About The Role

ABOUT INKOMOKO

Inkomoko supports entrepreneurs to grow their businesses in order to improve livelihoods, create jobs, and help communities thrive.

In 2026, Inkomoko was listed by the Financial Times as the 5th fastest-growing company in Africa, supporting entrepreneurs across East and Central Africa to grow thriving businesses and build inclusive, resilient economies.

Founded in 2012, Inkomoko has worked with more than 100,000 entrepreneurs, including thousands of refugee entrepreneurs. Inkomoko provides a combination of training, consulting, access to finance, and market-level systems change. We are the largest investor to refugee entrepreneurs in Africa.

Inkomoko has 900+ staff in 50 offices across Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Sudan. Through Inkomoko’s 2030 strategic plan, we are adding 3 additional countries to serve more than 550,000 entrepreneurs and growing our $30M loan fund to impact 7M lives.

INKOMOKO VALUES

All staff at Inkomoko are connected to a shared set of organizational values

Purpose : be solutions-oriented and produce high-quality work and be a global leader.
Achievement : push yourself to reach beyond what you think is possible.
Improvement: be humble and committed to continuous learning and growing through giving and receiving open and accurate feedback.
Bravery: willing to take risks, create a safe space for others, be compassionate, inclusive.
Turikumwe / Tuko Pamoja / Abren Nen / Kulana Sawa / We Are Together : appreciate your colleagues, celebrate success, and support each other in hard times.

Assignment / Service

Design, Development, Commissioning and Maintenance of an AI-Powered Entrepreneur Training & Support Platform

Objective of the Assignment

Inkomoko is transitioning from a human-mediated service delivery model to a digitally scaled service model, to improve the client experience, enhance the quality and consistency of entrepreneur training, and reduce the operational burden currently placed on frontline Business Advisors, trainers, and support staff.

Clients and staff currently rely heavily on Relationship Managers, trainers, and support staff for

Basic product and policy questions
Loan balance and repayment enquiries
Training in products and systems
Routine support issues

This dependency leads to delays, inconsistent messaging, and a high manual workload on Inkomoko’s field and support teams — constraining the organisation’s ability to scale its entrepreneur programs across new regions and cohorts.

Inkomoko is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to design, develop, commission, and provide ongoing maintenance and support for an AI-powered platform (the “Platform”) that will:

Deliver structured, interactive AI-driven training that guides entrepreneurs progressively through the four stages of the Inkomoko entrepreneur journey: Ideation, Investment Readiness, Business Planning and Market Entry;
Provide 24/7 automated customer support and FAQ handling;
Respond securely to loan and financial product enquiries;
Integrate with Inkomoko’s core systems (including the Core Banking System (CBS), Inkobook, and the PBI reporting dashboard);
Enforce role-based access, data privacy, and full audit control.

Scope of Work

The Platform being procured through this RFP must digitise and scale Inkomoko’s existing, field-tested Program Design. This design guides an entrepreneur through a structured, sequential journey of training modules paired with in-person or remote consulting visits. Each module builds on the previous one, combining skills training with structured advisory data collection that informs the client’s next stage of readiness.

3.1 Idea-Stage Track (Primary Focus of this Platform)

The Idea-stage track takes an entrepreneur from a business idea to market entry across four sequential modules; each paired with a consulting visit:

Module 1 – Business Ideation
Module 2 – Investment Readiness
Module 3 – Business Planning
Module 4 – Market Entry

3.2 Existing Business (Growth) Track — Future Scalability Context

Inkomoko also runs a parallel Existing Business (EB) track across five (5) consulting visits namely

Investment Readiness
Bookkeeping
Business Model Canvas
Sales
Marketing

While the primary scope of this RFP is the Idea-Stage journey, the Platform's information architecture, content model, and workflow engine must be designed so that the EB track and any future cohort tracks can be configured and onboarded without requiring a re-architecture of the Platform. Vendors should describe in their proposal how their solution supports this configurability (see Section 6.5).

