81292835-Data analytics and digital scalability for African Ag- and Foodtech start-ups

Description

GIZ implements the project "Scaling digital agriculture innovations through start-ups" (SAIS) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The purpose of SAIS is to increase the investor readiness of selected African start-ups in the foodtech and agritech sector that are in the post-seed phase and about to scale. For this purpose, the project provides tailor-made company development (e.g. improving business models, product development, customer relations, financial management) through an Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) and facilitates access to additional investment and business opportunities. It is anticipated that thereby start-ups will obtain access to additional capital, thus enabling them to grow faster and better scale their digital innovations. As a result, more digital innovations are to arrive in the hands of end-users in Africa and will create more income-saving or income-generating effects. In this regard, the tenderer is tasks with improving the digital products and services of up to 20 start-ups per year. The main focus of the intervention lies in strengthening the digital solutions of the company to a scalable version whilst connecting it with data analytics solutions for continuous improvement. Furthermore, the tenderer aims to improve this, by supporting start-ups to improve their systems and usage of data analytics and come to a situation in which they make data-driven management decisions for their start-ups. Lot 1: GIZ implements the project "Scaling digital agriculture innovations through start-ups" (SAIS) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The purpose of SAIS is to increase the investor readiness of selected African start-ups in the foodtech and agritech sector that are in the post-seed phase and about to scale. For this purpose, the project provides tailor-made company development (e.g. improving business models, product development, customer relations, financial management) through an Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) and facilitates access to additional investment and business opportunities. It is anticipated that thereby start-ups will obtain access to additional capital, thus enabling them to grow faster and better scale their digital innovations. As a result, more digital innovations are to arrive in the hands of end-users in Africa and will create more income-saving or income-generating effects. Tasks to be performed by contractors The contractor is responsible to support up to 20 African Ag- and Foodtech start-ups with data analytics and service on their way towards digital scalability for in close dialogue and under the oversight of SAIS for two successive cohorts, namely the ones starting in 2023 and 2024. There is an opportunity to extend this support for another additional cohort of start-ups in 2025. The goal of the contract is to offer practical support for selected start-ups, so they have a performant digital solution in line with their business model and the ability to collect meaningful data (of customers, customer value etc). Furthermore, the management team of the start-up is enabled to use the data to continuously improve their product and service via key metrices. The contract includes the following main tasks: 1. Analysis of the SAIS start-ups The tenderer shall run a analyses of each start-up based on their business model, the scalability of their digital solution and state of their data analytics setup. On this basis the implementation plan is developed with the management of the start-up and a SAIS representative. 2. Implementation of project with a special focus on data analytics The tenderer shall implement the agreed specification and enables the start-up to become a data driven organization through digital tools. 3. Data Collection Phase The tenderer shall ensure that the start-ups are able to use the newly designed, introduced or improved data analytics systems on their own. 4. Documentation & Sustainability Phase The tenderer shall document all new components, hand them over to the start-up and offer monthly office hours for further support. After the completion of the work with the first cohort, the work with the second cohort will begin.