| Danial Norjidi |
THE DARe (Darussalam Enterprise) learning and development programme for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Industry Business Academy (IBA), conducted another module yesterday, this time dealing with how to write a business plan.
Conducted at the iCentre auditorium, the module was facilitated by two agencies, namely Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) and Nur Cahaya Indah Services.
During the module, BIBD presented on the specific details required in writing a business plan or proposal, from an investor’s point of view. On hand to deliver this presentation was Pengiran Sanusi Iskandar bin Pengiran Haji Ismail, Manager for SME Corporate Banking at BIBD.
In his presentation, he shared guidelines for constructing a business plan. He shared that the content of a business plan should include an executive summary, a business background, the marketing aspect, planned development and finance, as well as why they are all important.
He also shared some of the reasons some business plans get rejected, from a bank’s perspective. A few of these reasons were proposed projects not being viable; the market size not being favourable; the management team doesn’t have the right skills and experience; the financial or accounting records are not available; and unrealistic or overly optimistic business plan, to name a few.
The attendees of the session. – PHOTOS: DANIAL NORJIDI
The participants during a short exercise as part of the session
He said that, in principle, when venturing into business people need to identify the customer needs; deliver those needs at the right price, time and place; and make a profit by delivering those needs.
BIBD’s segment of the module also featured a short exercise in which participants formed groups and presented a business plan in 30 seconds. This was so that participants could practise their presentation skills on what details need to be shared with a potential investor and to prepare them in time-constraint situations.
Yesterday’s module also saw Nur Cahaya Indah Services elaborate on how to write a comprehensive business plan that lists everything about the business, all the way from its services, market scope and size to strategy, competitors, pricing and more. J Haime, the Managing Director of Nur Cahaya Indah Services facilitated this session.
The Industry Business Academy (IBA) is a development and learning programme for SMEs and is open to all levels of business with different maturity levels from start-ups to established companies.
The IBA aims to pave the way for SMEs to successfully achieve their goals when it comes to starting, running and expanding their business.
The programme is categorised into three SME maturity levels: IBA Level 1 for start-ups and micro SMEs; IBA Level 2 for SMEs; and IBA Level 3 for established companies.
One of the attendees at yesterday’s module was Mohd Fadhilullah Tudun bin Haji Hassan, Senior Business Counsellor for LiveWIRE Brunei.
Sharing his thoughts on the session, he said he felt the initiative was worthwhile. “I think the purpose of IBA, which is to help
the SMEs grow and develop, is a good thing.”
He drew parallels between the IBA to Brunei Shell Petroleum’s Energy Business Academy, a programme that aims to support and develop local SMEs in the oil and gas service industry.
On the IBA itself, he said, “The SMEs get to know all the fundamentals that they need to know. Unfortunately, most of the SMEs in Brunei, when they start a business, they start from zero,” he said, explaining that many start without having any prior business knowledge.
“So, if they can attend the IBA, which is free, they will know the fundamentals they need in order to start their business, to run their business and to grow maybe even to export overseas, hopefully,” he added.
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