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Expression of Interest for Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge: Catalyzing Market-Driven Innovations across the Fishery Ecosystem 3. Objectives The Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge seeks to: Identify, pilot, and accelerate locally led, market-driven innovations that directly address the priority challenges and opportunities identified through SomRILs fishery ecosystem mapping and Human-Centered Design (HCD)-based innovation convener in Berbera. Catalyze the development and validation of innovative products, services, technologies, business models, and partnership approaches that demonstrate the potential to improve productivity, strengthen enterprise performance, and create sustainable economic value. Promote innovations that improve fish quality, reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen market linkages and competitiveness, and expand value addition across the fishery ecosystem. Strengthen commercially sustainable market systems by fostering innovative partnerships between producers, cooperatives, aggregators, processors, traders, wholesalers, retailers, exporters, institutional buyers, and other market actors that improve market coordination, expand reliable offtake opportunities, and increase access to higher-value markets. Foster greater collaboration and innovation among cooperatives, private sector actors, financial institutions, government, academia, researchers, and other ecosystem stakeholders to address shared challenges and unlock new opportunities. Promote inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship by creating opportunities for women, youth, cooperatives, SMEs, and other ecosystem actors to develop, test, refine, and scale innovative solutions. Generate evidence and learning on commercially viable, locally led innovations that demonstrate measurable economic, social, and environmental impact, with clear potential for replication, scaling, and long-term contribution to the development of Somalilands blue economy. Promote inclusive participation and economic empowerment of women and youth by increasing access to market opportunities, strengthening enterprise competitiveness, and expanding the offtake and commercial viability of women- and youth-led businesses across the fishery ecosystem. Promote responsible and sustainable marine practices by encouraging innovations that improve resource efficiency, reduce waste and post-harvest losses, strengthen traceability and food safety, support climate resilience, and contribute to the long-term sustainability of Somalilands marine resources. 4. Priority Thematic Focus Areas The Mini Blue Economy Innovation Challenge seeks innovative, market-driven solutions that respond to priority opportunities identified through SomRILs fishery ecosystem mapping and Human-Centered Design (HCD)-based innovation convener in Berbera. Applicants are encouraged to propose innovations that have demonstrated an initial proof of concept and have the potential to generate measurable economic, social, or environmental value while strengthening the competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability of Somalilands fishery ecosystem. Applications may address one or more of the following thematic focus areas while responding to the following indicators: jobs created income increase buyers engaged offtake agreements enterprises supported women reached youth reached 4.1 Fish Quality, Post-Harvest Management and Cold-Chain Systems How might we improve fish quality and reduce post-harvest losses by strengthening handling, preservation, cold-chain systems, food safety, and quality management throughout the fisheries value chain, while increasing incomes and reducing waste? Maintaining fish quality throughout the value chain remains one of the greatest opportunities to increase incomes, reduce post-harvest losses, and improve the competitiveness of Somalilands fisheries sector. Field insights from Berbera show that quality deterioration occurs at multiple stagesfrom harvesting and onboard handling to landing, transportation, storage, processing, and retailing. These losses are influenced by a combination of technical, operational, infrastructure, and business challenges, including inconsistent fish handling practices, fragmented cold-chain systems, unreliable storage and transport, limited quality assurance mechanisms, and inadequate supporting services. This thematic focus area seeks innovations that improve how fish is handled, preserved, monitored, transported, stored, or managed throughout the value chain. Proposed innovations should contribute to reducing post-harvest losses, improving fish quality and food safety, strengthening operational efficiency, or enhancing the reliability and accessibility of cold-chain systems in ways that are technically appropriate, commercially viable, and responsive to local operating conditions. Illustrative areas of innovation include, but are not limited to: Fish handling and preservation solutions. Cold-chain technologies and services. Landing-site hygiene and quality management innovations. Fish-quality monitoring, grading, and traceability systems. Affordable preservation and refrigeration technologies. Cold-chain logistics and transport solutions. Maintenance and technical support services for cold-chain infrastructure. Energy-efficient cooling and preservation systems. 4.2 Market Linkages, Value Addition, Offtake Partnerships, and Inclusive Enterprise Growth How might we create stronger and more inclusive market systems that connect fishery enterprises with reliable buyers, increase value addition, generate sustainable employment, and enable women, youth, cooperatives, and small businesses to compete in higher-value local, regional, and international markets? Although demand for fish continues to grow across Somaliland, many fishery enterprises continue to operate through informal market relationships with limited access to market intelligence, customer insights, structured business planning, and higher-value commercial opportunities. Much of the fish sold through the ecosystem undergoes minimal value addition, while fluctuations in supply, prices, and demand reduce business predictability and profitability. Strengthening how enterprises access markets, differentiate products, understand customers, and compete commercially represents a significant opportunity for enterprise growth and sector development. This thematic focus area seeks innovations that strengthen market linkages, improve enterprise competitiveness, promote value addition, and enable fishery enterprises to capture greater value from existing and emerging market opportunities. Innovations may focus on improving customer access, strengthening business performance, developing higher-value products or services, expanding market reach, or creating more efficient and resilient market systems. Illustrative areas of innovation include, but are not limited to: Buyer aggregation models, including market linkage and aggregation platforms. Value-added fish products and processing innovations. Models that increase market access and buyer partnerships Business models that together create new business opportunities, increase value addition, and generate employment Market Coordination and Supply Chian Solutions that improve how fish is aggregated, traded, distributed, and marketed across the value chain. Packaging, branding, and product differentiation. Enterprise management and business support tools. Business development and market readiness services. Traceability systems that improve consumer confidence and market access. 4.3 Inclusive Finance, Productive Assets and Business Support Services How might we improve access to finance, productive assets, business services, and investment opportunities that enable fisheries enterprises to grow, innovate, create employment, and become commercially sustainable? Access to finance, productive assets, and business support services remains a key determinant of enterprise growth within the fishery ecosystem. Discussions with fishery actors demonstrated that many enterprises struggle to invest in boats, fishing equipment, processing facilities, refrigeration, transport, and other productive assets due to financing models that do not adequately reflect the operational realities of fisheries businesses. Small enterprises, cooperatives, and emerging entrepreneurs often face additional barriers in accessing investment capital, technical services, and business development support needed to expand and become more competitive. This thematic focus area seeks innovations that improve access to finance, productive assets, business services, and investment opportunities that enable enterprises to strengthen productivity, resilience, and long-term growth. Applicants are encouraged to explore commercially sustainable approaches that lower barriers to investment while improving access to the resources and services required for enterprise development. Illustrative areas of innovation include, but are not limited to: Fisheries-focused financial products. Asset financing and leasing models. Shared access to productive assets and equipment. Investment readiness and business advisory services. Equipment maintenance and technical support enterprises. Shared business services for SMEs and cooperatives. Innovative enterprise support models. Tender Link : https://somalijobs.com/tenders
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