Request for Proposal: Terms of Reference – Consultancy for media relations and corporate communications – June 2025

 1. Background

AECF (Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund) is a leading non-profit development organisation that supports innovative enterprises in the agribusiness and renewable energy sectors with the aim of reducing rural poverty, promoting resilient communities and creating jobs.

We catalyze the private sector by surfacing and commercializing innovative ideas, business models and technologies designed to increase agricultural productivity, improve farmer incomes, expand clean energy access, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve resilience to the effects of climate change.

We finance high-risk businesses that struggle to access commercial funding and remain committed to working in frontier markets, fragile contexts, and high-risk economies where few mainstream financing institutions dare to go. We have supported over 510 businesses in 26 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, impacted more than 30 million lives, and created over 27,000 direct jobs.

AECF is headquartered in Kenya and has offices in Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Sudan, Benin, and Somalia.

2. Objective of the consultancy

The objective of this consultancy is to provide media liaison and corporate communication support to the AECF.

The media liaison support will see the consultant increasing the visibility of AECF through traditional media, while profiling its key spokespeople. The consultant will work to provide coverage in Tier 1 media (across Africa) while identifying and securing panel and speaking opportunities during high-profile industry events at the national and regional levels.

The corporate communication support will see the consultant providing support to implement the AECF communications strategy and in particular, telling the AECF story through videos, highlighting the impact of the organization through human-interest stories and pursuing a multi-channel approach to its storytelling.

3. Scope of work

The consultant will be expected to provide:

Media Liaison Support

• Implement the media strategy for AECF taking into account an existing media landscape analysis, communications strategy and the AECF strategic plan.
• Identify and build relationships with key contacts in Tier 1 media outlets nationally, regionally, and internationally.
• Co-create and disseminate media-focused pieces including articles, opinion pieces and press releases.
• Secure interviews on radio and TV stations nationally, regionally, and internationally.
• Monitor media hits and provide detailed reports to AECF on reach, top outlets, top regions, and messaging/topic momentum.

Strategic Communications Support

• Support the implementation of the AECF communications strategy.
• Communicate the impact of AECF by: Increasing understanding of AECF through immersive storytelling, taking advantage of owned, earned and paid media.
• Co-creating human-interest stories while pursuing a multi-channel approach to storytelling.
• Position AECF as a thought leader by: Identifying and organizing speaking opportunities nationally, regionally and internationally for key spokespeople (taking into account AECF’s focus areas).
• Supporting the dissemination of key knowledge products such as reports, factsheets, and case studies, taking into account the needs/preferences of key audiences.
• Measure the impact of AECF’s communications activities

4. Deliverable outputs

The activities and expected outputs are as follows:

Media Liaison support

• Implement a media strategy for AECF taking into account the media landscape analysis, communications strategy and the AECF strategic plan
• Develop media packs, pitching decks and speaking notes for use by the media and AECF staff
• Lead the development of 8 opinion pieces positioning AECF is a thought leader in MSME financing, agriculture, and clean energy sectors
• Secure the following media outputs in Tier 1 outlets regionally and internationally: 8 opinion pieces, 8 TV interviews, 8 radio/podcast interviews, 4 newspaper mentions in national outlets and 4 mentions in regional and international outlets
• Develop and share quarterly media monitoring reports

Corporate Communications support

• Working closely with the AECF communications and programme teams, develop 10 blogs/website articles showcasing the impact of our work
• Working closely with the AECF communications staff, conceptualize, develop and execute one social media campaign
• Position AECF and its spokespeople through 4 high-level speaking opportunities (regional and international) and 2 high-level exhibition/participation opportunities
• Working closely with the AECF communications and impact staff, draft and disseminate 2 learning papers/research papers.
• Develop and share monthly communications monitoring reports
• Assist in preparations for 3 stakeholder roundtable discussions, drafting briefing notes, coordinating media coverage, and preparing press materials

5. Qualifications / experience required

The consultant/consultancy firm should possess the following skills and/or credentials:

• Experience in media liaison, public relations, digital engagement, communications, marketing or similar fields
• Knowledge of the development sector and in particular the work of NGOs, bilateral and multilateral institutions
• Experience in knowledge dissemination
• Demonstrated ability to create content that is persuasive, clear and concise, while able to convey and engagingly present technical ideas/knowledge for varied audiences.

6. Duration

 This contract will be for a period of eight (8) months.

7. Evaluation Criteria

      MANADATORY EVALUATION CRITERIA.

Mandatory Requirements: –

• Company profile.
• Trading license or Certificate of incorporation or Certificate of Registration and other statutory documents.
• Valid Tax Compliance certificate (Applicable to firms).
• Passport/National Identification of the lead consultant and key personnel

An evaluation committee will be formed by the AECF and may include employees of the businesses to be supported. All members will be bound by the same standards of confidentiality. The consultant should ensure that they fully respond to all criteria to be comprehensively evaluated.

The AECF may request and receive clarification from any consultant when evaluating a proposal. The evaluation committee may invite some or all the consultants to appear before the committee to clarify their proposals. In such event, the evaluation committee may consider such clarifications in evaluating proposals.

In deciding the final selection of qualified bidder, the technical quality of the proposal will be given a weighting of 80% based on the evaluation criteria. Only the financial proposal of those bidders who qualify technically will be opened. The financial proposal will be allocated a weighting of 20% and the proposals will be ranked in terms of total points scored.

The mandatory and desirable criteria against which proposals will be evaluated are identified in the table below.

8. Proposal submission

Interested firms are invited to submit their proposal(s) comprising of the following:

1. Profile of the lead consultant(s) (max 1 page per consultant) explaining why they are the most suitable for the work.
2. Relevant experience (max 4 pages).
3. An understanding of the scope of work.
4. Workplan detailing execution of key activities.
5. Detailed reference list and signed letters indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments.
6. Financial proposal in USD clearly showing the budgeted cost for the work to be conducted (to be submitted in a separate document from the technical proposal).
7. The preferred format for the submission is PDF.
8. All documents related to the technical proposal must be compiled into a single PDF file, organized with a clear Table of Contents.
9. Technical and Financial proposals will need to be submitted as separate documents. Financial proposals will not be opened until the conclusion of the technical evaluation and then only for those proposals that are deemed qualified and responsive.

N/B: SUBMITTING THE FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL DOCUMENT AS ONE DOCUMENT WILL AUTOMATICALLY LEAD TO DISQUALIFICATION OF THE APPLICANT.

9. Pricing

The AECF is obliged by the Kenyan tax authorities to withhold taxes on service contract fees as well as ensure VAT, is charged where applicable. Applicants are advised to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their tax position with regards to provisions of Kenya tax legislation when developing their proposals.

10. Application details

The AECF is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The AECF considers all interested candidates based on merit without regard to race, sex, colour, national origin, religion, age, marital status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

1. Interested firms are requested to submit their proposal to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org by 13^th June 2025, 5pm (EAT).
2. All questions should be directed at the procurement email by 2^nd June 2025, 5pm (EAT).
3. The Subject of the email should read “Media Relations and Corporate Communication Consultancy 2025”. The AECF shall not be liable for not opening proposals that are submitted with a different subject.

11. Disclaimer

AECF reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party.

The AECF does not charge an application fee for participation in the tendering process and has not appointed any agents or intermediaries to facilitate applications. Applicants are advised to reach out directly to the AECF Procurement Department