Accion is hiring an
About Accion:
Accion is a global nonprofit committed to creating a financially inclusive world, with a trailblazing legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. We catalyze financial service providers to deliver high-quality, affordable solutions at scale for the 1.8 billion people who are left out of, or poorly served by, the financial sector. For more than 60 years, Accion has helped tens of millions of people through our work with more than 200 partners in 63 countries. More at http://www.accion.org.
About Center for Financial Inclusion:
The Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) works to advance inclusive financial services for the billions of people who currently lack the financial tools needed to improve their lives and prosper. We leverage partnerships to conduct rigorous research, test promising solutions, and advocate for evidence-based change. CFI was founded by Accion in 2008 to serve as an independent think tank on inclusive finance.
CFI’s role in the inclusive finance space is to identify learning gaps that could advance the economic prosperity and resilience of low-income people and undertake research, co-creation of solutions and pilot testing to advance our collective understanding of what would drive progress. CFI partners with various stakeholders – donors, investors, policymakers, and providers – in its research and pilot testing work and during its advocacy phase. In areas where there is clear evidence of what works, CFI collaborates with partners to advocate and incorporate learning into their practices.
Context of Research:
CFI seeks a firm to support the demand-side research pillar of this multi-year engagement. The research will involve conducting baseline and endline surveys and focus groups with Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in up to six countries. While the surveys are not expected to be representative at the national level, they should be representative of the key MSE segments chosen in the locations being studied.
Potential countries being considered for this research include:
This work will build on the learnings from the MAP1 project. CFI will develop a conceptual framework related to digital adoption, enterprise growth, and resilience and survey and share it with the demand-side research firm. Key research questions explored under this pillar include:
Note these questions and the research approach may be further refined.
The demand-side research will help deepen the knowledge base on emerging barriers, enablers, and opportunities for MSEs to adopt digital solutions. The research will also provide actionable policy recommendations focused on helping MSEs strengthen their resilience in response to climate change and other risks posed by emerging technologies and hybrid business models. Use the data for further research and program development
The main activities in this consultancy include:
Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research
Synthesis Paper
[1] In this context, digital adoption refers to the ability to access and capabilities to use digital solutions for business purposes. Digital solutions may be used under both low-and high-stakes conditions. Potential digital solutions can be used for marketing, recordkeeping, inventory management, digital financial services, e-commerce, delivery and logistics purposes. Access to phone, computers and the internet are assumed to be pre-requisites.
Deliverables and Timelines:
The relevant activities, deliverables, milestones, and timeline are as follows:
Key Activities/Deliverables/Milestones
Timeline/Due Dates
EoI submission deadline
July 15th 2023
Shortlisting firms for full proposal and budget submission
July 31st 2023
Proposal submission deadline
August 31st 2023
Partner selection and contracting
September 30th 2023
Qualifications:
Firms having the following qualifications are invited to respond to this EoI:
Firms or individuals should submit a short (no more than five pages) response to this EoI detailing the following:
Please email the Expression of Interest with at least three relevant work samples to achakraborty@accion.org indicating “MSME Research Consultancy” in the subject line by 15th July 2023. Shortlisted firms will be notified by 31st July 2023. For enquiries, please send an email to achakraborty@accion.org.