completing due diligence process

Hi everybody, last post for me; 

Today, we complete our work started the last friday in the due diligence process. we gather all the ideas we had after visiting and studying all the portfolio company and came out with a standard model of Wow's process since the recruitment of companies to the final stages of the follow up.

We all hope that our little contribution will help Wow and the partners.

We're looking forward to see Linda and present to her what we came out with after six weeks of internship that had been a real pleasure.

Rose

TissAfric and the "Manjaks"...

Friday morning started with a productive working session, where we focused on the due diligence process. Based on our interviews and company reviews so far, we identified a few critical steps that should be performed to ensure successful investment projects. Forecasting, definition of priorities and timeline with the entrepreneurs are among those steps. Other subjects of discussion remain for Monday. For example, how to handle unachievable objectives with an entrepreneur, or recover from a misuse of investment.

The afternoon gave us the opportunity to meet Mrs Traore from TrissAfric, an individual enterprise who produces innovative "pagnes tissés" and transform them into clothes, accessories, home furniture... She's looking to grow her business and is planning to invest in a a showroom to exhibit and sell her products. This interview allowed us to learn more about the "Manjaks",  who are naturally talented weavers from Mali, and with whom she has been working during her 13-year experience in this business.

Here comes our last weekend in Senegal for Sachiko and me, time flies.

~Laurent

salut les amis

Cette journée de jeudi, les stagiaires ont principalement travaillé au bureau de WOW sur la finalisation des rapports des premières entreprises et ont discuté longuement sur les nouvelles compagnies. Le matin aussi Laurent, Sachiko et Malick ont éffectué un déplacement à Hann Maristes ou ils devaient rencontrer les managers de Maïmouna Diop et Ibrahima Gueye et Oumou kalsoum Ndoye de Marché.Com. L’objectif était de discuter pour Restaurant Maye des perspectives de développement et de la pertinence de trouver un nouvel endroit pour le Restaurant. La rencontre avec Marché.Com n’a pu se tenir car Ibrahima devait livrer des commandes de produits, l’entretien étant reprogrammé pour le lendemain. Dans l’après midi Laurent a reçu Mme khady Cissé Gueye pour un autre entretien concernant toujours l’activité de « les Délices de la mer ». Et durant tout le reste de l’après midi les stagiaires ont continué à peaufiner les informations reçues afin de finaliser les rapports sur les nouvelles compagnies

Malick

Wednesday 6th at WOW office: General meeting for "Projet Boutique" cooperative and Bio Essence originality

hello,

This day was crowded of activities because first, there was between 8.00 am and 1.00 pm "projet boutique" meeting and second we met with "Entreprise Bracelets" and "Bio Essence" runners. After the first meeting which consisted of electing somebody president of the cooperative there was an apetising big meal cooked by "Chez May".

At 3.pm we exchange again with Sini Mboup, Bracelets' owner in order to find a way to better set up an accounting and forecasting frame because she really needs help.

Mame khary Gueye, Bio Essence's manager came to WOW office at 4.30 pm. She is a very amasing woman because she speaks fluent english, she got important degrees in Europe and USA, travelled all around the world and is 32 years old. In fact, she worked at big fims such as Paribas, Cap Gemini and now run a company with $1,000,000 capital.

Nevertheless, she is more focused on exportation because she benefit from many administrative facilities and therefore has to export 80% of her production.

Good vision in terms of quality and strategy is her strength.

-Aicha

Meeting with Dendey couture's manager

Today, we have worked by group on our respective report during all the moring. I was dealing with the SOPRA report, a company that is asking for 3,000,000 as financing while other groups were focusing on new companies fortofolio.

About 2 o'clock pm, Mouminou Niang has come and seen us just to discuss with us the problems she had met after receiving the WOW financing. She has started by explaining us the circumstances in which she had got the funds and how she had failed in her project. After that, she has made us know the long way she had taken to get out from her difficult situation and to succed in reimbursing the loan.

She has left about 5 o'clock asking for another financing after paying back the current loan she had already received from WOW. Amara

New company analysis

This morning, we had a meeting to talk about how we can work on new companies. One of our missions is to evaluate the new companies to invest. Up to this point, we have mostly focused on current portfolio companies, and now is the time to start looking at new ones.

