The Smart Africa Secretariat invites qualified consulting firms to submit proposals for an assignment examining and addressing policy, regulatory, institutional and technical barriers that prevent young people, particularly young women and youth-led enterprises, from participating in domestic and cross-border digital markets.

The consultancy falls under the Smart Africa Markets for All (SAMA) Programme, supported by the Mastercard Foundation. It will focus on six African countries: Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

The assignment will assess barriers relating to Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, digital identity, government e-services, interoperability and data exchange. Its purpose is to translate these findings into practical policy harmonisation guidelines, technical recommendations, government implementation toolkits, capacity-building resources and country-specific action plans.

The selected firm will work with Smart Africa, national institutions and relevant stakeholders to identify reforms that improve digital market access and expand opportunities for young people to participate in the digital economy.

Purpose and Objectives

The overall objective is to identify and help remove barriers that prevent young people, particularly young women and youth-led enterprises, from accessing digital services, participating in digital markets and earning a living through domestic and cross-border economic activity.

The consultancy will:

• Assess the policy, legal, regulatory, institutional, governance and technical environments affecting digital market participation in each country.
• Identify barriers experienced by young entrepreneurs and women-led enterprises when accessing identity verification, business registration, financial services and government e-services.
• Assess interoperability, data-sharing arrangements and access to digital public infrastructure.
• Evaluate institutional capacity and readiness to implement necessary reforms.
• Develop evidence-based policy harmonisation guidelines and recommended technical specifications.
• Create practical government implementation toolkits and capacity-building packages for policymakers and regulators.
• Assess whether regulatory sandboxes or other controlled regulatory experimentation would be appropriate in specific contexts.
• Establish baseline indicators and maturity scores to support the SAMA Programme's monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning activities.

Scope of Work

The consultancy comprises three work packages.

Work Package 1: KYC and Digital e-Services

The consultant will examine the policy and operational environment for digital identity, identity verification, electronic transactions, digital signatures, trust services and government e-services.

Activities include:

• Reviewing relevant legislation, policies, regulations and institutional frameworks.
• Mapping the institutions responsible for identity, business registration, financial services, digital government and data protection.
• Assessing barriers to identity verification, business onboarding, digital payments and access to government services.
• Examining whether young women, informal traders, MSMEs and start-ups experience disproportionate barriers.
• Assessing the practical accessibility, usability and maturity of relevant digital public services.
• Identifying legal, regulatory, institutional, governance and operational gaps.

Work Package 2: Interoperability and Data Exchange

The consultant will assess how government institutions, service providers and digital systems exchange information and connect across services and borders.

Activities include:

• Reviewing national interoperability frameworks, digital public infrastructure, API frameworks and data-sharing policies.
• Assessing technical standards, institutional coordination, data governance and cross-border readiness.
• Evaluating practical access to government APIs, registries, data and digital public infrastructure for start-ups and youth-led enterprises.
• Identifying technical, regulatory, institutional and skills-related gaps that limit digital market participation.
• Scoring each country against a common maturity assessment framework.

Work Package 3: Harmonisation, Implementation Support and Adoption

The consultant will translate assessment findings into actionable recommendations and implementation resources.

Activities include:

• Developing regional policy harmonisation guidelines covering KYC, digital identity, e-services, interoperability and data exchange.
• Preparing recommended technical specifications and implementation guidance.
• Developing government toolkits, model procedures, checklists and monitoring indicators.
• Preparing capacity-building curricula, facilitator guides, training materials and knowledge products.
• Assessing where regulatory experimentation is justified and, where appropriate, developing regulatory sandbox frameworks, implementation plans and draft terms of reference for subsequent implementation.
• Supporting national validation, six country dissemination and adoption workshops, and two inter-country peer-learning workshops.
• Facilitating prioritised country action plans with identified lead institutions, supporting institutions and proposed next steps.

A gender-responsive and Young Women-Centered Design approach must be incorporated throughout the assignment, rather than treated as a separate topic.

Deliverables

The selected firm will be expected to produce:

• An inception report, methodology, assessment instruments and consolidated stakeholder engagement plan.
• Six country assessment reports and corresponding action plans.
• A regional synthesis report on KYC and digital e-services.
• A regional synthesis report on interoperability and data exchange.
• A Regional Digital Market Access Readiness Matrix.
• A policymaker skills assessment report.
• Policy and institutional harmonisation guidelines.
• Recommended technical specifications and implementation guidelines.
• Government implementation toolkits.
• Capacity-building and knowledge-transfer packages.
• A regulatory experimentation assessment and, where justified, sandbox frameworks, implementation plans and draft procurement terms of reference.
• Reports from six national workshops and two inter-country peer-learning workshops.
• A final consolidated report and supporting assessment datasets, documentation and tools.

