Mid-February I was on a working visit to India. With my Indian colleague Supriya Kapoor, I worked with Women on Wings business partners Wingreens Farms and Swornajyoti. Both organizations show considerable growth and had a need for sound financial management to support their professional growth.
Financial story
To attract investors, Wingreens Farms needed a ‘financial story’, supported by sound facts & figures. Anju Srivastava, CEO of Wingreens Farms needed a professional financial administration. With the right facts and figures, Wingreens Farms can monitor and manage the tremendous growth of its business in a responsible manner.
Administration
Wingreens Farms hired a financial assistant after the last working visit in September 2014. With him we discussed in detail how to organize the administration, along with the accountants of Wingreens Farms. With Anju Srivastava we looked at what financial information Wingreens Farms needs in order to achieve the aimed growth.
From jammed traffic to no traffic jams
I worked at Wingreens Farms’ office in jammed ‘metro city’ Gurgaon. To cross the main road is challenging, to say the least… But I was lucky to work on two assignments. After four days in Gurgaon, Supriya and I travelled to Bhubaneswar to work with Swornajyoti. Bhubaneswar is the capital of the State Odisha and hardly had any traffic jams!
Upscaling
Swornajyoti is a cooperative of 5,600 Indian women who keep poultry. The women are quite successful in selling their chickens and eggs on the local market. So Swornajyoti aims for growth. But the question is: how? Growth by simply expanding the number of female farmers? Or what will be the effect of scaling up the current production with regards to new job opportunities? And, what are the consequences of the different scenarios for the organization itself?
Forecasting
With the CEO’s of the cooperatives, we made financial forecasts based on the available figures. The discussions that followed not only provided a good insight in the possible growth scenario’s. Sharing experiences and best practices, also helped in managing expectations. From now on, the CEO’s will discuss the forecasts every month so they can act upon the progress accordingly. It’s important they work on the realization of the growth together. The story behind the numbers is equally important.
I look back at a challenging but also very inspiring work trip. The passion of Indian women is contagious. It is really great to be able to contribute with something ‘small’ like sharing my knowledge. It’s wonderful that I can support Wingreens Farms and Swornajyoti in their growth!
Anita Joosten
