016. ‘Mergers and Acquisitions are in the air’: a discussion with two Plan USA NGO leaders who lived to tell the tale

In this interview with Tessie San Martin and Constantin Abarbieritei, CEO and Chief Operating Officer, respectively, at Plan USA, we discuss what lessons they learned in leading two acquisitions and one divestiture.

Quotes:

“If you want to do M&A, you’d better also know how to do divestiture”

“The lack of financial motives, metrics as well as incentive structures, as compared to the private sector, is a real problem in making M&A happen in the NGO sector”

In this stimulating discussion, Tessie and Constantin share their observations:

The impact of the fact that no money changes hands in the case of M&A among NGOs

 

How and at what stage to involve your major funders

 

What happens when organizations wait too long to consider an M&A, and the less than ideal pressure that ‘distress sales’ put upon a merger

 

How the lack of specialized M&A expertise as well as (donor) funding for the costs of considering and managing a Merger or Acquistion act as important barriers

 The ‘dance’ with the two boards and senior leadership teams that are involved

 

How COVID has positioned M&A as a tool for Northern-founded INGOs to reinvent themselves

And how this does not preclude NGOs from also divesting power to the local level (#shiftthepower)

Tessie’s profile:

LinkedIn profile Tessie

Plan USA website

Humentum blog post by Tessie and Constantin about their lessons learned

Constantine’s profile:

Constantine’s LinkedIn profile

Email: [email protected]

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