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