whythawk ratings: measuring effective development

Rating Report for Demonstration Enterprise Development Consultant B

Link to overview of ratings and scorecard definitions

Profile

Contact Details

Contact Name:  Some Name
Contact Number:  Some Number

Service Offering

Feasibility Study, Due Diligence, Business Plan, Mentorship, Accounting, Marketing

Geographic Coverage

Based in Langa, Cape Town

Accreditation / Membership

Organisation Capacity

Organisation at full capacity

Volunteers

Does use volunteers, may require five - contact for details

Funding Requirements

Is a charitable organisation and is looking for funding

Organisation Summary

Demonstration is a registered non-profit organisation with offices in Cape Town.  Demonstration began operations in 1992.  They offer a number of social development and training services as well as catering for the Umsobomvu voucher program.

They are based in Langa and, as such, are one of very few enterprise development organisations based within their target market.  Consultation facilities are limited but the premises are convenient and safe.

Demonstration has a limited staff compliment of its own and utilises the services of a network of consultants.  This model is flexible but can result in inconsistency.  Keeping track to ensure quality relies on sophisticated systems.  Demonstration has no computerised system and relies on paper-based files.  Some disorganisation is apparent.

Positive Rating Factors:

• very convenient to target market
  
• long-term understanding of the needs of their clients
  

Negative Rating Factors:

• very disorganised administrative system
  
• alliance consulting model can cause problems
  
• client post-consulting support and follow through could be better
• did not provide financial information for analysis
  

Aspects

Inception, Participation & Infrastructure

Demonstration has been in operations for 15 years and are recognised and well known amongst their target market.  They have wide-ranging activites in enterprise development.  Their limited capacity does call into question their ability to handle all that they take on.  However, their reliance on these projects to fund their activities necessitates this action.

Staff are adequately experienced but the office is under resourced to offer much support for consulting.  Training takes place within the complex in which Demonstration is housed. 

Funding Requirements

Demonstration is reliant on donations for their continued operations.  They are currently seeking approximately R 4.3 million for various projects of core importance.

Development Community Character

Demonstration's need to raise finance for their continued operations does cause them to lose focus on their core activities.  If funders will give them money for a particular project, even if it is off-target, they accept.  Their strength is their close knowledge of their community, their weakness is their inability to focus on that strength.

Rating Factors

Ownership, Governance, and Management

Demonstration is a registered Section 21 company, not-for-gain.  They are audited annually and do have a board of governance with oversight over their operations.  We have not received a copy of the audited financial statements and so issue a caution as regards their results.

Operational Effectiveness

Every client polled who had received a business plan also required finance.  Since finance is virtually impossible for start-up businesses to raise we express concern that Demonstration is not concentrating on producing appropriate business plans for their clients.  Only 25% received funding but, giving a degree of optimism, 44% of clients are still in operation.

With more focus on appropriate financial solutions this number should increase.

Capacity & Strategic Planning

Demonstration has a reliance on funders and so does not have many long-term strategic goals.  They are responsive to funders and will produce projects to cater for these organisations.  However, this does mean that - as funds run down - some projects become less important and so concentration on the results wavers. 

Ongoing Disclosure

This is an initial rating and ongoing disclosure will be commented on in future reviews.

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