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.