Another Frequently Asked Question, by Paul Raftery

Frequently at Projects RH and Tabatinga we are shown a project and asked are you big enough to handle this. The client has come to us because they know we have the technical competence and that they as a client reached to us.

My response to the clients inevitably is “we are project managers and as such we will build an appropriate team to undertake and complete the task”. Many come back to me and say “but I want you to do it”. Whilst this is very flattering is often not the best answer for the client. To sustain our business model, we cannot just do one project at a time and we are open with our clients about this.

Starting at university I learned to work in teams. In my first two positions out of uni I worked in teams but at Bank of America they had people from outside the bank join the teams – lawyers, accountants and industry experts. What I learned at Shell was that there were processes and I needed to learn to accept I could not know it all.

Outside experts were embedded in the team and in one case it was for 3 years. What was important was achieving the outcome at the right cost.

Doing the Project

Projects RH and Tabatinga are small niche consultancies which facilitate and link projects with money. In doing this we work within a network of professionals and, like all networks, it comes with layers and preferred relationships.

The first layer; the core team of four, normally found in Sydney. Very close to this is a digital marketing and presentations group based in Cali, Colombia.

The third layer is a further four people who mostly work out of our office in Sydney and are in day-to-day contact with us.

The fourth layer is almost a preferred supplier who offer us specialist skills which he could not possibly hope to maintain in-house on a full-time basis and remain cost-effective. This group include technical engineering, actuaries and commercial lawyers, but to name a few. In addition, at this level we have market specialists, who are located in relevant market centres including Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Bogotá, Mumbai and Miami. We now also have strategic partners in Hong Kong and India.

Given the diverse nature of what we see, and asked to advise on all work with, we do need industry specialists in mining, oil, gas, construction…

Who, Not Size

In meeting the needs of the client, Projects RH and Tabatinga form business teams often including experts from the client. What is critical, is the attitude of the people to their role in the team. All need to be open, collaborative and authentic. We need a star team rather than a team of stars.

In choosing what we do, rather than having all the participants in the team attend meetings, we appoint a Project Control Group (PCG) -this needs to be lean and functional- that acts as a point of accountability. I prefer to see the lead client chair this group and for it to meet for an hour once a week. Such meetings need not be physical given the global nature of our business often can’t be.

Each of the activities needed to complete the project are the responsibility of a member of the PCG.  This does not mean that the member of the PCG needs to undertake the activity; rather, that they are responsible for it being undertaken according to the agreed timetable and to budget.

The team should not be so large that accountability is lost, nor so small that they lack the skills and experience necessary to complete the task.

Both at Projects RH and Tabatinga we see a number of early stage companies, including tech driven start-ups, which are led by highly entrepreneurial people but unfortunately many at don’t have the money to go and hire the required staff will team. Real start-ups, as opposed to spin-offs, often lack business acumen and, whilst driven by highly enthusiastic founder or founder group, they find it difficult to accept the guidance of others, including investors.

Strategic Alliances

To ensure that we have workable teams we do have formal and informal strategic alliances.  If banks and resources companies can work with their “competitors” so can we – and we do.

Our strategic partners in Hong Kong, India and Colombia are on the ground and have day-to-day contact with local people.

Investment Visa Assistance as a case study

Given the nature of our investment migration visa assistance business we do have formal strategic alliances and this is a good reason for this. The investment visa process is not to be undertaken lightly and should be done based on the formal advice of authorised migration agent or lawyer. It is not our role to convince the client that this is something that they should do. Where a client approaches us with this idea, we actually refer them to a party with our strategic alliance network and request that they formally assess the party as a candidate for an investment visa and recommend that this the best course for them.

The investment visa process is, frankly, a process. Although there are several categories and subcategories from applications, most follow the same process and require the same sets of skills:

• There is a need for a technical report confirming that the client is a candidate for investment Visa – this needs to be prepared by a migration agent or lawyer.
• A project needs to be identified and developed. This process may include finding a suitable business for acquisition.
• A formal business plan is required and we have chosen to outsource this to a strategic partner who writes over 200 business plans per annum and has a wide national presence.
• Having received the business plan, a formal financial model is prepared.
• Armed with the financial model and information memorandum is prepared.
• With the assistance of a registered investment adviser discussions are commenced with a suitable fund which is a member of the Australian Investment Council (AIC) and whose investments qualify under the legislation as venture capital. Such a fund will be asked to make an investment commitment.
• A pitch deck (slide presentation pack) is then prepared.
• With all the papers at hand, finally a one-page summary is prepared of the investment opportunity.
• The AIC member is then asked to make a formal commitment to the investment.
• Then a migration agent or lawyer then makes a formal submission to the relevant State or Territory government seeking support for the applicant.
• Having gained the support of the State or Territory government the migration agent or lawyer then submits the application to the Australian Department Home Affairs.
• Following the granting of approval, we introduce the client to specialist legal, accounting and tax advisers to ensure that the new investment entity this established appropriately and is mentored on its journey.

What is critical is: we know and trust our strategic alliance partners and we have agreed with them what their charges will be for the delivery of the service. This enables us to tell the client what the fee for the service will be.  Given that the investment migration path is so structured is much easier to identify time required and costs than our other client areas.

So, does size really matter?

At Projects RH and Tabatinga we really don’t think it matters how big your consultant is, the question is: “can they bring the relevant expertise to the table and an affordable cost?” We pride ourselves at doing just that.