Is your organization prepared for emerging risks and opportunities?
Are changes in your operating environment affecting your organization’s performance, competitiveness or sustainability?
Do you have the evidence and strategic intelligence needed to anticipate change, assess its implications and make informed decisions?
Are you looking to boost risk management and crisis mitigation?
Magate Wildhorse Ltd., provides Environmental Scan and Strategic Intelligence Solutions to help organizations understand their changing environments, identify emerging risks and opportunities, and develop informed strategic responses.
Our Approach
We use an evidence-informed, participatory, collaborative and systems-based approach, integrating research, analysis and stakeholder engagement.
Our methodology builds upon and expands the traditional PESTLE framework according to the organization, sector and strategic questions being examined. We apply qualitative and quantitative research, interviews, surveys, consultations and facilitated discussions as appropriate.
Our Environmental Scans Include:
Demographic trends: Population growth, aging, migration, workforce composition and implications for services, markets and organizational priorities.
Policy developments and political-legal pressures: Government priorities, legislation, regulations, political changes and their implications for mandates, compliance and operations.
Macroeconomic conditions: Inflation, interest rates, employment, economic growth, fiscal conditions and implications for costs, investment and sustainability.
Socio-cultural influences: Changing values, behaviours, cultural expectations, equity considerations and community needs affecting stakeholder relationships and service delivery.
Technological developments: Artificial intelligence, automation, digital transformation, emerging technologies and opportunities for innovation, efficiency and adaptation.
Global trade and international developments: Geopolitical shifts, trade agreements, tariffs, supply chains and international market developments affecting competitiveness and resilience.
Funding models: Government funding, grants, philanthropy, donor priorities, earned revenue and emerging financing mechanisms affecting financial sustainability.
Sector transformation: Structural changes, reforms, emerging challenges and evolving service delivery models reshaping organizational operating environments.
Jurisdictional comparisons: Comparing policies, regulations, institutional arrangements and strategies across jurisdictions to identify transferable lessons and strategic alternatives.
Competitor and comparator analysis: Examining organizational strategies, capabilities, positioning and performance to identify gaps, competitive pressures and improvement opportunities. Understanding how comparable organizations are positioning themselves, delivering services or responding to change.
Leading and emerging practices: Identifying effective approaches, innovative models and promising practices to support organizational learning, innovation and improvement.
From Environmental Intelligence to Strategic Decisions
Environmental scanning goes beyond collecting information. We help organizations understand what is changing, why it matters, how developments may affect their strategic direction and what responses are needed.
Our analysis connects external developments with organizational capabilities to inform strategic priorities, risk management and feasible responses.
Make better strategic decisions with evidence, insight and a deeper understanding of your operating environment.
Does Your Organization Understand Its Current Position?
Is your organization struggling to achieve its goals, experiencing operational inefficiencies, facing resource constraints, or preparing for strategic change?
Are you confident that your organizational structures, systems, processes, capabilities and resources are aligned with your mission and strategic priorities?
Magate Wildhorse Ltd. can help you find the answers.
We help organizations assess their current state, including organizational performance, internal capabilities, resources, structures, systems, processes, culture, stakeholder relationships and external operating conditions.
How We Help
We help organizations gain an evidence-based understanding of organizational performance, capacity and readiness for strategic change.
Our organizational assessment solutions combine established assessment frameworks with research, analysis and stakeholder engagement. Depending on your organization’s needs, our approach may include:
Organizational performance assessment: Examining effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and financial viability.
Organizational capacity assessment: Reviewing leadership, governance, human resources, technical capabilities, financial resources, systems and organizational culture.
Stakeholder analysis and engagement: Understanding stakeholder needs, expectations, relationships and their implications for organizational performance.
External environmental assessment: Identifying political, economic, social, technological, regulatory and other developments affecting your organization.
Competitor analysis: Examining competing organizations, their strengths, capabilities, services, positioning and strategies. Understanding the competitive environment helps your organization identify its comparative advantages, service gaps, opportunities for differentiation, potential partnerships and threats to its sustainability and growth.
