Enterprise & Entrepreneurship in Development

I recently completed a research study on the opportunities and challenges facing development organisation (from donors & policy-makers; through NGOs and development agencies to micro & small enterprises): “Opportunities and management requirements for enterprise & entrepreneurship-based programmes in development!)

In addition to the resources that I have found very useful through the Business Figths Poverty network I also reviewed more that 50 sources including:
- Papers & Presentations from various development; corporate; philanthropic and institutional (e,g, World Bank; IOL) sources
- African & Asian Networks (e.g. LEDNA & SBC Network & Entrepreneurship Development)
- Government Donors (e.g. Irish Aid & DFID)
- UN General Assembly
- Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship,

I adopted the same research methodology as t used for ICT in Development (which supported a successful 7-figure funding application).



There were two objectives for this research:

1. Identifying the various elements that are required to design a successful enterprise development programme; ranging from Needs Analysis & Solution Design to Programme Management and Monitoring & Evaluation (Development Value Chain)

Within this I focused on the four stages of enterprise (business) development:
- Business Idea: the basic concept for initiating an enterprise
- Business model: how will this business idea actually generate revenues
- Business Case: is the potential return (profit) appropriate for the necessary expenditure (costs) to achieve this return
- Business Plan: hat actions will we take, what decisions will we make, what finance do we need in order to start the business (Note : the business plan is a combination of business idea, model, case plus plan)

In addition to a re-usable research log (where I have itemised all of the relevant aspects of the literature and categorised them for easy searching & sorting in the future) I designed an Enterprise Development Programme Design/Assessment tool – a question-based tool, with guidance notes, to assist in either designing a programme/proposal or in assessing an existing programme as part of ongoing management, monitoring & evaluation.



2. The second objective was to help me in development an Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Development Programme, based on work that I have been doing over the past year with a number of development organisations here in Ireland.



Based on a proven enterprise & entrepreneurship development model here in Ireland; the County Enterprise Boards (CEBs), I was able to design a 3 year programme, using the Logical Framework. In addition to the “end-2-end” Development management processes I have also incorporated a policy-based (macro) set of objectives as wells as enterprise-led (micro) objectives

Enterprise Healthcheck Update

Drawing on the work that I have done with small and medium enterprises in capitalising on the opportunities of the internet (see eCommerce for Success) I have updated the Enterprise Healthcheck tool to include an eReadiness assessment that covers the following:

- Company Commitment to the internet
- Competitive Environment
- Distribution Chain (website/internet)
- Product Database
- Product Photos
- Online Sales fulfillment
- Legacy Computer Systems
- Internal (IT & Website) Maintenance Staff
- Development/Developer Readiness

Managing NGO/Programme finances

This Financial Management approach is supported by a full set of procedures and is linked to the Development Value Chain; the Logical Framework and sound Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) processes & controls


Underpinning the day-to-day financial management responsibilities of the Board, Executive Director, staff, partners and service providers are a series of Financial Management (FM) processes. These are based on a “Grant Recipient” approach as follows:

Purpose and objectives of the accounting system: The objectives of the grant recipient’s accounting system are:
# To record and classify all transactions accurately and completely
# To maintain a complete record of all:
- Revenue received
- Expenditure incurred
- Assets owned
- Liabilities due to third parties
# To report to donors on all required financial information

Enterprise Healthcheck

Over the years I have worked with a number of companies and organisations in the areas of organisation, people, performance and cost management. In today’s economic environment I looked back at these past experiences and took the lessons that I learnt and the techniques that I used and I have brought them together into a single “Enterprise Healthcheck” tool.

Depending on the priorities of your organisation and the challenges that face it, you can chose to spend between 2 hours and two days on the “Enterprise Healthcheck”. A question-based approach that can be conducted via one-2-one interview of group facilitation, the healthcheck provides a scored assessment of your organisation across a set of areas that are proven – through research and experience; to have a major impact on the ability of an organisation to maintain its focus, optimise its resources and achieve its objectives.



