Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I've been on the road trying to define the future of Prisma Honduras. We've come to the 2nd phase of our development and learning curve when we have to consider bringing on new partners or going it alone. We were very fortunate to receive an unsolicited offer to partner with a very strong and well-known organization in El Salvador.
I went immediately down to San Salvador to meet the management and see the operations. All wasn't perfect, but it was a positive step into the future. We agreed to meet again in a few weeks in Honduras. Time for them to meet and observe Prisma's operations.
Then we entered into hard negotiations. This is always tough when trying to fuse 2 organizations with different styles of management and purposes. Usually the larger and stronger one will prevail. In our case, that was in the cards.
Two of our biggest concerns were: 1) what would happen to our employees? and 2) would we be forced to stop serving the poorest of the poor in Honduras? The answers were both very unfavorable if we did the deal.
I've always followed the philosophy that you don't necessarily have to be big and dominant to be a strong company. What's wrong with being small, offering quality products and services to clients, and still be profitable? I've been in the business for over 3 decades and have seen both. Big for the sake of being big and a big ego booster for management do not a strong and agile company make.
In the US, small credit unions and micro-finance institutions aspire to be like big, strong, well-run, efficient credit unions. They do not aspire to be big banks. In Central America where there are no equivalent models of said credit unions, the model to aspire to is a large, multi-branch bank with lots of marble and mahogany wood, and oodles of minions all with titles. Clients then think that the institution is safe and secure. It's a cultural thing that we're constantly fighting.
Where does this all lead to? Time to pull out our "PLAN B" based on going-it-alone for a few more years VS the OFFER.
Comments