Gap and risk analysis: Identifying weaknesses, performance gaps, organizational vulnerabilities and barriers to achieving strategic objectives.
We use appropriate combinations of document reviews, interviews, surveys, facilitated discussions, performance analysis, organizational assessment frameworks and diagnostic tools to develop a credible understanding of your organization’s current position.
From Assessment to Action
An organizational assessment should do more than identify problems.
Magate Wildhorse analyzes and validates findings to identify organizational strengths, weaknesses, gaps, risks and opportunities. We translate the evidence into practical recommendations that support:
Better-informed strategic decisions and priorities.
Improved organizational performance and operational efficiency.
Stronger governance and institutional capacity.
More effective allocation of resources.
Greater responsiveness to stakeholder needs and changes in the operating environment.
Realistic strategic planning and organizational improvement.
Whether you need a comprehensive organizational assessment, a focused current-state assessment to inform strategic planning, or an assessment to guide institutional strengthening, Magate Wildhorse can help you move from understanding your current position to making informed decisions about your future.
Ready to understand where your organization stands and what needs to improve?
Contact Magate Wildhorse Ltd. to discuss your organizational assessment needs.
Is your nonprofit facing resource constraints, operational challenges or increasing demands?
Magate Wildhorse Ltd. offers discounted organizational assessment solutions for small nonprofits, helping you identify strengths, gaps, risks and opportunities, and develop practical recommendations for improving performance and sustainability.
Our focused assessments are tailored to your organization’s needs, priorities and resources.
Building an evidence-based understanding of organizational performance, capacity and readiness for strategic change.
A strategic plan must be grounded in an accurate understanding of the organization it is intended to guide. Ambitious goals alone do not establish whether an organization has the capacity, resources, systems or readiness to deliver them. Organizational assessments and current-state assessments provide evidence that helps leaders make realistic strategic choices.
Although related, these assessments are not interchangeable. Their scope and purpose differ.
Understanding the Distinction
An organizational assessment is a comprehensive examination of an organization’s performance, capacities and functioning. It can consider governance, leadership, organizational culture, management practices, technical capabilities, financial viability, operating systems and relationships with the external environment. Its applications extend beyond strategic planning to institutional strengthening, organizational development and performance improvement.
A current-state assessment conducted for strategic planning is generally more focused. It establishes a baseline of the organization’s position on matters relevant to the strategic decisions ahead. It may draw selectively on organizational assessment methods, performance evidence, stakeholder perspectives and environmental scanning without examining every dimension of organizational functioning.
In either exercise, the Evaluand—the subject being assessed—is the organization, not individual office holders. Assessing governance and leadership arrangements is not the same as appraising individual board members or executives. The purpose is to understand how organizational functions contribute to results and where improvements are needed.
Four Questions About Organizational Performance
A key reference for Magate Wildhorse Consulting is the Universalia/International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Institutional and Organizational Assessment Framework. It considers organizational performance through four important questions:
Effectiveness: How successfully is the organization fulfilling its mission and achieving intended results?
Efficiency: How well does it use available resources to deliver services and achieve results?
Relevance: Has it adapted to changing needs, stakeholder expectations and conditions in its operating environment?
Financial viability: Can it secure and manage the resources necessary to sustain its work?
The framework also recognizes the influence of organizational capacity, motivation and the external environment. These dimensions help explain not only how an organization is performing but why. The ability to interpret and use assessment results is essential to achieving improvements.
Frameworks and Tools That Deepen the Diagnosis
No single instrument captures every dimension of organizational performance. Magate Wildhorse draws on established approaches, selecting tools according to the assessment’s purpose and the organization’s context.
Universalia/IDRC Institutional and Organizational Assessment Framework: Supports an integrated assessment of performance and its underlying influences.
McKinsey Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool (OCAT): Supports structured consideration of organizational capacities, strengths and areas for development.
McKinsey 7-S Framework: Examines alignment among strategy, structure, systems, shared values, skills, style and staff. A strategy may be sound but difficult to implement when these elements are misaligned.