The maturity assessment will use a common scale from 0 to 4, supported by verifiable evidence and an explanation of what each score means for young people and young women seeking to participate in digital markets.

Eligibility Criteria

Only legally registered consulting firms are eligible. Individual consultants cannot apply independently.

The firm must demonstrate:

• At least 10 years of experience providing consultancy services in digital transformation, the digital economy, ICT policy or digital public infrastructure.
• Experience working with governments, regional organisations, development partners or international financial institutions in Africa.
• Experience managing complex, multi-country assignments involving policy analysis and stakeholder engagement.
• At least one relevant assignment in each of the following areas:
  • Digital identity, e-KYC, trust services or digital authentication.
  • Interoperability, API governance, data exchange or digital public infrastructure.
  • Digital policy, regulatory or institutional assessment, or the development of policy frameworks and implementation toolkits.
  • Regulatory sandboxes, innovation frameworks or digital innovation ecosystems.
  • Capacity building or institutional strengthening for policymakers or regulators.
• Verifiable documentary evidence of relevant assignments, such as contracts, completion certificates or reference letters.

Required Expert Team

The minimum team must include:

1. Team Leader / Digital Policy and Digital Economy Expert.
2. Digital Identity, KYC and Trust Services Specialist.
3. E-Government, Interoperability, Data Exchange and Digital Public Infrastructure Specialist.
4. Legal, Regulatory and Data Governance Expert.
5. Regulatory Innovation and Digital Entrepreneurship Expert.
6. Institutional Capacity Development and Knowledge Management Expert.
7. Gender and Digital Inclusion Specialist.

Proposals must also include a detailed Level of Effort table, showing proposed person-days by expert, work package, country and type of input. Additional specialists and country-level experts may be proposed as required.

The team must have strong professional working capacity in both English and French, including sufficient French-language capability for work in Benin. The client will not provide interpretation services.

Geographic Scope

The assignment covers six countries:

• Benin
• Ghana
• Kenya
• Rwanda
• Uganda
• Zambia

Country assessments will be delivered in two waves, using a consistent maturity assessment framework to enable meaningful comparisons across all six countries.

The contract will be administered in Rwanda through the Smart Africa Secretariat in Kigali.

Funding and Contract Value

This is a paid consultancy procurement opportunity, funded through the SAMA Programme with support from the Mastercard Foundation. It is not a grant for individual entrepreneurs or organisations seeking project funding.

The RFP specifies a lump-sum contract but does not state a fixed contract value. Firms must submit a detailed financial proposal in US dollars (USD), inclusive of taxes.

The indicative payment schedule is:

• Month 1: 10% — Approval of the inception report and associated materials.
• Month 3: 40% — Completion and approval of the first three country assessments and national workshops.
• Month 6: 20% — Completion of the remaining country assessments, regional synthesis reports, readiness matrix and policymaker skills assessment.
• Months 9–10: 30% — Capacity-building resources, regulatory experimentation deliverables, peer-learning workshops and final approved outputs.

Financial proposals must be password-protected. Smart Africa will request passwords from bidders who qualify following the technical evaluation.

Proposal Evaluation

Proposals will be assessed using a combined technical and financial evaluation.

• Firm experience and qualifications: 20 points.
• Technical approach, methodology and workplan: 30 points.
• Qualifications and competence of key experts: 40 points.
• Knowledge transfer, capacity building and sustainability: 10 points.

A minimum technical score of 70 out of 100 is required for the financial proposal to be evaluated. The final selection uses an 80% technical and 20% financial weighting.

Important Dates

• RFP release date: 8 October 2026.
• Submission deadline: 9 November 2026 at 17:00 Kigali time (CAT, UTC+2).
• Assignment duration: 10 months from contract signature.

Late proposals will be rejected.

Application Process

Interested consulting firms must submit their technical and financial proposals electronically as separate PDF documents.

Submission email: procurement@smartafrica.org

The email subject line must include the reference number and assignment title:

RFP 158/S.A/RFP/10/2026 — Consultancy Services to Assess and Address the Policy, Regulatory and Interoperability Barriers that Prevent Young People from Participating in Digital Markets

The proposal must include:

• Company registration and administrative documents.
• A signed submission letter and conflict-of-interest declaration.
• A technical proposal detailing the firm's understanding, methodology, workplan, quality assurance and required Level of Effort table.
• Company profile and evidence of relevant experience.
• References or completion certificates for comparable assignments.
• Updated CVs and relevant qualifications for proposed key experts.
• A financial proposal in USD, including total costs, remuneration and reimbursable expenses.

Enquiries: tenderenquiries@smartafrica.org

Enquiries must be submitted at least three days before the proposal deadline.

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