7 Things To Look Out For When Choosing A Business Partner
Many business owners wonder why they need a business partner. Your business is your brainchild and like every natural child, it will require adequate nurturing to grow. If you own an SME in Africa, you must be willing to give your undaunted commitment for your business to thrive. As a result, you will need to find a partner that will have the same level of commitment and passion towards your brainchild.
You must be willing to take finding a partner as seriously as anyone would when looking for a life partner.
In this post, we will take a look at 7 things you should look out for when choosing a business partner.
Who Is A Business Partner?
To adequately understand who a business partner is, you will need to understand what a business partnership means. Partnership in business involves two or more individuals or parties having a legal agreement to manage and/or operate a business, thereby sharing its profits.
Typically, business partners invest their money and other resources in a business, hence, making them part-owners of your business. They enjoy the profits and take part in the losses of the business together.
There are several reasons why finding the perfect partner is a no-brainer for any SME in Africa. The most significant reason is that it provides the extra resources (whether financial, intellectual or relationship) your business needs to thrive. However, working with the wrong partner can truncate the growth of any SME in Africa.
This highlights the need to invest all you can to ensure that you only partner with the right person towards the success of your business.
7 Attributes Of The Perfect Business Partner
Here are 7 things that you should look out for when choosing a business partner:
1. Complementary Skills:
The first process in choosing a partner is identifying your strengths and weaknesses. This will help steer you towards the business partner that will complement your skillset. This is the most significant thing every owner of an SME in Africa should look out for.
Many business owners want to only partner with people that think and act like themselves. They feel more comfortable with working with a clone of themselves. However, for your business to thrive you need a business partner that will complement (not contrast) your skillset. This implies that you should go for someone whose strengths are your weaknesses.
2. Passionate:
For your business to thrive, you will need to find a partner that shares the same level of passion about it as yourself. Passion determines motivation, hence, influencing commitment. The passion of your business partner will determine whether they will be as hardworking as you are or not.
A passionate business partner will be willing to give whatever it would take to achieve the business goals. Passion will help you differentiate the perfect business partner from the one that will only come up with excuses. A passionate business partner will make your business one of their main priorities.
3. Reliable:
Aside from being passionate about your business, the next thing you should look out for when choosing a partner is reliability. Irrespective of how enthusiastic they may appear, you will need to make some research to find out if you can depend on them.
One of the ways to identify whether you can rely on a business partner or not is by paying attention to their previous job or business experience. Ask questions about their experiences. Their response will help you identify if they are reliable or not.
4. Ability To Build Significant Relationships:
Networking plays a significant role in the success of any SME in Africa. For your business to grow, you will need to develop an extensive network of industry influencers, investors, and potential customers.
Your business will grow faster when you grow your professional and social circle. Hence, the need to choose a partner that is well-connected across your field. Furthermore, you should make sure that your business partner can build relationships and loves doing so.
5. Approachable:
When looking out for a business partner, you should go for someone that you can talk to about almost everything related to your business. Failure to do this often causes issues to fester between both parties as time goes by.
Not being able to communicate freely with your partner can cause simple issues to pile up until you both reach the breaking point where you start lashing out at each other. This is one of the ways that resentment creeps into businesses and once it creeps in, the business will begin to experience a downward spiral.
Go for a partner that has an approachable demeanor- someone that is always willing to listen to what you have to say.
6. Creative Mind:
Innovation is one of the pillars of any successful SME in Africa. So, your partner has to be able to come up with new and original ideas now and then. Creative or innovative ideas help differentiate your business products or services from their competitors. Your partner must be able to think outside the box to bring fresh and original innovative ideas.
7. Financial Stability:
Only choose a financially stable partner. A lot of businesses crash because of money-related issues. Also, it is one of the most common sources of contention between business partners.
A partner that has poor personal financial management skills will most likely not be able to manage the finances of your business. Furthermore, such a person would only be concerned about what they can get out of your company rather than what they can get in it.
Conclusion
Although the perfect business partner can help to take any SME in Africa to new heights, a wrong one can lead it to an early grave. So, if you have decided that you need a business partner or partners, you should make sure that you are getting someone that has what it takes to help you achieve your business goals. Paying attention to the tips above will help you identify such persons.