We started by evaluating the process of WOW so far since the first investment of last year. Was our due-diligence process rigorous enough? If not, how should we do differently this year? Have we followed up the invested companies well enough so far?

After our brain storming session, we modified the evaluation form, and each team took two new companies to work on during last two weeks of this internship.

By the way, interns of last summer put "WACIF I" in the header of every report, but nobody this year knows what it stands for... Any idea?

-Sachiko

Presenting our reports

This friday was dedicated to the finalization and presentation of our reports.
We spent the morning at wow office discussing about our reports while Christian and Amara where in a meeting with the manager of the GIE benn loxo to complete some informations they needed.

In the afternoon, after having a lunch at wow's office, we went to oxfam to meet Suparna and talk with her about the work each group did with the portfolio companies. During that meeting we had the opportunity to discuss with Linda, one of the four founders of wow, about our reports and some of her expectations for this internship.

Next week we'll work on the new portfolio companies; looking forward!

Rose

Visit to OXFAM... and Thé Ataya

Since the electricity was not back to WOW office until noon, we spent the morning in a meeting room at OXFAM GB. It was a short distance walk to go there. We had everything to work in good conditions there. It was a busy day since everybody focused on the reports for the portfolio companies. We exchanged our drafts during the morning.  We spent the afternoon as usual at WOW office, had lunch here, and as we were finalizing our documents, we enjoyed drinking our daily "Thé Ataya".  

~Laurent

Electricity cut

Bonjour tout le monde,

je suis Elhadji Malick Gaye plus connu sous le nom de Malick. je suis agent de WOW en même temps que Coordonnateur du stage.

Tout s'est bien passé jusqu'ici, car vous savez qu'au Sénégal depuis des mois les populations par zone sont privées d'éléctricité une bonne partie de la journée mais ce n'était jamais le cas pour le quartier de Sicap Amitié 3 ou se situe le bureau de WOW. 

Mais ce mercredi les stagiaires n'ont pu vraiment presque rien faire au bureau car il y'a eu coupure le matin à 7 heures jusqu'au lendemain vers 12 heures soit près de 30 heures sans éléctricité; ce fut un calvaire mais comme les stagiaires ont été scindés en équipes, l'équipe de Christian-Amara avait pris rendez- vous avec Sadio pour compléter le travail déjà démarré, l'équipe de Rose-Aïssatou, elle, avait programmé une visite à Enda Ecopole pour rencontrer jacques de fer forgé pour un complément d'information sur son activité, malheureusement, Aïssatou perd son beau-frère et n'a pu effectué le déplacement mais Rose très dynamique, a pu faire le travail avec beaucoup d'énergie et de determination. Moi, Laurent et sachiko, sommes restés au bureau et chacun accomplissant une tache se liant au travail et discuttant sur certains points.

Je vous dis à bientôt pour un autre compte rendu

Malick

Working in small teams...

Hello! Today, each small team worked on different portfolio companies. We started to prepare first drafts of reports, based on yesterday's outline. Some of us re-visited or re-contacted the companies to get more information or express ideas for future growth steps. 

Sachiko and I went back to Marché.com and Restaurant Chez Maye this morning. With the first company, we reviewed her priorities in terms of financing and how the owner and her son are envisioning their future development. We started to define future investment/growth phases with them and key business drivers. With Maye, we suggested potential scenarios to develop her activity . She was particularly interested in one of them. We plan to meet her again to discuss the feasibility and financial features of that scenario.

It was another productive and interesting day. Tomorrow should bring additional insights...

~Laurent

Planning our next steps

Hello readers, this is Christian, WOW’s “Expert Intern” for the summer program. To follow up on Sachiko, Laurent, Rose and Aicha’s great posts, I wanted to give you an update of our current activities.

Having finished the first set of meetings and interviews with the directors of WOW’s present and future portfolio companies last Friday, we settled into a planning session today to map out our strategy for the next three weeks. This week we plan on updating the quarterly reports for the companies who have already received WOW funding. This will allow us to better assess the impact these investments have had by analyzing whether these funds have allowed these companies to take concrete steps towards their objectives. It will also allow us to think about improving our due diligence process so to make future support for WOW’s partners more appropriate and effective.

