GENERAL STATEMENTS 

Meribah is not a funding or investment company.
Meribah acts on behalf of the Sovereign Royal portfolio and invests in any company or project that fulfills the strategic imperatives set by the Golden Nation Council of a nation.

1. The main criteria is humanitarian aid
2. Benefits to the community in close proximity to the project
3. Sustainability is more important than profits 
4. We do not follow a policy of maximum profitability, often leading to detrimental decisions short-term decisions
5. We follow a policy of serving our support base, but our service is regulated by the same sound business principles for sustainability  

 

BACKGROUND 

Business plans are usually not worth the paper it wastes. 

A Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Plan (STOP) must be prepared by the Project Leader and his/her top management. No professional help from third parties (such as business consultants) is allowed unless indicated for ad hoc specialist work. 

The STOP must display the knowledge and business acumen of those who are about to manage the business. When presenting their STOP, the leader and his/her team will be required to motivate and defend their strategic, tactical, and operational decisions. 

 The STOP is a precursor for the (THINK, DO) Process - the implementation phase. It is much more than writing a conventional business plan. We do not consider an ordinary business plan, once financed, this piece of paper with all its customary assumptions, presumptions, and guesswork is left aside to gather dust. 

Templates for the STOP (THINK, DO) process will be provided once the project has been approved. The leader and his/her team will be guided through all the templates, one by one in the order they are numbered. The introductory file prepares the compilers of the STOP-THINK-DO process for what lies ahead.  

 

The essence of the STOP (THINK, DO) Process

It forces applicants to think through vital decisions they need to take before doing their critically important financial forecasts

Avoid statements that cannot be proven. For every statement, evidence will be required or an explanation of how it will be achieved. 

Cross-referencing between promise and proof will follow down the line. 

This is a (i) living, (ii) works document. It will never be put aside. It is a (iii) policy document, but also an (iv) evaluation and a (v) training tool. It is an active and dynamic document to be used by all decision-makers on all three levels.

 
Deviations from projections are due to off-the-mark Strategic, Tactical or Operational decisions. These will be corrected by Performance Improvement Proposals which show what exactly must be done to bring the project back on track. The Decision Support System will identify Strategic, Tactical, or Operational deviations from the STOP and will provide (i) relevant, (ii) proactive, and (iii) correctly prioritized remedial steps to assist project decision-makers to reach the pre-determined goals set in the STOP. 

 

This document should never leave the desk of decision-makers. It is:

Obliging decision-makers to return to earlier decisions and to adjust the decisions which were taken without the benefit of hindsight.

Preventing failure. The Meribah philosophy does not have a place for failure. Built into the STOP (THINK, DO) Process are all the factors for data needed for the Accelerated Corporate Development Process to follow by using a Multi-disciplinary Customized Decision Support System. 

Explaining why goals have not been reached (if applicable). STOP will vindicate their decisions and actions provided they used the STOP as a living document.

Forming the basis of a Service Level Agreement. It is a contract and commitment that whatever is stated therein will and can realistically be done.  

Forms the core on which investment decisions are based. If the contents are wrong the investment is based on wrong expectations, hence failure and disappointment for all stakeholders are inevitable.   

 

That is why the STD Process reduced to paper is a firm commitment and contract pledging to execute what is projected.
More importantly, it is a declaration that what is written is real (doable).

Understandably, after this process has been satisfactorily completed, Project Leaders are seen as worthy applicants for substantial funding.