Terms of Reference – Development and Operationalisation of the CREATE Market Access Hub

Background

The CREATE Programme supports young people, particularly women, participating in Uganda’s culture and creative industries to strengthen their financial, digital, enterprise and business capabilities and improve pathways into employment, freelancing and entrepreneurship.
Steadman Global Consulting Limited provides Business Development Services (BDS) across creative domains and stages of enterprise development, supporting participants to progress from skills and ideas towards viable businesses, markets, commercialisation, investment readiness and access to finance.
Participants operate across fashion and design; film and audiovisual production; writing, publishing and poetry; audio and sound engineering; content creation and influencer services; media production; performing and creative arts; and innovative and social-impact enterprises.
A key challenge is the transition from training and enterprise readiness to actual market participation. Many participants have marketable products, services, skills and creative outputs but limited visibility, weak market linkages, inadequate digital presence and limited access to credible buyers, employers, stockists, commissioners, distributors and other commercial partners.
Steadman Global therefore intends to establish the CREATE Market Access Hub as a safeguarded, managed market-access mechanism connecting programme participants to verified commercial and economic opportunities.

Purpose of the Assignment

The assignment will design, establish and initially operationalise a practical and scalable digital market-access mechanism through which CREATE participants can showcase products, services and capabilities and be connected to verified market opportunities.

Enterprise profiling → Digital showcasing → Market intelligence → Buyer engagement → Opportunity verification → Matching → Transaction tracking

The Hub should function as more than a promotional platform: it should actively identify market opportunities, curate participant offerings, facilitate connections and track whether those connections translate into economic outcomes.

 

Objectives

• Establish a professional digital marketplace and opportunity-matching mechanism.
• Develop commercially oriented digital profiles for participant businesses, products, services and creative professionals.
• Improve visibility and discoverability of participant enterprises and creative services.
• Connect participants to buyers, employers, commissioners, stockists, distributors, production companies and other market actors.
• Proactively identify market demand and match verified opportunities with appropriate participants.
• Protect personal information and ensure safeguarding throughout market engagement.
• Strengthen participants’ ability to present, price, market and sell professionally.
• Generate measurable evidence of market outcomes resulting from programme support.

 

CREATE Market Access Model

CREATE → SHOWCASE → DISCOVER → VERIFY → MATCH → SELL / BOOK / HIRE → TRACK

CREATE: Develop market-ready products, services, portfolios and business propositions.

SHOWCASE: Professionally document and present approved products and services.

DISCOVER: Enable credible market actors to discover relevant participant offerings.

VERIFY: Review and proportionately verify expressions of interest and opportunities.

MATCH: Match suitable enterprises to opportunities based on capability, capacity, location, pricing and availability.

SELL / BOOK / HIRE: Progress connections towards sales, orders, bookings, commissions, contracts, gigs, stockist arrangements, employment, internships or other legitimate economic opportunities.

TRACK: Track each opportunity from enquiry through matching and outcome to establish measurable economic value.

 

Scope of Work

1. Market Access Hub Design
   • Define participant, product/service and market categories.
   • Design participant and buyer user journeys, enquiry and matching procedures.
   • Establish consent, safeguarding, transaction/referral tracking, analytics and reporting arrangements.
2. Participant and Enterprise Onboarding
   • Collect and validate business/trading name, enterprise category and commercial offer.
   • Capture products/services, portfolio or samples, indicative pricing/quotation basis, capacity, geographic coverage and availability.
   • Capture market-readiness information, relevant certifications, content assets and preferred opportunities.
   • Exclude unnecessary personal information from public display.
3. Digital Market Profiles
   • Develop attractive, commercially focused profiles prioritising the offer rather than personal biography.
   • Clearly communicate WHAT IT IS | WHAT IT DOES | WHO IT IS FOR | HOW TO BUY OR ENGAGE.
   • Use calls to action: BUY | ORDER | BOOK | HIRE | STOCK | COMMISSION | PARTNER.
   • Produce suitable photography, short videos, portfolios, catalogues, service menus and/or digital business cards.
4. Digital Marketplace and Social Media Integration

   • Establish an appropriate web-based catalogue/landing page and relevant discovery channels, potentially including Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp Business, QR codes and other suitable platforms. Social channels should drive discovery while commercial enquiries are routed into a managed enquiry and matching mechanism.

