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Call for Mentors
Mentorship Sessions for Women-Owned MSEs in Earthquake-Affected Regions
Request for Proposal (RFP) Number: BM-TR-25-08
Issuance Date: 09/12/2025
Closing Date: 09/20/2025
Closing Date - Timestamp: 5:00 PM (GMT+3)
Method of RFP Submission: Submit via email to: procurement.turkey@buildingmarkets.org
Subject Line: BM-TR-25-08 - Mentorship Sessions
Submission Format: Email
Preferred Currency of Quotation: United States Dollars (USD)
Tax on Price Quotation: Must be inclusive of VAT and other applicable indirect taxes
Conditions for Release of Payment: All services delivered as per the contract scope of work & deliverables
Period of Validity of Quotes Starting on the Submission Date: 30 Days
Evaluation Criteria:
Financial Proposal (30%)
Technical Proposal (70%)
Deadline for Submitting Questions: 09/20/2025
About Building Markets
Building Markets addresses inequality around the world by advancing inclusive economies that work for all. We do this by opening opportunities for small business owners — who fuel more than 70% of the world’s jobs — to transform their lives and communities. Since 2004, Building Markets has combined its deep local knowledge, comprehensive data, and global networks to build confidence and strength in more than 28,000 small business owners affected by marginalization. From securing $1.4 billion in contracts or loans to creating more than 74,000 full-time jobs in places where they’re needed most, Building Markets is elevating small businesses as engines of enduring social impact and economic growth.
Building Markets is dedicated to empowering small businesses, particularly those owned by women, by providing the tools and resources needed to foster resilience and drive economic growth. Our work is especially focused on promoting social cohesion in regions affected by crises such as earthquakes.
This project is designed to:
Strengthen social cohesion: By bringing together diverse groups of women entrepreneurs, including Syrian refugees and Turkish-owned businesses, the project fosters collaboration and mutual support, helping to build stronger, more integrated communities.
Equip women-owned MSEs in earthquake-affected regions with the skills and knowledge needed to recover from the February 2023 earthquake and strengthen long-term sustainability.
Support growth and market access: Enhance operational capacity and market access to drive growth, generate jobs, and connect MSEs to new business opportunities.
Supplier Scope of Work
Function: Mentorship Sessions
Location: Online
Duration: Expected start date is September 12, 2025, and end date is July 01, 2026
Summary: The project “Empowering Women-Owned Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Earthquake-Affected Regions in Türkiye” seeks to enhance resilience, foster social cohesion, and drive economic growth for women entrepreneurs from both the Syrian refugee and Turkish host communities in Gaziantep, Hatay, Şanlıurfa, and Adana.
As part of this initiative, selected MSEs will receive tailored one-on-one mentorship and advisory support to strengthen their operations, increase sales and profitability, improve sustainability, and expand access to new markets and opportunities.
The selected mentor(s) will design and deliver up to 50 one-on-one mentorship sessions. These sessions should be practical, interactive, and directly address the operational and business challenges of each participating MSE.
Mentors are expected to:
Facilitate one-on-one mentorship sessions (up to 1 hour) in close coordination with the project team.
Provide advisory and capacity-building support to help MSEs achieve measurable improvements in operations and growth.
Prepare comprehensive mentorship materials in Arabic and Turkish (presentations, handouts, exercises).
Respond flexibly to the specific needs of participating businesses.
Track and document mentee performance and results, including sales growth, job creation, and employee retention, using project-provided tools. Mentors should follow up with mentees after sessions, ensure progress is made, and report on measurable improvements, with a minimum of 70% of mentees achieving tangible business results.
Potential Topics: Mentorship may cover (but is not limited to) the following broad areas:
Access to Finance & Resources (funding, grants, government and international support).
Business & Market Development (growth strategies, partnerships, market entry, sales).
Legal & Regulatory Environment (registration, licensing, work permits, compliance basics).
Financial Management (budgeting, sustainability, credit readiness, tax basics).
