What We Do
Online research and documentation only go so far in the due diligence process. Even site visits are rarely enough to understand the risks and available solutions in complex environments.
Searchlight's teams spend weeks on the ground to assess security and regional stability, document critical infrastructure capacity, speak candidly with local stakeholders, and develop contingency plans. Deliverables will vary based on your requirements, and the team will be available for debriefs and long-term support.
Stakeholder Liaison
Support from community leadership, government officials, workers, and other local stakeholders can make or break a project's returns, especially in remote areas. However, online data rarely reveals the influence of local power brokers, traditional leaders, or informal economies.
Searchlight's teams engage in candid, in-depth conversations with local and regional stakeholders to identify concerns, expectations, receptiveness to foreign investment, and opportunities to ensure a given project wins the broadest possible support.​​
​Deliverables: debrief and multimedia report with interview findings and detailed recommendations. Long-term support, including meeting facilitation with key stakeholders, is available upon request.
Logistics and Route Surveys
Effective logistics are essential to any operation, yet disruption is common in austere environments due to flooding, security threats, port shutdowns, fuel shortages, or simple lack of capacity. An understanding of the options and contingency plans are critical to risk assessment and mitigation.
Searchlight's teams assess logistics options and speak with locally based experts to identify risks, but they do not stop there - anyone can do that. Our teams conduct in-person route and port surveys, meet with logistics providers, and analyze the potential impact of weather, infrastructure failures, labor strikes, and regional instability.​​
​Deliverables: debrief and multimedia report with color-coded route maps, recommended alternate routes, and contingency plans. Long-term support is available upon request.
Security and Regional Stability
Security involves more than fences and guards. Criminal networks may target shipments along certain routes, while insurgents' influence and intentions are rarely reported accurately by governments or international media. Some groups threaten business operations, while others may even protect local projects if they bring jobs and revenue into the area.​​​
​Searchlight's teams are uniquely qualified to conduct site inspections and engage local management, government and military officials, security advisors, and diplomats to identify current and long-term threats to worker safety and project viability.​​
Deliverables: debrief and multimedia report which fuses observations, photos, interviews, and online research to provide a comprehensive assessment, recommendations, and contingency plans. Long-term support can include up-to-date, actionable reporting from locally based Searchlight contractors.
Responsible Investment
Responsible investment - no matter which standard is used - requires more than a check-the-box mentality. It involves developing a comprehensive understanding of the local operating environment, what is possible, what is realistic, and what ought to be prioritized at each phase of a project's lifecycle.​​
Searchlight's teams spend weeks on the ground to develop a clear understanding of local realities, informed by direct observations and candid conversations with a wide variety of stakeholders. While checklists and standards are essential, we are keenly aware that any recommendations must be informed by the local situation.​​
Deliverables: debrief and multimedia report with recommendations and local points of contact for environmental, sustainability, and governance considerations. Long-term support, including meeting facilitation with stakeholders, is available upon request.​​
Project Site Selection
Site selection is a crucial decision which involves a range of project-specific criteria related to geography, infrastructure, governance, human capital, suppliers, security, and more. Careful planning and significant time on the ground can make the different between a project's success or failure.​​​
​Searchlight's teams work carefully with your planning team to identify a range of information requirements and potential sites before they depart to conduct in-person analysis and interviews. Regular reporting throughout the trip enables your team to provide ad-hoc tasking and feedback based on our findings each day.​​
Deliverables: debrief and multimedia report which fuses observations, photos, interviews, and online research to arrive at recommendations based on your site selection criteria.​
Contingency Planning
Any business operation is susceptible to a variety of emergencies, related to accidents, logistical disruptions, extremist groups, weather events, and more. Many of these are foreseeable. While each event will be unique, detailed planning ensures a timely and effective response - and may also facilitate lower insurance premiums.
Searchlight's teams bring extensive experience with contingency planning and response. They will work with your team to identify potential scenarios before they begin work with the in-country team, engage with local experts throughout the region, and develop a detailed set of scenarios with step-by-step mitigation measures.​​
Deliverables: debrief and a multimedia report with potential contingencies, event-based decision matrices, and local points of contact to ensure operational excellence. Long-term support is available upon request.​​
Site Visit Facilitation
Your team will want to conduct site visits prior to an investment or acquisition. Safety and logistics are frequently challenging, and the itinerary is often an open question. Is it enough to visit only the project site, or are certain communities and logistical hubs also crucial to the operation and well worth a visit?
​This service is best used in conjunction with other services. For example, if Searchlight's teams spend weeks assessing responsible investment and logistical risks, they will be well placed to coordinate a follow-on site visit for your team to the most important sites. We can also accompany your team members to ensure safe, efficient field work on their part.​​
Deliverables: itinerary recommendations, briefings on safety and cultural considerations, introductions to local contacts, and security coordination (if applicable).​