Background

The WeWork — Green and Decent Jobs for Youth project, implemented by SHONA Group through The Good Green Business Accelerator in partnership with Enabel, is a 23-month initiative designed to address key constraints hindering the growth of Green and Circular Economy (GCE) enterprises in Uganda. The project seeks to contribute to a thriving, inclusive, and sustainable green and circular economy ecosystem, driven by competitive, investment-ready businesses that create decent jobs, reduce environmental harm, and promote resource efficiency. The project began with a recruitment campaign, where 100 businesses will be selected to participate in a 3-month online pre-accelerator. This phase includes self-paced learning, business diagnostics, and a baseline assessment of the businesses’ green practices. Based on this, 50 enterprises will be selected for an intensive acceleration phase. This includes tailored capacity building delivered through in-person bootcamps, technical assistance grants, peer learning circles, and exposure visits to industry leaders. Additionally, to ensure sustainable growth for the businesses, the project aims to contribute to job creation by co-developing career pathways for green jobs, training 200 youth via an online platform, and matching 100 youth to employment opportunities with the entrepreneurs. To identify the right support to provide to the businesses, we have conducted business diagnostics to identify the needs and gaps within the businesses, which have identified that many businesses operate with limited or no formal sales systems, rely heavily on informal or ad hoc customer acquisition, struggle to articulate their value proposition to new markets, and lack the commercial skills needed to compete effectively in growth markets. SHONA is seeking experienced consultants/organisations to offer targeted sales and market development Technical Assistance (TA) to support businesses in building the commercial systems, skills, and practices needed to grow revenues, reach new customers, and create the conditions for sustainability.

Overall Objective of the Assignment

The overall objective of this assignment is to strengthen the market development capacity of businesses participating in the Good Green Business Accelerator, enabling them to clearly articulate their value proposition, build brand presence, access new customer segments, grow revenues, and build the commercial foundations for sustainable business growth.

The expertise to be offered to the business will fall under the key thematic areas listed below, and specific to the needs of the businesses at a given time.

Develop Career Pathways

• Participate and contribute to the career pathways workshop.
• Work with the team to develop a detailed curriculum including the development of detailed skills and roles along the Marketing career pathways.

Marketing diagnostics and assessments

• Review existing marketing strategies to assess quality, relevance, and effectiveness.
• Identify key constraints limiting market visibility and positioning, including gaps in branding.
• Produce a high level marketing diagnostic report that will form the basis of the TA work plan.

Market development and growth strategy

• Support businesses to identify underserved market segments with growth potential, including emerging opportunities in the green economy, circular economy supply chains, and sustainability-driven procurement.
• Develop a market development roadmap for each business outlining priority customer segments, market entry approaches, and key milestones for revenue growth.
• Build awareness of relevant market linkages, sector associations, trade platforms, and business networks in Uganda that can expand each business’s commercial reach.
• Where applicable, support businesses in developing partnerships or distribution arrangements with larger firms, aggregators, or retailers as a route to market.
• Prepare a Marketing and Market Development Manual for each supported business, documenting brand positioning, customer segments, value proposition, and market development priorities in a format usable by staff after the assignment.

Marketing materials and channels

• Support development of core marketing materials (digital and print) in formats appropriate to each business's target customers and sales model (B2B or B2C).
• Where applicable, support businesses in adopting or optimising digital marketing channels — such as social media, website, and e-commerce listings — appropriate to their scale.
• Train business owners and designated staff on maintaining and using marketing materials and channels after the assignment.

The consultant(s) are expected to adopt a firm-level, hands-on approach, working directly with business owners and key staff at each enterprise. The following principles should guide the assignment:

• Contextualised support: Assistance should be tailored to each business’s current commercial capacity, sector, customer base, and growth stage.
• Capacity transfer: The goal is not to manage marketing on behalf of businesses but to build the knowledge, skills, habits, and systems that enable businesses to grow independently after the assignment.
• Practical delivery: Where possible, sessions should be conducted on-site or at locations accessible to business owners, using plain language and practical tools appropriate to each business’s level of commercial sophistication.
• Green economy alignment: The consultant(s) shall ensure that market development strategies are cognisant of the green and circular economy context of participating businesses, including the specific value drivers and customer motivations relevant to sustainability-oriented products and services.
• Linkage to project objectives: The consultant(s) shall coordinate with the project team to align TA activities with business diagnostic findings, growth plans, access to finance initiatives, and talent matching initiatives, including coaching and mentorship.

• Participate and contribute to the career pathways workshop.
• Work with the team to develop a detailed curriculum including the development of detailed skills and roles along the Marketing career pathways.
• Review existing marketing strategies to assess quality, relevance, and effectiveness.
• Identify key constraints limiting market visibility and positioning, including gaps in branding.
• Produce a high level marketing diagnostic report that will form the basis of the TA work plan.
• Support businesses to identify underserved market segments with growth potential, including emerging opportunities in the green economy, circular economy supply chains, and sustainability-driven procurement.
• Develop a market development roadmap for each business outlining priority customer segments, market entry approaches, and key milestones for revenue growth.
• Build awareness of relevant market linkages, sector associations, trade platforms, and business networks in Uganda that can expand each business’s commercial reach.
• Where applicable, support businesses in developing partnerships or distribution arrangements with larger firms, aggregators, or retailers as a route to market.
• Prepare a Marketing and Market Development Manual for each supported business, documenting brand positioning, customer segments, value proposition, and market development priorities in a format usable by staff after the assignment.
• Support development of core marketing materials (digital and print) in formats appropriate to each business's target customers and sales model (B2B or B2C).
• Where applicable, support businesses in adopting or optimising digital marketing channels — such as social media, website, and e-commerce listings — appropriate to their scale.
• Train business owners and designated staff on maintaining and using marketing materials and channels after the assignment.

• Strong skills in customer segmentation, value proposition development.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, including the ability to deliver practical training and coaching to non-specialist business owners.
• Experience with digital marketing tools or e-commerce as applicable to SME contexts

• A degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Commerce, or a related field.
• A minimum of five years of practical experience in business development or commercial advisory, with a strong track record of supporting revenue growth in SME contexts.
• Demonstrable experience providing hands-on market development TA to SMEs, ideally in Uganda or East Africa.
• Experience working in or advising businesses in green economy sectors, including renewable energy, waste management, eco-tourism, circular economy manufacturing, or organic agriculture.