Marketing & Digital Presence (branding, digital tools, outreach, visibility).
Mentors are encouraged to propose additional relevant topics based on their expertise and the needs of women entrepreneurs.
Duties & Responsibilities:
Design and facilitate one-on-one mentorship sessions in close coordination with the project team.
Deliver sessions in Arabic or Turkish, lasting at least 1 hour each, either on Zoom or in person at the Gaziantep office; all sessions must be recorded.
Prepare and share session content with the project team in Arabic and English.
Track and document mentee performance and results, including sales growth, job creation, and employee retention, using project-provided tools.
Follow up with mentees after sessions to ensure progress, collect supporting evidence, and report on measurable improvements. At least 70% of mentees should demonstrate tangible business results.
Collaborate with the project team (BuMa), which will organize the sessions and provide observation support during implementation.
Deliverables:
Mentorship sessions:
Attendance list: An online attendance report will be provided for each mentorship session. (Video recordings will be sufficient; for a session with a video record, no additional documentation is needed.) Building Markets will provide templates for one-to-one sessions and discuss these with the Supplier to ensure all requested information is in place after each organized training or session.
Mentored SMEs Form: In coordination with mentored SMEs, a duly completed “Mentored SMEs Form” for each new mentored business. Building Markets will provide the template and discuss it with the Supplier to ensure all requested information is in place after each session. Building Markets retains the right to triangulate the information provided in its business database and directly contact any business to evaluate service.
Final Report: subject to Building Markets’ final approval, to be submitted covering:
All attendees’ demographic details
Attendees’ business names and sectors (Unique businesses)
Topics discussed
Challenges
Lessons learned
Impact metrics:
Impact evidence document to be collected and submitted.
Service completion:
Upon the BM technical team's approval of each milestone, the Supplier is expected to share the final feedback forms, action plans, assessments, and any other relevant documentation produced in pursuit of mentorship and business development services. Furthermore, as part of service completion, the Supplier will deliver all production materials in an open-source or other editable format via external storage.
Qualifications
Only CSOs/NGOs registered in Türkiye or that have direct activity permission from the Türkiye Ministry of Interior.
Private companies, service providers, and organizations.
Experience implementing INGO sub-grants, and complying with the Turkish and US government. Partners should have mature administrative and finance systems to meet all administrative and financial requirements.
Ability and acceptance to adapt internal processes based on Building Markets’ requirements and guidance.
Required Qualifications
Previous experience in conducting fieldwork across Türkiye and employing complex MEAL strategies.
Previous experience in the provision of services to SMEs and entrepreneurs.
Demonstrated relationships and ability to collaborate with local government bodies, municipalities, chambers, and other organizations as necessary.
Fluency in English, Arabic, and Turkish, including excellent written and verbal communication.
Have experience collaborating using G Suite applications and Microsoft Office tools (MS Excel).
Willingness to participate in collaborative partnership with Building Markets, including prioritizing employing staff that Building Markets refers to for the project.
Additional Eligibility Requirements
Before submitting a proposal, prospective partners should review all the terms and conditions and required certifications that will apply to this agreement to ensure that they can comply.
In addition to compliance with Turkish regulations, applicant organizations must comply with relevant statutes of the US Code of Federal Regulations.
United States 2 CFR Part 200 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200) (Code of Federal Regulations)
United States (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-B/chapter-VI/part-600) (Code of Federal Regulations)
U.S. Department of State Standard Terms and Conditions (https://www.state.gov/about-us-office-of-the-procurement-executive)
U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration General NGO Guidelines (https://www.state.gov/funding-opportunities/general-ngo-guidelines/)
The applicant organizations must 1) comply with Executive Order 13224 barring transactions with entities that commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism. The U.S. Department of Treasury maintains a list of identified prohibited entities at www.treas.gov/ofac; 2) conduct any funded program activities by Building Markets Code of Conduct and codes regarding protection from sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian crisis; 3) comply with 2 CFR 200.113 by disclosing, on time, in writing, all allegations or violations of Federal criminal law involving fraud, bribery, illegal gratuities and allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse potentially affecting the Federal award; and 4) together with Building Markets, ensure that design, implementation, and evaluation of program activities meet Sphere standards.