Governing Good Board Self-Evaluation Questionnaire: Supports reflection on governance practices, board effectiveness and opportunities to strengthen oversight and strategic stewardship.
TCC Group’s Core Capacity Assessment Tool (CCAT): Identifies leadership, adaptive, management and technical capacities, alongside organizational culture. Magate Wildhorse draws on selected questions relating to these dimensions when assessing organizational leadership, board-related practices and capacity. Using selected questions does not mean administering the full CCAT instrument.
Other methods may include document and policy reviews, interviews, surveys, facilitated discussions, stakeholder analysis, process mapping, SWOT analysis, gap analysis, financial review and examination of performance indicators. The choice of methods should follow the assessment questions, not the other way around.
Why the Assessments Matter for Strategic Planning
They establish an evidence-based baseline. Leaders can distinguish demonstrated strengths and constraints from assumptions and compare future performance with an informed starting point.
They reveal strategic capacity gaps. An organization may wish to expand services but lack sufficient staffing, funding, technology or management systems. An assessment makes those limitations visible before commitments are made.
They improve strategic prioritization. Findings help leaders distinguish immediate operational problems from issues that require longer-term strategic responses. They also reveal opportunities to build on existing capabilities.
They strengthen organizational learning and accountability. Evidence about performance, governance and stakeholder needs can support more constructive dialogue about change, provided findings are used to improve the organization rather than assign personal blame.
They connect organizational realities with environmental change. A current-state assessment for strategic planning should consider relevant external developments alongside internal evidence, so that strategic choices respond to both capability and context.
From Evidence to Strategic Choices
A useful assessment does more than catalogue strengths and weaknesses. It examines patterns, tests findings across multiple sources and identifies implications for action.
An example from Magate Wildhorse’s consulting experience illustrates the value of evidence-based assessment. During an organizational assessment, some members expressed the view that the organization’s mission had become outdated. However, the assessment found that the mission remained highly relevant. This finding demonstrated the importance of testing perceptions against evidence before making decisions about an organization’s strategic direction.
The lesson is significant: organizational assessment does not necessarily establish a need to change an organization’s mission. It may instead confirm that the mission remains appropriate while identifying other aspects of organizational performance or capacity that require attention.
Consider also a nonprofit experiencing growing demand for services. An assessment may reveal strong community trust but limited unrestricted funding and overextended staff. A plan promising rapid expansion without addressing those constraints would be unrealistic. A stronger strategy might prioritize funding diversification, operational improvements and partnerships.
These examples demonstrate why assessment findings must be translated into strategic decisions, resource implications, implementation priorities and measures of progress.
A Credible Starting Point
Organizational assessment offers a comprehensive understanding of institutional performance and capacity. A strategically focused current-state assessment provides the targeted baseline needed to inform the next planning cycle. Either can strengthen strategic planning when its scope is appropriate, its evidence is credible and its findings are put to use.
Magate Wildhorse Consulting helps nonprofits, government departments and international development organizations connect organizational assessment, current-state analysis, environmental scanning and stakeholder engagement with evidence-informed, participatory strategic planning. The objective is not simply to produce a plan, but to develop a strategy grounded in organizational reality and capable of guiding meaningful change.
Whether you need a critical friend, specialized expertise, temporary additional capacity or hands-on support to move an assignment forward, Magate Wildhorse can tailor its solutions to the needs of your organization, consulting team or project, including providing backstopping solutions.
Our service offer includes:
Strategy & Corporate Planning — environmental scanning, research, analysis, facilitation preparation, strategy development, plan preparation, implementation and performance monitoring.
Evaluation & Organizational Assessment — evaluation planning, research, data collection/analysis, organizational assessments, performance measurement, reporting and learning.
Government Relations Management Backstopping — research, environmental scanning, stakeholder mapping and analysis, issue monitoring, briefing materials, engagement planning and advocacy-strategy support.
International Development & Market Systems Backstopping — program design and management, market systems research and analysis, monitoring and evaluation, stakeholder engagement and reporting.
