VPF pro bono project wins Management Consultants Association Award

A team assembled by VPF and Oliver Wyman has won the "Sustainability" category at the Pro Bono Management Consultancy Competition 2013 for its work on the strategy review of portfolio venture, 'Excellent'.

Excellent has been addressing water shortage issues in sub-Saharan drylands with increasing success over the past ten years. It is now looking to expand the reach of its vision to see sand damns transforming millions of lives around the world.

Such an ambitious goal requires a detailed strategy, so VPF brought together a VPF Trustee (social sector veteran Vik Anderson), a VPF Member (Adrian Barrick, Head of European Content at UBM) and a small group of junior management consultants from Oliver Wyman, to work with senior management at Excellent on devising a six year strategy over a period of six months.

CEO Simon Maddrell was hugely appreciating of the project and said that "with the strategy and six-year plan we developed now in place, we have our roadmap to expand our operations to other dry land regions.”

This pro bono project worked because it had a clear deliverable, experienced leadership, and committed, enthusiastic professionals with first rate commercial consulting skills and who bought in to the NGO's vision.

Congratulations to all involved for helping Excellent plot its future trajectory towards empowering millions to access clean water.