NSPSGN is an elite club. Each member is called a Principal or Partner Firm. All their support staff are called Associates.

To join as a Principal, you need a minimum of 10 years of continuous experience of professional practice and you must be registered with a professional body and be a member in good standing. In the case of a Partner Firm, at least one of its key members must meet the minimum years of experience at individual level.

NSPSGN is only open to entrepreneurs running their own small companies or working alone. If you are running your own company, you can rebrand to National Standard if you wish. You can also carry National Standard branded cards clearly indicating your qualifications and area of expertise.

We execute a “cooperation and revenue sharing agreement” with each professional or Partner Firm in return for using the National Standard brand and access to shared services that include offices, sales, marketing and business development. This is as opposed to an employment agreement/contract with fixed salary and bonuses. The more you work, the more you earn. As for offices, we remain linked to Regus that provides virtual offices but with a central Head office. You can also operate from your own offices.

For those who wish, we could also provide access to HR & Payroll services for any support staff that one employs that we have negotiated with a specialist service provider. The professional does not have to think about that. You are, however, responsible for hiring and firing your own support staff in the same way a manager of a division would do in a corporate.

The Cooperation & Revenue sharing Agreement is reviewed and renewed every 5 years but monitored annually for compliance and performance management. If you join us, you may still do any other work or sign reports under any other brand as you see appropriate but only if that other work has not arisen as a result of using the National Standard brand. However, you need to disclose this at time of tendering as this has implications on revenue sharing and also poses reputational risks to our brand. You are, therefore, be expected to abide by the National Standard way of doing things in such other work. If you want complete independence, then you must consider not joining our network, and if already a member, you must consider resigning and stay outside our network.

We designed a code of ethics and professional standards just like in a corporate. This sets out our values and expectations. We have also created a resource sharing portal where you have access to best practice templates for use in providing professional services. This will continue to be resourced overtime.

We appoint a “head of practice” for each section who is remunerated as appropriate, through a percentage of revenue. This is a senior professional whose role is to grow the practice, monitor standards and provide guidance to fellow professionals. The Head of Practice may appoint a committee of at most 5 people from amongst the members to support them in strategic decisions. They must meet quarterly to discuss various issues affecting the business and the professionals within their network. They also consider disciplinary cases for reporting to the member’s professional body for investigation if there is need.

NSPSGN is a commercial services profit-making organisation bound by strict rules of professional standards, as opposed to the individual non-profit making professional organisations to which the individual members belong. However, the independent Partner Firms and professionals that do not practice jointly and are not responsible for the negligence of each other.

With NSPSGN, you wake up when you want, work when you want and manage and remunerate yourself as you wish! You maintain your identity and financial independence. The only rule is that when you have accepted a job and agreed a mandate with your client, you must deliver as per client mandate and meet the highest standard of service as expected of an NSPSGN Principal or Partner Firm. We play a monitoring role to maintain standards.