Marketing & Research — market research, strategic marketing, communications research and related analysis.
Project/Programme Delivery — an experienced extra pair of hands when a consultant, consulting firm or organization needs additional capacity to complete an assignment.
Available in-person, by remote or hybrid to organizations and consultants in Canada, the Caribbean, the U.S.A, Africa and internationally.
To request a solution fill our service request form below:
Visible minority businesses and visible majority businesses and the industries they serve have been plunged into crisis as a result of SARS-CoV-2.
While some industries and businesses are facing existential challenges, others are booming. Still there are old industries to be resurrected and new ways for bringing those under threat into new or expanded supply chains.
As the pandemic linger and continue to flip economic and social norms practitioners and researchers in trade, business, research, policy and international development must engage and work more closely together for driving rapid adaption, understanding of trends and helping countries to leverage and seize diaspora capital and pathways to new markets.
Economic development clusters, producers of geographical indications (GIs) and creative industry service providers must meet to discuss and plan the way forward.
This session aims to translate high level briefings to actions, policy and strategy directions for Chambers of Commerce and their members ― both established and diaspora entities (various diasporas and chambers).
Participants will be able to share challenges and opportunities with experts; as well as learn from experts. The Roundtable will explore and discuss novel solutions and best practices for keeping sustainable trade, and safe supplies flowing in addition to leveraging diasporas, home and cultural knowledge for diaspora and domestic market economic recovery and growth.
Practitioners in international trade, development and businesses will create their network map and agree novel ways of working together and harvesting best and emergent practices for business and driving international trade while building stronger resilient organizations.
Industry focus: Climate finance, agri-business and foods, high value manufacturing, crafts, fashion, fragrance, healthcare, the creative industries, development consulting, and education
On the agenda, participants will discuss:
Tour of Chamber Economic Impacts and recovery: The impact of COVID-19 on diaspora and established chambers of commerce and their members. What are some new and proposed business models for stronger businesses during and post the coronavirus crisis challenging period and develop robust post-crisis business models?
Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and Technology Adaption: It is clear that technology and its adaption saves human lives as well as businesses. But creating awareness on what and how for SMEs is often at a cost that widens the chasm of access and inequalities. How can Chambers and development organizations work together to make facilitate awareness creation, reskilling and adaption? What resources exist for reducing the barriers of access and cost of adaption?
Diaspora Capital, Economic Development Clusters & Sustainable Development: COVID-19 have left us little choice other than to build trust, collaborate and cooperate. Finding local and global solutions requires that we meet, connect and risk it together for profit and growth.
How can industry clusters, chambers and development professionals collaborate, facilitate capacity building and investment flow for driving innovation that contributes to long-term viability, sustainability and harmonious societies?
Dates and Times
Times are listed as EST [New York, Toronto, Jamaica] the Eastern Caribbean is now one hour ahead of North America and Jamaica
Monday November 16, 2020 – 2:00 – 3:35 PM EST
Tuesday, November 17, 2020 | 10:00 – 11:45 AM EST
Wednesday, November 18, 2020 – 1:00 PM EST – 2:45 PM EST
Friday, November 20, 2020 – 10:00 AM EST – 11:45 AM EST
Brought you by Magate Wildhorse Inc., New York in partnership with Magate Wildhorse Ltd, Toronto, The Community of Practice of Caribbean Immigrant Entrepreneurs (The CoP), Caribbean Diaspora Professional Business Association (CDPBA, and the Pan African Chamber of Commerce.
Revenue and increasing revenue is one of the clearest sign that you and your business are in business when we talk reality.
Join Andrea Livingston-Prince
November 19, 2020
Time: 11:15 AM Toronto, EST | 11:15 Jamaica | 12:15 Eastern Caribbean
Revenue Assurance & Revenue Protection: Principles for Turnaround and Organizational Transformation
What you’ll learn
Methods to identify the way to growth in tough times
Systematic path to turnaround
Models for vulnerable firms and provide hope to founders, team members and leaders
This session, global and local goals:
The workshop is intended to help drive SDGs # 8 ―Decent Work through strong businesses and SDG 11 ― Sustainable Cities and Communities in home and diasporic markets.
