Business Operations: Participant interactions

The community, in its quest to have no poor among its participants, ensures that all have access to essential tools of production that are normally inaccessible in modern economies. The Business Operations Agency plays a key role in this. It provides, on lease, all equipment that participants need in their work.

It also factors inventory and accounts receivable, so that participants access inventory, and have a regular cash flow even when they offer goods and services on credit. In addition, the agency trains participants on the use of equipment and factoring services to optimize their businesses’ performance.

Participants do not own property besides their business and a title to the partnership interest they invest in the community on admission and later, as their stewardship prospers. Here, we illustrate the roles of the agency as it interacts with participants.

Illustration: IT expert

Angela, a divorced mother of two, works as a network engineer at Santa Clara University, where she has been for the last 8 years. After her divorce, she has sole custody though her ex-husband has visitation rights. At the time, they were renting a house in Fremont, where she continued to live after the split.

For years, she observed with passing interest as a NewVistas community was set up in a nearby county. Recently, she came across some adverts on social media inviting applications for subcontractors who have knowledge and experience in networking.

Initial entry process

The application indicated that those who were successful would become limited partners in the community. They would not be employees – they would be contractors, setting up a business. While they would have a 3–year contract with the limited partner who needed help in networking, they were encouraged to sign other contracts with other limited partners as long as their original contract was fulfilled satisfactorily.

Angela considers herself a perfect fit for the opportunity and applied. The application was successful, and after an interview with the recruiting captain, she was informed that she would be joining the community. She quit her job after the initial process – signing a contract, and being formally approved as a limited partner. Thereafter, she moved into the community.

She signed the contract with the limited partner who had put in the request for a networking subcontractor, who also deposited $20,000 in the Capital Bank, indicated as Angela’s investment. Angela’s accounts would also show a loan of $20,000, owed to the limited partner, and recoverable from the consideration paid by the contractor.

Working in the community

As she starts discharging her duties as described in the contract, Angela learns that there is much needed to cover to fully enjoy the benefits of being a participant. She will need to also prepare her two children for life in the community, where they will eventually transition from being her dependents to limited partners in their own right.

To get her up to speed, her captain recommends some courses that cover what the community stands for, its structure, and economy, its approach to business, social life, and the environment, among other details. She undertakes these courses as she continues to service her contract. Her captain also encourages her to consider being a tutor/instructor, which will enable her to become a better network engineer and pass on her skills to other people, all the time while earning additional income. She commits herself to taking some courses on tutoring which will prepare her to deliver her classes, plan the lessons, and understand the particular niche her tutor/instructor business will cover.

The captain constantly checks on her, while the automated system carries out regular assessments to establish her progress. She continues this training until her captain is confident that she is ready.

The Stewardship Agency has a database that helps incoming and existing participants connect and draw up agreements that enable them to work together. Angela’s captain directs her to the website. Soon enough, she approaches a limited partner who also has a network engineering business, services businesses, and community agencies. She will help the engineer to service some of his clients, while still discharging her original contract.

As she works in the community, she has the opportunity to watch first-hand how limited partners handle their stewardships. She is extensively mentored by other limited partners to whom she offers her services, who, by virtue of having spent years in the community, are highly rated by their clients.

Working with more varied clients gives Angela more experience. Besides her networking business, Angela’s tutor/instructor business also takes off, enabling her to interact with other participants and get more insights into community life and the economy.

Taking care of pending business

When she was living and working outside the community, had a car and some household assets. She however did not have a lot of cash in the bank or liquid assets.

Immediately after she joined the community, she started the process of selling off these assets. Some were relatively easy to sell – her car was in good condition, and after s few days in a yard, it was bought. She had bought some of her household items after college, and they were working, but old. Some were recent and in great working condition.

She hired someone to sell all the assets for her. She would pay a commission of 15%, which she deemed fair given how hard it would be to sell some of the stuff. She got her cheque after 5 months, having earned $7,000 from the sale. She deposited this money in her savings account in the Community Bank.

Living and running a business

When Angela moved to the community, she rented an apartment with 4 bed-bath modules – one each for her and her two children, and an extra one to serve as a guestroom. She then sat with her children analyzed their progress so far in the school they had been attending in Santa Clara, and picked courses for them. All the information was available online, with some tutors also being available for in-person consultations on Angela’s best course of action.

She also drew up her life and business plans, which would inform different community agencies’ engagement with her. These plans would enable her to integrate economically and socially and position her well in gaining the benefits of the NewVistas model.

With her business plan, Angela now approaches the Business Operations Agency. She leases any equipment she needs from the agency. The equipment is managed by a contractor on behalf of the agency. The contractor prides himself in delivering requests quickly, and timely maintenance, as well as some training on operation.

Angela has specialized in physical networking, though she also has clients needing virtual networking and other services. She needs some inventory to serve them. Using factoring services, Angela obtains the inventory from the Business Operations Agency. Angela will pay for the inventory, plus interest, at a date agreed upon, based on the turnover and value, as well as the risk associated with it.

Once she has serviced a client, her invoices can be factored, whereby she accesses the invoice money immediately, though a factoring fee is deducted. She is responsible for ensuring the invoice is paid. If the inventory does not move and becomes dead stock, or a client fails to pay up, the agency will recover the factored amount plus interest from Angela’s savings account.

interaction with other agencies

For her personal and business needs, as well as those of her children, Angela rents mules and apps as needed from the transport Agency (agency 23). Based on their needs, they will rent the apps they need. For instance, some of Angela’s clients are in the mirrored industrial blocks. She will need a transport app to carry equipment and some inventory as she walks there, or sometimes use it to move around. When she has assignments in the external resorts, she hires a truck from the Transport Agency.

With the business plan, Angela also leases business space. She secures space in one of the district buildings. Her landlord is the Recreation and Arts Agency, which owns and manages these buildings