The Why
“I believe in you” – four words that form the bedrock of human development. Every human being measures success from the time someone said this to him. These words of encouragement and commitment spoken by a parent to a child, a teacher to a student, a banker to a businessman are often the launching pad for success in opportunity. As these words touch the soul, it can move us to do the same for others and pay it forward.
Elevating human endeavor with this statement is the foundation of The Angel Alliance Fund and offers you the opportunity to utter these words across oceans, time zones and generations to business owners worldwide. Throughout the world there is business opportunity for entrepreneurs. However, for small and medium enterprises struggling for foothold in this economy, cost of financing continues to be a challenge and when available can be at a very high cost. At the developed business level, investors have flooded in to mobilize financial resources, extract natural resources, exploit human resources and invest in infrastructure to advance these initiatives. What is being left behind or even missing is many situations is the investment in very small but growing businesses. Access to credit for working capital continues to be a very important missing link to small operators.
The Angel Alliance Fund (TAAF)
Vision
TAAF is established to provide very small, but strategically targeted micro loans to emerging individually owned businesses in specific sectors and on a reasonable but time limited basis. Distributing funds to business at a critical juncture This will be for a limited startup resource to qualified candidates and as well to already established individuals in the market in need of an injection of working capital to acquire the next level of business success. Our focus will be on developing and/or strengthening the supply chain of existing developed, clean water products and services. These clean water products enhance individuals and their families and are applicable to any clean water purpose/need (i.e agricultural, food service, medical, education). The main sectors we are targeting are business supply and distribution to critical need areas throughout developing Africa, Latin America and Asia.
We believe this assistance advances our two core principles – “I believe in You, pay it forward”.
“As the candidates receive, we want to empower them to look for similar opportunity in their future business ventures.”
The Angel Alliance Fund
Mission of TAAF
To mobilize and distribute investment funds to be used to serve as a catalyst for business growth. To develop and instill the concept of – “I believe in You, pay it forward” – as key factor in extending the resources.
Implementation / Methodology
We will identify established individuals and businesses to inject capital in the form of purchased inventory for three successive cycles. Funds will not flow directly to the business owner. Rather, funds will flow to the existing supplier network in place – Business Connect – who then service the small business owner. Funds invested into Connect For Water/TAAF are used to finance and implement global product placement.
Methodology for determining sufficient market penetration will be negotiated between TAAF and our funding conduit partners. It will be the responsibility of the conduit partners to vet and advance individual business owners based on history of business performance and their assessment of success potential. In all cases, significant history and successful commitment will be in place prior to any funds advancement.
TAAF Financial Team
The financial team of TAAF have over 50 years combined experience working with business owners all over the world serving as directors, board members, advisors, trainers, coaches and marketing agents. They are uniquely positioned to successfully manage this enterprise.
This is a team of volunteers working under that banner of Connect For Water (C4W). A social impact not-for-profit founded on the belief that there is a clear path to help people throughout the world address their safe water needs. This path, based on our years of experience, focuses on improving local access to water treatment solutions, so local people can easily get what they need to improve their lives through clean water.
501(c)3 Status (Tax Deduction)
C4W is a non-profit organized in February 2018
. Application for tax-exempt 501(c)3 status began shortly thereafter. The IRS takes 3-8 months to approve tax-exempt status under 501(c)3 statutes.
During the PENDING APPROVAL process C4W may receive donations. When the 501(c)3 status is granted, the donations will be tax deductible.
The Board of Directors at C4W is committed to transparency and to acquiring the 501(c)3 status to bring clean water to those in need.
If you have any questions consult this document from the IRS or contact us directly at [email protected]
Success Stories
TAAF is not simply a vague idea. It has history and track record. Since the early stages of this idea, while at that time it may not have been as defined as what we are presenting today, the principles of – I believe in you, pay it forward – have always borne fruit. Whether it be in Asia, Africa or Latin America an investment into TAAF brings positive results.
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Fitah’s Story Fitah, a young man from Madagascar in his upper 20’s studied music in the US before going back home to teach it. He realized a couple years into running his music institute that he wanted to do more to help the people of his country. After getting introduced to Business Connect’s Africa Director through a mutual colleague, Fitah and a couple business partners put together a plan for marketing water filters to NGOs working all over Madagascar and selling them to individuals in the capital city. The one big thing that was lacking was seed capital to buy the initial inventory to get the business off the ground. With an investor funded loan through C4W/Business Connect, Fitah and his partners were able to procure an initial shipment of Clarity and Village water filters. They have utilized some local marketing students to help develop sales strategies and have been busy implementing those ideas over the last 6 months. The road hasn’t been smooth or easy, but they have learned a lot about what does and doesn’t work. Fitah has been able to set up a small business to give back to the people of Madagascar because of the generosity of investors and donors in the US who see the benefit of creating businesses as a way of delivering aid and hope around the world. The initial funding is being paid back to C4W/Business Connect as products are sold, in order to enable this to be replicated elsewhere in the world.________________________________________________
A Tale of Better Things Cosas Mejores para su Vida, S.A. (Better Things for your Life, Inc. – in English) sought to help the people of Guatemala. Their management team was involved in various social service projects and were in need of a clean water solution. The Business Connect entered into their arena. At the start they were looking for a simple pay as you go solution for the projects they were involved with. Then the need flipped. Other programs saw what they were doing and began asking for clean water solutions as well, their projects grew to a volume which required investment to meet the demand. Investment funding was made available through the C4W/Business Connect team. These funds have been consistently paid back and more product continues to be sold through this business venture in Latin America because of the capital they have had access to. They are now part of a larger cooperative supporting 30 employees in a sustainable business model.The Exit Strategy and/or The Elimination of Dependence
TAAF is specific and strategic in the injection of resource capital. This is not a handout. It is a hand-up. Funds are expected to be returned to us after the individual business has transitioned on the road to success. We advocate the principle “Pay it Forward.” Successful recipients of our program are expected to respond to our investment by identifying other businesses with similar needs and provide complimentary resources on the same or similar basis. No return on investment will return to any of its partner/investors. The hope is to grow this fund and place more opportunity throughout the globe.
Governance
As much as possible due diligence will be completed to ensure ownership of both the businesses serving as conduits for our funds and the individual businesses served. While tracking ownership documents is not always possible, it will be the responsibility of our implementing business partners to ensure resources are properly tracked and reported back to TAAF. All continuance of fund disbursement is dependent on receiving timely and accurate reports on previous fund placements.
TAAF is being initiated by the board of Connect For Water. It is our responsibility to ensure integrity of funds accounting. A small advisory committee made up of interested parties will be established in the first quarter of 2019 to ensure both accountability and continuity of these efforts.
90% of funds committed by investors will flow to the designated businesses. 10% will be held to cover costs associated with managing the funds, including banking transaction fees, legal and accounting fees, some travel expenses, etc. These percentages will shift over time with the objective of 95/5% distribution being the goal. The founders will serve as unpaid directors of the fund.
We invite you to invest in the lives of others by making a contribution to The Angel Alliance Fund.
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