International individual consultant- to Deliver Digitalize Your Business Training to Returned Migrant Workers in Nairobi County

Project Title

Better Regional Migration Management Project (BRMM)

Project Objective

Enhanced measures for labour market integration for potential and returned migrants through improved skills, financial inclusion, MSMEs growth and job creation

Terms of Reference Title

Digitize your Business (DYB) Training to Returned Migrant Workers in Nairobi County

Objectives of the Terms of Reference

• To enhance the capacity of returned migrant workers on DYB in order to improve the digital presence of their businesses and enhance wider market reach through leveraging opportunities in the digital economy.

Specific Objectives

This term of reference is developed to select a Certified DYB Master Trainer:

• To strengthen the capacity of local stakeholders, in particular trainers and local business development service providers in the public and private sectors, to allow them to deliver context specific DYB trainings. This takes a systems-based approach by identifying the organizations or trainers that will have the incentives and capacity to continue conducting training in the future after the end of the project.
• To build the digital and entrepreneurial capacities of 460 returnees through DYB so that they are better equipped to access and grasp the opportunities of the digital economy.

Locations

Nairobi County

Timeframe

26 May 2025- 31 July 2025

Funding Source

The ILO BRMM project is financed by of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the United Kingdom’s government

1. Background

1.1 Context of Potential and Returned Migrants in Kenya

Kenya has around 51.5 million inhabitants[1]. The population growth rate in 2023 was around 2% and Kenya’s urban population is expected to triple by 2050. Kenya has a young population with a median age of 19.9 years and consequently countless school / university students try to integrate into the labour market every year without much success. The high unemployment rate, estimated at approximately 13% in 2023, has compelled many individuals to seek work in the informal economy and abroad, as the creation of formal jobs has not kept pace with the growing population. Increasing emigration, has also resulted in rise in returnees. Forcibly returned migrants are often in a desperate state with no resources beyond the clothes on their backs and encounter severe medical conditions due to lack of access to health services before deportation, many also experience psychosocial problems. Women migrants are more vulnerable than men, experiencing health, social and economic challenges.

As per the IOM rapid assessment on the protection needs, risks and vulnerabilities of returning migrant workers and members of their families in Kenya[2], the Ministry of Foreign affairs facilitated repatriation of thousands of Kenyans from all over the world during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry facilitated the repatriation of 108 Kenyan domestic workers stranded in Lebanon, 569 from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 232 from India and much more. Migrants returning home, especially in unexpected circumstances such as COVID-19, often face a number of challenges, particularly in terms of lack of decent livelihood opportunities and stigmatization. Many returnees come back empty handed, as their earnings was used for debt repayments, general consumption, and remittances to their families. Moreover, as the return was unexpected, unplanned, and sudden, some even returned with unpaid wages and benefits. Their return has also affected their entire family, as the remittance they use to send has stopped with their return, in addition, returnees themselves become an additional burden in the scarce resources available for the household.

The Government of Kenya and partners have initiated a number of interventions to abet the suffering of Kenyan migrant workers returning under distress. The initiation of the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Kenya Migrant Workers Welfare Fund are just but a few of the customized interventions to support migrant workers. However, those initiatives are still work-in-progress. The government has also doubled the effort of promoting entrepreneurship through micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). To this end, 50 billion shillings initial capital dubbed “Hustler Fund” was set aside to support small startup businesses in the country. However, that amount is just a drop in the ocean as demand for capital is sky high in Kenya. To boost the government, resolve and effort, the ILO and other developmental partners have committed to provide comprehensive support to ensure the sustainable reintegration of returned migrants, from providing immediate assistance upon their return through cash transfers, to ensuring longer-term social and economic reintegration and empowerment through the promotion of self-employment and the sustainable transition to work.

1.2 The ILO Better Regional Migration Management project

With the financial support of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom, the ILO is implementing the second phase of the project entitled “Better Regional Migration Management” (BRMM), which will continue the work carried out under BRMM project phase I and will focus on strengthening the capacities of countries in East and Horn of Africa to govern labour migration by using evidence-based policies, enhancing migrant workers’ qualifications and skills, and actively engaging the social partners.

A market systems analysis was carried out in Nairobi County and identified beauty care and retail trade as the key sectors in which returned migrant workers can thrive in. The study sought to identify, address and remove system-level constraints inhibiting the growth of more inclusive markets. Majority of the ILO-SIYB trainees supported through this project were engaged in the two sectors confirming that they are regarded positively as viable sectors for business. Currently, the project is supporting business development services through implementing partners where trainees are supported to overcome emerging bottlenecks. To deepen the impact, the BRMM project is looking to engage a service of a consultant to:

Build the Capacity of trained returned migrant workers in Nairobi on using the Digitalize Your Business (DYB) guide. This is to help get a wider market reach online for existing or future businesses of returned migrant workers.

