Breakthrough!

I was about halfway through this week in Ghana when a number of things hit my consciousness.

First, Theodora Ghana Virtual Assistants' billings and collections for January and February were going to result in substantial surplus cash flow over our required monthly operating expenses. 

Second, assuming we can maintain this level of client billings (and all indicators are that we should), we will be able to accumulate all of the money we need for our annual office rent (we pay rent once a year in advance). This is the first time we have been able to pay our rent out of operating funds. 

Third, by mid-February, will have repaid all the salary arrears we accrued during the lean months of 2025.

Fourth, for the first time ever, we will not use any donated funds to cover operating expenses!

Fifth, instead, we have been able to get this week three major items that have been on our list of 'must haves' in order to be a truly professional operation.

• Truly reliable internet connection via a Starlink system
• Reliable power back-up through the purchase of a backup generator
•  Retention of a trauma counselor to provide this necessary resource for our people. 

Sixth, as we go into 2026, I have come to the realization that we really don't need to do any fundraising in order to be able to get TGVA up to snuff.  

 We still need to develop a reliable new business acquisition system. That takes years but we are getting started. We still are very vulnerable to the loss of clients. But for the first time since we started, I believe we can say we are truly a business capable of paying its own way.

 

MUPGT Transistions As Well

It is Saturday, January 24. I have been scheduled to fly to Ghana. All the prior week, there has been talk of the horrible winter storm that would stretch from my home of Albuquerque, all through the south and south east going up the East Coast including my stepping off point across the Atlantic, Washington, D.C. 

I spent numerous days tracking the projected weather for each of the three cities I would be transiting through, Albuquerque, Denver, and Washington. The information was consistent. I should be able to slip through before things got bad anywhere I was headed. The airline was offering to allow me to change my flight. I thought about leaving a day earlier but finally decided that I was content to go with my original plan and whatever would happen would happen. 

I woke up the morning of the 24th and no, there was no bad weather event yet in Albuquerque. Just some light rain. My Uber got to the airport in normal time and I checked through without problem. We had a slight delay taking off but I was in Denver with plenty of time for my next flight. It was very cold in Denver but nothing that was delaying flights. We arrived in DC on time. 

Then things started to go slightly sideways. Our flight to Accra, Ghana was listed as delayed due to mechanical problems. We were to take off at 6:30pm while the snow was scheduled to start at 11:00pm. By the time, we boarded and were ready to push back, it was now 7:30pm. We push back and now we wait quite awhile. The Captain comes on and says there are a couple more mechanical things showing up. They are going to need to go back to the gate and have mechanics come on board. 

This is done and another hour passes. During all this, I decide it is an excellent time to see if my practices related to gratitude were actually going to manifest in this rather stressful time. I can't say I didn't have negative thoughts like, "What if the crew times out and I get trapped in Dulles Airport during the winter storm and can't get out for days," But I didn't obsess on them. I reminded myself of all the great things I've experienced by being willing travel. 

The mechanical issue is resolved. But evidently a passenger decided to get off the plane. They need to find the person's bag which requires unloading most of the baggage containers then reloading and re-balancing them. It is another hour before this is achieved. But we do get out before any of the bad weather hits. 

As we are taking off, to my surprise the Magical Unicorn Pony God of Travel manifests before me.

"What the hell de-I! This was an opportunity for an epic battle. I throw all kinds of things and you and you just, just, I mean just paid no attention. What kind of way is that to fight?"

I tried to explain to the perpetually youthful demi-diety of travel mayhem my attempt to be in a place of gratitude in my life. 

"Well that's all fine and well mortal, but I think you are being really selfish. I really do. What if everyone started acting like you? What would be left for a demi-diety like me to do?

"Well MUPGT I haven't exactly abandoned you completely. Did you hear about your new neighbor on the lower slopes of Olympus?"

"Ya there was some noise about a new demi-diety.'

"Yes the Magical Sales Manager Goddess of Grapenuts."

"Pathetic. What are they doing to the demi-diety business anyhow allowing these parvenus in."

"Well my horned equine nemesis, that parvenu demi-diety is my daughter who I secured a promotion. AND she and her family have just committed to really upping their travel game."

I could see MUPGT brain whirling. A relative of de-I. Traveling a lot. And a fellow demi-diety. How much fun will that be.

 "Okay de-I I take it back. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. But I'm still going to throw at you an incredibly turbulent flight. I mean, I still have to do what I do."

"I would expect no less."

The flight was very turbulent. I watched the wine in my glass sloshing side to side, going over and soaking the tablecloth underneath, something I've never experienced before. But I was grateful to still be traveling, to still be able to enjoy this special thing in my life.   

