CHIKARA Health · Tebelopele RFP response

Financial Proposal & Employment Case

AI-Enabled Digital Health and Client Engagement Platform · All amounts in Botswana Pula (BWP), VAT shown separately at 14% · Planning quotation, valid 60 days, subject to final scope confirmation.

1. One-time build (fixed price, to pilot go-live)

WhatsApp is delivered in this phase because the RFP names it as the initial channel. SMS, USSD and DHIS2 sync are priced as later phases, not hidden in this figure.

2. Year-1 running cost (after go-live)

Meta/WhatsApp and SMS fees are passed through at cost with a monthly cap set by TWC. AI usage is metered, cached and capped so the bill cannot surprise you.

3. Optional module: Community Jobs & Peer Navigators

4. Why these numbers

Anchored, not invented. Each line maps to an RFP scope item and to a staffed effort (about 4 full-time skilled staff for 3–4 months, plus part-time design, QA and project management). Labour is the dominant cost of software, so the build follows the team plan.
Local delivery rates. The internal USD planning range for build-to-pilot is USD 75,000–210,000 (P1.0M–2.8M at P13.5/USD). We quote near the lower-middle because delivery is Botswana/Zimbabwe-based and the demo already exists, which removes discovery and prototyping risk.
Safety is priced in, not optional. Escalation to human health workers, audit trail, penetration test and Data Protection Act review are separate lines because the RFP makes compliance critical and these are the costs most bidders under-quote.
Predictable running costs. Hosting, AI and messaging are the only variable items; all are capped and reported monthly.
10% contingency covers integration unknowns (existing TWC systems, API access), which the RFP itself says are subject to feasibility.

5. Employment creation

Headline arithmetic. A full-time minimum-wage job costs P4,000 × 12 = P48,000 a year. So the money in this proposal could, as a theoretical ceiling, pay for:

job-years if the whole ex-VAT build were wages

job-years if build + year-1 + module were wages

This is a ceiling, not a claim: software projects also buy cloud, licences and skilled labour paid above minimum wage.

What we actually commit to

min-wage-tier people employed

full-year equivalents

skilled roles (build + support)

of ex-VAT spend paid as min-wage pay

12 peer navigators for 12 months (youth outreach, WhatsApp onboarding, feedback collection), matching the RFP objective on peer-led engagement.
4 Setswana/English content and quality assistants for 6 months, digitising approved health content.
About 4 skilled full-time roles during build and 0.5 post-launch support, paid above minimum wage.
Indirect jobs (clinic time saved, clients retained in care) are real but not counted here, because we will not claim what we cannot measure.

Try your own scenario

Minimum wage (P/month)

Share of total ex-VAT spend paid as min-wage pay:

At this setting the proposal funds full-year minimum-wage jobs.

6. Assumptions and risks, stated openly

Exchange rate planning value P13.5 per USD (recent market range about P13.2–13.6); quote is in BWP to remove currency risk for TWC.
VAT at the standard 14%. Cloud and AI services bought from non-resident suppliers attract VAT on remote services from 1 October 2026; we will confirm treatment with BURS guidance.
Integration with existing TWC systems depends on API access and permission; we will separate "available now" from "needs third-party work".
Platform supports navigation and referral, never diagnosis. Urgent symptoms always route to a human health professional.
Milestones: 30% kickoff, 40% user acceptance, 30% pilot go-live.

CHIKARA Health demonstration uses simulated data and is not a live clinical system.