Catalytic Investment Fund Technical Advisor: Evaluation, Onboarding, and Program Design Support 

                                                                            The Youth Grow Activity (YGA)

                                                                                            Scope of work

• PROJECT BACKGROUND

About Youth Grow Activity

Launched in 2023, Youth Grow Activity (YGA) is a five-year US Government (USG)-funded initiative that aims to transform the economic trajectory of Jordan’s youth while strengthening resilient, opportunity-rich local systems to promote long-term stability and security. YGA’s reflects a growing strategic consensus: youth economic empowerment is no longer just a development objective; it is a tool for socioeconomic prosperity. YGA tackles the root causes of economic exclusion and youth unemployment—key drivers of social unrest, destabilized vulnerable communities, and brain drain and migration. By aligning local and national economic opportunities with shared regional and global strategic interests, YGA leverages economic empowerment as a force to foster resilient partnerships that help co-create future-ready systems.

YGA focuses on three core objectives:

1. Increased youth access to income-generating opportunities. YGA prepares, inspires, and links youth with opportunities and career pathways that allow them to generate income in growing arenas, including technology-enabled work, remote employment, and enhancing youth-led and youth-serving enterprises growth opportunities.
2. Enhanced youth economic leadership through targeted support of youth-led, youth-serving organizations, and youth groups through integrating sustainable practices and procedures for youth economic integration into the local and national ecosystem and enhancing youth's meaningful involvement in decision-making by creating avenues where their voices are heard to shape their support activities that affect their economic progress. This approach allows YGA to support inclusive economic growth that fosters innovation and long-term value creation.
3. Strengthened Jordan's youth development system in partnership with youth through enhanced coordination among stakeholders within youth-relevant services and policies and strengthened youth centers' capacity to serve as a connection hub between youth and youth support ecosystems to develop a lasting environment for youth empowerment and engagement.

About Q2IMPACT (QED Group, LLC DBA Q2 Impact)

Q2IMPACT, a QED Group company, brings over 25 years of expertise in data-driven, impact-focused solutions at the intersection of development, diplomacy, and defense. Rooted in this dynamic history, Q2IMPACT leverages cutting-edge technology, data-driven insight, and strategic expertise to tackle today’s most pressing challenges. Evolving with global priorities, Q2IMPACT blends its rich legacy in Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL), Collaboration, Learning, and Adaptation (CLA); data analytics; systems strengthening, and adaptive programming with a renewed focus on strategic relevance, economic growth, and national security. Q2IMPACT is the Prime Subrecipient under the USG-funded Youth Grow Activity (YGA) under Agreement No. 72027823CA00003.

• CATALYTIC INVESTMENT FUND BACKGROUND

The Catalytic Investment Fund (CIF) represents a flagship mechanism within YGA, developed to increase access to capital for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that create large number of income opportunities for marginalized youth. CIF recognizes the importance of preparing enterprises to access investment and connecting them with capital to build sustainable business models that can drive long-term growth. Youth Grow Activity (YGA), funded by the United States Government (USG) aims to unlock the potential of private capital to drive youth-focused economic growth in Jordan. Specifically, YGA can leverage its resources, such as grants, technical assistance, guarantees, and convening power, to help raise awareness of investment opportunities, lower transaction costs, and mitigate the risk of investments that generate positive social and economic impact for youth. The CIF seeks to bridge the investment gap for high-potential MSMEs by facilitating access to international capital markets while supporting their readiness through targeted advisory services. YGA's approach emphasizes the mobilization of private capital externally, preserving grant funding for strategic, performance-linked growth support. The overall CIF's objectives are as follows:

• Mobilize at least $10 million in private capital from international and local investors, including venture capital funds, development finance institutions, diaspora capital, and philanthropic sources.
• Create at least 3,000 income-generating opportunities for Jordanian youth through enterprise growth and expansion.
• Provide targeted investment readiness support to help enterprises align with investor expectations and navigate the capital-raising process.

This approach builds on the principle that catalytic capital can be most impactful when it reduces transaction barriers, enhances market confidence, and strengthens the capacity of enterprises to operate sustainably without distorting the investment landscape.

Under the catalytic investment fund, YGA issued an “Investment Transaction Advisory (Capital Mobilization and Investment Readiness) Services” RFP to solicit service provider who will play a pivotal role in identifying and preparing high-potential youth-labor intensive and youth-led MSMEs for investment. This includes scouting and screening enterprises, evaluating their business models, and providing tailored investment readiness services. In parallel, the service provider will engage with a diverse pool of capital providers, including international VCs, DFIs, and other investors, to establish viable pathways for capital deployment. This will involve preparing investor outreach strategies, facilitating pitch meetings, advising on term sheets, and supporting deal structuring. Linking entrepreneurs with investors and facilitating capital access for growth and providing MSMEs with technical support and networks to become investment ready. This represents a broad category of support, including pipeline development and investor matchmaking. Targeted enterprises will go through multi-dimensional interventions to make them comply with investors’ needs. Interventions may include, for example, technical and investment advisory services to address operational, managerial, market, governance, legal and/or financial issues identified, as well as support in identifying and engaging with potential investors, preparing a financial valuation package, loan application and supporting documentation, business plan, market assessment, financial model, pitch decks, and assistance reviewing terms sheets and letters of intent as appropriate. Each engagement will contain capital raising support. Target enterprises will include:

• MSMEs that can generate positive social and economic impact for marginalized youth through creating a large number of income-generating opportunities for them (employment or entrepreneurship)
• Youth-led MSMEs that have at least one youth member under 35 years old in their ownership or senior management team and have the potential to create a large number of income-generating opportunities for other youth.

In addition to the “Investment Transaction Advisory (Capital Mobilization and Investment Readiness) Services” RFP, YGA is planning to issue another RFP under the CIF, to address barriers to scale for youth-led and youth-labor-intensive enterprises through an acceleration program that provides financial support through grants, and non-financial support through acceleration services, and technical assistance. Through this program, YGA aims to support enterprise growth through a hybrid approach: growth-grants based support for immediate scaling, and technical assistance that fosters growth and longer-term sustainability. Through this new RFP, YGA aims to solicit service providers who will manage the acceleration and growth support track and coordinate the delivery of technical services and oversight of grants. This scope of these service providers will be designed to enhance the scalability, resilience, and youth inclusivity of Jordanian MSMEs. Specifically, the service provider will:

• Identify and support youth-led and youth labor-intensive MSMEs with high potential for income opportunity creation for youth.
• Provide acceleration services addressing operational, managerial, market, and technology gaps.
• Help MSMEs develop and execute growth plans funded by YGA grants, including oversight on performance, and youth inclusive outcomes.
• Coordinate technical support with business service providers, financiers and investors, and ecosystem actors.

Target enterprises will include youth led and youth labor intensive MSMEs within tech enabled and Jobtech sectors, who demonstrated capacity to create income-generating opportunities for youth, and at which youth aged under 35 holds either ownership or leadership roles.

• SCOPE OF WORK:

Purpose of the Assignment: The Technical Consultant will serve as a subject matter expert supporting:

• The evaluation of proposals under the Investment Transaction Advisory Services RFP;
• The onboarding and technical oversight of selected service providers under the Investment Transaction Advisory Services RFP;
• The development of robust M&E requirements under the Investment Transaction Advisory Services RFP;
• Stakeholder engagement and presentation delivery for the CIF, focusing on the Investment Transaction Advisory Services;
• Strategic guidance on governance and implementation of CIF, focusing on the Investment Transaction Advisory Services;
• The review and refinement of the acceleration program design and scope;

Key Responsibilities:

1. Proposal Review and Evaluation

• Serve as a member of the Technical Evaluation Committee for the Investment Transaction Advisory Services RFP.
• Review and score technical proposals, focusing on offerors’ technical approach and methodology; relevance and strength of prior experience and track record; and feasibility and quality of their delivery plan.

2. M&E Design and Recommendations

• Advise YGA on the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) requirements that should be included in the Investment Transaction Advisory Services contracts.
• Provide technical input on appropriate indicators related to capital mobilization, youth income generation, and enterprise growth; reporting methodologies; and M&E frameworks to be proposed by applicants.

3. Onboarding and contracting of Service Providers:

• Support kick-off meetings with selected service providers, ensuring alignment on expectations and deliverables.
• Provide technical input on technical deliverables and KPIs within contract, including performance indicators, reporting requirements, and payments.

4. Strategic Advisory on CIF Governance

• Recommend an effective governance and coordination structure for the CIF, covering Roles and responsibilities of YGA and other local actors and stakeholders; oversight of investment transactions and technical support; risk management and decision-making protocols.

5. Stakeholder Presentation and Representation

• Develop a high-quality presentation summarizing the Investment Transaction Advisory Services model, implementation structure, and expected outcomes.
• Co-present this material alongside YGA team members to the government of the United States (USG) representatives, government counterparts, or ecosystem actors.

6. Acceleration Program scope of work

• Review and provide written feedback advice, recommendations, and innovative ideas on the draft scope of work for the Acceleration Program.
• Co-lead a brainstorming session with market actors and stakeholders to gather input and identify innovative approaches for structuring the acceleration program.

• LEVEL OF EFFORTS AND TIMEFRAME:
• The designated level of effort for this consultation is up to 20 working days (160 working hours), delivered over 60 calendar days, starting from the date of signing the contract. 

• REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• A minimum of 13 years of professional experience in finance, investment, or development programming, with a demonstrated track record in managing high-level investment transactions, financial structuring, and SME finance, including a significant portion of experience in debt, equity, and hybrid financing.
• Deep understanding of the Jordanian market and regional dynamics, with a solid network of contacts in financial institutions, government, and private sector partners.
• Experience in senior positions within large-scale donor-funded projects, particularly USAID/USG or other bi-lateral donor programs, with a focus on SME growth, investment facilitation, and financial services.
• Expertise in regulatory and business environment, financial inclusion, and access to capital for underserved enterprises.
• Fluency in English and Arabic (both written and spoken).
• Minimum a bachelor’s degree in finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field; Master’s or other professional certifications are preferred.