If you have these skills, take your Proposal to FSD Kenya

FSD Kenya (Financial Sector Deepening)
 
Digital Financial Inclusion Technical Advisers 

Call for Proposals
 
While Kenya has made impressive strides in broadening the outreach of financial services, the cost of transactions and access to finance still represent major constraints to deepening financial inclusion and increasing the impacts of financial services on poverty. 

Exclusion remains high among the lowest income groups and for many others, low levels of usage point due to the limitations of current services. Technology opens up possibilities to tackle both affordability and relevance. 


With the overall goal being to stimulate the development of digital finance in Kenya as a means to deepen and expand financial inclusion, FSD realises that success can only be achieved through appropriate specialist advice and technical expertise. 

The aim is to stimulate the practical development of business cases and solutions that accelerate financial inclusion and uptake as well as establish and apply the knowledge base to underpin realisable solutions to improving the financial capabilities of low-income people. 

FSD is therefore seeking to assemble a team of specialist advisors as part of its execution team. 

They will form a ‘virtual’ part of the FSD team, joining FSD’s in-house country based specialists, broadening and deepening strategic and technical capacity to work across a range of digital financial projects on a demand-driven basis.

Proposals are sought from qualified experts in the following general areas:
  • Financial solution design and development:- Human centred design; Financial solution/product development.
  • Business case research, analysis and modelling:- Business modelling; Data analytics; Quantitative research; Social network analysis; Data visualisation, databasing and dashboards.
  • New approaches to microcredit:- Credit scoring and analysis; Cognitive computing; Cash-flow based lending; Behavioural analysis; Credit risk management.
  • Insurance:- ƒ ƒStrategy; Financial solution/product development; Actuarial analysis, costing and pricing; Channel design.
How to Apply 

Click here to download detailed Terms of Reference and application criteria

Applications should thereafter be submitted to tenders@fsdkenya.org. 

Please put “Digital financial inclusion: Techncial advisers” in the subject line. 

Closing date: 4 pm Friday 3rd October, 2014.

Poverty Impact Virtual Team Consultant Specialists
 
Call for Proposals
 
Despite the progress made in building financial inclusion in Kenya in the last decade, 25% of the adult population still remains totally financially excluded. This excluded population falls largely within the poorer segments of the population. 

Unlocking access by this lower segment of the market is key to achievement of FSD’s financial inclusion goal and is specifically targeted by a number of interventions. These initiatives are managed under FSD’s direct poverty impact theme. 

On-going work encompasses client focused initiatives, especially looking at the needs of households engaged in smallholder agriculture finance and community based forms of finance encompassing, savings groups, financial services associations and savings and credit co-operative societies (SACCOs).
 
While FSD maintains a core full-time project management team, our approach is to supplement this technical capacity through the use of technical specialists. 

For this we are seeking to assemble a small team of specialists to support us in the formulation, execution and monitoring of financial inclusion initiatives with direct impact on the poor and vulnerable. 

The consultant specialists will form a ‘virtual’ part of FSD’s poverty impact team which will encompass its core full-time staff and a small number of specialist technical advisers. 

Those selected will be pre-qualified to undertake specific assignments as they arise in the course of FSD’s work.

Support is sought in the following areas of FSD’s work:
  • SACCO reformsƒ ƒ
  • Savings groupsƒ ƒ
  • Financial graduationƒ ƒ
  • Agricultural finance
Proposals are sought from qualified consultants. 

How to Apply

Click here to download detailed Terms of Reference and application criteria

Applications should thereafter be submitted to tenders@fsdkenya.org. 

Please put “Poverty impact: technical advisers” in the subject line. 

Closing date: 4 pm Monday 6th October, 2014.

Retail Innovations Initiative
 
Investment Specialist, New Ventures
 
Following successes from innovations such as M-PESA and M-Shwari, East Africa is considered a potential hub for financial inclusion innovation. 

A number of new gathering spots and incubator / accelerator programs have sprung up, adding to the energy but not yet demonstrably adding to success stories. 

Despite a large volume of ideas, these have rarely promised breakthrough success and teams rarely have the mix of skills and experience necessary to prove the ideas and take them to scale. 

It is for this reason that FSD Kenya and its ecosystem partner, Accion Venture Lab, have been in discussions about where start-ups can fit and succeed in the financial services landscape and how the two can support such innovation. 

Ultimately, we believe that promising early-stage start-ups are in need of support that extends beyond financial investment to mentorship, business model advice, access to potential partnerships among others. 

We are now seeking to recruit an investment specialist who shares our passion for innovation in the financial inclusion space. 

You will serve as a direct communication link between FSD Kenya and Accion Venture Lab to formalise this partnership. 

You will work with Venture Lab to engage ecosystem players to source financial inclusion related start-ups including support on analyses, due diligence and deal execution processes. 

You will in addition spearhead FSD Kenya’s direct engagement with the start-ups once they are selected. 

You will be responsible for delivering a demanding set of outputs and will therefore need to be self-driven and able to deliver a range of tasks simultaneously.

At a minimum you will have:
  • A first degree in a relevant field (masters preferably)
  • Practical hands-on experience in business innovations
  • First class business analysis skills
  • Experience working in or with start-ups or growth-stage enterprises in emerging markets
  • Outstanding relationship management skills
  • ƒAdvanced computer/web skills
  • Excellent spoken and written English
Proposals are sought from qualified consultants. 

How to Apply 

Click here to download detailed Terms of Reference and application criteria

Applications should thereafter be submitted to info@fsdkenya.org. 

Please put “Investment Specialist” in the subject line. 


Closing date: 4 pm Friday 10th October, 2014.

FSD Kenya operates as an independent Trust registered in Kenya under the supervision of professional trustees, with policy guidance from its programme investment committee. Finance is provided by a number of leading development agencies including the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation together with the Government of Kenya. Further information can be obtained from our website: www.fsdkenya.org