During a pandemic is due diligence essential?
Igwehi
Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person takes before engaging in business transactions. It appears that life would not return to as we know it before Covid19.
SMEs business’s partners, vendors, suppliers, employees and associates may have been affected somewhat by Coronavirus. Sources of raw materials, distribution channels and technical supports may suffer disruptions. How do SMEs minimise uncertainties?
SMEs will evolve new mechanisms to allocate scarce resources in the months and years ahead. As they deal with employees, associates, vendors, partners and foreign countries’ risks.
The examination of these relationships is contingent on the extent to which society is able to reboot. The impacts of Covid19 are profound and far reaching, in some cases catastrophic in many countries.
At IGWEHI Transatlantic UK; we have developed 50 data-elements which help SMEs business leaders to deal with these uncertainties. We assist SMEs to conduct Due Diligence within timescales, budget, and agreed milestones. The data elements include people, vendors, distribution channels, financial and technical metrics. For instance, if a supplier of a major raw material goes bankrupt; what are you going to do?
Most SMEs use partners in the downstream of their businesses to push products. Will these partners be able to deliver on agreed terms? If they are unable to meet their obligations – what are the risks? The response may be reactive. We believe, SMEs should be proactive by conducting due diligence as risk mitigation measure. Selecting new partners, new raw materials, exploring vertical or horizontal integration, acquisitions, entering new markets, developing new products or starting new projects are timing consuming and requires expertise to get it right. Some SMEs may not have the resources to employ legacy firms or have enough in-house resources to carry out due diligence.
IGWEHI Transatlantic UK structures her Due Diligence offering into 5 major categories to meet the needs of SMEs. We use many metrics to perform due diligence; whether it is basic corporate record validation financial health-check; regulatory & compliance; analysing management capacity; or market intelligence, we services are budget friendly.
The outputs from our assessments include corporate structure & general matters, controls, taxes & compliance, strategic fit, intellectual property, assets & material, legal contracts & litigations, employees & management, financial and technical health report.
Wilson Akhator-Eneka (FMVA, MBA, MSc, FCA)
Tel: +44 7367 507550, Email: wilson.ae@igwehi.uk