Widening Market Share through International Business Opportunities

Rise in demand in worldwide procurements, combined with the immense growth of commercialization all around has been instrumental in development of numerous business websites dealing with international tenders.

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The basic premise of such tenders are that the company inviting the tenders will give all the information about the work concerned, and their overall requirements. Similarly, the service provider should give their background history and assessment of experiences on the issue. Competitive nature of the tenders makes it imperative that the bidder is able to create a strong impression on the inviting company for winning the tender.

Inviting company should make it a point to specify the points that will count in awarding the tender to any bidder. Usual features of such requirements are stipulated time period, structure of the proposal, and making a good impact on the minds of the clients. In addition, it is also required to have total pricing relating to project completions. Mentioning the prices will enable the bidder company to decide how best they can go for the tasks to be accomplished in case of winning the international tenders.

International tenders come in different types, values, and features. Such tenders could be on any item one can conceive of. These tenders cater to almost all types of requirements of the organizations, government or even private enterprises. Apart from the products, these tenders could relate to multiple types of services that include life insurance, survey services, hotel services, logistics, and many such others.

Because of the vast opportunities in international tenders, we created O-tenders. O-tenders is an integrated platform developed by leading economic development agency, Vector Scorecard (Asia-Pac) to help you secure worldwide tenders based on your companies’ competencies and product offerings. Within this platform, o-tenders enables clients to be kept abreast of the most updated developments on various business activities all over the world - and latest information and tenders for clients.

O-tenders provides you with more than USD1bn of opportunities each month and diversify your business internationally.

Being an O-tenders member allow you to have access to:

• Database for tenders, bids, RFPs and upcoming projects
• Fast and accurate information to bid and win contracts overseas
• More than 1000 live opportunities monthly
• Projects in 13 countries listed in Vector's Asia Business Corridor (ABC) in various segments such as Infrastructure and Construction, Services, Information Technology, Supplies, Consultancy, Energy, Power and Electrical, Healthcare and Medical, Transportation and Education
• Weekly live updates, with 250 new opportunities added weekly
• Have access to an international analyst helpdesk who can help prepare quality submissions for you and monitor via a pipeline valuation tracking sheet

Internationalisation is an important strategic theme to widen market access for businesses

• Diversification of client base can lead to higher profit margins by at least 30%
• O-tenders.com offers a unique, one-stop-shop service for businesses to have a dedicated, end-to-end service to be exposed to millions of pipelines worth each month!—
• We have 2 simple packages for you that can make a difference to your business ie. the Deluxe (basic listings and you pay for what you need only) and the Platinum (shortlisted and customised listings each month and includes preparation/submission/coordination/monthly updates).

Write in to advisory@vsapac.com for more details on what packages we have and more importantly, how we can assist you to grow your business each month.

8 Things You Need to Know abt Business Loans

by: http://www.vsapac.com/

Finding the money needed to start a new business is almost always one of the most difficult obstacles new owners face. The most likely (and easiest) sources of capital are your families, friends and own savings.

However, you should not overlook institutional sources as well. Without a previous track record in business, securing a bank loan may be difficult.

Banks cite risk factors and increasing costs of servicing small accounts as the primary reasons for minimizing their exposure to small businesses. Still, it can be done.

At VSAPAC, we developed a Scorecard called FlexCheck that is able to identify the probability of your business getting a business loan by evaluating your bankability strength and identify any working capital gaps so that you can address them before meeting the bankers.

This system is built upon consultation with more than 6 local and international banks in Singapore – unlocking their best practices and risk appetite since 2009. Using the FlexCheck tool, you are able to determine areas of concerns that the banks would focus on (qualitative and quantitative), for example:

a)     your average bank balances versus the existing and future loan obligations

b)    patterns of repayments

c)     profitability and capital adequacy

d)    business model

e)     and many more...

Here are some general steps that you should take to improve your chances of getting that much-needed bank loan:

1. Choose a business-friendly bank.  To increase your chances of getting a loan, look for a bank that is familiar with your industry and who has done business with companies like yours. Seek out banks that are active in small business financing. Some banks lend on a conventional basis (lending money without government support), while some banks participate in government programs (in the form of government participations involving direct government funds or loan guarantees). However, be aware that banks often demand stiff collateral requirements for start-ups. Most banks do not lend to start-ups unfortunately.

2. Financial condition must be reasonably healthy – show that you can service the intended loan obligations. You need to show your bankers that a loan to you is a low-risk proposition. Have on hand a completed loan application, copies of cash flow and financial statement projections covering at least three years, and your cover letter. 

