Consultant: Mobile Cooling Solutions Sourcing and Supplier Engagement

Job Description

Title: Consultant: Mobile Cooling Solutions Sourcing and Supplier Engagement

Company Name: The International Food Policy Research Institute

Vacancy: --

Age: At least 26 years

Job Location: Dhaka

Salary: --

Experience:

Published: 2026-09-27

Application Deadline: 2026-09-30

Education:

Requirements:

Skills Required:

Additional Requirements:

• Age At least 26 years

Required qualifications and experience

• Direct, hands-on experience dealing with Dhaka-based manufacturers, workshops, importers, or wholesale markets. Candidates must be able to describe specific sourcing work they personally carried out.

• Sufficient technical literacy to read and write product specifications and assess build quality, materials, and durability. A background in engineering, industrial design, product development, or a technical trade is an asset but is not required if practical sourcing experience is strong.

• Currently based in Dhaka, with the mobility and willingness to spend a substantial share of working time in markets and workshops across the city.

• Fluency in both English and Bangla.

• Ability to work independently with limited supervision, plan one's own fieldwork, and deliver on schedule.

• Competence in maintaining structured records in spreadsheets and writing clear, organised reports.

• Not required but any experience with connected or remotely managed devices (e.g., IoT controllers, pay-as-you-go solar, vehicle telematics) would be useful.

Assets

• Experience sourcing cooling, refrigeration, solar, or battery-powered equipment.

• Prior work in or around informal markets, street vending, or urban informal enterprise.

• Experience supporting research projects and working to research-driven standards of documentation and consistency.

1. Background

IFPRI, in partnership with the Shakti Foundation, one of Bangladesh's largest microfinance institutions, is developing and evaluating an asset-based loan product that will help street food vendors in Dhaka acquire mobile cooling solutions. As part of our research, the product will be offered to a sample of vendors during an initial launch and rigorously evaluated through a randomized controlled trial.

A central design feature of the product is that vendors will be offered a menu of mobile cooling solutions at a range of price points, so that each vendor can select what fits the scale of their business and the goods they sell. This can include products that serve to cool both the food being sold, the vendor themselves, or both, as well as ventilation solutions for vendors who cook on site  or at home. This is likely to include insulated/ventilated cart modifications, evaporative cooling units, battery-powered coolers, or other lithium battery based solution packages.

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