These proven areas )in addition to revenue management & resource management) include:
# Human Resource Management: HR Budget; HR Staff; Organisation mission & goals; HR Planning; Staff Data; Computerisation of Data; Personnel Files; Job Classification; Compensation & Benefits system; Recruitment, Transfer & Promotion; Orientation Programme; Policy Manual; Discipline, Termination and Grievance procedures; Industrial Relations (Unions); Labour & Employment law compliance; Job Descriptions; Staff Supervision; Evaluation; Staff Training; Management & Leadership Development
# Performance Management: Service; Strategy; Objectives; Alignment; Performance; Management; Development; Competency; Training; Communications; Mutual Agreement
# Cost Management: Work unit right-sizing; Deduplication; Roles and Responsibilities; Product Review; Poject Review (IT, capital and other); Employee overheads; Connectivity; Sans of control and levels; People, skills and capabilities; Pay rates, allowances and premiums; Demand Challenge – Non Core Processes; Operating Model; Ativity and Process Efficiency; Process Benchmarking; Process Effectiveness (Core Processes)

And supporting these three areas are a set of simple, insightful organisation assessment tools:

- 7-Cs quick assessment tool: Coordination; Commitment; Competence; Communication; Conflict Management; Creativity; Capacity Management
- McKinsey’s 7-S organisation assessment tool: Strategy; Structure; Systems; Style; Staff; Skills; Shared Values
- Organisation Culture assessment tool: Vision; Strategic Direction; Goals & Objectives; Core Values; Creating Change; Customer Focus; Organisation Learning; Empowerment; Team Orientation; Capacity Development; Agreement; Coordination & Integration

These tools will allow you to understand the most relevant aspects of your organisation for today’s challenging environment; identify the most appropriate opportunities that you should focus on in order to consolidate your current position and to prioritise these opportunities so as to maximise your resources in order to achieve your objectives

What is Stakeholder management

Stakeholder: One who holds the bets in s game or contest; one who hasa share or an an interest, as in an enterprise

Management: "Management" (from Old French ménagement "the art of conducting, directing", from Latin manu agere "to lead by the hand")
- characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organisation through
- the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible).

Stakeholder + Management = organisation-wide change cannot be implemented unless individuals change, and for this buy-in and consensus to change is required from certain stakeholders to change successfully. For example:
- Powerful and supportive change champions can be leveraged
- Fearful or negative reactions can derail the change
- Failure to lay the groundwork early creates problems
- Different stakeholders see the same changes in different ways

Identifying & prioritising stakeholders:

What is Change Management?

Change: The following are some interesting perspectives on what “change” is
- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. [George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950, Irish playwright and critic#
- If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change. [Giuseppe di Lampedusa 1896-1957, Italian writer in The Leopard]
- The real problem is what to do with problem solvers after the problem is solved. ‘Gay Talese 1932-, American (Italian-born) journalist]
- "Bury me on my face," said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, "Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down." [Diogenes 412BC-323BC, Greek philosopher ]

Management: "Management" (from Old French ménagement "the art of conducting, directing", from Latin manu agere "to lead by the hand")
solved. ‘Gay Talese 1932-, American (Italian-born) journalist]
- characterises the process of leading and directing all or part of an organisation through
- the deployment and manipulation of resources (human, financial, material, intellectual or intangible).

Change + Management = is the managerial processes and tasks that are undertaken to support the development of an organisation and its staff from one state in time to another.

When ever we introduce the word “manage” we move away from the uncertainty of change to a more structured, coordinated [managed] initiative that is to move us from one defined state to another, defined state. It is only be defining where we are and where we want to be that we can “manage” this transition.

There are a number of tools that we can use to help us define where we are, where we want to be (change) and how we are going to get there (manage). These include:

- Project Management techniques that would complement the organisation in defining the scope for change (the actual starting point and the desired ending point), support the planning process and facilitate the monitoring of tasks and achievement of milestones
- Operations & Process Design Techniques, such as IDEF or the Organisation Development Models for providing a structured method for defining the organisation and mapping responsibilities, values and performance to the various units or roles
- Role Profile templates that map to performance management techniques including development needs analysis
- Dynamic RAID logs (Risk, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies) that provide enhanced support to the change management coordinator and project reporting.
- Stakeholder management techniques that support the appropriate participation of both internal and external parties that may have an influence of the pace and success of change
- Management training experience (content and delivery) – ranging across the three C formula (Competency + Capability = Capacity)
Competency (re-usable/transferable skills) +
Capability (experience & personal abilities) =
Capacity (overall breath & depth to achieve organisation objectives)