 

Market Opportunity Board

Establish a complementary Market Opportunity Board capturing what the market is actively seeking. Verified demand will be matched against participant capabilities within the Hub, creating a two-sided model:

PARTICIPANT SUPPLY ↔ VERIFIED MARKET DEMAND

 

Buyer and Offtaker Mapping

Proactively identify and engage relevant hotels, retailers, fashion houses, schools, universities, bookshops, publishers, production houses, broadcasters, agencies, event companies, corporate organisations, NGOs, government institutions, digital platforms, cultural institutions, distributors, stockists and other relevant market actors. Develop a structured buyer/offtaker database and document procurement or engagement needs where possible.

 

Market Activation

The Hub shall not operate solely as a passive catalogue. The provider will undertake targeted activation through product/service spotlights, digital showcases, buyer campaigns, themed market weeks, B2B introductions, portfolio circulation, buyer calls, opportunity announcements, pop-up showcases, exhibitions and direct outreach. Where appropriate, participant capacity may be aggregated to pursue larger opportunities.

 

Safeguarding, Privacy and Participant Protection

Controlled disclosure: Do not publicly display personal telephone numbers, residential addresses, personal email addresses, precise locations or unnecessary personally identifiable information.

Managed enquiries: Route commercial enquiries through a designated managed channel where safeguarding requires it.

Verification: Apply proportionate checks to buyers, employers, investors, commissioners or partners according to the nature and risk of the engagement.

Participant consent: Do not disclose non-public personal information without appropriate participant consent.

Content consent: Obtain consent for photographs, videos, products, portfolios and other content used by the Hub.

Safeguarding escalation: Maintain a clear reporting mechanism for harassment, inappropriate approaches, exploitation, fraudulent opportunities, unsafe meeting requests, payment disputes, discrimination or other concerns.

Safeguarding by design: Where possible, showcase the enterprise before the individual.

 

Participant Market-Readiness Support

Before publication or matching, support participants to address gaps in product presentation, portfolio development, pricing, quotations, customer service, order fulfilment, basic contracting, invoicing, negotiation, digital communication, business registration where appropriate, production planning, quality assurance and basic financial readiness. Participants not yet ready should be referred back into appropriate BDS support.

 

Opportunity and Transaction Tracking

Participant / Enterprise → Opportunity → Buyer → Verification → Match → Outcome → Value → Follow-up

• Sales and orders generated and their value where measurable.
• Contracts, gigs, bookings and commissions secured.
• Products stocked and distribution arrangements.
• Employment, freelancing, internships and apprenticeships.
• Repeat customers, partnerships and financing referrals where relevant.
• Income/revenue attributable to Hub-generated opportunities where appropriately measurable.

 

Key Performance Indicators

• • Participants onboarded and market-ready profiles developed.
  • Products/services listed and verified buyers/offtakers registered.
  • Market opportunities identified, enquiries generated and participant-opportunity matches.
  • Quotations submitted; sales, orders, contracts, gigs and bookings secured.
  • Employment/freelancing opportunities and stockist/distribution arrangements.
  • Value of commercial opportunities and confirmed transactions where measurable.
  • Participants earning through Hub-generated opportunities, repeat-business rate and participant/buyer satisfaction.

Performance reporting should progressively shift from visibility metrics to economic-outcome metrics.

