The Perils of Theodora (A Melodramatic Serial)

 Our post title is a blatant take off of the early 20th century serial melodramas (Perils of Pauline, Hazards of Helen, etc.) where at the end of each installment, the heroine looks like she is going to be done in by some event only to miraculously be saved when the next installment begins.

Things at Theodora Ghana have been a bit like that this year. When we launched phase two (our determination if we could go beyond proof of concept to an actual business) there was a key decision we had to make.

One, Were we going to go after as much business as we could possibly get, and then fill in the business systems behind the growth? Or,

 

Two, were we going to build our business systems (including adding capacity...adding new people) and then pursue more clients?

The first path was the wiser path from a use of cash standpoint. You build your income base and then you make investments out of that income base. The risk of this choice was your current people could easily become overwhelmed. How then would they find the time to work on the necessary systems to support growth? And you risked a drop in service quality, a real risk factor!

The second path was the wiser path if the goal was substantial long-term growth. You make sure you have your business systems in place first before pursuing additional business. This path, however, uses up a lot of cash up front. So you better have a source of that cash, since it is not coming from your sales. 

We chose to go the later route as our goal is not just to create a few jobs but to make a significant social improvement impact. That put our heroine (or hero as it would be me) in the position of having to raise a lot of money. Ergo, the analogy of the melodramatic serial. It seems like each month we have a new major need for cash to keep our business development trajectory on track. And each month, something seems to happen that pulls us through. 

Just this past week it happened again. As we do all our work virtually, the quality of our computers and connectivity are vitally important. We had done the best we could with what we had when we started. But it was not high enough quality to do the type of work we needed to do. As a number of our key people's equipment was deteriorating by the week, we were trying very hard to get new equipment of the quality needed. It was not an unsubstantial amount of money. But just as the fire ravaged building was about to fall on top of us, two of our long-term benefactors came up with some additional funds. (Image of Theodora being carried out of the burning building as it collapses). We have a number of these potential crisis points coming up over the next few months. And, as yours truly is the primary (read ONLY) fundraiser, it promises to be more fun and adventures. 

But I know (thankfully) the heroine always wins out in the end in the melodramas!