3.3 Supporting Tools in the Current Program

Inkomoko's current program relies on the following tools, which the Platform must be capable of integrating or interoperating with:

Inkobook – training attendance and consulting record system
PBI Dashboard – reporting and analytics
Digital Bookkeeping tools
Analog Bookkeeping (booklet-based) records, for clients without digital access

Deliverables / Outputs

The selected vendor will be responsible for the end-to-end design, development, testing, commissioning (deployment into production), and ongoing maintenance of the Platform, covering the following functional areas:

4.1 AI-Driven Training Delivery

Deliver AI-driven training modules mapped to the four Idea-Stage modules (Business Ideation, Investment Readiness, Business Planning, Market Entry), sequenced to mirror the existing consulting-visit journey;
Enable interactive learning through chat-based conversation and/or guided, step-by-step workflows (e.g., dynamic Lean Canvas builder, investment-readiness checklist);
Track individual user progress, module completion, time spent, and drop-off points;
Allow Inkomoko training staff to upload, version, and manage training content without vendor intervention.

4.2 Automated Customer Support

Provide 24/7 automated customer support across supported channels;
Handle common queries and service requests without human involvement wherever possible;
Escalate complex or sensitive issues to human agents with full conversation context preserved;
Create and track support tickets end-to-end, including status updates back to the client.

4.3 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and General Enquiries / Knowledge Management

Maintain a dynamic, centrally managed knowledge base covering products, policies, and training content;
Respond accurately to frequently asked questions using natural-language understanding;
Continuously learn and improve response quality using feedback and usage data;
Provide an administrative interface for non-technical Inkomoko staff to manage, approve, and publish content updates.

4.4 Loan Product and Financial Enquiries

Provide guidance on Inkomoko loan products and partner financial-institutions relevant to the client's investment-readiness stage;
Avail a cashflow and profitability analysis tool.

4.5 Other Cross-Cutting Requirements

Multi-channel support, including WhatsApp with consistent experience across channels;
Role-based access control differentiating internal staff (Business Advisors, trainers, administrators) from external users (clients/entrepreneurs);
Configurable workflows that Inkomoko can adapt as the program design evolves year-to-year;
Real-time analytics and reporting on training engagement, support resolution, and enquiry volumes, feeding into (or complementing) the existing PBI Dashboard;
Well-documented APIs for connecting to Inkomoko's existing systems;
Comprehensive audit logging of all interactions, including AI-generated responses and escalations;
Compliance with applicable data privacy and protection regulations in each country of operation;
Multilingual support (at minimum, English, French, Kinyarwanda, and Kiswahili — vendors should confirm supported languages and propose an approach for additional languages);
High availability and horizontal scalability to support expansion across multiple countries and growing client cohorts.

Duration / Timeline

Vendors should propose a detailed project plan; the phasing below is indicative and subject to negotiation.

Discovery, Requirements Validation, and Solution Design

Indicative Duration: 3–4 weeks

Core Platform Development (Architecture Layers and Integrations)

Indicative Duration: 8–12 weeks

Training Module Build-Out (All 4 Idea-Stage Modules)

Indicative Duration: 6–8 weeks (may run in parallel with the core platform development)

Testing (Functional, Security, Performance, and UAT)

Indicative Duration: 3–4 weeks
Pilot Deployment (Limited Cohort / Region)
Indicative Duration: 4–6 weeks

Full Commissioning and Roll-Out

Indicative Duration: 2–4 weeks

Post-Launch Hypercare and Transition to Steady-State Maintenance

Indicative Duration: 8 weeks post go-live

Reporting / Supervision

The vendor will report directly to Inkomoko’s Digital Transformation Product Lead for the AI Platform.

Reporting frequency and communication expectations are as follows

Weekly progress meetings during the design and development phases.
Bi-weekly status reports summarizing progress, risks, and upcoming milestones.
Ad-hoc communication via established project channels (e.g., Slack/Email) for urgent issues or clarifications.
Monthly review meetings with the project steering committee to align on strategic direction and budget tracking.