This a is utilization-focused session, all levels can comprehend, use, and benefit.
It is suitable to private sector development practitioners, consultants and policy agents, business development actors and entrepreneurs.
“Towards a Policy Framework for Accelerating Caribbean Entrepreneurship at Home and in the Diaspora”.
Join in the entrepreneurs and key stakeholder leg of this discussion — commenced at the premiere edition of the BIDEM International Caribbean Diaspora Entrepreneurs’ Conference and Trade Show, held in Toronto, October 13-15, 2020.
The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export, Canada and the Honourable Audley Shaw, Minister of Investment and Commerce, Jamaica made their contribution to the dialogue during the Minister’s panel.
Entrepreneurs, consultants, political entrepreneurs and the media are now invited to make their contribution to articulating the change we want to see. Changes that will drive the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals and local goals for host and home countries.
Diaspora entrepreneurs in Brooklyn, rest of the USA, all destinations where Caribbeans live outside of their home countries— including other Caribbean Islands and Latin America— are welcome to join us.
Date: Thursday, November 19, 2020 | Time: 7:30 – 9:00 PM EST
Prior registration to participate in this event is required.
Registration Form, click the words Registration Form to register for this and other GEW activities.
Roza is a PhD Candidate in Digital Economy and Sr. Digital Development Consultant at the World Bank Group. She has been actively involved in related work in Africa and have contributed to the agenda of the World Economic Forum. She has conducted research in the areas of using data especially open government data and citizen generated urban data for designing citizen-centric smart sustainable cities. Roza holds an undergraduate degree in Public Relations from Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia in St. Petersburg and a dual master’s degree in Public Administration and International Affairs from Maxwell School of Syracuse University where she was a Fulbright Scholar. Since 2012 she serves as an ICT and Open Data consultant to the World Bank’s Transport and ICT Global Practice. At the World Bank she focuses on Open Government Data and Digital Government projects in over a dozen countries including Tanzania, Mauritius, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, India, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
Why You Cannot Afford to Miss This Event
It is known that local actions by citizens and their contribution to providing data, raising issues as well as contributing to monitoring and evaluation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are crucial to the success in meeting the targets. If we have learnt nothing from the harsh blows of COVID-19 in the BCAME diaspora (Black, Caribbean, Asian and other Minority Ethnic Groups) communities, we have learnt about the importance of not having community data. We have learnt the high price of not having evidence. We have learnt that government cannot generate all the data for supporting plans and policies for effecting the needed transformation in our communities.
We have seen how evidence in the form of videos recordings have helped in the fight against racial injustice the case of George Floyd being among the most notable. But it the data we generate can also help in other ways when it comes to ensuring what matters to you in relation to topics such as social injustice, climate change, mental health, economic inequality, education, entrepreneurship and modern day slavery are included on policy agendas, budgets, action plans, and studies among other. What gets measured gets funded!
Being commitment and having the capacity to generate our own data as entrepreneur communities and diaspora communities will make a significant difference in advancing our progress. Evaluation is said to have the biggest multiplier effect in driving the delivery of the SDGs. It can work for you in making strong strategy plans, programmes, evaluation and delivering the evidence for ensuring your relevance, ensuring your inclusion and participation as well as transparency and accountability.
Businesses and entrepreneurs must also commit to contributing the voluntary national reporting on the SDGs by their cities and countries. Today only a quarter of businesses do so, change has to move from local to global, we must own, participate in and ensure accountability in relation the transformation that is needed by our communities and businesses.
Join us tomorrow learn what, how and the connection to the SDGs from expert Roza Vasileva.
Come ready to ask questions and to seek guidance for improving your programmes in the Q & A session.
The series is grounded in risk intelligence (RI). RI is that process of embracing risks and putting it to work for ensuring your business can survive or thrive during a crisis and beyond. It is also about value creation and protection. About delivering your vision and mission in the face of crisis as well as during the “normal”.