The second task for the week is to begin reporting on the new set of companies which will be incorporated into WOW’s portfolio. These reports are important considering they give investors a chance to better acquaint themselves with prospects and risks associated with each company. As we have learned up to now, some of the first round of investments were put to good use and others less so; we therefore hope that the summer internship’s primary contribution will be to create tools and models to help both WOW and its partners align their common goals to foster rapid and sustainable development of promising Senegalese businesses.

To better achieve our aims we have broken into 3 small groups: Aicha and Rose are working on the two Enda Ecopole businesses and Entreprises Bracelets, Laurent and Sachiko have taken on Marché.com and Chez Maye, while Amara and I are focusing on Mountaga Tall and Ben Loxo. The scope of work is considerable and the challenges clear, but we are determined to put our heads together and rise to the occasion!

Until next time,

~Christian

Île de Gorée

Laurent and I visited "Île de Gorée," a small island just 3km away from the seaport of Dakar.

Gorée is one of 5 world heritages in Senegal. Gorée was once used as a port to export slaves, and a few buildings left from the days reminds us of the horrible history.

At the same time, Gorée today is a popular beach for Senegalese, and all the boats going to Gorée are full during the weekend. You can enjoy the beach, or stay relax at a beach side restaurant, or walk around the calm nice town with beautiful flowers.

We had a relaxing moment there, relieved of always energetic Dakar.

-Sachiko

Work sharing out

hello readers, this is Amara , wow's trainee.

I am just coming and making you informed the way the work were shared.

After vissiting all the companies together and discussing the situation of each of them, we decided to divide the team into three groups of two persons. And each groupe is in charge to deal with two companies. As for me, I form a tandem with Christian and we are working on GIE Mountaga TALL and Benn Loxo. For each company, we are involved in writing a final report and elaborating a business plan in order to help them to get their project more clear.

Before sharing the team into groups, we all agree to adopt the same report format that includes four parts: the company description, the investment assessement, the business analysis and recommendations and lessons learnt and best practices.

Thursday, Visiting "Delices de la Mer" and "FEEM Design"

hello!
This day is very interesting in terms of discovery because we visit on the morning "Delices de la Mer" wich is a company managed by a very ambicious woman.

The manager, Khady Cisse, works in the fish and sea product processing. She is looking for certifiation in order to export products all around the world. She got a graduate degree in a business school but she did not want to work in a firm as un employee because she trust in free entreprise and sustainable improvment of her community by processing natural product. In order to help other women to inhance their entrepreneurship skills, she also train them to process natural fruits and vegetables.
She really want to participate to her country's development trough her business.

On the afternoon we visit a fashion shop named "FEEM Design" and lead by Yaye Fatou. It is an artistical show room with a friendly atmosphere within it is exibit original dress models.

Yaye and all her staff are designers and want to satisfy embroderi's demand because she is only specialised and focus in paint. Amid employees we have painters, taylors and those who work with pearl.She get a large portfolio of clientele and sell 70% of her products in africa and 30% in Europe and USA. Yaye Fatou also get an increase profit rate of 10% every year, this is why she is motivated to buy new machines and employ more staff.

These are the last visits of the week because friday will be reserved for brainstorming session.

-Aicha

Visiting GIE benn Loxo at JOAL

This is Rose and I'm posting for the first time.
This wednesday, everybody woke up early because we were leaving at 7:00 am for our trip to Joal, a small town on the littke coast, two hours from dakar. Since there were no traffic jam, we get there around 9:00.

At the house of the president of the GIE, we discussed with the women and learnt about different types of fish and seafoods and how they transform them.
Then we went to the "Khelcom" market, the biggest fish market in Joal and in the region.
The last visit of the day were to the little port of Joal were we found men getting huge quantities of yet (cymbium) out of their shells.
We ended this trip, after an excellent "thiebou dien", and went back, all exhausted, but most happy to have been out of the city for a day.

-Rose

Meeting with the Chambre de Commerce

Today started fast as we reviewed yesterday's companies and gathered our thoughts and observations. Another great working session, enhanced by the use of our new white board. We also divided the team into groups of 2 that could focus more specifically on 2 or 3 current portfolio companies in the coming week.

