Two heads are better than one: Peritum partnering for success
All around us the increasing popularity of partnerships is clearly visible and the reason for this is simple: Two heads are better than one.
Collaborating in business has been proven to create countless benefits, even though risks aren’t excluded. The key to partnering successfully, is to partner with someone who shares the same goal as you – someone you can trust.
At Peritum we are proud to say that our business partners share our goal of designing a workforce fit for the future of sustainable agriculture. Our relationships with established names like John Deere, the RPO (Red Meat Producers Organisation) and Aeres University (in the Netherlands) enables us to continuously renew and innovate our approach to agriculture.
In July 2018 Peritum signed a sponsorship and collaboration agreement with John-Deere Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) – a partnership that has since flourished. Peritum has been John Deere SSA’s training partner for roughly ten years, developing practical agricultural training programmes for farmers, with a specific focus on practical skills development for the unique African farming conditions.
“Part of this agreement is that John Deere will contribute to the learning experience by bringing expert skills and knowledge to the table, focusing on practical implementation of mechanisation in precision farming,” says Jacques Taylor, managing director for John Deere SSA.
This agreement followed shortly after Peritum entered into an international cooperation and exchange agreement with the Netherland-based Aeres University, and preceded the signing of a contract with the RPO in September 2018.
The benefits of partnering with trusted names far exceeds a company’s ability to tackle everything on its own.
According to fortunebuilders.com creativity and higher standards are just two of the benefits of partnering in business. They quote TED speaker Kirby Ferguson: “Your creativity comes from without, not within.” It’s collaboration with others, bouncing ideas off other people, that help you come up with unique solutions to business obstacles that you couldn’t see before. Higher standards are achieved by having “two pairs of eyes” look over every area of your business, which may be one of the simplest, though most impactful, benefits of business partnerships
Fortune Builders goes on to say that savvy businesses know the key to success is not trying to be amazing at every aspect of business, but figuring out what your biggest strengths are — and how those strengths can help contribute to the business — then find other people (with different strengths) to fill in the gaps.
Jeff Cates, writer for The Globe and Mail, points out a few more benefits of successful business partnerships. These include pleasing your clients by providing the very best experience, improving your reputation by letting your clients experience an ecosystem you created through alliances, and offering more value by joining forces with a partner that complements your business.
However, the most important partnership benefit is the combined skills and knowledge born from a relationship between two strong partners. A well-balanced business partnership combines the skills and knowledge from more people, creating greater achievement potential as well as diversity. Partners’ skills can either complement or contrast with your own but either way, this opens a network to more knowledge, contacts and capabilities. Web developer and business owner Bruce Marler says: “The reason a good team works is because everyone brings something to the table, various pieces of knowledge being a key piece of that.” Creating a partnership also enhances motivation, morale and personal responsibility, according to Michelle Renee, writher for smallbusiness.com.
All these benefits are evident in Peritum’s partnerships. Apart from agreements that will benefit students (like John Deere’s sponsorship involvements, exchange programmes with Aeres and the RPO’s knowledge transfer in our animal production qualification) we believe that a significant part of our success is rooted in our partnerships – unlocking creativity, expert knowledge and value.
Peritum is the Latin word for the gathering of expertise, which is what we do every day and will continue to do by building on the partnerships we have already established.
Signing of the Aeres agreement. From Left to Right: Emmie Pietersen (Director: Peritum) ; Dr Wil Bekkering (Director: Aeres) ; Belinda Louw (Director: Peritum)
Signing of the John Deere SSA agreement. From left to right: Jacques Taylor (John Deere: Managing Director & Belinda Louw (Peritum: Director)
Signing of the RPO agreement. From left to right: Mnr Koos van der Ryst (RPO: Chairman) ; Emmie Pietersen (Peritum: Director) ;Barry Huysamer (Peritum: HOD)