 

Expected Deliverables

1. Inception Report: Methodology, workplan, architecture, safeguarding and market-engagement strategy.
2. CREATE Market Access Hub Framework: Operating model, journeys, workflows, governance and procedures.
3. Safeguarding and Data Protection Protocol: Consent, disclosure, third-party verification, reporting and escalation procedures.
4. Market-Readiness Assessment and Onboarding Toolkit: Standard tools for determining readiness for listing.
5. Participant Digital Profiles and Catalogue: Professionally developed approved profiles.
6. Functional Digital Market Access Hub: Configured digital channels, enquiry mechanism, catalogue and opportunity interface.
7. Buyer/Offtaker Database and Opportunity Pipeline: Structured database and identified opportunities.
8. Market Opportunity Board: Mechanism for managing verified opportunities and matching them to participants.
9. Market Activation Campaign: Initial campaigns, targeted buyer engagement and matching.
10. Market Access Performance Dashboard: Tracking of enquiries, matches, transactions and economic outcomes.
11. Final Report and Sustainability Plan: Results, lessons, safeguarding observations, participant outcomes and scaling recommendations.

 

Duration and Budget

The assignment will be implemented over three (3) months from contract commencement.

Maximum available budget: UGX 50,000,000 (Uganda Shillings Fifty Million).

The financial proposal should provide a clear, comprehensive cost breakdown for delivery of the full scope of work and indicate applicable taxes and statutory charges.

 

Required Expertise

The assignment may be undertaken by a firm or multidisciplinary team with demonstrated expertise in digital marketing, e-commerce/digital marketplaces, BDS, MSME and enterprise development, market linkages, creative industries, content production, social-media management, digital platform management, private-sector engagement, monitoring and analytics, and safeguarding/data protection. Experience working with women, young people, creative enterprises and vulnerable populations will be an advantage.

 

Implementation Principles

Market First: Respond to genuine customer demand, not visibility alone.

Commercial Readiness: Match enterprises only where they are sufficiently prepared to fulfil opportunities.

Safeguarding by Design: Embed privacy and participant protection throughout.

Consent: Participants retain agency over how and when their information is shared.

Verified Opportunity Matching: Prioritise credible and appropriate commercial opportunities.

Inclusion: Accommodate different levels of digital literacy, disability and enterprise maturity.

Evidence of Outcomes: Measure economic opportunities and participant outcomes, not social-media engagement alone.

 

Governance and Quality Assurance

Steadman Global Consulting Limited will provide overall technical oversight and approve participant onboarding criteria, marketplace architecture, branding, public-facing content, safeguarding procedures, buyer/offtaker engagement mechanisms, matching protocols, and monitoring and reporting arrangements. No participant information beyond the approved public business profile shall be disclosed without appropriate authorisation and participant consent.

 

Sustainability and Scale

The Hub should be designed as an asset capable of continuing beyond the initial assignment. The provider should recommend sustainable pathways including partnerships with established marketplaces, corporate procurement arrangements, sector associations, commissioning platforms, institutional procurement opportunities and recurring buyer partnerships.

SKILL → BUSINESS → MARKET → TRANSACTION → INCOME → GROWTH

 

Proposal Submission Requirements

Interested firms/consultants should submit a short Technical and Financial Proposal. The submission should be concise and demonstrate a clear understanding of the assignment and a practical approach to delivering the Market Access Hub within the three-month period and available budget.

Technical Proposal

• Brief understanding of the assignment and proposed approach/methodology.
• Proposed workplan for the three-month assignment.
• Relevant experience and examples of comparable work.
• Proposed team and key roles.
• Approach to safeguarding, privacy, market activation and sustainability.

Financial Proposal

• Clear cost breakdown in Uganda Shillings (UGX).
• Total proposed price, inclusive or exclusive of applicable taxes as clearly stated.

 

Submission Deadline and Address

Deadline: Friday, 25 September 2026 at 12:00 noon (East Africa Time).

Submit the short Technical and Financial Proposal by email to: bnyamurwana@steadmanglobal.com

Late submissions may not be considered. Steadman Global Consulting Limited reserves the right to request clarifications and to accept or reject proposals in accordance with its procurement requirements.