Doing Nothing - A Succession Success Story

Between late last week and early this week a minor crisis took place at Theodora in Ghana. Our new trainees were not paid. 

The problem came about because of a mistake where 800 Cedis (local currency) were sent rather than 800 US Dollars. The Cedi is worth about 10 Cents at the moment. I understand that it was an error by one of the banks involved though I don't actually know this for a fact. 

The process for the Grant money that is funding this is convoluted. It is sent from the U.S. Rotary Club, to the Club in Ghana. They, in turn, send it to the organization which recruited the women, Muslim Family Counseling Service. Finally it gets to M at Theodora who distributes it to the women being trained in the program. 

I am on the WhatsApp group that includes everyone from the four entities that are engaged in this Grant. I watched the frustrated communication go back and forth for days. And here is where, I suppose, I show myself to be selfish. Because I am repeating my gratitude mantra. "How cool is this"  and feeling very happy and grateful. Because I am TOTALLY not involved with it. It is the responsibility of others. And I know they will take care of it because they are competent people who care. 

How Cool Is This. 

Theodora & Other African Social Impact Program Update - Part Four

This is the last of the four-part series on the status of the African social impact projects. In Parts One and Two, I laid out the status of two primary projects, Theodora and Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking Economic Development Initiative (Gad that's a mouthful. I wish I could find a shorter way other than an acronym to get it across). In Part Three, I set out the specific goals I have for the coming year. In Part Four, I am going to let myself stretch a bit from what is clearly doable, to what I am hoping to pull off.

As I sit here, 78 years old, I see one project (Theodora) that is getting really close to true sustainability. I see the other project (EDI) getting close to proof of concept. If we hit the short-term goals, Theodora has a real opportunity to survive and continue even if I am gone. EDI has a bit further to go. If even Theodora alone becomes self-sustaining, that would be quite the win. 

However, I think there is a possibility I can take what has been accomplished so far and use it to build something that has longer-term potential even without me. That is what's critically important. It has to work without me. 

It's too early to go into specifics, but I find I am in the hub of a number of situations that would be much more powerful working as one than working independently. The critical two are led by people who have similar personal situations as me. They don't have forever to take what they're doing and turn it into something sustainable.I need to slowly and patiently start building bridges between the entities and individuals so that the case for joining forces becomes more obvious. 

So my long-term goal is to see if I can pull off this merging of resources and create a social impact entity, based on the principles I've developed at Theodora and EDI, which has sufficient size and funding to become an on-going entity, an entity that will be able to afford professional leadership. 

Theodora & Other African Social Impact Program Update - Part Three

Continuing our update on all things Theodora and Social Impact

Short-Term Goals 

For Theodora:

Our day-to-day operations are finally solid. Our current cash flow is strong enough that even if we lost a couple of clients, we would not be thrown into cash flow negative situation. So the goals I have set for this year are: 

• Pay down all the debt that we took on to cover us during the development years and the recent cash flow negative years. To accomplish this goal, we would have to not have a client loss set back like we've had in the past. But if we can avoid that, it is doable.

• Get a working new business development/lead generation system launched so the business can free itself from dependence on me.

•  Find some kind of mentoring/coaching for M so she can develop and grow as a manager and leader, and not have to learn everything OJT and the 'hard way'.

•  Add sufficient new clients that we can hire the women who are currently in training.

• Get the Rotary Club of Accra Spintex to take Theodora on as one of its long-term projects.

For EDI:

 

 We finally have a beta test with an organization that provides a model for replication. 

•  We need to have success in getting this model up and running. Knowing as I do the obstacles you face doing these things, I know it will not be easy.

•  Find at least one other similar situation, hopefully two, with which we can test the model. A population of one is too small to provide data on how to build something scalable. 

• Secure funding from the club to handle seed funding for those in the program building businesses.

• Develop a model for paying the volunteers that are providing the critical knowledge to make the program work. 

For de-I:

 

Over the last six months, I have successfully divested myself of virtually every bit of operational detail related to both projects. This has been shown by:

•  The training grant for Theodora that was developed and is being executed with virtually no involvement by me.

• My total non-involvement in any day-to-day activities at the virtual assistant business.

• My lack of involvement in any of the detail related to the new EDI project.

What I am getting to do is deals, putting together the various players in a way to make projects come to life. And if you know my past business career, you know that his is putting me in my sweet spot, the spot where I can be engaged in an extremely valuable way, but am not doing anything that sucks energy out of me. So this year, I want to show that I can put more of these 'deals' together that drive the mission forward. 

