Plan Padrinos – International
Fast facts:
Objective:
Improve overall competitiveness of emerging market SMEs given their important contribution to the overall economy
Duration:Â
5 weeks: 4 weeks remotely* / 1 week field visit
*: EMI consulting initiatives only require a mÃnimum of 1 week in Colombia for plan implementation. The first 4 weeks are flexible in that they can be done remotely or in Colombia. However, volunteers would be fully responsible for traveling/living expens
Context:
Plan Padrinos, the consulting initiative with the most history and impact at EMI, seeks to ensure bottom-up economic development by providing a free-of-charge service to small Colombian firms with limited resources.  The approach taken is comprehensive as all business areas and operations are evaluated to obtain a holistic view of the client company’s situation to-date.
As mentioned previously, in Colombia, SMEs compose as much as 96% of existing businesses in Colombia, employ nearly 80% percent of its workforce, yet contribute a mear 40% of the countryÂ’s Gross Domestic Product. This initiative, the first version of which was created in 1998, has now impacted well over 2000 different SMEs in Colombia so far.
The program:
Plan Padrinos measures client SMEs across 12 business areas:
- Innovation
- Marketing and Sales
- Strategy
- Operations
- Finances
- Environmental Impact
- Internationalization
- Human Resources
- Legal Framework
- Family Business (protocols)
- Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs)
- Logistics Management
Upon identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the client company, consultants choose one specific area (and up to 3 supplementary areas) to address and improve. Formulating proposals prior to arrival to Colombia is crucial to be able to take full advantage of the limited time consultants will have in-country to work with management to put the company on track to full implementation.
Working hand-in-hand with management, consultants will determine, with practicality, timeframes, resources needed, and delegation of responsibility for implementation to corresponding personnel and departments.