Selection Criteria & Evaluation Criteria
| Selection Criteria | Weighting | Available Points |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Proposal | 30% | 30 pts |
| Technical Proposal | 70% | 70 pts |
| Relevance of experience (fieldwork in Building Markets’ project cities - Gaziantep, Hatay, Şanlıurfa, and Adana regions of Türkiye, collaboration with local government bodies, familiarity with refugee and host community SMEs and entrepreneurs, references) – 30 pts | ||
| Clarity and responsiveness of the proposal – 30 pts | ||
| Previous partnership experience with INGOs & international organizations – 10 pts |
Terms and Conditions
General Terms and Conditions
Building Markets will review all quotes and score them based on the above criteria. Preferred and backup suppliers will be selected, after which a contract will be signed between the parties.
A Service Agreement will be awarded as a result of this RFP.
Under a Service Agreement, the Supplier agrees to a specific cost for a set good or service at the negotiated price. The FWA will thus not be adjusted on the basis of the supplier’s actual costs incurred in performing the contract, which means that the supplier assumes all cost risk of contract performance. Building Markets will issue Purchase Orders indicating the number and extent of the good or service requested from the agreed Service Agreement prices. Building Markets reserves the right not to issue any Purchase Orders despite entering into the Service Agreement.
Building Markets is not bound to accept any quotation, nor award a contract/ Purchase Order, nor be responsible for any costs associated with the preparation and submission of a quotation, regardless of the conduct or outcomes of the selection process.
Building Markets reserves the right to accept or reject any Proposal, to render any or all Proposals as nonresponsive, and to annul the solicitation process and reject all Proposals at any time prior to award of contract, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected supplier, or any obligation to inform the affected supplier(s) of the grounds for Building Markets’ action. Building Markets shall neither be obliged to award the contract to the lowest price offer.
While Building Markets prefers to work with a single supplier, the organization reserves the right to divide the work under this RFP across multiple service providers. Prospective suppliers are encouraged to highlight areas of relative expertise when submitting their offers.
Conflict of Interest
Building Markets takes special care to comply with transparency, accountability and generally applied work ethics within all domestic and donor regulations, and international laws applicable to the countries where it operates.
Any attempts or suspicion of misconduct to influence the integrity of the procurement process, whether by Building Markets personnel or outside suppliers, will fully be investigated. By submitting your proposal, you accept to immediately declare any potential conflict of interest, even if cursory or unintentional, upon becoming aware of such for immediate internal review by the organization. Failure to declare such conflicts of interest, even if accidental, may result in litigation.
Non-disclosure Agreement and International Compliance
By submitting your proposal, you agree that in the event of being selected to undertake this project, any team members involved in the development of said project are willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement to maintain confidentiality of data involved.
You also agree to sign anti-terrorism and anti-fraud declaration forms, and have your name searched against an international database conducting terrorism background checks. There is no additional burden to you as a supplier; only consent is required.
Compliance with personal data protection laws
Building Markets is committed to ensuring the security and protection of the personal information that we process, and to provide a compliant and consistent approach to data protection.
For the purposes of this RFP, the prospective supplier represents and warrants that it or any of its potential subcontractors are in full compliance with the Law on the Protection of Personal Data numbered 6698 (hereafter referred to as the “KVKK”) and any relevant applicable data protection legislation (hereafter referred to as the “Data Protection Regulations”).
Submission Instructions
To respond to this RFP, prospective suppliers are required to submit the following documents:
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Email Submission | Email your technical proposal in PDF format to procurement.turkey@buildingmarkets.org with the subject line “BM-TR-25-08 - Mentorship Sessions” by September 20, 2025, 05:00 PM Türkiye time. |
| Submission Checklist |
Submissions to include:
|