SUSTAINABLE GROWERS RWANDA

P.O BOX 864 Kigali, Rwanda

Tender Advert

Terms of Reference for Finance Department Restructuring

Introduction

Sustainable Growers Rwanda (SGR) is an NGO committed to improving the livelihoods of low -Income women farmers and their families. Our primary focus is on collective training to promote transparent trade practices, enhance product quality, and secure higher prices in the coffee sector. Currently, SGR operates in Rwanda, DRC, and Tanzania.

SGR’s social enterprise has a mission to increase local consumption of specialty grade coffee grown by the women beneficiaries of the SGR training program. The social enterprise operates both B2B and B2C entities in Rwanda that sell coffee products, coffee tours, and coffee beverages, with the aim to increase the visibility of women coffee growers and their coffee and has a training space for farmers, baristas, and coffee professionals to improve coffee quality from seed to cup. 

With the ongoing program expansion, SGR is seeking a professional consulting firm to help the organization restructuring its finance department for the non-profit and its subsidiaries. 

Objectives

The objective of the present assignment is to restructure the finance department to ensure a major realignment of the vision, strategy, structure, management systems, technologies and staff skills, and value addition to the changing organization environment, to make better-informed decisions that are based on the right information and delivered at the right time. 

The main goals of this consultancy will include (a) strengthening strategy alignment, business planning, information reporting, and analytical capabilities, (b) employing the latest business intelligence tools and innovative data analytic techniques; and (c) investing in both resources and systems for transforming data into insightful reports that help decision-making across all business functions.

Scope of Work

The assignment will involve following scope of work: 

1. Structure – Define new finance department structure, specific job descriptions, roles and responsibilities for each member, and create the performance measures/ incentives to drive the required behavior of the individuals. 

2. Data integration - recommend data integration tools, establish data governance protocols, and data quality checks are in place, to ensure integrity of data from disparate sources and eliminate inconsistencies and errors. 

3. Systems and Technology upgrade – introduce new technologies that support advanced reporting features that provides capabilities needed for modern financial reporting requirements. 

4. Compliance and Regulatory Changes - Establish a regulatory compliance mechanism that will enable SGR stay informed about changes, and integrate compliance checks into reporting processes, to keep up with evolving accounting standards and regulatory requirements. 

5. Standardization - Develop standardized templates and reporting guidelines, policies, and procedures. Implementing a uniform chart of accounts to enhance consistency and eliminate inconsistencies in reporting formats and comparability structures. 

6. Data Security – Recommend encryption, access controls, and regular security audits to safeguard financial data, to increase focus on data security, and protect the sensitive financial information. 

Deliverables

The expected deliverables will include but not limited to the following reports:

• Evaluation report of the current finance department structure and practices
• Recommendation for suitable finance function models to align with the finance processes, such as planning, budgeting, monitoring, forecasting, decision support, management reporting, finance systems and IT, compliance and controls
• New finance department structure and roles
• Job descriptions for the new finance department personnel and recommendation for the new finance department staff’s profiles
• Finance strategy and operating model
• Revised finance internal controls, policies, and operating procedures
• Designed and guided implementation plan for finance modern/ digital tools, including accounting information systems, automated and accurate reporting dashboards, budgeting, monitoring, forecasting models
• Defined measurable indicators that will be used to evaluate project(s) success such as specific key milestones and timeline for the project, format and content of each deliverable, specific communication protocols for progress updates and feedback loops
• Designed reporting templates (donor reporting, business KPIs, analysis, cost accounting reports) and tools to increase the financial reporting accuracy and consistency
• Strategy to reduce budget variances and improve budget inefficiency
• Develop a 3 year projections model of SGR and its subsidiaries, to support the organisation’s financial self-sufficiency plan

SGR will facilitate the firm with all the necessary data that will be required during the consultancy. SGR will dedicate its representative(s) to assist with all the information or clarification that may be needed.

Timeline and venue

The firm’s engagement is expected to be held at the firm’s offices, or SGR and Subsidiaries offices. The firm should adhere to the timeline to be agreed upon and ensure timely submission of deliverables.

Required documents for qualified firms

1. Well detailed technical and financial proposals including the methodology and timeline
2. Providing 3 (original or notarized) service certificates of similar related services
3. A confirmation that the bidder has Electronic Billing Machine [EBM]
4. Evidence showing that the firm is a legal entity (certificate of registration)
5. Tax clearance certificate issued by RRA and certificate from the social security
6. Experience of 5 years in doing similar services

Evaluation Criteria and award

The agreement will be signed between SGR and the firm in accordance with the present Terms of Reference. SGR reserves the right to negotiate the final terms and fees with the firm.

Confidentiality and Information Governance

All documents related to this request for proposal shall remain the property of SGR and reserves the right to disclose all documents relating to this Procurement Process, including without limitation your tender response, to any employee, third party agent, adviser, or other third party involved in the procurement in support of, and/or in collaboration with SGR.

Submission of Proposals

Please submit your detailed proposals, including:

1. A covering letter detailing how your firm team meets the required qualifications and competencies.
2. A full technical and financial proposal including an overview of the process other services delivery mechanisms.

Contact information

All inquiries and submissions should be directed to SGR email: recruitment@sustainablegrowers.org and copy: anitha@sustainablegrowers.org, not later than 18^th December 2023 at 5pm local time. 

Done at Kigali, on 8^th December 2023. 

Christine CONDO

Executive Director - Sustainable Growers