Volunteering is nothing new for me, including strategic innovation & Entrepreneurship at MBA & EMBA

schools

Assessment of the business idea - especially for differentiation or strategic innovation!! And exit
strategy

Strategic Guidance – so you can get on with the day to day activities of building the business

Industry insight. Markets insight. My advice will be based on establishing Greenfield operations
mentoring, coaching and consulting experience of both developed and developing economies. And not
just textbooks.

Ensuring you employ qualified personnel who can truly add value.

Little emphasis has been placed on the enhancement of marketing and sales practices, which have
the potential to increase top-line revenues and, in turn, stimulate firm growth and job creation

Session 1:
Building a Rapport
1 Explain what Grow is and why you have got involved
2 Tell them your objective – I am here to help improve your business, increase your sales and
profits across the next 6 months
3 Share a bit about yourself, both business experience and personal life, and ask about them.
4 Ask for an overview of their business, but avoid too much focus on finance during this session
5 Gain an understanding of their IT skills, including use of the internet, Word and

Objectives:
Improve the business skills of your client; Increase their profitability; Create employment i.e. growth
1 Discuss the key challenges facing their business and what they would like help with
2 Agree a regular time slot for when you can communicate
3 Agree how sessions should be rescheduled and the amount of notice you require
4 Confirm the next meeting time back by email and/or text
Sessions 2 to 3 (or 2 to 5): Getting to know the business
You will experience a dramatic change in the clients’ attitude during these sessions once they start
to see value in the scheme and to trust you. At this point, you may be able to progress to emailing
request lists, having sessions by email if needed and acquiring specific financial information.
Remember that we need to finish within 6 months so if you move to email please ensure that you
still inform your country manager when you have finished a session. Do not move to email until you
really feel that you have their trust and full commitment, and know how regularly they check their
email.
The following are suggested points to get you started. Many of our VCs focus on the first 2, with
others such as SWOT being felt as too complicated for entrepreneurs who are in Start Up phase.

1. Cash flow forecast model: Construct a simple cash flow forecast (start with a week and build up
to a month and then 6 months), detailing cash inflows and outflows, unit costs and volumes,
opening/ closing cash balances, individual cost and revenue line items. This should enable you to
quantify the impact/seriousness of many of the issues identified in the previous analyses to
prioritise for resolution. Completing this can be a real game changer for your client and will feel like
a huge milestone for them

2. The 4 Ps of marketing (product, placing, pricing, promotion)

www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_94.htm

3. SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)

www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/swot-analysis.aspx
www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm
www.businessballs.com/swotanalysisfreetemplate.htm

4. Porter’s five forces (power of customers, suppliers, competitors, new entrants, substitutes).
www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm
www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml

5. PEST (political, economic, sociological, technological).

www.businessballs.com/pestanalysisfreetemplate.htm
www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_09.htm

6. Purchase and sales processes and cash controls

• Ask the business owner to explain how they purchase raw materials/supplies and to show how
they create their product in a flow chart.
• Start with the raising of an order and go through to through to payment/receipt of supplies. Focus
in particular on when payment is made (cash or credit purchases), documentation and controls
(authorisations) over orders, confirmation of delivery, matching of purchase orders to invoices and
reconciliations performed (if any).
• Cover cash controls – do they perform bank reconciliations? How often, who approves them and
who can access the business’ bank account? Do they maintain accounting records? How often do
they prepare management accounts? Does the business owner separate business
expenditure/receipts from their personal finances?
• See http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/templates/small-business-cash-flow-projection-
TC001113236.aspx

7. HR analysis: Does the business owner perform the CEO, marketing director and financial
controller role themselves? Do they employ relatives or underqualified personnel to cut costs?
20

The End of Stage 1

By using these tools you should be able to determine the key issues facing the business and to be
able to agree an objective with the client to focus on in stage 2.

Modifying the Stage 1 objective

We often find projects get bogged down because the stage 2 objective is too ambitious to complete
in 12 sessions. Due to politeness, your client may agree to an objective that they know is too
challenging to meet. In this case we recommend that you modify the objective to an achievable level
during stage 2. If you need to change your objective then please discuss this with your Country
Manager.

Stage 2: Consulting Programme (Sessions 3/5 to 12)

The purpose of stage 2 is to deliver the objective which was agreed at the end of stage 1. However,
often
we find that objectives change as you move through sessions as you discover more information or
as the
business develops. The main aim in these circumstances is to ensure that the business does at least
one
thing better at the end of the programme as result of your consulting. This could include better cash
flow
management or a better understanding of how to market to customers.
Whenever you advise your business, you need to make it clear to them that any decisions are their
responsibility, and that you are presenting them with a series of options for them to choose from,
not taking
the decision for them. You also need to make them aware that the validity of your
recommendations depends
on the accuracy of the information they have given you. It is important to remain focused and
ensure that the
objective is still delivered.
Project Completion
Add the end of the 12 sessions you will be given the option of
a) Doing