Request for Expressions of Interest - Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise Loan Administration Service - Scatec Solar

Request for Expressions of Interest
Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise Loan Administration Service

Background

Scatec Solar is an integrated, independent solar power producer, delivering affordable, rapidly
deployable and sustainable clean energy worldwide. As a long- term player, Scatec Solar
develops, builds, owns, operates and maintains solar power plants and has an installation
track record of more than 1.3 GW. The company has a total of 1.9 GW in operation and under
construction in emerging economies on four continents, namely: Honduras, Argentina, Brazil,
Jordan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Ukraine, Egypt, South Africa, Rwanda and Mozambique.

With an established global presence and a significant project pipeline, the company is
targeting a capacity of 4.5 GW in operation and under construction by end of 2021. Scatec
Solar is headquartered in Oslo, Norway.

In South Africa, South Africa’s solar power plants are governed by the Renewable Energy
Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), which requires
Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to contribute not only affordable, clean energy to the
renewable energy mix, but also to the economic development of the communities that are
near the power plant. This is undertaken at Scatec Solar through the vehicles of community
and district trusts as well as socio-economic development (SED) and enterprise development
(EnD) funds, calculated and made available quarterly as a percentage of income.

For Scatec Solar, sustainability is core to the company values and hence the Sustainability
team takes a long-term, strategic approach to the socio-economic and enterprise
development mentioned above. Scatec Solar is also one of ten South African private sector
companies participating in the UN Global Compact Voluntary National Review of contributions
to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This commitment is reflected in the 20-year
Integrated Community Development Strategy of which the themes are education, youth
development, local economy, well-being, and community visioning. The trusts, SED and EnD
funds are spent on programmes under each of these themes.

This Request for Expressions of Interest seeks to invite SMME Loan Administration Service
entities, including private companies and Non-Profit Organisation in South Africa to send
expression of interests in order to explore the spectrum of this potential development project
of its local economy involvement or engagement

Introduction

The Scatec Solar 20-year sustainability strategy for its South African plants incorporates five
themes of which one is youth development. While the themes are common across the
communities, the problem statements within these themes have nuanced differences and
need to be addressed with different, objectives and programmes. Scatec Solar has been
funding the area of local economy in our host communities since 2015.

The five themes of Scatec Solar’s Integrated Community Development Strategy

 Scatec Solar makes use of different platforms of engagement, a key one of which is our
Stakeholder Engagement Forums (SEFs). The SEFs aims to work closely with the communities
in building capacity, as aligned with our 20-strategy theme, Community Visioning.
Furthermore, the SEFs is an opportunity to work with the local community to plan, build local
leadership and co-create solutions together.

For Scatec Solar, sustainability is core to its company values, hence it is vital to the
organisation that funds made available for economic development are utilised as impactfully
as possible. One of the avenues for high impact, is the appropriate support to and
development of local entrepreneurs – small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) – as one
of the pillars of local economic development. A key component of SMMEs ability to grow and
prosper, is the ability to obtain funding.

Scatec Solar wishes to invite loan providers operating in the SMME environment to respond
by way of an expression of interest, in order to explore potential partners in this field.

Scatec Solar has been exploring the area of SMME capacity development beyond grant-
making over the past year through pilot programmes. The beneficiaries of EnD grants have
been supported by capacity development programmes. As these requests for grants increase
not only in number, but also in funding amounts required, Scatec Solar is exploring how to
provide increased access to finance, by means of the provision of loans.

Should Scatec Solar embark upon this project on undertaking to provide loans to SMMEs, a
formal due diligence process should be in place, tailored to the various categories and sizes of
SMMEs in the relevant communities. Bearing in mind that this is not the core competence of
Scatec Solar, the company would prefer to partner with existing SMME loan providers to
manage this facility on their behalf.

Aim and Objectives
The Scatec Solar 20-year sustainability strategy for its South African plants incorporates five
themes of which one is Local Economy. This theme recognises that the development of
sustainable local SMMEs is the core economic driver of communities. It advocates for
supporting SMMEs such that they are competitively responsive to local needs.

The preferred service provider will be able to assist Scatec Solar in achieving the following
objectives:

  a. To evaluate the SMMEs who are applying for a loan to Scatec Solar in order to
     determine their eligibility by means of an appropriate due diligence process co-
     developed with Scatec Solar
  b. To identify and communicate areas of concern related to the repayment of any loan to
     Scatec Solar during the application process as well as during repayment
  c. To have the requisite administrative capacity, qualifications and certification to fully
     administer all loans provided to SMMEs and invoice Scatec Solar accordingly, timeously
     and accurately
  d. To share the Scatec Solar vision of bringing about enhancement in SMMEs’ capacity,
     their ability to attract business, their turnover and profitability, and, very importantly,
     their ability to create jobs – through small business loan provision

The following areas will be prioritised:
  a. Petrusville, Philipstown and Hanover in the Northern Cape; and
  b. Burgersdorp in the Eastern Cape.
  c. Upington, Northern Cape (Dawid Kruiper and Kai! Garib Municipalities)

  Milestones

            Deliverable / Milestone                                  Due Date

     1.     Deadline for expression of interest                      10 February 2020

     2.     Discussions and Potential Partnership Establishment      18-21 February 2020

     3.     Engagements with the local economy forums                24-26 February 2020

     4.     Service level agreement (SLA) finalisation as            1 March 2020
            Preferred Supplied for this Project

     5.     Project commencement Q2 2020                             1 April 2020

     6.     Monthly Reporting and Invoicing Q2                       On going

     7.     Scatec Solar’s Assessment, Evaluation of Service         1 April 2020-31 March
            Provider and Decision on whether to enter into a         2021
            longer-term SLA

Contract Award Criteria

Expressions of interest will be assessed against the following criteria:

    a. Proposals in line with the brief
    b. Relevance to specified requirements
    c. Proposed workplan and processes that meet the requirements of the project
    d. Qualified, competent and adequate staff capacity to be able to deliver this project in
       the short time frame available
    e. Experience in the provision of SMME finance
    f. EnD, skills development and mentorship would be an advantage
    g. Reasonable and competitive cost structure

Submissions Check List

All submissions must include the following:

    a. Expression of interest
    b. A high-level budget
    c. Registered name and number of Company/NPC/Trust – not applicable for sole
       proprietorship or partnerships. Company or Trust registration documents.
    d. VAT registration certificate (if any)
    e. Registered place of business address
    f. Contact person and their details (telephone number and email address)
    g. BEE Certificate or Affidavit
    h. Letter of Good Standing from SARS
    i. Names of Company directors or Trustees
    j. A brief organisational profile including a brief description of other similar projects
       completed by the organisations that are similar in nature to this project.
    k. The proposed project team, showing areas of expertise and clear roles and
       responsibilities.
    l. Reference letters (if available)

Proposal Deadline: Monday, 10th February, 12h00

Scatec Solar reserves the right not to award this contract, in whole or in part.