The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) promotes the transition to an open market economy in its countries of operation by helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) transform their operations, increase their competitiveness and resilience. The Bank also supports the local consultancy market with capacity-building activities that aim to increase the quality of business advisory services for SMEs.

The EBRD SME Finance and Development Group, through its Advice for Small Businesses programme (the Programme) helps micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Azerbaijan to access a wide range of advisory services delivered by local consultants and international experts. The Advice for Small Businesses has been operating in Azerbaijan since 2003.

The EBRD’s visibility and dissemination activities aim to raise awareness, increase knowledge and understanding of the EBRD’s support to SMEs in Azerbaijan, while showcasing best practices and examples of successful entrepreneurs supported through the Programme. Furthermore, these activities raise public awareness of the role of entrepreneurial activity and the contribution it makes to the economy and to society in general, promoting entrepreneurship as a viable and feasible employment opportunity for people in the SME sector.  The EBRD actively promotes activities of consulting companies and SMEs, including through feature articles, videos, social media, press releases, presentations during public events and a range of other communications activities. 

The EBRD therefore would like to further develop and promote its dedicated, country-specific Facebook Page (the Project) to improve the effectiveness and appropriate outreach to SMEs across the country to raise awareness of the support that is available under the Programme.

The overall objective of the Project is to raise awareness of the EBRD’s Advice for Small Businesses programme and the Bank’s activities in Azerbaijan among local and international business community (including SMEs and consultants), donors, government stakeholders, media and other interested parties.

The Consultant is expected to possess sufficient capacity to plan, coordinate and deliver communications, marketing and awareness raising activities under the guidance of the SME F&D Azerbaijan team and of the EBRD HQ Communications team.. As such, a dedicated team of specialists, should be ready to support a broad range of activities as stated in the Project. The profile of such specialists should be provided. The Project team specialists should be able to cover request from the EBRD of any Marketing and Communication area. The Consultant will appoint a contact person who will be responsible for administering the ASB Facebook Page.

Scope of work 

The Consultant is expected to: 

Provide social media and digital marketing support

1. Develop, implement and evaluate a social media strategy for SME F&D’s Facebook page in Azerbaijan
2. Manage SME F&D’s Facebook page in Azerbaijan, publishing at least 2 posts per week or at least 120 post during 12 months)
3. Translate social media posts into/from English/Azerbaijani
4. Plan, organise and execute social media paid campaigns in coordination with the EBRD SME F&D team that target SMEs, consultants/consulting companies in the region and  country-wide

Content production

1. Provide photos and other compelling visual material for social media use (8-10 photo shooting sessions (at clients’ and/or consultants’ premises) during 12 months)
2. Develop a range of promo materials (infographics, presentations, banners, leaflets, etc.) upon request
3. Support the development of success stories for ebrd.com with compelling visuals
4. Support Direct Messages and ensure timely and adequate responses, coordinated with the EBRD SME F&D team
5. Ensure donor visibility, mentioning and tagging donors across digital outputs 
6. Ensure communications outputs conform to the EBRD’s brand guidelines

Media monitoring and report

1. Provide media monitoring and media clippings
2. Develop monthly reports including likes, engagement, number of followers increase, etc.
3. Other ad-hoc tasks/activities may be added throughout the contracting period
4. Accommodate comments and ensure they are handled professionally

Duration or contract

The duration of the contract is 12 months. The contract may be extended for another year, subject to a satisfactory delivery of services.

Bidders are required to submit the Applications by e-mail to knowhowazerbaijan@ebrd.com

Application package shall include:

• Company Profile
• Details on specialisation in social media and digital marketing
• Description of undertaken projects with the objective of increasing awareness through social media and digital marketing activities
• Three or more references with contact details 
• CVs of experts
• Indicative budget in Euro 

The deadline for receipt of applications is 23:59 hrs BAKU time on 31 August 2023.