Research and Development Services

The vendor is required to provide research and development services for economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction, particularly empowering women and youth.
- Sectoral analysis (research, interviews, data compilation and analysis):
•    Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the micro, small, and medium enterprises 
(MSME) landscape, including demographics, industry composition including but not limited to cottage industries, and their economic contribution. 
•    This involves analyzing GDP contribution, employment generation, and revenue generation to quantify the sector's economic significance. 
•    Identify challenges and gaps and barriers hindering MSME growth, such as access to finance, regulatory burdens, and skills shortages.
•    Explore avenues for MSME expansion, including export potential, innovation, and market diversification. 
•    Successful business models and best practices to be examined to derive actionable insights.
•    Identify gender inequalities, gaps and barriers within the MSME sector and ways to counteract them, to provide for a more equal and inclusive environment.  
- Review of legislative framework:
•    Using information gleaned from the research, evaluate the current definitions of the micro and small business sector as contained in review of the trade and business licensing act and other legislation addressing MSMES and make recommendations for revisions, if necessary. 
•    Provide guidance, based on research for the provision of a definition for the medium enterprises sector in the trade and business licensing act.

- Contract Period/Term: 5 years