A strong partnership builds trust. Before exploring financial opportunities with your international affiliate, it is important to have this strong, trusting relationship.
Begin by doing a SWOT analysis to evaluate the business. What are the business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats? Identify the constraints for growing the business. Look for opportunties to improve on the quality of the product first. And make sure there is a market for the product. Finances should only be considered after product quality, production process, market quality, and other business factors are looked at.
Your team should mentor your international partners in the uses of loans. A loan is not always the best option to grow their business.
Once your team and your international affiliate have gotten to know each other well, are communicating regularly, and are working in accordance with an annual partnership agreement, you can decide how to help your partner’s business.
We encourage the purchase of revenue-generating devices. This can be a sewing maching, a truck or an oven for baking bread. The key is for the item to continue to bring in revenue even after the loan has been paid off.
Upon receiving a loan many people will buy large quantities of something and sell it in small quantities for a small profit. Once the loan is paid off there is very little to show from the investment.
The decision of what capital investment to buy takes a careful analysis of what people are importing into the community. Your international affiliate members will be able to recognize these items better than your team. Walk along side of them in this process and make sure the money is spent on the agreed upon item and they understand the pay back period. Once the investment is made, the money that would have left the community is now staying there and creating more jobs.