SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS
There difference between a consortium and partnership is that a partnership is created when two or more people work together with a view to making a profit. The problem with a legal partnership is that partners are jointly and separately responsible for all the partnership’s debts and liabilities. This means that a creditor can sue the more affluent partner, recover its claim, and leave the partner to try and recover the appropriate share of the debt from the other partners, whereas in a consortium each party is solely responsible for its own debts and liabilities. An excerpt from My Success, Your Success: Top Tips from South African Women Entrepreneurs, Jane Notten makes a note on WIPHOLD: “They put their heads together and decided that, with their collective experience, they could launch an investment company that could take advantage of the new economic climate. Together they raised R500 000 of seed capital and set about the seemingly daunting prospect of launching such a company. But from the beginning they were thinking of more than just opportunities for themselves. They wanted it to be an investment company that brought wealth, not only to the founders but also to the vast numbers of South African women – black and white – who were then still excluded from the mainstream economy.”
A partnership, on the other hand, is a legal form of business operation between two or more individuals who share management and profits. The government recognises several If you want to work for government, their preferred form of partnership is a joint venture, which involves two or more companiescomingtogetherinbusiness,whereasinpartnership, it’s individuals who join together for a combined venture. But with a joint venture it is two or more companies that come together to overcome business competition. While engaging in partnership, the individuals involved become partners in an organisation for the sake of profit. A joint venture can be termed as a contractual arrangement between two companies, which aims to undertake a specific task and it can be formed for specific purposes. Some companies do it to fund for the development of a particular thing, while others for different skills or experience. Nomsa, 35, started a small stationary suppliers company two years ago but when she got a big tender to supply large quantities, she partnered with a company that had capacity to help deliver more books at certain schools.
Normally, the companies engage in joint ventures, as sometimes it could be quite expensive for undertaking certain ventures like research and development on their own. A joint venture often sounds much like a partnership, but the main difference between a joint venture and partnership is that a joint venture has come together for a specific tender or request for proposal, while a partnership is usually formed between two or more people to run a business for an unlimited period of time. Like any other business, you must be cognisant of the challenges in all forms of business. “Some of these arise from having different groupings, which may not always have a common goal. At first partnerships start with good intentions but may fail because once finances are involved, differences may arise,” Makofane warns in conclusion.
(Joint venture): The two companies merged their mobile phone businesses worldwide set to establish the joint venture, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, in October 1, 2001.
(Joint venture): In 2013, Nokia Corporation and Siemens AG entered into an agreement pursuant to which Nokia acquires Siemens’ entire 50% stake in their joint venture
(Consortium): has an equity investment in key sectors in South Africa including industrials, life insurance, banks, oil and gas, real estate, media and basic resources. WDBIH’s mandate is to further diversify and grow its portfolio by investing in key strategic sectors in SA.
(Consortium): Women in Oil and Energy South Africa’s first priority is to |facilitate women’s participation in business opportunities in the oil, gas and energy sector South Africa.