What we do
About the Initiative
Karandaaz is inviting innovative solutions to promote women entrepreneurship in Pakistan to reduce gender gap in economic opportunity and growth. The proposed intervention should aim to bring innovation in business opportunities available to women entrepreneurs and develop an e-commerce and business finance platform that will strengthen the quality of economic participation and financial inclusion of women entrepreneurs. In order to reach a large and diverse population of women entrepreneurs through a product that not only supports business growth but is also commercially viable, the use of a ‘tech platform’ would be vital.
Platform Should Include
Please note that the ‘tech platform’ will not be a female exclusive platform and must cater to male entrepreneurs as well. However, it should have ambitious yet commercially viable targets for female entrepreneurs. The calculation and strategy for the optimal gender mix is the responsibility of applicant and should clearly be reflected in the technical proposal. The tech platform will cover all aspects of business for the women entrepreneur while ensuring transparency.
E-Commerce
An electronic portal to set up shop and access services such as logistics and marketing for the business ventures.
Customer Engagement
Customer support functions for the e-commerce marketplace.
Business Finance
An embedded business finance feature to cover working capital and business growth needs of the ventures including algorithmic credit scoring functionality.
Structured Growth & Formalization
Upskilling opportunities to facilitate businesses in formalizing their business and refining their skills of business management. Should support business analytics, invoicing, API integrations, order fulfilments and documentation management.
Proposal Development Workshop
Eligibility criteria
What we are looking for
Karandaaz Pakistan is inviting local technology companies, e-commerce companies, financial institutions, or any registered companies with demonstrated experience in developing e-commerce platforms relevant to the SME sector in Pakistan. Given the nature of the project, consortiums are encouraged (particularly of tech providers and FIs), with each entity licensed to provide the assigned service in the project.
Challenge Funding
Karandaaz will be providing concessional finance (debt and/or risk cover or a combination of the two) for project implementation and piloting/scale-up. The anticipated timeline for the project starting from the selection of the applicant will be a maximum of 3 years.
How to Participate
- You can still submit your project proposals even if you have not submitted an EOI.
- The last date for submission of proposals is 10th January 2023.
- Please read the RFP guidelines before submitting your proposal.
Key dates
November
21
Call For EOIs
December
05
EOI Submission
December
16
Proposal Development Workshop & Q/A
January
06
Last Date of Queries
January
10
Submission of Technical & Financial Proposal
January
23-27
Presentation by the Shortlisted Applicants to the ICF Advisory Committee
March
2023
Final Decision
Note: These dates are tentative and subject to change, except for the last date for application submissions, which will not be extended.
