International business development is continuously evolving as are the methods, patterns, and tools used to deploy the global development agenda. The complex challenges and dynamics of the changing international environment require appropriate initiatives in terms of partnerships, innovation, and collaborative work. Building a consortium represents an ambitious prospect but getting the right partners on board is crucial to increase the chances of delivering high-quality and winning proposals.
During the recent “Best practices on creating and working effectively in a Consortium” webinar, organized and hosted by DevelopmentAid, some of the leading figures in the development field discussed the complexity of setting up and driving a ‘winning’ consortium. One of the conclusions reached reveals a harsh reality – while establishing a consortium involves a complex set of activities, managing the further common agenda of the partners and aligning their opinions to a focused project plan is even more difficult. Without sufficient diligence, these issues could endanger the entire project.
These insights were shared by Akaoma Onyemelukwe, an international development expert with over 20 years’ experience, who offered pertinent information regarding establishing strong partnerships and shared responsibilities. By pooling resources together for an agreed period of time, partners succeed in gaining support within the sector or industry, diversify their portfolio and expand their presence, obtain industry recognition and understand the politics of business. Besides the specific peculiarities of each consortium, an efficient functioning partnership should rely on a strong bond of trust, synergy, and complementary advantages.
“The organizations’ ideologies are going to be different, the systems and arrangements are going to vary, but you have to understand and appreciate these differences. The client always uses the systems and policies of the leading organization, which is why the leading organization is the one who has a lot of responsibilities. This is what drives actually all of the consortium’s arrangements”, stated Akaoma Onyemelukwe during the webinar.
Attendees of the webinar agreed that by taking a collaborative approach to tender and grant opportunities, companies can rely on the added value of each contractor’s potential. Authentic strategic partnerships can be built using the DevelopmentAid platform (www.developmentaid.org/#!/organizations) which serves as a highly valuable source of partners for thousands of DevelopmentAid members. The resource offers its members detailed information about over 187,000 organizations, their key contact person, past records on projects they have won, and even a list of organizations sanctioned for corruption, fraud, collusive or coercive practices in order to avoid unreliable partners.
“It’s extremely important to have the right people as part of your technical proposal. Therefore, if your organization has an experienced staff that meet the ToR requirements and can help the consortium win the tender, your organization can become part of the consortium even after the shortlisting stage. In short, a consortium can be changed, it can grow, new organizations can be added to the consortium for the benefit of the projects’ outcomes,” noted Sergiu Cașu, Business Development Director within the DevelopmentAid organization.
The “Best practices on creating and working effectively in a Consortium” webinar brought together over 200 participants. The initiative to organize the webinar came after a survey conducted by DevelopmentAid indicated the necessity for the development community to be linked to practical pieces of advice related to setting up a consortium.
To increase your company’s chances of having a winning proposal, get access to the webinar for free by contacting us at membership@developmentaid.org. Stay tuned to the latest information and gain access to the upcoming webinars on DevelopmentAid.
