Now is the Time to consider exit for business owners....

Hi friends,

Asia continues to provide an attractive investment environment for the rest of the world as the developed market continue to struggle amid the nascent global recovery. Business owners who are considering an exit strategy for their businesses should give this a good and serious thought. Such opportunity do not always exits, not to mentioned that part of any successful exit for a business is the Timing.

Any existing business will have to exit one day and businesses exit for a variety of reasons. It could be due to either one or a combination of these reasons; retirement, succession, diversity of assets, capital for growth and association with a larger firm.

At the same time there are also a number of reasons why Asia has been looked upon to be so attractive. Due to its historical growth and development, Asia today has reduces it dependence on US and Europe for trade. Although there is still a fair share of trade with these two trade partners, the growing domestic market in Asia and intra-Asia and its growing purchasing power has made Asia a key growth area. In addition the valuation in Asia has become more attractive. Risk level inclusive of corporate governance and transparency is also improving especially after the Asian financial crisis. Many countries have made improvement efforts to strengthen their economy. However having say this, it does mean that there is no risk in investing in Asia. Obviously there are still risk but the favourable compelling factors may still worth the deal sourcing in Asia. From a private equity perspective Asia as a whole is still under-served relative to its counterparts in US and Europe. Hence private equity are all scouting around for good deals.

To evaluate an exit for any business, there are indeed many important factors to consider but one that is not often addressed or discussed by owners is Timing. There are 3 key major points to take note in regards to timing:the general economic environment, the outlook for your company's product or services and the prospect and performance of your company. The ideal time for the sale of a company is when all the 3 factors are on the rise. It may be rare situation where all these 3 factors are reaching its peak. But nonetheless it is always important to keep this option in your business radar screen. With the many private equity firms looking for good deals, business owners should do their homework and capitalize (seize the day!)the opportunity that is before them now.

Looking out:

1) Successful business owners who are considering an exit from their business through a trade sale.

2) Start-up company in Interactive Advertising looking for funding and business guidance.

3) I have a friend who is an experience HR manager looking out for career opportunity. If you know of any opportunity out there, appreciate that you let me know.

Regards,
KH

Leadership...so crucial in retaining your best people

Hi friends,

As Singapore ride on the upside of the economic cycle, companies also begin to think about how they can retain their most valuable asset - human capital to stay competitive. With the many publication that came along, there was one quotation that I find very interesting and most appropriate about retaining human capital. It says that "people join companies because of the company name, but people leave because of leadership".

I feel that this is one point that small and medium enterprise (SME) can properly leverage upon to create a competitive advantage for themselves. There is almost always this notion that SME finds it very competitive to find and retain talents in their organization. After a hard search for valuable talents and spending much time to train them, many of these talents do not stay. They will reach out to find greener pasture which they believe will be in the bigger MNC. Of course there are some who do not even consider working for a SME, to begin with. So to many SME it is just difficult to retain, but then think about what this quote says:

When nothing is sure, everything is possible.
~Margaret Drabble

In this writing I will not go down the path of what are the advantages and disadvantages of working for a SME vs. MNC. However I would like to share my thoughts that SME can seriously consider how they can sharpen their leadership traits as a means to retain talent. Some SME may not be clear about what Leadership do and what is it all about. Well, in brief:

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.
~Henry Kissinger

Developing clear leadership traits and bringing your team on board is one of the key success factor. Business owners in SME should exploit the richness of their experiences and foresight, and find a way to communicate it. There are many general theories out there about Leadership but frankly there is no exact right or wrong way in getting it real good. It just have to start from a clear mind and adjust it along the way as one finds appropriate. The golden rule is to make sure your team understand and believe in it. Hence it is not something that SME need to spend a lot of money on leadership or staff retention programs. You will be surprised that it may not be as difficult as you think, if you put your heart to it as this quote suggest:

People are more easily led than driven.
~David Harold Fink

Hence to all the SME out there, you can have a competitive edge to retain your talent for it is not always only the organization matters.....leadership matters more..

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.
~John Maxwell



Looking out:

Interactive marketing start-up looking for 1st or 2nd round of investment.


Take care,
KH