Nucleus activities,
sustainability and support
Nucleus activities are divided in three groups.
The first one is a long series of small, easy to do, almost monthly activities; most of them are free or very cheap. Their individual impact at enterprise level is small, but the sum of all the activities produces changes at entrepreneur level. The most important effect of these activities is related to building trust, creating social capital and strengthening the nucleus. The main impact of these activities is to show clearly that the nucleus is able to do things and achieve results that could not be achieved by each individually. This is why these activities are so important. Is the glue, the cement that keeps the nucleus members together.
These activities could be done within the nucleus group, by themselves, or by local providers that would not charge for presentations, benchmarking visits, technical visits, sharing information or experiences, visiting fairs and exhibition. At this point the initiative, the knowledge and the leadership of the counsellor plays a key role.
The second level of activities is more complex, more expensive and requires more time to be organized. They have a cost to be shared and there is a need of service providers or sources of know-how to be available. A more professional approach is needed at this point. As this activities are more oriented to solve administrative and managerial problems is not difficult to find resource person, or sources of know-how. And prices and levels could vary a lot. At this point the cost is higher and some kind of economic support would be needed by the project or by other donors that could be interested in support some sectors or activities.
This list of activities includes trainings, (cost calculation, human resources, managing and negotiation techniques, among many others) participation in Fairs as exhibitors, hiring consulting companies together, negotiating prices and commercial issues.
The third level of activities is oriented to solve mainly technical problems. Not always is possible to find good consultants or services providers at local or national level able to solve these problems and to give the right answers. This is why in most of the cases is necessary to look and find external experts, even from other countries that could give proper solutions. This activities are too expensive to be paid for a small group of entrepreneurs and in this case some support would be needed.
Activities like developing new products, modern techniques, improving technical skills, technical advice, solution for special problems, that could not be solved with local experts.
In resume:
1.- easy, cheap and with small impact activities but with great results at nucleus level.
2.- administrative and managerial activities with higher cost, complexity and with more impact at enterprise level
3.- technical consulting, skilled trainings, more expensive with external sources of know-how.
Sustainability
The key point about nucleus is to be sustainable. First point the counselling service should be paid after 3 to 4 months. Activities from the first group in general are not paid, or are not supported by the project as there are only small running costs that must be paid by the SMEs themselves.
The second level of activities usually has some support by the project, to be used as a carrot it the starting phase, the first 12 to 18 months. Amount of support, conditions, % of support is always negotiated and must be based in shared costs where the SMEs pay most of the money, but the project support more activities linked or covered by their core mandate. What to support, how much and how is always a sensitive point, but as principle if the nucleus members are not paying their monthly fees it makes no sense to support expensive activities. "Why to support a nucleus that is not ready to support themselves or to pay for the service?" This is the question that must be openly on the table.
The third level of activities would only be supported if there is a clear budget for that. The activities must be directly linked with the project objectives and indicators.
Always the nucleus is free to look and find other donors that would like to support concrete activities. An active nucleus would find other sources of support, but in this case the leadership of the project would be eroded very quickly.
Support
what to support? How to support? Until when? How much? How many activities? These are the questions that must be answered. There is not a single answer it changes from country to country, from project to project and even from partner to partner. But it's necessary to have some kind of support for nucleus activities and this support should be gradually decreased in a way that after a certain time 1 to 3 years there is no economic support at all. But without some support in the first 12 to 18 months it would be very difficult to achieve results with enough impact as most of the free activities, as we have already seen, do not have a significant impact if seen isolated. To have success histories to show and share, economic subvention is absolutely mandatory.
Nucleus activities are divided in three groups.
The first one is a long series of small, easy to do, almost monthly activities; most of them are free or very cheap. Their individual impact at enterprise level is small, but the sum of all the activities produces changes at entrepreneur level. The most important effect of these activities is related to building trust, creating social capital and strengthening the nucleus. The main impact of these activities is to show clearly that the nucleus is able to do things and achieve results that could not be achieved by each individually. This is why these activities are so important. Is the glue, the cement that keeps the nucleus members together.
These activities could be done within the nucleus group, by themselves, or by local providers that would not charge for presentations, benchmarking visits, technical visits, sharing information or experiences, visiting fairs and exhibition. At this point the initiative, the knowledge and the leadership of the counsellor plays a key role.
The second level of activities is more complex, more expensive and requires more time to be organized. They have a cost to be shared and there is a need of service providers or sources of know-how to be available. A more professional approach is needed at this point. As this activities are more oriented to solve administrative and managerial problems is not difficult to find resource person, or sources of know-how. And prices and levels could vary a lot. At this point the cost is higher and some kind of economic support would be needed by the project or by other donors that could be interested in support some sectors or activities.
This list of activities includes trainings, (cost calculation, human resources, managing and negotiation techniques, among many others) participation in Fairs as exhibitors, hiring consulting companies together, negotiating prices and commercial issues.
The third level of activities is oriented to solve mainly technical problems. Not always is possible to find good consultants or services providers at local or national level able to solve these problems and to give the right answers. This is why in most of the cases is necessary to look and find external experts, even from other countries that could give proper solutions. This activities are too expensive to be paid for a small group of entrepreneurs and in this case some support would be needed.
Activities like developing new products, modern techniques, improving technical skills, technical advice, solution for special problems, that could not be solved with local experts.
In resume:
1.- easy, cheap and with small impact activities but with great results at nucleus level.
2.- administrative and managerial activities with higher cost, complexity and with more impact at enterprise level
3.- technical consulting, skilled trainings, more expensive with external sources of know-how.
Sustainability
The key point about nucleus is to be sustainable. First point the counselling service should be paid after 3 to 4 months. Activities from the first group in general are not paid, or are not supported by the project as there are only small running costs that must be paid by the SMEs themselves.
The second level of activities usually has some support by the project, to be used as a carrot it the starting phase, the first 12 to 18 months. Amount of support, conditions, % of support is always negotiated and must be based in shared costs where the SMEs pay most of the money, but the project support more activities linked or covered by their core mandate. What to support, how much and how is always a sensitive point, but as principle if the nucleus members are not paying their monthly fees it makes no sense to support expensive activities. "Why to support a nucleus that is not ready to support themselves or to pay for the service?" This is the question that must be openly on the table.
The third level of activities would only be supported if there is a clear budget for that. The activities must be directly linked with the project objectives and indicators.
Always the nucleus is free to look and find other donors that would like to support concrete activities. An active nucleus would find other sources of support, but in this case the leadership of the project would be eroded very quickly.
Support
what to support? How to support? Until when? How much? How many activities? These are the questions that must be answered. There is not a single answer it changes from country to country, from project to project and even from partner to partner. But it's necessary to have some kind of support for nucleus activities and this support should be gradually decreased in a way that after a certain time 1 to 3 years there is no economic support at all. But without some support in the first 12 to 18 months it would be very difficult to achieve results with enough impact as most of the free activities, as we have already seen, do not have a significant impact if seen isolated. To have success histories to show and share, economic subvention is absolutely mandatory.
