Mercy Corps

Consultant - Market Assessment - Asset Finance Product for Agribusinesses in Uganda. Programs  Kampala, Uganda Description Consultancy   Title :  Market Assessment to understand the Asset Finance Product for Agribusinesses in Uganda. Location ( s ): In-country –  Kampala and Northern Uganda Duration : 12 billable days Tentative timeframe for delivery between:  March 10 th  to April 15 th  2020 Background: NUTEC Financial Services (NUTEC-FS) is a DFID-funded blended finance facility to enhance the agriculture market system in Northern Uganda.  It began implementation in early 2019 and will run until March 2022. To implement the facility, Mercy Corps as the implementing partner of DFID is partnering with Equity Bank Uganda to establish a risk sharing credit fund for lending to agribusinesses that would otherwise be considered ‘too high a risk’ for commercial lending. The new portfolio of loans aims to adopt innovative risk assessment and management strategies that incentivise financial institutions to adopt reduced borrowing requirements and make lending capital available to a wider segment of the market. Purpose  /  Project   Description : After a year of lending, NUTEC FS seeks to evaluate its products offering against the changes in the wider market to understand the performance of its products as well as the influence and added value presented from its current operation to the wider financial services market system in Uganda. To conduct this activity, the programme will develop a series of market information pieces that are specific to the products introduced under NUTEC FS. The first piece will focus on the asset finance product. This product was adopted by the facility to disrupt the existing products in the market where large sums of immovable collateral requirements and microfinance models often prohibit the ability of farmers to access asset loans. Key Responsibilities will include: The Consultant should be able to capture the variety of the asset finance products offered in Uganda vs the variations tested by NU-TEC FS. The story told should be able to capture: What is the status quo of the product – What is currently happening on the supply side in the wider market? What are the current and emerging innovations around the asset finance products – from other actors in the market - and what are the key characteristics of the products they offer. When were these products introduced in northern Uganda? What are some of the initial results and insights from the NU-TEC FS/ Equity Bank portfolio? What is the uptake of this product? What does a typical borrower look like? What is the impact on women – where are they represented? Were there challenges? What is the current portfolio quality and how are the borrowers performing? Conduct an analysis to determine the relationship between the product and the performance? What impact has the product had on increase in productivity, efficiency and on women? Deliverables:   4 – 6 page asset finance market update 2 case studies from the current asset finance portfolio of NUTEC FS, showcasing the effectiveness against key indicators including impact on enterprise receiving the loans and impact on gender roles  Qualifications: Ideal candidate would have the following experience: Experience in conducting and publishing market assessments, particularly in agriculture market systems Experience in financial product evaluations or product development Experience working with commercial financial institutions Knowledge of asset finance, mechanisation in agriculture Knowledge and experience working in Uganda a plus Minimum Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required: Master’s Degree in Economics or Finance   Ability to work independently as well as effectively in a team environment Excellent communications and writing skills in the English language The Consultant will work closely with: Agriculture Business Unit Team of the financial institution partner of NUTEC Financial Services. The Consultant will report to: NUTEC Financial Services Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader Learn More...