Theodora & Other African Social Impact Program Update - Part Two

Economic Development Initiative (EDI) Today

 Engaging with the Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking in 2020 brought a much greater exposure to the issue of human trafficking than my small slice of experience in Ghana. As I learned more, and compared what I heard to what I was experiencing with Theodora, I became even more convinced that economic opportunity, the availability of jobs, was critical to reducing the number of people vulnerable to trafficking. 

This led to my presenting to Club leadership, a proposal that we should get involved in grassroots economic development. To my shock, they were Gung-ho. Fortunately, I was almost immediately able to find a couple of resources, experienced at doing just the kind of economic development I envisioned who liked what I proposed and offered to make available their services on a volunteer basis. 

This program was based on providing pragmatic, hands-on entrepreneur training combined with on-going business coaching. It aimed at populations that would never be able to do a Theodora type of program. And we were going to offer it for free! With great enthusiasm we sought out organizations to partner up with us. 

We immediately hit a wall. Our program required local mentors to be trained to do the actual coaching of the start-up entrepreneurs. What we found was that most people we approached, didn't have the surplus time to do the training and mentoring. So we languished. 

This year, however, through local contacts here in New Mexico, I found a group that was supporting a school for orphaned children in Zambia. They'd been operating for 25 years and had great concerns about what was happening to the children once they finished school. After a number of months of exploration, they made a decision to adopt the program. It made great sense as they were already paying teachers so could dictate to the teachers the additional training and coaching. This has resolved the finding of mentors problem. 

They had their kick-off meeting for the teachers and staff with 25 people participating. Our goal is to get the 90 children in the Senior and Junior classes in the entrepreneur training by the second quarter of the year. 

I am absolutely positive we will find unforeseen obstacles. Hopefully we will overcome these and see some degree of successful business creation. If we do, we will have our model for expanding this program.  

Theodora & Other African Social Impact Program Update - Part One

Way back in November, I blithely mentioned in a transition subject post that I would provide a separate update on the subject of the Theodora Project and my Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking Economic Development Initiative (EDI) project. Well here we are in January and I am just getting around to it. I'm going to organize this into four sections. And because as I started to write this I realized it is going to be very long, I am going to break it down into four separate posts

• Theodora today update
• EDI today update
• Short-term goals
• Long-term transition goals

Theodora Today 

Amazing as it may seem, Theodora Ghana Virtual Assistants is operating very stably. We are currently running cash flow positive. My manager, M, has stepped up to the plate and runs everything day-to-day operationally. I have no involvement with clients, with work product, facility operations, training, etc. When one considers our mission, and how far our people had to go to be commercially relevant, this is pretty amazing. I am still running our finances. And we have a big challenge to develop a business development system. (See Short-Term Goals)

One of the major events taking place over 2025, was our receiving a District International Grant via my Club to train new participants. This is a big deal for many reasons.

Obviously it is important because it provides the funds to do the training we need to grow. However, it also provides validation that others see our concept works. To understand this, you need to understand how this grant came to be because I had nothing to do with it. 

Manager M also sits on the Board of our Rotary Club. The Club, for its own reasons, wanted to get an international grant done. The key leaders went to M and asked her if Theodora could use funds. As it turned out, we had been wanting to train some new people provided by our prospective partner, the Muslim Family Counseling Service but had lacked the funds to do so. M suggested that be the use of grant funds. They got the grant put together and through one of our Board members got the necessary Ghana based club to do the grant. 

M has subsequently done everything necessary to set up our facilities to house the new participants, organized the training, and is managing the training. If that were all, it alone would be validation when one considers how little M knew when she became our first program participant. But it is the back story of why the club approached M in the first place that is the real validation.

When I asked the clubs founding Presidents why they wanted to do the grant with Theodora they said,

"We have watched M and your other participants (who do volunteer work for the club). We watched her transform from an insecure girl escaping exploitation, to a confident young woman who is a major contributor to our Club and Board. If we are an organization that aims to prevent trafficking, we need to support organizations like Theodora that prove they can transform people and give them opportunities."

Further validation has come from the involvement of the Ghana Rotary Club. This is a club I met the very first trip I made to Ghana in 2019. My two strongest local Board members are from this club. But I've never been able to get the club as a whole pay any attention to Theodora. Their having been brought into this grant as completely changed that. They want to conduct a PR campaign promoting what Theodora is doing. They have asked to visit our operation when I'm in Ghana to learn more about the project. 

Now there is still a lot, A LOT we need to do to get Theodora truly sustainable. But that hill is a lot lower and manageable than it was even 9 months ago. 

Next post - the EDI today update