Better Performance Lures Investors

It is an era when solution providers are making innovations, undertaking new
challenges and executing outstanding projects, all of which require fund
assistance and third-party investments. Investors are right there in the market,
but solution providers have to be smart, capable and presentable enough to grab
the attention of those investors. Giving insight on the ways solution providers
can utilize to grab the attention of investors, Prof Wong Poh Kam, Chairman,
Business Angel Network, South East Asia had extensive talks with SPs and shared
his knowledge in this domain during the SP Summit.

While speaking to the partners he said, "To get attention of the investors,
entrepreneurs need to give maximum emphasis on their business plans that are
attractive enough to lure them. They should focus on scaling the existing
business and should have the flexibility to diversify into related businesses.
Partners have to be ready to take or get into new products, services and new
business models. Once the planning is done, the mode of execution should be in a
superior way and if required there should be strategic partnership also." He
mentioned that in order to attract the investors, one has to perform better than
others and there should be enough scope for innovations and acquisition
strategies. "Service enables you to leverage the scope of getting investors'
attention. Acquisition of small companies helps the partners to increase its
reach. It also enables them to expand their presence and opens new space for
growth. Partners should know the skill to generate surplus cash out of the
available resources. The idea is to invest on clients who maximize the funds by
allocating them in the right direction. The whole objective is to strengthen the
areas of the client that are weak and need assistance to build up," he said.

Prof Wong Poh Kam Chairman-Business Angel Network, South East Asia

Further speaking on the class of clients that investors are seeking to
invest, Prof Wong Poh Kam said, "We look at people who have just started their
venture. We target those companies that have fresh strategies and fresh ideas
but have less revenue."

Elaborating on the success story of his clients, he mentioned that there are
a fair number of individuals who are now successful and have got a lot of
variations from where they had started. Replying to the query of the SPs on the
ratio of investment, he clarified that ratio depends on the time frame and it
can vary from three to five times. The price earning ratio also depends on the
industry in which the client is involved.

Giving his view on the investment prospects, KV Jagannath of Choice Solutions
mentioned that if funding is an encouraging part of this business, then the exit
path of investors is a discouraging part. Talking about the prospect of
investment on system integration business, Prof Wong Poh Kam said that solution
providing is a highly competitive business and is bound to grow in future. The
number of players in this business has increased and their reputation is high.
He ended his key note by saying that partners are also seeking investors who are
willing to pump in money into their companies but they have to be competent and
strategic enough to have fresh business plans and ideas in order to capture
investments from business angel network.

Amrita Tejasvi

amritat@cybermedia.co.in