International Trade Centre Netherlands Trust Fund III Kenya Call for Participation by IT & ITES SMEs and START-UPS

Call for Participation: IT & ITES SMEs and START-UPS

The International Trade Centre (ITC), a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, engaged in trade-related technical assistance, is implementing the project “Netherlands Trust Fund III Kenya: Enhancing Export Competitiveness in the IT&ITES Sector in Kenya” (NTF III Kenya IT&ITES) .

This project aims to enhance the export competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises in the IT&ITES sector in Kenya and linking them to foreign companies interested in off-shoring their services to Kenya. 

The project will work in partnership with the Kenyan IT and Outsourcing Society (KITOS) and the Information and Communication Technology Authority (ICTA).

ITC’s NTF III will be working primarily with thirty three (33) micro, small and medium enterprises as well as IT start-ups. This Expression of Interest will facilitate the selection of these enterprises.
 

The selected companies will benefit from the following support activities in the framework of the NTF III Kenya Project:

• Training and advisory services e.g. on export marketing and access to finance.
• Market linkages through facilitating B2B matchmaking events in Europe and Africa as well as participation in trade fairs organized in Kenya and/or target IT&ITES markets
• Promotion activities through online and offline media

The selection of companies will be based on a number of criteria, aimed at identifying their capacity to benefit the most from the NTF III Kenya IT&ITES project. 

Criteria will include: demonstrated IT expertise available in the company, clarity of its strategy (notably its export strategy), size of the company, financial soundness of the company, attitude towards employment of women, availability of marketing communication material (e.g. web site, brochures).

Using the above criteria, a team of independent IT Experts will select the 33 enterprises to be part of the project. 

Their recommendation will be reviewed by the project management team at the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the selected companies will soon after be informed. 

KITOS and ICTA will be involved in informing the industry of the EOI, but not in the selection process itself to avoid any conflict of interest.

All the information submitted with the applications will be processed with strict CONFIDENTIALITY.

Women-led / owned companies are highly encouraged to apply.

Applicants are advised to fill in the expression of interest carefully. 

You will not receive any confirmation email, but once you have completed the form the final screen will confirm that you successfully submitted your application.

NTF III is a three year initiative funded by the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) under the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. More information about the project can be found onhttp://www.intracen.org/itc/projects/ntf-3/kenya/

CLICK HERE to fill the Expression of Interest form

The application deadline is Thursday, Nov 13th, 2014 midnight Nairobi time. 

To ask any question or to report problems with the form, please write to ntf3@intracen.org