The vendor will be responsible for ongoing maintenance and support of the Platform following commissioning, under a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to be finalised at contracting. Vendors should propose SLA terms addressing, at minimum:

Critical

Definition: Platform down / core function unavailable to all users
Target Response Time: ≤ 1 hour
Target Resolution Time: ≤ 4 hours

High

Definition: Major function degraded / affecting a subset of users
Target Response Time: ≤ 4 hours
Target Resolution Time: ≤ 1 business day

Medium

Definition: Non-critical defect with workaround available
Target Response Time: ≤ 1 business day
Target Resolution Time: ≤ 5 business days

Low

Definition: Cosmetic issue / enhancement request
Target Response Time: ≤ 3 business days
Target Resolution Time: Next scheduled release

Required Qualifications and Experience

Prospective vendors must demonstrate the following minimum qualifications

Proven experience designing and deploying AI-powered conversational platforms (chatbots/virtual assistants) at production scale, ideally in financial services, EdTech, or international development contexts;
Demonstrated experience with multi-channel deployment, including WhatsApp Business API, web chat, and mobile applications;
Experience integrating with core banking systems (CBS) or similarly sensitive financial/transactional systems;
Demonstrated capability in natural language processing for multiple languages, including African languages such as Amharic, Arabic, English, French, Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili and Somali (or a credible plan to develop this capability);
Strong data privacy, security, and compliance track record, including relevant certifications where applicable (e.g., ISO 27001);
Experience delivering projects in emerging markets and/or with low-connectivity user bases;
At least three (3) verifiable references from comparable engagements completed in the last five years;
Demonstrated financial stability and capacity to support a multi-year maintenance engagement.

Submission Requirements

Vendors must submit a Technical Proposal and a Financial Proposal as two separate documents/sections, in accordance with the structure below.

8.1 Technical Proposal

Company profile, relevant experience, and team composition (including CVs of key personnel);
Copies of relevant business registration and statutory documents;
Understanding of Inkomoko's requirements and proposed solution approach;
Proposed solution architecture, mapped to the model;
Detailed response to the scope of work;
Proposed technology stack, including AI/NLP models or platforms to be used, and rationale;
Data privacy, security, and compliance approach;
Proposed project plan and timeline;
Proposed maintenance and support model;
Risk register and mitigation approach;
At least three (3) client references with contact details;
Any other documents relevant to the assignment.

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria

Technical Proposal: Detailed methodology, understanding of the assignment, implementation approach, and proposed work plan.
Technical Solution: Description of the proposed solution, system, methodology, or approach applicable to the assignment.
Integration/Implementation Approach (where applicable): Proposed implementation methodology, integration capabilities, project management approach, and technical architecture.
Financial Proposal: Detailed and itemized pricing, including implementation, licensing, professional service, travel, and any recurring costs.
Experience and Qualifications: Demonstrated experience in similar assignments, client references, qualifications of key personnel, and organizational capacity.
Compliance Requirements: Evidence of compliance with applicable legal, regulatory, statutory, and industry requirements relevant to the assignment.

Submission Instructions

Submission Deadline: 18th September 2026
Deadline for Clarification Questions: 11th September 2026
Clarification and Submission Email: [email hidden]
Mandatory Email Subject:
Proposal Submission – [AI-Powered Entrepreneur Training & Support Platform] – [Vendor Name]

Terms & Conditions

Confidentiality: All information shared as part of this RFP process is confidential and must not be disclosed to third parties without Inkomoko's written consent.
Intellectual Property: All custom-developed source code, content, and documentation produced under this engagement shall become the property of Inkomoko upon payment, except for pre-existing vendor IP or third-party/open-source components, which must be clearly disclosed and licensed appropriately.
Right to Reject: Inkomoko reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals, and to cancel this RFP process, without incurring any liability to affected vendors.
No Commitment: Issuance of this RFP does not commit Inkomoko to award a contract or to reimburse any costs incurred by vendors in preparing their proposals.
Proposal Validity: Proposals must remain valid and open for acceptance for a minimum of 90 days from the submission deadline.
Data Ownership: All clients’ information, training, and interaction data generated through the Platform remains the sole property of Inkomoko.
Compliance: The selected vendor must comply with all applicable laws and regulations in each country where the Platform is deployed, including data protection law.
Communications: All official communications regarding this RFP must be directed to the contact named in Section 10.