MEMBERSHIP
HR&S RISE SUPPORT CENTRES

HR&S has established HR&S Research, Innovation and Social Enterprising (RISE) Support Centres in sub-Sahara African countries. The RISEcentres provide support to local entrepreneurs offering social good, scientific researchers and innovators in order empower them to implement their ideas.

Location

  • Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou
  • Kenya, Nairobi
  • Liberia, Monrovia
  • Nigeria, Abuja
  • Rwanda, Kigali
  • Togo, Lomé
  • Uganda, Kampala 
  • Zambia, Lusaka
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Membership

Level ONE

RISE members are entitled to:

  1. Business loan with 10% annual interest.
  2. Support with solving well defined outcome challenges.
  3. Access to the HR&S network of expert advisers.
  4. RISEtalks. Quarterly in person meetings with the Branch team and other RISE members. The meetings contains training and knowledge sharing.
  5. ActionTalks. Monthly on-line meetings when RISE members and Branch members are welcome to pitch their businesses for each other and for Action10 volunteer staff.
  6. Free attendance in HR&S on-line training that occurs from time to time. §
  7. Yearly auditing when the turn-over has reached a certain level.

Fee

RISE members pay an annual membership fee agreed on by the Country Branch.  The fee is usually EUR 5 – 50, depending on the size of the business and the level of services.

Level TWO

RISE members are entitled to:

  1. Services provided according for level ONE.
  2. Mentorship on business management.
  3. Mentorship on the topic of the business.
  4. Co-working space, basic.
  5. Internet access.
  6. Electricity access.
  7. Support with long-term planning of the private/household economy;  saving/investing/spending/donating.

Fee

RISE members pay an annual membership fee agreed on by the Country Branch.  The fee is usually EUR 50-200, depending on the size of the business and the level of services.

Level THREE

Fee

RISE members are entitled to:

  1. Services provided according for level TWO.
  2. Co-working space, advanced.
  3. Social media management support.
  4. Web-site support.
  5. Customer surveys and marketing support.
  6. Mentorship by expert advisers.

RISE members pay an annual membership fee agreed on by the Country Branch.  The fee is usually EUR 200-500, depending on the size of the business and the level of services.

Agreement

The Branch Team negotiates an agreement with the potential member and sign.

  • When the agreement is signed by all parties, the member pays the membership fee before the 1st of a stipulated month.
  • Then the loan is transferred, by the Branch accountant, before the 10th of the same month.
  • The payback of loan and interest usually takes place monthly, due on the 10th, starting the month after the loan is transferred.

Evaluation planning

Perform the HR&S practical strategy Real-time Outcome Planning and Evaluation (ROPE) in full. Each initiative develops its own ROPE programme journal.

  • A ROPE initiative starts with setting a goal and developing indicators to measure results.
  • Then we develop an implementation plan, we secure finances, staff, and infrastructure, then we ensure knowledge sharing, the accounting procedures and the cross-cultural understanding.
  • Thereafter we make an activity plan and assign people and institutions; who will do what, how and when.
  • Now we implement, while in parallel we measure the results and analyse.
  • Thereafter we revise the programme plan according to lessons learned and continue until we reach the goal we set up in the beginning.

Eligibility

Eligibility Criteria

1. Your business MUST be post-revenue.
ActionInvest fund does not fund businesses at the idea stage.
2. You must demonstrate a track record of cash flows.
3. You will be requested to attach documented proof for the claims you make about your business.

Application form

  1. Your name?
  2. Your email address?
  3. Your phone number?
  4. What does the company do?
  5. What is unique about the company?
  6. What big problem does it solve?
  7. How big is the market opportunity?
  8. Where are your headquarters?
  9. What is the size of the company in the next five years? (projected)
  10. What is the actual addressable market?
  11. What percentage of the market do you plan to acquire over the next five years?
  12. How did you arrive at the sales of your industry and its growth rate?
  13. Why does your company have high growth potential?

The founders & the core team

  1. Names?
  2. What relevant domain experience does the team have?
  3. What key additions to the team are needed in the short term?
  4. Why is the team uniquely capable to execute the company’s business plan?
  5. How many employees do you have?
  6. What motivates the founders?
  7. How do you plan to scale the team in the next 12 months?

The product

  1. Why do users care about your product or service?
  2. What are the major product milestones?
  3. What are the key differentiated features of your product or service?
  4. What have you learned from early versions of the product or service?
  5. What are the two or three key features you plan to add in the next quarter?

Competitors

  1. Who are the company’s competitors?
    (There is no such thing as a business without competitors, sometimes it is the traditional aid sector.)
  2. What gives your company a competitive advantage?
  3. What advantages does your competition have over you?
  4. Compared to your competition, how do you compete with respect to price, features, and performance?
  5. What are the industry barriers to entry?

Marketing & customer acquisition

  1. How does the company market or plan to market its products or services?
  2. What is the company’s PR strategy?
  3. What is the company’s social media strategy?
  4. What is the cost of customer acquisition (CAC)?
  5. What is the projected lifetime value (LTV) of a customer?
  6. What advertising will you be doing?
  7. What is the typical sales cycle between initial customer contact & closing of a sale? This question is required.
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Risk

  1. What do you see are the principal risks to the business?
  2. What legal risks do you have?
  3. Do you have any regulatory risks?
  4. Are there any product liability risks?

Payback

  1. What is the likely exit strategy?
  2. When do you see the exit happening?
  3. Who will be the likely acquirers?
  4. How will the valuation of an exit be determined given market comparables?

IP

  1. What key intellectual property does the company have (patents, patents pending, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, domain names)?
  2. What comfort do you have that the company’s intellectual property does not violate the rights of a third party?
  3. How was the company’s intellectual property developed?
  4. Would any prior employers of a team member have a potential claim to the company’s intellectual property?

Numbers

  1. What are the company’s three-year projections?
  2. What are the key assumptions underlying your projections?
  3. What future equity or debt financing will be necessary?
  4. When will the company get to profitability?
  5. How much burn will occur until the company gets to profitability?
  6. What are the factors that limit faster growth?
  7. What are the key financial metrics that the management team focuses on?