Spotlight On

01 Apr Spotlight On

With most organisations there comes a time where one has to reassess past progress in order to determine the journey ahead.  The Allan Gray Association of Fellows is no different and found itself in this exact position a few months ago whilst pondering on a new strategy to drive the organisation forward.  As usual, when tackling any problem a good place to start is by speaking to the end user.  From multiple insights gathered from the Fellows, we learnt a few things about how Fellows feel about the Association.

“only value Fellow entrepreneurs”

“as a Fellow who’s abroad, I feel isolated from Fellow engagement efforts which are always in South Africa”

“if you do not have a business we feel like class-b Fellows”

“association is not really run by Fellows and you can tell”

Given the insights obtained from the Fellows, the Association decided to change its strategy.  At the pinnacle of the underlying strategy is the idea that the Association ought to support all Fellows in their various journeys

Below is a typology that categorises Fellow journeys. Most Fellows are either in the bottom right quadrant where they either do not currently have a business idea/problem to solve or in the top right quadrant where they have a business idea/problem to solve however currently have no intent.  Previously, however, the Association has focused its support structures to cater mainly for the top left quadrant – those Fellows with a business idea and have intent to pursue it.  The problem with that is that one can too easily only focus on the number of businesses being started as opposed to supporting everyone else in their journeys so that they may also get there.

With this intent in mind, the Association has introduced two new portfolios – Capital and Careers – in addition to the Ventures, Community and Leadership portfolios with the aim of creating support structures that will accommodate everyone wherever they may be in their journeys.

 By Jalal, Association Director.