Through the Community Enterprise LLCs, WilmaFund exercises control of ownership of enterprises in which it invests during a specified incubation period typically five years in length. Enterprise managers are hired by, and report, to the boards of the LLCs. WilmaFund's ability to help the LLCs find and recruit excellent business managers is naturally crucial to its success as a holding company.
WilmaFund is assisted in this recruiting function, and in preparing and overseeing its investments, by The WILMA Group and its global partners and by local development trusts with which WilmaFund makes alliance. WILMA stands ready to assist WilmaFund in the following ways: (a) coach and certify the CDAs that will "host" financed businesses, (b) identify, hire, and train the business managers responsible for day-to-day operations of the businesses, (c) provide technical assistance to, and oversight of, the enterprises, including training in financial reporting and enforcement of labor contracts. WILMA cooperates with leadership development organizations such as Ashoka and Endeavor Global, as well as with business schools both inside and outside Africa, to find great managers. WilmaFund and WILMA work with local development trusts to provide nearby sources of mentoring, coaching and training. For example, in Kagera Region, WILMA's CDAs have been assisted by leaders of the Forum of Grassroots Organizations of Tanzania (FOGOTA) and the Community Habitat Environmental Management Project (CHEMA). WILMA and WilmaFund also run intern programs that bring foreign students (undergraduate and MBA levels) to help Tanzanian entrepreneurs develop their business ideas.