Consultant: Crisis Business Development Management Mentors and Coaches at United Nations Development Programme

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the efforts of the United Nations system to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. UN Women provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office (SAMCO) is based in Pretoria, South Africa and serves five countries; South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. UN Women South Africa is implementing a flagship programme on Stimulating Equal Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs through Affirmative Procurement, Investment and Supply Chain Policies. The programme seeks to improve women’s access to public and private procurement of goods and services in general, linking women through the value chain.
The purpose of this work is to develop, strengthen and build the capacity of Women Business Enterprises (WBEs) /led/owned businesses to participate in the targeted value chains. For this purpose, UN Women SAMCO is recruiting business development mentors and coaches to provide technical business development support, mentoring and coaching services to women entrepreneurs.

Objectives Of The Assignment

• To mentor, coach and guide women owned enterprises with strategic business direction to ensure they sustain their business during and post Covid19 crisis.

Scope Of The Work
Duties and Responsibilities
The Consultants will play an integral role in the contribution of the implementation of the activities on UN Women South Africa Multi Country Office Flagship on Preferential Procurement for women owned businesses. It will form a significant part of the organization’s capacity building team. Roster members selected for the assignment will work with UN Women Multi Country Office. The specific key focus area of this consultancy will be to provide bespoke technical guidance, business advisory, support and mentoring services to the targeted women owned enterprises.

Key Objectives Of The Work Will Include

• Conduct business diagnostics for the Women Owned Enterprises and develop areas of focus to enable access to business opportunities
• Plan and organise group and individual mentoring and coaching sessions for the Women Owned Enterprises as per the agreed workplan
• Monitor and evaluate the pathway progress of targeted enterprises in the portfolio to gather feedback on the trainings delivered and identify areas of continuous improvement
• Provide recommendations, based on the trainings carried out on some of the areas that require further training for maximum results.
• Provide in a timely manner challenges being faced by women needing immediate intervention being raised by women owned businesses

Key Deliverables
Target Date

• Meeting with UN Women to discuss the objectives and the scope of the assignment.
• Detailed workplan based on the meeting.

1st Week May

• Attend and Participate in week-long orientation meeting with UN Women
• Participation in the orientation meeting and agreed approach, methodology, tools and frameworks

1st Week May

• Conduct business diagnostics for the Women Owned Enterprises and develop areas of focus to enable access to business opportunities
• Review existing data OF Women Owned Enterprises
• Identify capacity gaps
• Identify follow up actions for addressing capacity gaps and training needs assessment
• Provide weekly progress update
• Track and monitor progress

2nd Week May – 30 June

• Provision of training, mentoring and coaching sessions for the Women Owned Enterprises ?
• Provision de technical guidance and support to Women owned enterprises

(July-October)

• Attend and participate in the review meeting
• Progress update and reflections

October

• Monitor and evaluate the pathway progress of targeted enterprises in the portfolio to gather feedback on the trainings delivered and identify areas of continuous improvement
• Data gathering and sharing

Weekly

• Submission of final report which will include rrecommendations, based on the trainings and interventions carried out on some of the areas that require further training for maximum result

Competencies
Core Values
Key Competencies:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Desired Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication and good Interpersonal skills
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example
• Co-creating relationships
• Trust and intimacy
• Active empathy listening
• Creating awareness
• Facilitating learning for results

Functional Competencies

• In-depth knowledge of gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship;
• Accredited business development, coaching and mentoring
• Proven experience in working with entrepreneur and providing mentoring and coaching;
• Strong?communication and interpersonal skills, ability to foster networks and partnerships;
• Ability to complete complex assignments in a timely manner and delivery quality results.
• Technical expertise in preparing tender documents
• Excellent communication skills, especially training and writing skills.
• Ability to work in a pressurised environment

Required Skills and Experience:
Education

• Master’s degree in the field of business management, entrepreneurship, social sciences, gender studies, development studies, or closely related field.
   

Experience

• At least 7 years of experience in business development, management and entrepreneurship
• Certified business coach
• Experience of working on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment;
• Experience in working on business incubation, supplier development
• Strong understanding of policy and legal frameworks on gender equality, preferential procurement and entrepreneurship
• Good understanding of the key markets for women owned enterprises
• Experience in working with private sector and government is an added advantage?

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English and additional local language/s would be an added advantaged
   

Note

Successful candidates will be included in the vetted Roster of Experts for the maximum period of 2 years. Membership beyond the 2-year period must be renewed through a new application process.? Entry into the expert roster system does not necessarily mean that contract with UN Women is guaranteed. Where a request for services arises, the UN Women shall directly contact consultants with the most appropriate experience from the roster.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

UN WOMEN is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence