USAID’s Middle East North Africa Investment Initiative (MENA II) Request for Information

BackgroundUSAID is introducing the Middle East North Africa Investment Initiative (MENAII). MENAII will provide needed support to early stage businesses in order to create and sustain jobs, advance and develop the investment eco-system and encourage increased equity investment in early stage businesses. In order to achieve this, USAID grantee will partner with qualified members of the early stage private sector investment community, ranging from Incubators/Accelerators to Angels to Venture Capital in the Middle East region by providing: 1) Matching Investment Capital; 2) 100% Cash Collateralized Insurances, and; 3) Technical Assistance. These lines of effort will result in reflows, or program income, that will make MENAII a sustainable endeavor allowing for continued support to early stage businesses. Qualified partners will invest with an expectation of return on investment as a result from positive operational results and are expected to devote considerable effort to better governance, strategic guidance, market-linkages, and continuous mentoring. All of these factors produce a natural alignment of USAID’s development goals and qualified partners’ goals of sustainably and profitably growing businesses.Matching Grant CapitalBy matching private sector investment capital, MENAII will ease fundraising for qualified investors and increase calculated deployment of investment capital. The resulting reduction of private sector exposure will thereby contract the funding gap in early stage businesses. Additionally, qualified partners will be enabled to scale successful investment strategies and continue to invest in early stage businesses.100% Cash Collateral InsurancesMENAII will incentivize private sector investment by providing qualified partners with partial insurances on investments in early stage businesses. 100% Cash Collateralized Insurances will mitigate some of the risk associated with investing in early stage businesses and thereby encourage increased investment. Technical AssistanceMENAII will provide technical assistance to improve both investors and investment recipients. Potential areas of assistance include: investment management; business development services, processes, marketing, branding; product design, research and development; and regulatory requirements.Instructions for Submitting Responses/CommentsResponses may be submitted within the body of the email or as an attachment. Responses must include the following information:• Organization name and address; • Organization point of contact name, telephone number, and email address;• Descriptive and current list of country presence in MENA region In addition to general comments and suggestions, we are requesting specific comments to the following:• Based on your experience, what is the best way to employ the aforementioned tools to effectively develop a support eco-system for early stage businesses?• What familiarity does your organization have with the current dynamics of this market, from either an investment capital supply or business demand perspective?• What is your organization’s current capacity to facilitate and manage the three components of MENAII?Submit responses to this RFI to cpowers@usaid.gov no later than the time/date stated above. The subject line should state MENA II Initiative RFI.All aspects of the MENA II initiative have not been finalized and need meaningful and substantive comment from the broader community of interest. This Notice can be viewed and downloaded from the Internet at www.grants.gov and www.fbo.gov. USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes. Further, be aware that amendments to this Notice may be issued and will be posted on the same Internet site from which you downloaded this notice. You are advised to regularly check the above Internet site for amendments and are encouraged to sign up for update notifications on the solicitation at www.grants.gov and www.fbo.gov. Please do not submit proposals or resumes as they will be discarded. Submissions will not be acknowledged. USAID may use any information provided without incurring any obligation. No phone calls or hand carries please.This announcement is a Request for Information (RFI), not a Request for Proposals (RFP) or a Request for Applications (RFA) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government to issue any solicitation or ultimately make an award on the basis of this RFI, or to pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. It should be noted that responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to any organization. The U.S. Government will not provide answers to any question submitted in response to this request. Responses will be held confidential. Proprietary information should not be sent. Issuance of this Notice does not constitute a binding commitment on the part of the Government to issue a Solicitation, nor does it commit the Government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of any comments. Further, the Government reserves the right to reject any or all comments received.Thank you for your assistance and interest in MENA II.

In order to achieve this, USAID grantee will partner with qualified members of the early stage private sector investment community, ranging from Incubators/Accelerators to Angels to Venture Capital in the Middle East region by providing: 1) Matching Investment Capital; 2) 100% Cash Collateralized Insurances, and; 3) Technical Assistance.

These lines of effort will result in reflows, or program income, that will make MENAII a sustainable endeavor allowing for continued support to early stage businesses. Qualified partners will invest with an expectation of return on investment as a result from positive operational results and are expected to devote considerable effort to better governance, strategic guidance, market-linkages, and continuous mentoring. All of these factors produce a natural alignment of USAID’s development goals and qualified partners’ goals of sustainably and profitably growing businesses.

Matching Grant Capital
By matching private sector investment capital, MENAII will ease fundraising for qualified investors and increase calculated deployment of investment capital. The resulting reduction of private sector exposure will thereby contract the funding gap in early stage businesses. Additionally, qualified partners will be enabled to scale successful investment strategies and continue to invest in early stage businesses.

100% Cash Collateral Insurances
MENAII will incentivize private sector investment by providing qualified partners with partial insurances on investments in early stage businesses. 100% Cash Collateralized Insurances will mitigate some of the risk associated with investing in early stage businesses and thereby encourage increased investment.

Technical Assistance
MENAII will provide technical assistance to improve both investors and investment recipients. Potential areas of assistance include: investment management; business development services, processes, marketing, branding; product design, research and development; and regulatory requirements.

Instructions for Submitting Responses/Comments
Responses may be submitted within the body of the email or as an attachment.

Responses must include the following information:
• Organization name and address;
• Organization point of contact name, telephone number, and email address;
• Descriptive and current list of country presence in MENA region

In addition to general comments and suggestions, we are requesting specific comments to the following:
• Based on your experience, what is the best way to employ the aforementioned tools to effectively develop a support eco-system for early stage businesses?
• What familiarity does your organization have with the current dynamics of this market, from either an investment capital supply or business demand perspective?
• What is your organization’s current capacity to facilitate and manage the three components of MENAII?

Submit responses to this RFI to cpowers@usaid.gov no later than the time/date stated above. The subject line should state MENA II Initiative RFI.
All aspects of the MENA II initiative have not been finalized and need meaningful and substantive comment from the broader community of interest. This Notice can be viewed and downloaded from the Internet at www.grants.gov and www.fbo.gov. USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion processes.

Further, be aware that amendments to this Notice may be issued and will be posted on the same Internet site from which you downloaded this notice. You are advised to regularly check the above Internet site for amendments and are encouraged to sign up for update notifications on the solicitation at www.grants.gov and www.fbo.gov.

Please do not submit proposals or resumes as they will be discarded. Submissions will not be acknowledged. USAID may use any information provided without incurring any obligation. No phone calls or hand carries please.

This announcement is a Request for Information (RFI), not a Request for Proposals (RFP) or a Request for Applications (RFA) and is not to be construed as a commitment by the U.S. Government to issue any solicitation or ultimately make an award on the basis of this RFI, or to pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. It should be noted that responding to this RFI will not give any advantage to any organization. The U.S. Government will not provide answers to any question submitted in response to this request. Responses will be held confidential. Proprietary information should not be sent.
Issuance of this Notice does not constitute a binding commitment on the part of the Government to issue a Solicitation, nor does it commit the Government to pay for costs incurred in the preparation and submission of any comments. Further, the Government reserves the right to reject any or all comments received.

Thank you for your assistance and interest in MENA II.