You are invited to join us for series eight in the Outride: COVID 19 Business Threat Seminar.
Edition title: Outride: COVID 19 — Old Markets, New Markets, Different Results
We are now in the action planning and execution phase of this Caribbean diaspora entrepreneurs business continuity initiative which also caters to and welcomes Caribbeans at home, other members of the BAME community as well as mainstream entrepreneurs, development and community service organizations worldwide.
When: June 4, 2020 | Time: 2:00 PM EST | Toronto & New York
Where: Online | Registration detail below
Cost:Free
Featured Sessions include:
Strategic Alliances between GI Producers & Diaspora presented by Massimo Vittori This session addresses the subject of geograhical indicators and international trade.
Massimo Vittori is the Managing Director of oriGIn. He is in charge of the Organization’s strategic planning and overall management. Massimo previously worked as legal advisor at the International Trade Center (ITC) – a technical assistance agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations – where he was in charge of several projects in the field of intellectual property, trade law harmonization, model contacts for SMEs and alternative business dispute resolution mechanisms. Massimo also worked at the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the improvement of developing countries’ investment climate through regulatory reforms.
Following his Bachelor’s degree in international Relations, Massimo obtained a Master’s Degree in International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva and an LL.M. in Intellectual Property at the University of Turin. Massimo regularly delivers seminars on GIs, trademarks, and trade related issues in several European Universities.
The Joy Spot Motivation Talk with Theo Chambers
Theo Chambers, Motivational Speaker and Business Coach Consultant, at CaribAcademy and Co-founder of Positive Tourism News (Jamaica). He is also the author of Theo’s Theory on Marketing and Management Strategies.
COVID 19 and Beyond — The Food Trade (An Overview) by Meegan Scott
10 Steps – to Resilience & Risk Intelligence Competent Assignment (Action, Not a Bag a Mouth!) by Meegan Scott
Meegan Scott, is the Principal at Magate Wildhorse Consulting. For almost two decades Meegan has helped organizational leaders across industries and geographical borders to get better results from their strategy development, planning, and execution processes. She is the founder and owner of Magate Wildhorse Ltd. Her most recent in Caribbean engagements includes Climate Finance Strategy Planning, The First Ever Outsource to the Caribbean Conference (2017), business incubation, and corporate strategy planner to the National Environment and Planning Agency of Jamaica.
Event Rapporteur — Dania Sammott
Dania Sammott, is an experienced Retail Merchandizer and Travel Counsellor. Her experience include serving in the hypermarket sub-sector as well as in retail, pharmacy, food and household departments. She is the Director, Public Relations for the Manchester High Alumni, Toronto, Chapter.
Event features: Joy Spot activity, Mouth and Mind discussion, COVID 19 business community experiences (open mic―diaspora, in Caribbean, other representatives of BAME or mainstream peers), Elevator pitches & network, review of prior topics in context of the assignment and action planning for helping individual businesses (entrepreneurs) get the best from the assignment. It is also aimed at helping those joining the series late to better understand the assignment, plan and execute their pivots.
Email us at magate.wildhorse (at)gmail.com or click here. Copy and paste the following in the subject line and body of your Email “Register me for Outride: COVID 19 — Old Markets, New Markets, Different Results” please include your name.
All attendee must click the join meeting link provided before the start of the meeting to receive your unique log in credentials.
Procurement officers and buyers in search of COVID 19 and other supplies are welcome to participate.
Caribbean producers of geograghical Indicators (GI) are welcome to attend.
Outride: COVID 19 Business Threat Seminar is a global disapora entrepreneurs affair! Leaders of mainstream businesses with an interest in doing business with diaspora entrepreneurs are welcome to register for the match making and networking sessions.
Please note that this event is not just for small and micro-businesses, big businesses and big nonprofits can benefit also.
You can’t spell BAME without the C. The contribution of the Caribbean has been too significant. The impact on the Caribbean community is significant and different BCAME (Black, Caribbean, Asian and Minority Ethnic Groups) #BCAME #BAME
