Business Mentoring Programme

There is growing recognition in the international development community of the role trade can play in assisting sustainable economic growth in developing countries and the importance of this in both eradicating poverty and empowering developing countries to help themselves.

The UN Millennium Project Report by Jeffrey Sachs identifies the important role the private sector has to play in achieving the MDGs, stating that ‘To achieve the Goals, governments must work actively with all constituencies, particularly with civil society organisations and the private sector’.

The report identifies private businesses as important partners in achieving the Goals, stating that ‘Long-term poverty reduction in developing countries will not happen without sustained economic growth, which requires a vibrant private sector’, stimulating job creation and long-term income growth.

Traidlinks’ Business Mentoring Programme assists Ugandan Private sector SMEs through a mentoring process in which internationally experienced Project Managers provide support, technical advice and expertise to help build and develop the capacity of these Ugandan SMEs.

Traidlinks' Business Mentoring Programme offers SMEs tailor-made business and technical support. Our services to SMEs include:

1.    Business Doctor - analysis and problem diagnosis;

2.    International standards setting –benchmarking;

3.    Strategic Business Development and Capacity building - giving entrepreneurs and business executives essential skills to effectively manoeuvre in today’s complex business environment.

Sharing Expertise

Social Responsibility

Traidlinks’ Charter, based on the UN Global Compact, lays out the ethical principles upon which Traidlinks and any associated companies base their organisation’s values and operations. The Charter acts as the foundation of Traidlinks’ proposition to stakeholders and is a key component of Traidlinks’ commitment to transparency and responsible decision making in all areas of the organisation. Any responsible aid intervention must be needs-driven. In the case of Traidlinks, this means that the needs of the African business partner must be at the centre of all Traidlinks’ activities.

Partnership

Once a potential partner company has been identified Traidlinks’ intervention aims to formalise the partnership, build trust and test the commitment of the company to fully engage in the Business Mentoring Programme with Traidlinks.

Pre-Qualification

This process involves several steps:

Signing a Confidentiality Agreement
Agreeing to the Traidlinks Charter
Undergoing a Responsible Business Questionnaire assessment

These steps were identified as necessary to establish transparency and commitment in the working relationship between Traidlinks and their partner companies and to support the Ugandan clients through the first stages of the Skills Exchange initiative.

Confidentiality Agreement

Full access to marketing, pricing, financial and other commercially sensitive information is essential for Traidlinks to engage fully with any business in Uganda and to have the maximum impact. While the companies identified span a number of areas of the food sector, some are competing in the same product and market areas. Before developing any plans of engagement each company is required to sign a confidentiality agreement with Traidlinks to protect the interests of both parties.

Traidlinks Charter

Traidlinks requires each participating company to adopt the principles of the UN Global Compact as their business code of ethics in line with Traidlinks' Charter. While it is accepted that the implementation of such principles may take some time, Traidlinks will support the assessment of the companies’ business operations using the Responsible Business Questionnaire and will develop policies and procedures to ensure that each partner company’s business practices are in line with these principles.

Responsible Business Questionnaire

Each company is required to confirm their commitment to work towards these principles and complete Traidlinks’ Responsible Business Questionnaire. Should a company declare that it is unwilling to implement these principles, Traidlinks will disengage from that company.

Business Mentoring Phase I - Management Accounting

Initial meetings with Ugandan businesses revealed a consistent absence of regular financial reporting. The Management Accounting Project promotes the value of monthly management accounts and their use in making informed strategic decisions. In order to comply with recognised best practice and good governance processes Traidlinks assists partner companies to develop the skills and management capability to produce the following on a monthly basis: Management Accounts, Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss and a Cash Flow Statement. It is anticipated that this information will reveal the needs within each company in relation to their general accounting systems. These needs can then be addressed through Traidlinks’ Skills Exchange Programme. It is Traidlinks’ aim that each company will produce accurate monthly management and will hold monthly meetings to discuss same. Once regular accounts are produced Traidlinks will undertake a full review and agree a strategic business plan with each company.

Challenges:

Among the obstacles to growth in Uganda - which include lack of infrastructure, logistics, land registration and access to business support mechanisms - the most serious challenge faced by Ugandan companies is access to low cost finance. Currently, prohibitive lending rates of >20% act as a disincentive to investing in growth and make it almost impossible for businesses to take advantage of market opportunities. These issues obviously go beyond the scope of business-to-business support, and so Traidlinks must expand its sphere of influence in strategic directions to support the creation of policies and mechanisms that will foster the development of the Ugandan Private Sector. Involvement with the Bank of Africa Uganda has already yielded results and the ongoing partnership will facilitate access to affordable finance for Traidlinks partner companies.

The value of Traidlinks’ intervention can be summarised by the following key points

The engagement of the Irish private sector to offer skills, expertise and experience to assist African business development.
A focus on the local, national regional and international markets ensuring that Traidlinks is offering support in line with genuine business opportunities.
Traidlinks is focussed on the client. That is, all Traidlinks’ activities are focussed on the needs of the African business and support is customised to meet the requirements of the individual business.
Traidlinks acts as a facilitator of the process and measures the business impact of the engagement.