DATING FOR BUSINESSES- HOW TO CRAFT VALUABLE PARTERSHIPS?

DATING FOR BUSINESSES- HOW TO CRAFT VALUABLE PARTERSHIPS?

Your business just like you exists in society and rarely can it survive in isolation. Just like you and I, your business needs support from competing or complementing entities and individuals that will help it deliver beyond its current potential if it were to operate as a standalone entity.

Conscious of this, shrewd businessmen self-examine to see areas where they are lacking and or where they can offer value to others; and this in business is traditionally done in the form of strategic partnerships. On paper it may seem like an easy thing to do; something you can seal with a handshake but this is far from the truth. Partnerships require deep thought and introspection by both parties before a working agreement can be entered into.

Logically before you offer yourself for partnership, every business must understand itself by conducting a SWOT analysis, having a clear view of its Business Model Canvas, and ultimately understanding its unique selling proposition (USP). This essentially allows for the business entity to reflect on their capabilities and either know what value they are bringing to the table or what strengths they will be seeking from a potential partner.

Just like courting and dating are to a relationship, the business must go through the dating process to know and seek compatibility before eventually ‘tying the knot’. After identifying your strengths and weaknesses the next step is to qualify potential partners by interrogating different businesses based on the industry they are in, their business culture and model, their strengths and weaknesses, customer base, and key drivers among other variables.

This interrogation phase is key as you wish for your partnerships to fit like a glove- seamlessly complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses so that the outcomes of your working relationship may synergize both your outcomes. Thus critical in your interrogation, you must find out who in the partners’ entity will be your sponsor (the one who pushes the partnership narrative through), who will be your counterpart (the one you will work closely with), and who is the devil’s advocate (the naysayers that raise counter-arguments that need to be addressed lest they cause sabotage or mutiny).

Should you navigate this step, next you need to discuss potential roles and responsibilities; who will do what, and what each party does or bring to the partnership. The more common mistake is many entities under-communicate and end up assuming or hoping the other will own the role. These grey areas essentially form the cracks that roles and unfinished tasks slide into eventually leading to delays or failure of the partnership.

Thus as you start the conversation towards a partnership, every conversation as hard as it may be has to be clarified and documented; cognizant that these conversations will morph over time and so the discussions in the whole process are not a one-time activity but a recurring one.

Having agreed on what needs to be done and how to assign roles and responsibilities the said parties can now begin to draw up a working agreement or an MoU that once signed will serve as the binding agreement between the two or more parties. However, before signing the partnership agreement ensure that:

  • You have full buy-in from your partners’ top executives
  • That there is clarity and full enthusiasm around the project by selling the vision and potential outcomes to all stakeholders.

With the above bases covered, it is thus prudent to engage the lawyers to draft the document to be signed.
On paper, the partnership formation process seems easy and flawless, but even the best-crafted agreements do sometimes fail. Both parties have obligations that they must adhere to and deliver on hence the importance of doing due diligence in the interrogation stage to identify stumbling blocks like corporate culture, resource availability technical expertise, and management character that individually and collectively scatter a good agreement.

So besides the due diligence, a good partnership agreement is also anchored in trust and is one that celebrates milestones and punishes failures. Further, its expectations must be clearly understood by all stakeholders hence the need to over-communicate if needed and must also empower the foot soldiers with the necessary tools, information, and resources for them to deliver.  

Should you wish to get guidance and support in finance, customer service, networking, and business development, Springboard Capital is your ideal partner. We believe in synergies that our one and your one together will give us three. We have built our business on trust, professionalism, and collaboration, critical tenets in every successful partnership, and having a clearly defined and working business model and cognizant of our strengths, we invite you to partner with us so that we may grow together. We also offer various loan products such as Business Loan, Emergency Loan, Asset Financing, Salaried Loan, Loan against Logbook, Import Duty Financing or Title Deed Loan, to help grow and manage all operations. Contact us today at 0700 944 444 or WhatsApp us through the button below, or email us at info@springboardcapital.co.ke.

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Article based on Edwin Moindi’s BizSmart Webinar Presentation Edwin is an author, a life and business coach, a startup advisor, an entrepreneur, a farmer, a technology consultant, and an amateur triathlete. He is the Managing Director of Moindi Consulting Ltd, a transformational management consulting company he has run for nearly a decade. Edwin is well-versed in Governance, Risk Management, Change and Project Management. He has previously worked for PwC in a regional role, covering several East and Western African countries.

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