
Deadline
Wednesday, 15th March 2023
Terms of Reference
Detailed Terms of Reference for this project may be downloaded HERE (Click Here).