3. Have a proper plan on what you intended to do with the loan. A confident and thoroughly prepared borrower is four times more likely to have his or her loan approved than a borrower who does not know the answer to some of the basic questions a banker asks. To show the extent of your preparedness, prepare a basic business plan. Your business plan should also include answers to your banker's questions. These questions normally are: 

• How much money do you need? Be as exact as possible; although adding a little extra for contingencies will not hurt. 
• How long do you need it for? Be prepared to go into detail about what the money will do for you and why your business is a good risk. 
• What are you going to do for it? Businesses use loans for three things: to buy new assets, pay off old debts, or pay for operating expenses. 
• When and how you will repay for it? Your cash flow projections should provide a repayment time frame. Convince the banker of the long-term profitability of your business and your ability to repay the loan by using your financial projections and business plan. 
• What will you do if you do not get the loan? 

4. Be sure all your documents are neat, legible and organized in a cohesive and attractive manner. Type all your loan documents. Handwritten documents look unprofessional. Don't forget to include a cover letter. 

5. Do not push the loan officer for a decision. Doing so might result in a rejection as it appears that you are desperate more than anything else. Your banker cannot make a decision until all your documentation is complete. To ensure a speedy decision, make sure that your application is complete. 

6. Be confident. An attitude of confidence enhances your chance of getting the loan. Show that you can make a success out of the money that the bank will lend to you. Visualize in your mind the positive results of your bank application.

7. Keep trying one lender after another until you get your loan. To improve your position as you change bankers and banks, the best way is to ask for a referral from a successful entrepreneur. Before you decide to approach a bank directly, find an associate, friend or acquaintance that is in good standing with the bank to give you a good referral. Bankers tend to deal more favorably those who were referred to them by their best customers. 

8. Track record in borrowing. Bankers prefer to lend money to borrowers who have borrowed at least once and have paid back at least one loan on time. They are not venture capitalists that make high-risk loans regardless of the profit prospects of your business. Bankers prefer to lend to low-risk, low profit ventures than to high risk businesses or those with no record of accomplishment.

 For more details about FlexCheck, please contact advisory@vsapac.com

The Importance of Business Roadmapping

5i-Pro is a Business Roadmapping Toolkit developed by VSAPAC to ensure that 5 core pillars of an organisation or a business, are identified, strengthened and implemented via a business roadmap.

These 5 core pillars relate to

a)     Internalisation: determination of core competencies and strengthening business models

b)    Innovation: in terms of organisation, product, process and platform

c)     Integration: how connected it is to the business ecosystem online and offline

d)    Investment: the extent of funding diversification across equity, debt, grants.

e)     Internationalisation: readiness to venture abroad and access to foreign markets

But what is a business roadmap used for?

The roadmap makes sure that gaps in the plan are identified and can be closed as needed in the future. It also serves as a guide for the team during the implementation process, allowing them to recognize and act on events that require a change of direction. Roadmaps are also being used to communicate the firm’s plan to various stakeholders.

Our 5i Business Roadmapping toolkit (Professional version) comprises of 4 parts:

1)     Needs Analysis in more than 30 business dimensions

2)     Business Resource Planning and Budgeting

3)     Business Strategic Planning

4)     Business Implementation Roadmap

There are 10 reasons how our 5i Competency Building Toolkit could assist your organisation improve its performance:

1. Roadmapping is just good planning, for all the areas that contribute to a successful business prioritisation strategy. The roadmapping process leads a cross-functional planning team to fully examine potential competitive strategies and ways to implement those strategies.
2. Roadmapping helps the team make sure that they will have the right resources and capabilities at the time they will be needed to carry out their strategy.
3. Roadmaps link business strategy and market data with product and technology decisions. Roadmapping prompts a team to be specific with respect to planned features or performance in terms of value for customers.




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4. Roadmaps reveal gaps in company, product and technology plans. Areas where plans are needed to achieve objectives become immediately apparent, and can be filled before they become problems.
5. Roadmaps prioritize investments based on drivers. We need to focus on customer needs, product drivers or technology investments.
6. Roadmapping helps set more competitive and realistic targets. This would allow the team to set objectives to lead, maintain parity, or lag competitors in specific areas.
7. Roadmaps provide a guide to the team, allowing the team to recognize and act on events that require a change in direction. Part of the process of developing a roadmap is to create a risk roadmap, identifying those events or changes in conditions that signal a need to reevaluate and revisit the plan during the development journey.
8. Sharing roadmaps allows strategic use of information and technology across product lines.
9. Roadmapping communicates business, technology and product plans to team members, management, customers, and suppliers. The roadmap also tells the larger development team, corporate management, and other development teams where the company is headed.
10. Finally, roadmapping helps to build the development team. The roadmapping process builds a common understanding and shared ownership of the plan, incorporating ideas and insights from team members and gear them into action.

For more information about the 5i Business Roadmapping Toolkit, please contact advisory@vsapac.com  or call (65) 6534-8047/49.