| Danial Norjidi |
HAVING a business plan is crucial for any business, as it provides a route map for the development of the business, while also acting as a key tool for selling business ideas.
At the same time, it is important for the owner of a business to take responsibility in the actual writing of the business plan, rather than having someone else write it for them.
These points were underlined by Pengiran Sanusi Iskandar bin Pengiran Haji Ismail, Manager for SME Corporate Banking at Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) while speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the Industry Business Academy module conducted yesterday.
“A business plan is a route map for your business, as a guideline for you to achieve whatever you want to,” he said. “Without that, yes you can do it, but it will not be systematic.”
“A business plan acts as a spoke media for any business,” he highlighted. “It explains everything to your investors and to your bankers. With a business plan, people tend to know what you are going to do, what your requirements are, and how you will benefit those people.”
It is also important for keeping track of the way forward for the business while also keeping the owner ready and aware on all angles and aspects of the business, it was shared.
When asked about common mistakes he has noticed in local business plans, he said, “One common mistake is that some business owners have other people write their business plans for them, thus leaving the owners not understanding their business fully.”
Pengiran Sanusi Iskandar bin Pengiran Haji Ismail, Manager for SME Corporate Banking at BIBD speak-ing to reporters. – DANIAL NORJIDI
“Another is that they are very optimistic in terms of their projections, with examples including expecting to turn green or blue after six months of operation,” he continued. “Other mistakes include not being well-prepared in doing market research, and projecting wrong information.”
“The knowhow is very low, and they tend to be very optimistic. If people have those optimistic targets, they tend to forget the other aspects,” he said. “They are looking just to create profit and just to foresee that they can achieve the sales. They don’t look into the expenses part of it.”
When asked why this occurs, he put it down to a lack of preparations and knowledge. On this note, he said DARe’s introduction of the Industry Business Academy is good, as it allows people to learn crucial business fundamentals.
“Hopefully with these sorts of courses we can prepare our SMEs with the right tools and the right skills of not only preparing a business plan but also to implement it.”
Elaborating further on why having someone else write a business plan shouldn’t be encouraged, he said, “Initially, those ideas are from your head. You’re transmitting your ideas to other people. The other people, I don’t think they capture all your ideas. With that, some of the ideas are being taken the wrong way or explained wrongly.”
He said a lot of it is down to misperception. “I think one of the problems is language. People perceive that business plans can only be done in English, which is not true. We also accept business plans written in Malay.”
“There’s also the perception that it’s very difficult to do a business plan, or that it’s very difficult to prepare a cash flow or profit and loss. But when you know what to express and what to put in, it will be very, very easy because the ideas are from you.
“If you own the business, you know the market you are going into. You should know who your target customers are, rather than asking a consultant or somebody else to write it for you, it’s very difficult then.
“A business plan is not a novel. It’s an expression of your ideas. It need not be lengthy, so long as people understand what you want to do and what you are trying to achieve.
He went on to note that BIBD offers advisory services to businesses, which includes helping improve business plans. “As part of our SME 360, one of the areas we are tackling is business advisory. We want to change the general perception of banking to one where banks not only provide financing, but also provide business advisory services.”
“If people have prepared a business plan, and it is not adequate, we can provide them with advice on what to put in, what to express and, in general, how to improve the business plan.”
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