RFP/KFW/AP/2026/00043

Procurement of Consulting Firm for the Development of Implementation-Ready Environmental and Social Sustainability Policies for AP-Financed Businesses

1.Background

Accelerate Prosperity (AP) is a joint initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) in Central and South Asia. It aspires to work towards a society that is powered by innovative and successful young entrepreneurs. Through its services, AP extends tailored training, advice, and technical assistance to aspiring and existing entrepreneurs to help them launch or expand their innovative business ventures. It also extends tailored financing to startups and small growing businesses (SGBs) to help them unlock external investments by improving their bankability and investment readiness.

2.Project Overview

Start-up Pakistan is a project financed by German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and implemented by Accelerate Prosperity. The initiative aims to scale up Accelerate Prosperity’s existing model of technical support and financing for businesses. It will expand into new geographies and across exciting sectors such as education, health, tourism, green economy, prioritizing digitization, and environmental sustainability.

3.Assignment Context

To manage the environmental and social (E&S) risk associated with its financing activities, AP has developed and implemented an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS). As part of this system, every business financed by AP is screened, risk-categorized, and subjected to E&S due diligence, following which an E&S Management Action Plan is agreed with the investee to bring its operations progressively into compliance with AP's E&S management standards. AP's experience implementing the ESMS across its portfolio shows that while financed businesses are generally receptive to strengthening their environmental and social practices, they largely lack the internal capacity, technical knowledge, and formal documentation to do so on their own. In general, the following kinds of E&S management gaps occur regardless of sector:

• No formal or documented Environmental & Social Sustainability (E&SS) Policy is in place, even where day-to-day practices reflect some level of environmental or social awareness.
• Labor and occupational health & safety (OHS) practices are managed informally – through onboarding conversations, verbal guidance, and ad hoc supervision – rather than through written HR and OHS procedures.
• Minimum wage compliance and signed employment contracts are not always consistently in place, particularly at smaller or field-based operations.
• No staff member is formally designated with responsibility for E&S management matters, and no structured process exists for identifying, monitoring, or reporting on E&S risks.
• Business leadership is generally willing, and often proactively open, to formalizing E&S management practices, but lacks the technical expertise and bandwidth to develop these independently.

This pattern forms the basis for the present assignment: rather than address these gaps informally through AP's own Action Plan follow-ups, AP intends to engage a specialized Consulting Firm for the development of E&SS policies for AP-financed businesses and advise them on implementation on an individual basis.

4.About the Position

Accelerate Prosperity Pakistan seeks to engage a qualified Consulting Firm with demonstrated experience in E&S risk management, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) advisory, or sustainability consulting, to develop E&SS policies for ten (10) businesses financed by Accelerate Prosperity, and advise them on implementation. The assignment is to be guided primarily by AP's Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) framework, which sets out AP's E&S management principles, standards, risk categorization approach, along with existing E&S Due Diligence reports available for each business. Global frameworks, in particular the EBRD Environmental and Social Sustainability Standards, the IFC Performance Standards (IFC PS), and the ILO Core Labor Standards, are to be used as supplementary guidance, consistent with the approach AP itself takes in its own ESMS framework.

5. Request for Proposal:

Accelerate Prosperity Pakistan (AP-AKRSP) invites sealed proposals from interested and eligible suppliers for the procurement.

For further details, please download the RFP attached to the publication. 

6: Clarifications

For any queries, you may contact the Procurement Unit via email no later than 5 November 2026, at: [email protected].