Consultancy - Investment Readiness Advisor, CFYE Kenya. at Palladium International

Project Overview and Role:

• The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) is a 7-year and €134 million programme funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that aims to create a prosperous future for 230,000 young women and men in the Middle East, North Africa, Sahel & West Africa, and Horn of Africa regions. The Fund will be supporting initiatives in 12 focus countries that will offer youth, in particular young women, opportunities for work that is demand-driven and productive, offering a stable income and safe working conditions, and that is contributing to their personal development and social protection.
• The portfolio of projects is selected from business cases that were proposed by private sector, civil society, and knowledge institutions. Each business case has outlined scalable solutions for creating more and better jobs and income generating opportunities for youth. Solutions in particular focus on an integrated approach that addresses the shortcomings on the demand side (jobs) and supply side (skills) and bridging the mismatch between these two in the labour market.
• One of our portfolios (IPs) in Kenya, FUNDIS has mostly self-financed its growth to date. FUNDIS was established in 2019 and enables homes and organizations to digitally find and hire competent, vetted, and accredited professionals for their repairs, maintenance, larger projects, and construction needs. Through the FUNDIS mobile application, Artisans and Builders digitize their business transactions while accessing loans, insurance, and upskilling opportunities.
• As part of its current expansion plans, FUNDIS is looking to attract external investments into the company. This document outlines an assignment for interested and qualified consultant to support FUNDIS in their effort, to build their capacity to and achieve investment readiness. The consultant will report directly to the CFYE Kenya Country Lead and work closely, on a day-to-day basis with the FUNDIS management team.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

The main objective of this assignment is to:

Support FUNDIS prepare for investor engagements: 

• FUNDIS has advanced quite actively in getting their company ready for engagements with investors. So far, the company developed first versions of a pitch deck, financial models and projections and a business plan. The consultant contracted for this assignment will be required to support FUNDIS in:
• Refining FUNDIS investment ask: finetune the exact investment request in terms of amount and type of capital requested and (better) link this to growth strategy.
• Improving FUNDIS pitch deck, including overall review of the pitch deck and further expansion on the current concepts and approaches presented in the pitch deck, especially around articulating problem statement/value proposition, revenue model, growth projections and growth milestones.
• Reviewing FUNDIS financial projections: Pulse-check on current financial modelling and financial projections and challenge existing assumptions. Where necessary make revisions together with FUNDIS team (CEO & CFO)
• Expanding FUNDIS the business plan: together with FUNDIS CEO rework existing strategy documents and thoughts into a high-level business plan that better outlines the think about the medium-term growth strategy for FUNDIS.

Introduce FUNDIS to new investors’ contacts:

•  FUNDIS has been in touch with several investors with some of them already in advanced discussions but so far this has not yet led to securing an investment or detailed term sheet from any investor. The Consultant will support the in the identification of and initial engagement of new\additional potential investor contacts.
•  New means that FUNDIS has not yet been in touch with this investor. Introduction means that the CEO of FUNDIS is personally introduced to a (senior) investment manager and/or C-suite executive at the investment firms’ /fund managers organization, and that this introduction is returned with an invitation to FUNDIS by the investment firm/fund manager for a first conversation.

Deliverables:

• High-level investment strategy based on existing ideas of FUNDIS. Consisting of a more detailed breakdown of the targeted investment amount related to the main elements of the growth strategy, structuring of the preferred funding modalities (debt/equity/mezzanine) and a shortlist (minimum of 5) potentially interesting investors whose criteria match with the FUNDIS business model.
• Revised version of existing financial model, including at least 2 different financial scenarios’.
• Revised version of existing pitch deck.
• High-level business plan (min 8 - max 12 pages) outlining main growth strategy and underlying business activities/revenue models, along with “conventional” components of business plan, such as team composition, summary of financial model, competitor analysis, etc.
• Introductions to at least 3 new investors/fund managers (that meet the requirements of both FUNDIS and the investor/fund manager) for FUNDIS.

Level of Effort and Reporting:

• Up to 15 days over a period of 4 months (1st October – 31st January 2024). The assignment will start in or by October 2023.

Required Qualifications:

•  Proven record of advisory assignments on the topic of investment readiness with Kenyan SME entrepreneurs 
• Overall professional background in finance, management consulting or similar area of expertise
• Demonstrate a sound understanding of the investment landscape in Kenya in general and more specifically with early-stage investors in the debt and equity space.
• Demonstrate a strong network among Kenya-based and/or Kenya-focused investors.
• Proven track record of securing investments for at least 5 (Kenyan) entrepreneurs 

The selected organization/consultant should demonstrate that it possesses the following core competencies:

• Affinity with, and mindset of, an entrepreneur.
• Strong interpersonal skills.
• Great communication skills.
• Business analytics skills.
• Strong writing and visual skills to (co-) deliver (together with FUNDIS) the agreed upon deliverables.