Going Slow-Going Fast…A Theodora Africa Project Update

 

A little over a year into the actual launch of the Theodora Africa Project, we seem to have reached a significant juncture on our evolutionary journey. Up until now, it has all been about 1) Could we even get the project off the ground? And once having achieved that 2) Could we even get close to having the Minimum Viable Service required to have a true on-going project?

The answer to both of these is yes. We are definitely ‘off the ground’. And we are getting closer and closer to our Minimum Viable Service.

 

This has brought the project to an interesting place. We still need to do more to get to our Minimum Viable Service. But the best way to achieve that is by going at a reasonable pace. We don’t want to burn our people out. We want the learning to develop with deep roots. I will use the analogy of firing a very large clay pot. If you go too fast, you cause it to crack or have structural imperfections. Too slow and it doesn’t set correctly. You have to go at just the right temperature for the right amount of time.

 

At the same time there are a lot of pressures to grow faster. As we do a better job of describing our services and get more testimonials from satisfied clients, the referrals of new business grow. Members of my Boards of Directors in both Ghana and the United States want to know when we are going to be able to serve a greater number of women. There is a need to do more investment spending in a number of areas to support our continued development. And these, in turn, call out for more money/capital.

 

Up until this week, my strategy was to work my local contacts for more donations while we grew the client revenue base. Together that would create positive cash flow that we could use to fund investment spending. But with our need to go at a steadier pace for the development of our people, that strategy is not going to work because a steadier pace would restrict sales growth.

 

As fate would have it, my networking brought me in touch with a professional fundraising agent, a very experience person in his field. Over a number of conversations, he led me to understand that the world of charitable donation was probably not the right venue for me to pitch the Theodora opportunity. He made a very strong case that we should be seeking social impact capital – funds that want to go into real, for-profit businesses that have a significant social impact component. You couldn’t better describe the Theodora Project.

 

Further, he encouraged me to seek out more money than I had intended…WAY MORE. He quoted an axiom about finance that I am well aware of. It is easier to get a larger deal done than a smaller one because it takes the same effort on the part of the investor and the return is greater.

 

Somehow this flipped a switch inside me. I hadn’t considered that option because I didn’t feel we would pass muster with a legitimate investor. I don’t feel that way now. So on Thursday I made a decision. We were going to go for it, we were going to seek out significant real social impact capital.

 

To do this is going to require a lot of work. I am going to have to muster all of the resources I have among my Boards and significant volunteers to accomplish it. But I am filled with a feeling that this is the right course. As we often say in deal doing, “Go Big or Go Home”.

 

I am feeling very energized.

My Newest Love

 No I have not given Wife the heave ho. What I have done is find another Asian Supermarket. For years I have gone to one that was (what I thought) the largest in town. I vaguely knew of this other one on the far south side of town. 

 

Come the pandemic and my preferred store is having less and less on its shelve. Of particular annoyance has been the lack of Phnom Penh style Fried Onion Paste. This has become my 'go to' condiment when I want an umami punch without fish or meat flavor. 

 

Today, I finally decided to venture to another store, one I know had been around for many years but had not gotten to because of distance reasons. I was amazed. The seafood was much more numerous and looked fresher. And where my old store had suddenly not stocking my Fried Onion Paste, the new location had it in vast quantities. 

I know where I will be going in the future.

Defining Freedom

 Things are opening up here in the Land of Enchantment. With vaccination, has come more comfort with actually being with people in-person.

This last week I had four (4) in-person, face-to-face business meetings. I was flooded with reminders of how much was lost when we went into our locked-down/virtual world. The primary thing I was reminded of was how the virtual world constrains movement.

It may not seem like a big deal, but when you are communicating via screen only, you are restricted mightily from moving. Plus it is very hard to not obsess about your own image. That lack of movement is (at least for me) painful. It limits the amount of time I want to spend in a meeting. AND it limits my creative thought. I noticed in the in-person meetings I had this last week, how free I was to move and let my vision wander. But that didn't decrease productivity. It rather opened the creative mind to finding opportunities to connect with those I was meeting with. 

On the other hand while I am very much looking forward to more in-person work, I continue to accept the value of the virtual meeting and will continue to use it.