Two weeks after wrapping up a 3-part training series about financial sustainability with nearly 50 tech hubs in West Africa, I’ve had time to reflect on what made this experience so impactful for them and for me.
The training was officially about fundraising and also branched out into partnerships. But as any strategy consultant will tell you, what’s on the agenda isn’t always where the real transformation is.
In my work with SMEs and organisations, one of the key questions I deal with is how to sustain the business. Once you figure that out, you’ll have found the key to building a business – or organisation – that lasts.
So, when I started developing the training for these hubs, my focus was solidly on the issue of financial sustainability. More specifically, it was on helping these hubs adopt a mindset that positions them for long-term sustainability.
From funding requests to value propositions
Many of the hubs that joined the training still heavily depend on grant funding to survive. It’s a common strategy but also a risky one because traditional donor funding is shrinking. And the funding landscape itself is also changing in ways that bring both challenges and opportunities.
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- There is a growing realisation that development must be local-led
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- We’re seeing a bigger focus on results, AKA a more business-like approach
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- This means that organisations have to become more professional about how they present themselves and how they achieve and report results
One of my key messages was that tech hubs need a new way to frame themselves to highlight how they are creating value and driving social impact.
During the training, we spent time addressing questions like:
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- What is your value proposition for potential funders and partners?
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- Who are your real “customers”?
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- What do you offer that someone would be willing to pay for?
These are business questionsand I asked them intentionally. For the simple reason that if tech hubs want to last for years, they will need to think like businesses.
From “What do we lack?” to “What do we already have?”
One of the most important steps toward financial sustainability for tech hubs is learning to map resource gaps and then flip the question.
Instead of focusing on what was missing, we looked at:
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- What do you already have that can be monetised?
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- What services do you currently provide for free that could generate revenue?
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- What partnerships are sitting right in front of you that have not yet been activated?
This shifts the conversation from scarcity to strategy and starts opening up new possibilities for income generation.
From an NGO mindset to business strategy
My team at my NGO in Liberia will tell you that “changing the NGO-mindset” is a phrase that I use a lot.
During the training, I challenged the hubs to stop thinking like an NGO and start thinking like a business that sells social impact. Do that, and you’re changing your mindset from someone who waits for funding opportunities to someone who looks at what customers are willing to pay for.
In the case of these tech hubs, “customers” are mainly potential funders and partners.
Using this perspective, we discussed tools like the Business Model Canvas, stakeholder mapping and the Value Proposition Canvas. Specifically, we looked at how these tools can help hubs get clarity about what they are offering (AKA “selling”) and how to use that information to determine which funders to align with.
Without strategy, impact cannot scale
In local economies, tech hubs are catalysts.
They create jobs, build pipelines of tech talent, help local entrepreneurs gain digital skills and boost innovation even though infrastructure might be missing.
These are great activities, but their impact can only scale if financial sustainability for tech hubs is built into the strategy.
For me, financial sustainability is about knowing your value, building partnerships that are based on value alignment (and working methods!) and creating growth strategies that allow you to grow without compromising your identity.
This holds true for tech hubs, but it also applies to NGOs and SMEs. What I shared during the training comes from my own experiences building up the financial sustainability of an NGO and school in Liberia. We haven’t got it all figured out yet, but we’re on our way.
This combination of strategy, systems change, sustainability and execution is also one of the reasons why I love the work that I do.
Want to explore how to strengthen financial sustainability for your hub or programme? Book a free intro call.