Level 12 · Part 4
Pace, cash and capital
Grow at the speed your cash, quality and people can carry.
Fast growth uses cash first and pays back later. More orders mean buying more materials, paying more wages and waiting longer for payment, all before the new income arrives.
- Rebuild your four-week cash-flow plan (Level 10) with the larger numbers before you commit.
- Prefer to grow from your own earnings and savings where you can, in steps you can reverse.
- Consider outside money only after the basics are solid, and ask for the full cost in writing. Compare providers, prefer regulated ones and borrow only what you can repay in a slow season.
- Watch the numbers that matter: cost per unit, margin, cash, complaints, waste and late payments.
- Slow down or pause if quality drops, cash gets tight or people are overloaded.
- Look for advice and support from your cooperative, local agriculture office or development programmes, such as tools like FAO's RuralInvest toolkit for preparing a clear proposal.
Do not let growth hide a problem
A rise in sales can hide losses on each unit. Check that each sale earns more than it costs before you push for more.
Exercise 12.4 · My twelve-month growth plan
- Write your growth step in one sentence and your first three actions.
- Redo your cash-flow plan with the new volumes and mark where cash could run short.
- Write the five numbers you will watch every month and the level at which you will slow down.
- Write who you will ask for advice and how often you will review the plan.
Background reading for this part:
- Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) — International Labour Organization (ILO)
- RuralInvest: Fostering Access to Finance for Small-scale Entrepreneurs — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)