Terms of Reference (ToR)

Branding and social media services for FEGO partners

Swisscontact Kosovo for the project:

Fostering Employment and Growth Opportunities (FEGO)

Introduction

The Fostering Employment and Growth Opportunities (FEGO) project in Kosovo is financed by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and implemented by Swisscontact in Kosovo. The project aims to generate employment and income for women, men, and youth living in poverty and socio-economic marginalization. This is intended to be achieved through sustainable and scalable growth of micro/small (family) businesses and start-ups, in the apparel, furniture, and rural tourism sectors.

FEGO applies a Market Systems Development (MSD) approach, specifically focusing on market facilitation through new, innovative business models to ensure large-scale sustainable changes in respective sectors. The project will reach its goal through two main objectives: 1) Fostering the growth and development of micro/small (family) businesses in the apparel and furniture sectors and facilitating their entrepreneurship growth and 2) supporting local communities operating with rural tourism activities, and their micro and small enterprises towards the development of rural tourism. Both outcomes will contribute to more sustainable and inclusive market systems, improving income, and productivity and enhancing job creation in the private sector, therefore contributing to addressing high unemployment and poverty rates in the country, especially amongst youth and women. Swisscontact, through the FEGO project, promotes inclusive social, economic, and ecological development to make an effective contribution towards sustainable and widespread prosperity, offering the chance to economically and socially disadvantaged people to improve their lives on their initiative.

Background:

Among the main issues identified throughout the FEGO market research for all three project sectors was the lack of branding and promotion at the enterprise and destination levels. Marketing and digital services used for promotional purposes are currently costly for startups and micro businesses in the furniture, apparel, and rural tourism sectors. Even though there is a widespread use of promotion through social media platforms by businesses, they still lack skills and knowledge in professional use, data collection, and analyses and other relevant factors that contribute to the improvement of service provision and business growth. Start-ups, in particular, face challenges in creating a professional marketable identity and maintaining a presence on social media. In general, companies lack basic elements such as logos, brand books, websites, social media presence, and marketing strategies. However, companies are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of branding and marketing via various channels to reach potential customers. Promotional potential remains untapped, especially with the integration of marketing efforts across different actors (e.g., bundling of products/services and branding).

Therefore, the FEGO project is looking for specialized marketing agencies to offer the above-mentioned services that will help the project partners in all three sectors (furniture, apparel, and rural tourism) improve their visual identity and market presence.

Objective:

The FEGO project aims to support its targeted enterprises towards working with marketing companies on expertise in the above-mentioned areas, aiming to improve marketing-related aspects such as branding, promotion, visibility, digital presence, and know-how. For this purpose, FEGO seeks to identify and engage service providers throughout the following months, to develop one or more activities as described in the ‘deliverables’ section, depending on the needs of the activity and project partner beneficiaries.

Deliverables

FEGO is seeking quotations from service providers on the following activities:

• Brand development – (Idea and concept of the logo, Creation of the brand book)
• Social media marketing, including
  • (1) Basic training to users for management of social media networks such as Facebook and Instagram,
  • (2) Management of posts and content writing – priced per post and/or monthly management); i.e., monthly management could be a package that includes the number of posts offered and other services, etc.
• Website design and development – (Design of the website according to the brand, desktop and mobile, hosting, and training on maintenance).
• Product packaging design – (Product packaging/label design, preparation for print/prepress) – price per product.
• Development of a communications/marketing concept strategy - price per strategy
• E-commerce – Integrated into enterprise websites

The prices of activities should be presented separately and at a fixed price per activity. The engagement of the service provider will vary accordingly to the project partner’s needs. The company may offer additional services that are not foreseen in this ToR, however, such services will be evaluated independently.

All costs, including travel expenses and other related costs, should be foreseen in the consultant’s/company financial proposal (gross amount).

Timeframe

The service is expected to be contracted for the duration period (November 2022 – December 2023).

The assignment period is planned to start in the following months, with no limited deadline. In agreement with the service providers, the specifications for the contract for the service provider/s (including the timeframe of the contract) will be defined at the time of engagement.

Consultants/company experience:

• Be a legally registered entity in Kosovo as per the country’s governing laws.
• Extensive expertise and proven experience in one or more of the mentioned tasks including brand management, social media marketing website design and development, product packaging design, and communications/marketing concept strategy
• Flexibility and excellent communication skills.
• Ability to collaborate closely with the FEGO Team, companies, and entities in Kosovo, as well as to respond to requests.
  • Proof of business registration as per the above requirements.

Contact and Submission of Offer

A brief technical and financial offer based on the terms of reference should be sent by 14 November 2022, CoB with the subject REF: “Branding and social media services for FEGO partners” to fegoinfo@swisscontact.org.

Applicants must submit:

• Company portfolio attesting experience and relevant expertise.
• CVs of key staff experts.
• Financial offer with VAT included (indication of specific costs in gross amount).