Debbie Too
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
ENTREPRENEURS looking for funding to carry innovative ideas should avoid seemingly esoteric terms in the business plans that they present to investors.
“The more technical the business plan is, the more it will confuse the investors,” he said.
One way of overcoming this is to use simple terms that venture capitalists or investors will understand, he said.
“What businesses should talk about in their business plan is their understanding of the market, the market trends and their competitors. Investors are impressed by profits and not technology,” he said.
In his presentation yesterday, he explained that possible investors for a business may be family and friends, government bodies, individuals or small groups with money to invest and venture capitalists. A business should first understand its investors before it starts constructing its business plan.
He added there are a few things investors look for when deciding on investing in a business: the highest return possible, a good idea, a good team, a good product and a good plan can help to convince an investor to add value to a business plan.
“In Brunei, so far from what I gathered during the workshop is that local businesses have good ideas, and it is a matter of putting those ideas and communicating them in a business plan,” he said.
“Investors are afraid to invest in something (in which they) will ultimately lose their investment money, but they are also afraid that they will miss out on a really outstanding investment and miss huge returns,” he said in his presentation.
More than 50 participants attended the workshop including short-listed participants for the ThinkBig Business Plan Competition and so-called business incubatees of the iCentre. The three-day workshop is part of the business plan competition, which is on its second year to help promote and educate businesses in Brunei.
A total of $42,000 will be awarded to the various winners. The first prize winner under the ICT Business Plan open category will bag $20,000. A new category has been added to this year’s Business Plan Competition called the Special Award for College and University Students. This category aims to attract entries from students in college or university. Participants with the winning business plan will will receive $2,000.
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