The consulting firm shall conduct inception meetings with UNDP and relevant stakeholders to obtain a clear understanding of the assignment objectives, expectations, and operational context of the Eswatini UniPod. The firm shall review relevant documentation related to the UniPod initiative, industrial development, MSME development, manufacturing ecosystems, logistics systems, supplier development, and commercialization initiatives within Eswatini. Based on this, the consulting firm shall develop an inception report detailing the proposed methodology, workplan, stakeholder engagement strategy, target industrial sectors and clusters, sampling approach, and data collection tools to be used during the assignment.
- Industrial and Company Mapping
The consulting firm shall undertake mapping of industries, firms, industrial parks, manufacturing ecosystems, production systems, agro-processing zones, logistics ecosystems, commercial hubs, and value chains across Eswatini that could potentially utilize UniPod services, laboratories, fabrication systems, prototyping facilities, digital production services, technical support systems, repair ecosystems, and commercialization support. The assessment shall cover key industrial and commercial ecosystems including Matsapha and other relevant industrial areas identified during the inception phase. The consulting firm shall identify anchor firms, supplier ecosystems, production support systems, industrial servicing requirements, and potential UniPod users across the various industrial clusters and value chains.
- Industrial Product and Demand Assessment
The consulting firm shall undertake company-level engagements and industry consultations to identify products, technical inputs, production consumables, fabricated items, spare parts, maintenance components, packaging materials, digital services, repair services, engineering products, and manufacturing inputs currently procured externally or imported by firms operating in Eswatini. The assessment shall generate detailed product-level information including product types, technical specifications, estimated procurement volumes, procurement frequency, sourcing arrangements, production lead times, turnaround requirements, material composition, required standards and certifications, production complexity levels, and operational importance to industrial production systems. The consulting firm shall further identify low-complexity, repetitive-demand, rapid-turnaround, niche, or commercially viable products and services suitable for local prototyping, fabrication, repair, servicing, manufacturing, or commercialization through the UniPod ecosystem.
- Cluster-Based Supplier and Production Ecosystem Analysis
The consulting firm shall undertake cluster-based industrial demand analysis to identify products, fabrication requirements, servicing needs, maintenance requirements, technical services, and production inputs shared across multiple firms, industries, industrial parks, and value chains. The analysis shall identify recurring industrial demand patterns, common supplier gaps, opportunities for localized supplier ecosystems, and products with strong commercialization and aggregation potential. The consulting firm shall further assess opportunities for MSMEs, startups, youth enterprises, women-led enterprises, technical innovators, fabricators, and local suppliers to participate in industrial supply chains and localized production ecosystems linked to identified market demand.
The consulting firm shall assess opportunities for King Mswati III International Airport (KMIII) to support industrialization, export-oriented production, industrial logistics, cargo aggregation, rapid movement of industrial products, importation of production inputs, and export-oriented MSMEs and value chains. The assessment shall identify lightweight, high-value, rapid-turnaround, specialized, niche, or export-oriented products suitable for air cargo movement and determine industries and production systems with potential demand for air cargo-linked industrial and logistics systems. The assessment shall further analyze opportunities for integrating UniPod-enabled production ecosystems with industrial logistics and cargo systems linked to KMIII.
The consulting firm shall develop a comprehensive Industrial Product and Supplier Opportunity Database containing company-level and product-level information generated during the assignment, including industries, firms, products, sourcing arrangements, estimated demand volumes, material requirements, technical specifications, production requirements, supplier opportunities, and relevant UniPod laboratory linkages. The consulting firm shall also develop a UniPod Industry Demand and Lab Utilisation Matrix linking identified products, services, fabrication requirements, and production opportunities to specific UniPod laboratory systems and industrial clusters. The consulting firm shall present preliminary findings to UNDP and its implementing partners, and relevant stakeholders for validation, incorporate comments and inputs received, and submit final validated deliverables and supporting datasets.