Business Advisor

Terms of Reference

FCDO Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) Trade Facilitation and Customs Support (TFCS) Programme

Business Advisor

Ramallah, Palestine

The Project: FCDO Trade Facilitation and Customs Support (Tasdeer) 

The FCDO Trade Facilitation and Customs Support programme (Tasdeer) is a £15m programme financed by FCDO and operational from 2020 – 2023. The objective of Tasdeer is to improve the trade performance and customs capabilities in the OPTs. It will ultimately contribute to increased inclusive private sector-led economic growth and fiscal sustainability in the OPTs. 

The programme is designed to be flexible and adaptable, and it will work politically and technically to make progress across the four-key interrelated workstreams.

• Workstream 1: Support to expedite the movement of goods and reduce transaction costs.
• Workstream 2: Support to improve Palestinian trade-related institutions and business enabling environment.
• Workstream 3: Support to improve the private sector’s skills and innovation to export and create jobs.
• Workstream 4: Support to improve PA’s customs readiness to assume functions from Israel and revenues from trade-related taxes.

The programme is implemented by a Cowater-led consortium on behalf of FCDO. A Steering Committee (including representatives from FCDO, the Ministry of National Economy and the Ministry of Finance) will approve interventions identified and designed by the supplier. Supplier interventions will be reviewed, and quality assured by a Strategic Advisory Panel comprised of experts from the core consortium members. 

Tasdeer program seeks a qualified long term Business Advisor who will provide services to support workstream 3.

Workstream 3 will assist Palestinian firms to meet their regional and international market growth potentials by addressing company level bottlenecks which limit firms’ ability to grow and diversify exports. This will create export- related local jobs.

The workstream will support activities which will help and encourage medium and large exporting firms with strong growth potential and clear linkages with domestic supply chains to invest and significantly increase their exports.  Tasdeer’s activities will also be geared towards assisting firms, whose exports have declined as a result of recent market changes, to reclaim and grow exports.

Activities will include measures to give preference to supporting firms where the positive results will contribute to women, youth, and marginalized groups’ economic empowerment. Tasdeer will also analyse specific export clusters that have the potential for establishing a competitive export market and accordingly support these clusters where high economic empowerment for women, youth, and marginalized groups where possible.

Description of Role: Business Advisor – Ramallah, Palestine

The Business Advisor (BA) will work with the Workstream Lead to identify, foster, and support export growth strategies for private sector firms and across promising sector/clusters. 

The Business Advisor will work on the delivery of matching grants component and other targeted interventions to improve private sector skills, innovation and competitiveness.

The Business Adviser is expected to provide technical assistance and work hand in hand with applicants and potential grantees to design and implement growth plans to enter new markets and/or expand in current ones, thus generating increase in exports and employment opportunities. 

The Business Advisor will work with the Tasdeer team to achieve the programme goals.  S/he must have technical expertise in private sector development and experience in designing and leading assessments and interventions in the promotion, development, and expansion of the private sector at the firm and sector levels in several potential value chains.

Roles and Responsibilities:

The BA will support the Tasdeer team in the design and implementation of activities to enhance private sector competitiveness, skills, innovation, and exports.  The BA will be responsible for the following tasks/activities: 

• Work with local firms to identify potentials for expanding and diversifying exports. Build relationships with candidate enterprises, leading to development of a shared vision about their needs and recommendations to improve their competitiveness, create business growth and create jobs.
• Carry out regular site visits to applicants and conduct an assessment of firms’ export growth potentials and interrelated needs. 
• Provide direct assistance and coaching to firms in the development of Export Growth Plans that are geared towards measurable and quantifiable results (a growth in exports, jobs generated, enhanced competitiveness, etc.), with focus on Women, Youth and marginalized groups. 
• Support firms to identify ways to enhance linkages with local suppliers for increased exports and promote the concept where needed. 
• Support proper implementation of Grants’ firm level activities and maintain a day-to-day supervision of service providers assignments implementation. 
• Provide support to the procurement processes including participation in ToR preparations, contract awarding and reviewing of deliverables. 
• Monitor firms’ progress during the implementation of Grant activities and conduct regular field visits. 
• Maintain project and client information on the project information system, according to project standards.
• Support the Tasdeer team including the Knowledge Management Lead, GESI Lead, Communications Lead, Monitoring and Evaluation Team on issues pertaining to their area of responsibility.  
• Other duties, as requested by the Work Stream Lead. 

جميع الحقوق محفوظة لموقع جوبس.

Required Expertise and Competencies: 

• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, Economics, Engineering, or related fields. Holding an MBA degree is a plus. 
• At least Seven (7) years of practical experience, from which minimum four (4) years of work experience in business development and private sector development. 
• Previous experience with donor funded economic growth projects in Palestine. 
• Previous working experience supporting exporting companies develop and implement export growth plans. 
• Exposure to various sectors and industries including but not limited to: Agriculture and Agribusiness, light manufacturing, and Information Technology. 
• Ability to understand the strength and weaknesses of private sector enterprises and help them reach a higher level of global competitiveness.
• Ability to understand and structure business incentives for exporters / local suppliers enhanced linkages. 
• Strong analytical, verbal and writing skills in English and Arabic. Native English ability is preferred. 
• Ability to produce accurate and concise draft reports at pace. 
• Strong team player with ability to adapt to different work styles within the team. 
• Pro-activeness, dedication, and a conscientious professional approach.
• Tasdeer offers equal employment opportunities to qualified women and men, Youth and PWDs.

Reporting Lines and Managerial Responsibilities: 

• This role reports to Workstream 3 Lead.
• This role will include managing consultants working within Workstream 3.

Duration:

This role will be full-time for the duration of the project (end-date September 2023)

Location:

This position will be based in Ramallah. Project-related travel is expected in West Bank and East Jerusalem according to project needs.

How to apply

Please submit a one-page CV and one-page cover letter explaining why you are the right person for this role, based on your work experience to [email protected]

The deadline for receipt of applications is February 12th, 2022. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interview.