In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet with the Chambre de Commerce in Dakar. After learning quickly about their history and organization, and explaining the purpose of WOW to them, we talked more specifically about small and middle-sized companies. The institution realized a few months ago that it would be useful to provide more data about the economical landscape of Senegal to the general public, and will eventually publish key figures mid-August. Also, the training department is just starting to plan and design new modules targeting more specifically the non-formalized companies, which represent the great majority of small companies here. Also, they try to simplify the formalization process. They seem open to a partnership with WOW, which should be discuss with the president or secretary of the Chambre.

~Laurent

Visiting new portfolio companies

Hello! Today, we visited 2 other companies. Those haven't yet received funds from WOW, but are excellent candidates. They belong to different industries: food/condiments and well-being/body-care:

• SOPRA
• Bio Essences

Our first visit was SOPRA and was clearly inspiring. Ami Dimé, 

the woman who founded the company started with 500 Fr cfa in the 90's, and is now employing 9 people and transforming/producing up to 200kg of pepper products daily. Those products contain no additives. We felt she had a true entrepreneurship spirit. She developed a loyal customer base among different communities over the years. She recently innovated with a new green pepper sauce. 

The next visit was Bio Essences. This company is very different from the ones that we had the opportunity to meet so far.  They made a large upfront investment to create, produce and promote high-quality karité-based products for the body. They started their production phase only a year ago. This company has a significant potential for growth. This would be very exciting to accompany them during their starting-up phase. We had the opportunity to visit the facility which includes very new equipment, a large lab and a highly clean production line.

That was another interesting day!

Tomorrow, the team will spend time at the office and visit the Chamber of Commerce in the afternoon.

~Laurent

Saint-Louis

Saint-Louis was very worth visiting. The "ville" is on an island, in the middle of the "Senegal" river and was mostly built during the 19th century. Most of the houses have wonderful colors and make the island very charming. This is a World Heritage site. The city is relatively small, thus less hectic than Dakar. Despite some rains, and a longer than expected trip to get there, we felt Saint-Louis was a great place to spend the weekend. 

~Laurent 

Friday at the office...

The office is in a great house with a lot of space/rooms that will allow WOW to provide training, exhibition, working spaces for the partners. Everything is getting set up day after day. There's more and more furniture. We have now white boards in the meeting room. A printer and 2 desktops arrived this morning and might get ready to work next week. It's very exciting to be part of an organization that is growing and getting structured for the next steps. 

Today was our 2nd brainstorming session, which focused on Entreprise Bracelets and the 2 workshops from Enda Ecopole. We kept the same analysis framework, since we felt it works well and trigger good discussions. Like on Wednesday, it went very smoothly. We thought that we could get more information about one of the workshops. Malick will try to get another appointment with the manager next week. Those working sessions are very good since, as we bring business ideas to the table, we need to consider the Senegalese culture and its specificities. It makes the discussions very enriching and valuable. 

Here comes the weekend. Everybody will have different activities. Sachiko and I plan to go to Saint-Louis. This should be a great opportunity to discover the country and visit a charming city :-)

~Laurent

Enda Ecopole and Entreprise Bracelets

Good evening, we just finished speaking with Seni, from the Entreprise Bracelets, who creates and sells a wide range of small art products, such as bracelets, necklaces, decoration dolls, and many other beautiful creations... We felt she had an excellent knowledge of the market she targets. We learnt how she uses unique selling techniques and how she would like to expand her business and increase her company's revenue. We talked about different scenarios she has in mind to strengthen her presence in the markets of Dakar.

This morning was very booked, since we went to Enda Ecopole and had the opportunity to meet many people, and discover its neighborhood and its network of activities. Enda Ecopole is a very interesting organization that promotes small urban 

economy by providing support and to the young people who don't have access to school and face difficulties getting jobs. Through a wide range of activities, or workshops, they have an opportunity to get hands-on training and gain confidence. WOW provided funds to 2 of those workshops. One is focusing on transforming pieces of metals (such as used bottles caps) into art objects and furniture. The other one is creating iron-based products such as doors, stairs, or fences... using recycled pieces when possible.

It will be exciting to put down our thoughts about those companies tomorrow at the office.

~Laurent