Consultant for Access to Finance - Strongim Bisnis
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Consultant – Access to Finance
Supporting Access to Finance for Selected SMEs in the Solomon Islands
Position: Consultant – Access to Finance
Program: Strongim Bisnis
Location: Remote (primarily), with potential travel to Honiara and selected provinces
Start Date: 1 May 2026
Duration: Approximately 40–60 days
Reporting To: Team Leader
Works WithPartnership Managers and key stakeholders
Project Background
Strongim Bisnisis an innovative pro-business program funded by the Australian Government.
Strongim Bisnis supports Solomon Islands businesses to increase productivity, access greater income earning opportunities and higher value markets; with the intention of enabling greater resilience and creating jobs. Poverty reduction will be the desired result. Strongim Bisnis also supports the private sector and the Solomon Islands Government to work together effectively to increase opportunities for trade and investment and accelerate business growth. A key focus of the program ensures that Solomon Islands women, youth and people with disability have increased economic opportunities.
The program takes a market systems development (MSD) approach to unlocking opportunities for growth in selected sectors (cocoa, coconut, tourism, timber, horticulture, financial services, and waste management). MSD requires Strongis Bisnis to carefully select partnerships, and design interconnected activities that deliver tangible and measurable results. For each activity it must be possible to track progress from improving the performance of Solomon Islands enterprises, to achieving resilient systemic change in markets, and ultimately increasing income and employment. In this way, Strongim Bisnis avoids ad hoc activities and seeks deep engagement with market actors.
Strongim Bisnis activities include developing and testing new business models, sharing the risk of new ventures in partnership with private sector actors, facilitating market access, supporting structural changes to the ‘business enabling environment’, product marketing to bring about greater scale, and improving women, youth, and people with disability’s participation in markets and their access and control over productive resources.
Position Summary
Access to finance remains a significant constraint to private sector growth in Solomon Islands. Commercial banks remain cautious about lending to SMEs due to limited acceptable collateral, complex land tenure, weak financial record-keeping, and challenges in assessing sector-specific risks. As a result, many productive and export-oriented businesses face working capital constraints that limit growth.
Strongim Bisnis seeks to address these constraints by supporting selected SMEs across Strongim Bisnis sectors to become investment-ready through the development of robust business plans and five-year financial projections.
4. Objective of the Assignment
To develop investment-ready business plans and five-year financial projections for selected SMEs across Strongim Bisnis sectors to support access to commercial finance and ADB Frontier SME loans.
Scope of Work
Under this component, the consultant will work with selected Strongim Bisnis partner businesses across sectors that are seeking access to commercial finance, including potential financing through ADB Frontier.
ADB Frontier seeks to invest in companies in Solomon Islands with a minimum annual turnover of USD 250,000 and demonstrated development impact. Eligible companies may access non-collateral-backed loans of up to USD 300,000.
For each selected SME (two to three in total), the consultant will:
Business Plan Development
Prepare an investment-ready business plan that includes a clear business model, market analysis, operational strategy, growth plan, and risk analysis. The business plan must include a market validation that includes assessing existing customers and revenue stream
Five-Year Financial Projections
Develop detailed five-year financial projections, including profit and loss statements, cash flow projections, balance sheets, working capital analysis and needs, and loan repayment modelling. Sensitivity analysis will be incorporated where relevant.
Investment Readiness Support
Assess what the additional funds will be used for. Assess the repayment capacity of the business.
The consultant will be engaged on a deliverable-based payment structure, with payment linked to completion and approval by Strongim Bisnis of each business plan and financial package. Three SMEs are expected to be supported.
Develop Simple Marketing Plan
This will include target customers, pricing strategy, channels of sale.
ESG/Impact
Identify the impact the investment and business make to create new jobs, increase women’s participation in the private sector and environmental impact.
Implementation Roadmap
Develop a 12–24-month roadmap that includes key milestones, immediate priorities and key risks.
Deliverables and Duration
The consultant will deliver:
An inception report outlining methodology and workplan.
Investment-ready business plans and five-year projections for each SME, simple marketing plan and implementation roadmap.