Terms of Reference: Developing a Business Plan for The Jordan Garments, Accessories & Textiles Exporter’s Association (JGATE)

Background and Context

Over the last two decades, Jordan’s apparel industry has been steadily growing and is now the leading export sector and manufacturing employer in the country. Like most other apparel exporting countries, Jordan gained entry to the global apparel value chain through international ties to developed markets. This began with preferential trade access to the US market, which led foreign investors producing apparel on behalf of international apparel brands to set up manufacturing facilities in Jordan with mostly migrant workers.

Jordan’s garment manufacturing and export sector consists of some 90 factories, employing approximately 70,000 workers. Women’s employment represents an estimated 80% of the sector.

The Jordan Garments, Accessories & Textiles Exporter’s Association (JGATE) is a non-profit, private sector initiative established in 2003 to drive industry growth. JGATE aims to serve as the focal point for all activities related to the garment sector. Thereby, providing leadership and support to principal industry stakeholders and supporting partners.

JGATE’s mission is to increase sector competitiveness and expand export capacity. JGATE connects its members to the resources necessary to build export networks, improve management know-how, strengthen marketing & promotion, improve supply chain collaboration, enhance production and design capabilities, attract investment, and advocate for policy development and reforms.

Since its establishment, JGATE has assumed an active role in the development of the Garment sector, stemming from its strong commitment to service Its members through policy advocacy. Lobbying and support schemes. The coming period holds a vast potential for JGATE to capitalize on the achievements and developments obtained In the Garment and Textile sector in a way that would allow strengthening its role as an employer Institution that promotes decent working conditions and productivity at the enterprise level.

Objective

JGATE needs to ensure it has what it needs to fulfil the role expected as an employer association and the main organization representing garment exporting factory employers in Jordan. In this regard, through support received from Better Work Jordan, JGATE has developed and approved its first in-house strategy for the years 2023-2025, launched its new website and developed its communication plan.

The in-house strategy identified the activities needed to foster the systematic growth and development of the association over the coming three years; one priority area included developing a business plan that would guide the association’s operations and decision-making processes towards achieving its strategic objectives while striving to meet the needs of its members.

The intended business development plan needs to be in line with JGATE’s mandate and roles in addition to its in-house strategy and any other relevant garment sector development documents (for example: Better Work Jordan Phase Four Strategy and the Economic Modernization vision).

As part of its continued support to build capacity, Better Work Jordan seeks to assist JGATE in hiring a consultant to develop the business plan.

Duties and responsibilities  

The consultant– among other duties – is expected to:

• Assess the current operations, membership structure, and revenue streams of JGATE, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats with the objective of identify and assess JGATE’s opportunities for expanding its operations, membership, and revenue streams and service provision (while also meeting the needs of its members).  
• Identify and prioritize key growth opportunities/ areas for JGATE operations and the extend thereto.
• Develop a comprehensive plan outlining the resources and capabilities required to execute the expansion and revenue generation plans and strategies. This should include defining a feasible and sustainable scenario of budget and resource requirements (organisational structure and required capacity)
• Propose different reliable and sustainable mechanisms of generating revenue to sustain JGATE operations.
• Define the sector and the potential stakeholders to establish partnerships for generating funds.
• Project a realistic budget scenario from generating project funds over the next two years
• Conduct detailed consultations, meetings and interviews with defined stakeholders (to be agreed on) in order to better understand the current and future position of JGATE and stakeholders’ expectations from JGATE.
• Benchmark with other associations in the region.
• Present and discuss findings with JGATE’s Board of Directors.
• Develop an “Action Plan” for Implementing the business plan.

Methodology

The consultant will need to articulate a detailed methodology and approach to undertaking this assessment in their proposal.

Deliverables and Timeline

The consultant is requested to deliver the following reports:

Coordination and Reporting

The consultant will report to the BWJ National Project Coordinator – Employer’s Relations under the BWJ program manager’s overall guidance and work closely with the BWJ team and JGATE team to finalize all above mentioned deliverables.

The National Project Coordinator – Employer’s Relations (in consultation with JGATE CEO) should approve all deliverables.

Payments

Payments for this consultancy will be made as one payment following the acceptance of all deliverables and upon receipt of signed invoices.

Candidates’ Profiles

Education

• Advanced university degree in business, public management, strategy or engineering.

Experience

• A minimum of fifteen (15) years of experience in strategic management covering areas including business strategy and planning; business development. Previous experience in similar tasks is required (with evidence)

• At least 7 years of professional experience in working with or operating a non-profit organization or company.
• Demonstrated leadership and experience in setting up private sector associations, organizational assessment and management, strategic planning. Multinational financing mechanisms in shaping change management will be a strong advantage.
• Ability to work independently, high flexibility and adaptation capacities to the contexts and environment, solution oriented.
• Demonstrated strong coordination, facilitation and engagement skills with strong interpersonal communication ability to initiate discussions among different participants.
• Proven research and analytical work with demonstrated ability to prepare and present comprehensive reports.
• Experience in Crafting comprehensive plans with market analysis, financial projections, and growth strategies. 

How to Apply

Interested applicants wishing to apply to this assignment must send an email to: jordan@betterwork.org with the subject (BDP_2024).

 The email shall include the following:

1. Technical Offer
   1. Consultant Curriculum Vitae (CV) or company profile containing CVs of the project leader as well as team members that includes project portfolio.
   1. Summarised description and examples of work on the previous specific and similar assignments.
   1. A proposal which at least consists of proposed approach and methodology, team member composition (if there is any), work plan and timeframe.
2. Financial Offer
   1. The financial offer should demonstrate the needed budget for implementation, including detailed fee breakdown by each activity.

The deadline for receiving applications is 08 JULY 2024

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.