1.3. About DYB Training

To build the capacities of returnees and other vulnerable entrepreneurs and MSMEs, the BRMM project will use the “Digitalize Your Business” (DYB) guide, recently developed by the ILO and piloted in the Philippines, Laos and Nigeria. According to the DYB Training Booklet, the training programme has three modules:

• Module 1 discusses the main ways of establishing a digital presence. It first reviews some fundamental elements necessary for a business to be noticed online, including the creation of social network platform accounts and a website. Then it offers an overview on the use of digital marketing and online branding.
• Module 2 provides guidelines for understanding when and how to sell goods and services online. It describes the main strategies for a business to establish an e-commerce. In particular, three possibilities are analysed: selling through social network platforms, establishing a virtual store in an e-commerce marketplace or setting an e-commerce in the company’s own website.
• Module 3 defines some adaptations that businesses must apply in their operations when entering the digital space. It first describes how to deal with online orders and payments. Then, it discusses the shipping and delivery of physical goods ordered online. Finally, it develops on new challenges related to ethics, security and trust. Then, the guide finalizes with a conclusion session summarizing the main stages of the digital transformation maturity and exposing some final considerations.

DYB has been developed in the framework of the ILO’s management-training programme “Start and Improve Your Business” (SIYB), which focuses on starting and improving small businesses as a strategy for creating more and better employment for women and men, particularly in emerging economies.

The DYB is intended to provide practical guidance on the digitalisation of business processes and operations, including the use of e-commerce to sell products and/or services online. The DYB does not cover business management concepts approached by the SIYB packages; for optimal learning outcomes, the DYB should therefore be used as a complement to the core SIYB packages.

1.4. Justification of Applying DYB Training

In today's increasingly digital world, having a strong online presence can make all the difference for businesses. Technological change and the emergence of innovative business model are reshaping the traditional commerce and financial services landscape in Kenya. The country enjoys high rankings internet quality and e-shopping rates within Africa and benefits from the robust mobile payment system, M-Pesa. As Kenya continues to position itself as a regional leader in digital innovation and entrepreneurship, it becomes imperative to bolster the support structures that nurture the aspirations and transformative power of its entrepreneurs, especially vulnerable groups such as returnees who face significant challenges in the labor market.

In February 2024, the ILO PROSPECTS Kenya team concluded a Training of Trainers workshop for the DYB and SIYB toolkits. The training was part of a larger strategic agenda to support freelancers and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) from Turkana, Garissa, and Nairobi to leverage opportunities in the digital economy.

The proposed DYB offers a pilot model feasible within the project context, namely duration, budget, and the objective of an identical intervention in Nairobi County. Having been designed to support existing entrepreneurs in improving the digital presence of their business, the approach is ideal for returnees and other vulnerable groups within the retail value chains in Nairobi.

As outlined in the market systems assessment, many entrepreneurs lack the essence of business management skills, evidenced by lack of inventory management and tracking of product profitability and turnover. This affects entrepreneurs’ abilities to sustain let alone scale up their operations, as well as meet requirements for financing, licensing, and tax payments. By gaining knowledge and exposure to Kenya’s growing e-commerce sector, entrepreneurs will also be better equipped to diversify products and thus break away from the competitive and saturated market, reach new clients, and improve business operations.

The DYB Master Trainer will train 30 trainers who will in turn, train and follow up with 460 entrepreneurs trained on ILO-SIYB in Nairobi County. This process, which applies SIYB’s implementation model, allows building the digital and business management capacities of a considerable number of returned migrant workers while looking at sustainability and scale as the business training will be delivered by local BDS providers who will be able to replicate it and embed it in their regular service offer.

2. Objectives and Expected Results

2.1 Overall objectives

To enhance the capacity of returned migrant workers on DYB in order to improve the digital presence of their businesses and enhance wider market reach through leveraging opportunities in the digital economy.

