Terms of Reference
1. About AECF
The AECF is a leading development finance organization that supports businesses to innovate, create jobs, and leverage investments to build resilience and sustainable incomes for rural and marginalized communities in Africa. AECF’s s goal is to bridge the investment gap between early-stage enterprise and business maturity for entrepreneurs serving the poorest communities.
The AECF provides patient capital to new and innovative business models in the agribusiness and renewable energy sectors across Sub-Saharan Africa through various financing instruments, which include grants, zero-interest loans, guarantees, and working capital facilities. AECF’s financing products are supplemented by technical and investment advisory services. AECF has successfully implemented programs across 26 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), supporting over 343 enterprises, raising US$ 392 million in funding for programs, leveraging over $753 million in additional capital and impacting 28 million lives.
The Board of the AECF is appointed by the sole shareholder, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), to provide fiduciary oversight and assure transparency and accountability for the well-being and performance of AECF.
AECF is seeking to conduct a Board evaluation in compliance with its Governance documents and the best corporate governance practices. AECF Board strives to be the model of governance and therefore seeks to ensure that the board remains effective and continuously improves in the delivery of its governance mandate.
2. Objectives of the Assignment
The Evaluation is expected to:
- Obtain feedback and valuable input from all board members on how the full board and its committees are performing against generally accepted best governance practices.
- Support the Board in its commitment to continuous enhancement of its capacity to fulfil its governance mandate.
- Use the information provided through the evaluation to bolster the performance and effectiveness of Directors in their roles in executing the Board’s duties and set performance expectations for individual directors.
- Support in identifying the developmental areas/needs of the Board as a whole and individual Directors to enhance the skills of the Directors for effective delivery of the Board’s mandate.
- Provides the framework for setting Board and Board Committees priorities for the success of the institution.
The consultant is expected to employ skills and tools that will yield a higher level of success in the evaluation of the Board as a whole, its Committees and the individual directors. In this regard, the Consultant should have extensive experience managing similar assignments and have the capacity to deliver on the below scope and deliverables within the agreed timeline.
3. Scope and Deliverables
- Assessment of the performance of the Board as a whole, three Board Committees, one Sub-committee of the Board’s Committee, individual directors, and key Officers of the Company. The areas of assessment will include, but are not limited to the following:
- Board and Committees compliance with Terms of Reference.
- Board and Committees meeting effectiveness.
- Board relationship with/support to the CEO.
- Director engagement.
- Board structure; board processes, board roles and responsibilities, information flow and presentation, decision-making process etc.
- Assess the effectiveness of the Board succession plan and remuneration structure.
- The effectiveness of the corporate governance systems and processes (ethics, values, governance, controls, compliance, and risk management)
- Process for monitoring progress towards meeting the Board’s mandate, strategic plans, action plans and succession planning.
- Assessment of the Board’s relationship with its key stakeholders including the shareholder, Donors, and senior management.
4. Eligibility Criteria
- Consultants will be expected to provide a technical and financial proposal.
- The technical proposal shall be written in English and must provide the following information:
- A brief description of the firm and an outline of recent experience on assignments of a similar nature. For each assignment, the outline should include the profiles of the staff proposed, the duration of the assignment, the contract amount and the firm’s involvement.
- A detailed approach, methodology and work plan for performing the assignment.
- The proposed team and their CVs, the tasks that would be assigned to each team member and their timing, and the number of years working with the Consultant.
- Any additional information that may be required to conduct the assignment.
- The financial proposal must provide the following information:
- List all costs associated with the assignment including any reimbursable expenses.
- Local taxes, duties, fees, levies, and other charges are imposed under the law on the consultant.
- The financial and technical proposal MUST be submitted separately. Submitting the two as one document will lead to disqualification.
5. Qualification & Key Competencies
- Proposed team members should possess a minimum of advanced Degrees and related qualifications in corporate governance, and/or law.
- Minimum of 5 years Experience in good corporate governance especially on board evaluations.
- Demonstrated experience in undertaking similar assignments for organizations of AECF size and scope.
- A company of good standing and reputation.
- Ability to render consulting services in the most professional, effective, and efficient manner.
- Strong influencing skills are required.
- The ability to analyze complex data from multiple sources is required.
6. Evaluation Criteria
An evaluation committee will be formed by the AECF. All members will be bound by the same standards of confidentiality. The consultant should ensure that they fully respond to all criteria to be comprehensively evaluated.
The AECF may request and receive clarification from any consultant when evaluating a proposal. The evaluation committee may invite some or all the consultants to appear before the committee to clarify their proposals. In such an event, the evaluation committee may consider such clarifications in evaluating the proposals.
In deciding the final selection of a qualified bidder, the technical proposal will be given a weighting of 70% based on the evaluation criteria. Only the financial proposal of those bidders who qualify technically will be opened. The financial proposal will be allocated a weighting of 30% and the proposals will be ranked according to the total points scored.
The mandatory and desirable criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are identified in the table below.
Criteria
Weight
Max. Point
Technical Competence (based on CV, Proposal, and Interview)
70%
- Advance degree and related, corporate governance, and/or law)
15
- Experience relevant to the assignment
15
- Methodology and delivery approach of undertaking the assignment in the provided timelines.
30
10
Financial (Lower offer/offer*100)
30%
30
How to apply
7. Submission Requirement
The AECF is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Contractor. The AECF considers all applicants based on merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
- AECF invites qualified consultants/firms to send a proposal to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org clearly marked “BOARD EVALUATION CONSULTANCY 2023” The AECF shall not be liable for not opening proposals that are submitted with a different subject.
- The proposal should be received no later than 10th February 2023, by 5.00 pm East Africa Time (GMT +3) addressed to: The AECF, Procurement Department. All clarifications and or questions should be sent to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org . Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. For more information, please visit
- www.aecfafrica.orgfrica.org](http://www.aecfafrica.org/)
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