Marketing your products and services
Market entry
The following elements are important in successfully implementing a strategy to market services to World Bank funded operations. This three-part strategy should be applied at both the World Bank (which will be funding the specific operation you are targeting) and at the implementing agency of the developing country government (which will be implementing it and will also be your ultimate client - not the World Bank).
To target specific operations in the World Bank’s portfolio, you should select relevant pipeline and current operations from the Bank’s lending portfolio. A good place to start is 'Projects and Programs' on the World Bank website.
To target specific segments of the World Bank’s lending portfolio (by country, region or sector), based on your company’s prior sectoral and regional experience, you should research current priorities in the Bank’s assistance for 'Countries and Regions' or 'Sectoral Assistance'.
You should also follow up this secondary research with primary research at the World Bank (country office and HQ in Washington DC) and developing country implementing agencies.
To identify specific business opportunities in a World Bank project, you should start with project documents. Once you have selected potential projects or operations to target, you will find that each has a complete listing of project documents that will help you to research specific components of the project that contain potential business opportunities for your firm.
The 'Project Information Document' is an initial report on a project's parameters. The 'Project Appraisal Document' is a more comprehensive version that is prepared later in the project cycle and ultimately presented to the World Bank board for the loan to be approved. At this point, the World Bank project task manager is a key point of contact to obtain additional information on specific project requirements for international consultants.
To identify specific business opportunities arising from World Bank non-lending operations in specific segments of the Bank’s operations (ie. sectoral or regional) there is no equivalent of the project documents, so the background information will be your primary source of information.
You should also follow up this secondary research with primary research at World Bank and developing country implementing agencies. This will be particularly important for non-lending operations where no project documents are available.
To position your services for both specific operations and segments of the Bank’s operations, you should prepare capability information tailored to the specific operation or segment you are targeting. Your capability information should outline any previous assignments your company has already undertaken in international development – especially any prior work on World Bank projects – and highlight any similar or relevant past assignments.
Once you have completed background research and prepared your capability information, you should express interest to the World Bank task manager, who is responsible for overseeing the project and ensuring it meets its development goals.
You should also express interest to the borrowing country's implementing agency (which is responsible for the project's implementation). The agency will conduct the procurement process and be your ultimate client.
You can effectively express interest to the World Bank and developing country implementing agency by meeting with key officials managing the projects. This assists you to ensure that you understand both the Bank’s and the borrower's objectives and details of individual contracts. Your visits in-country will also provide an opportunity to investigate local market conditions and opportunities to partner to strengthen your bid.
Distribution channels
Products are delivered directly to the borrowing country government in-country. Often a local agent or partner is valuable to provide local content, knowledge and contacts. Local partners are becoming almost essential to win business. |