More specifically,

The intervention would comprise the following:

• Strengthening the capacity of local stakeholders, in particular trainers and local business development services providers in the public and private sectors, to allow them to deliver context specific DYB trainings. This takes a systems-based approach by identifying the organizations or trainers that will have the incentives and capacity to continue conducting training in the future after the end of the project.
• Build the digital and entrepreneurial capacities of 460 trained returnee migrant workers through DYB so that they are better equipped to access and grasp the opportunities of the digital economy. 3. Scope of Work and Methodology

Based on the above-mentioned information, the ILO is seeking to engage an experienced SIYB Master Trainer, with experience delivering DYB training. The scope of work entails the following activities:

• Contextualize and adapt the DYB-IYB training package for the Kenyan context;
• Review the ToT applications and select the final participants (a maximum of 30) based on their long term commitment to use SIYB-DYB widely and in consultation with the ILO’s BRMM Project;
• Deliver one (1) ToT of 5 days;
• 460 returnees trained on DYB; and post-training follow up report will be shared
• Supervise trainer candidates during DYB-IYB Training of Entrepreneurs delivery and
• Certify the qualified trainers to offer DYB to MSMEs. The selected master trainer is expected to apply adult learning methodologies and approaches in order to carry out the training of trainers.

4. Cascading the DYB Skills to Returnee Migrant Workers

It is envisaged that the trained DYB trainer candidates shall provide business development services to the 460 SIYB trainees as part of their field work during the journey to certification. This customized support shall help improve the online presence of products and services of the returned migrant workers to boost the client base and sales volumes.

Supervision and logistical arrangements

All activities within the scope of these Terms of Reference will be carried out under the overall supervision of the Chief Technical Adviser of the ILO BRMM project in ILO Country Office Addis Ababa, with the technical support from the Technical Officer in Inclusive Markets & Entrepreneurship from ILO-Geneva.

Deliverables shall be submitted in line with the requirements explained in these Terms of Reference in a timely manner, in concordance with the planned deadlines between the ILO and the selected DYB Master Trainer. All deliverables of these Terms of Reference are subject to the approval of the ILO.

7. Timeline and Payment Schedule

This assignment should be implemented from 26 May 2025 to 31 July 2025. The work of training and certifying 30 DYB trainers should be conducted and finalized within 32 consultancy days.

Deliverables

Timelines

Percentage of Payment

1. Submission of inception report including his/her understanding of the assignment, detailed methodology notes, Training content material and a realistic and detailed workplan.

03 June 2025

20%

2. Training report after delivery of the ToT on DYB-IYB for 30 trainees.

20 June 2025

20%

3. Submission of monitoring Report as proof of mentorship and coaching.

July 2025

30%

4. Final Report of the DYB ToT and Certification of 30 DYB Trainers

31 July 2025

30%

Total 100%

Evaluation Criteria

The submitted offer will be assessed against the following criteria:

Evaluation Criteria

Maximum marks

A relevant university degree and above with at least 7 years of professional experience in enterprise/entrepreneurship development 20

At least 10 years of experience in training delivery, including in different countries proving international experience 20

A certification of Master Trainers of the ILO’s SIYB training package with experience in supporting digitalisation and digital solutions for MSMEs, DYB manual adaptation, and experience in delivering DYB-SIYB ToTs and supervising trainers. 25

Proven track record in providing business development services using technology, experience in developing training materials and guides (submit at least two similar work sample documents/reports). 25

Previous experience in delivering DYB–SIYB ToTs and supervising trainers for ILO and other international organisations. 10

Maximum Points 100

Minimum Acceptable Score for the Proposal to be considered for financial evaluation. 70

Weight:

• Technical Evaluation – Qualifications, understanding of the assignment and Experience - 70%
• Financial evaluation - 30%

Interested consultant must submit the following documents/information:

• Technical Proposal, specifying the understanding of the assignment, methodology, approach, proposed work and management plan, qualifications, and relevant experiences of the consultant; Certification of Master Trainers of the ILO’s SIYB training package. Sample of previous DYB manual adaptation.
  Sample(s) similar work done previously. CV/resume, indicating all experience from similar assignments,
• Financial proposal, the interested consultant is requested to provide a financial offer indicating the professional fee (daily fee @ number of days) related to the deliverables and costs for field mission dates and days, travel cost and daily allowance if needs be.

[1] https://www.knbs.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-Economic-Survey-Popular-Version.pdf

[2] RAPID ASSESMESMENT ON RETURN AND REINTERGRATION-KENYA.pdf (iom.int)

Interested international individual consultant can send questions if any to the ILO’s Procurement Unit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ADDIS_PROCUREMENT@ilo.org) until 30 April 2025. Questions will be answered and shared with the interested consultant by Close of Business 02 May 2025.

Completed technical and financial proposals are to be submitted to ADDIS_PROCUREMENT@ilo.org by Close of Business on 08 May 2025.