'Think Big' for success

SIXTY participants of the "Think Big Business Plan Competition 09/10" had the opportunity yesterday to improve their skills on executive summary writing before the submission date with the help of Michael Reyes, an established speaker for NUS Enterprise Singapore. The workshop was held at the iCentre, Anggerek Desa.

For this year's "Think Big Business Plan Competition 09/10", iCentre will be awarding the biggest prize money of its kind in Brunei Darussalam under the ICT industry with a total of $42,000 being awarded to its winners. The business plan is divided into three categories: ICT Business Plan, Special Award for ICT Islamic Application and Special Award for College and University Students.

An executive summary is the most important part of a business plan especially to a potential investor and to a banker. Most upcoming entrepreneurs underestimate the importance of an executive summary and fail to realise that a potential investor or banker will only decide to read the complete business plan if the summary catches their attention. With that in mind, entrepreneurs must capture the interest and imagination of a potential investor with their executive summary. These points were firmly established by Reyes.

The workshop focuses on the "Do's and Dont's" of writing an executive summary through a simple technique called "The Elevator Pitch" to better understand its main purpose and significance.

Reyes laid out a series of questions that each participant should consider when writing the executive summary prompting participants to think factors such as their target market, product service and also their competition, if any.

He stressed out the importance of understanding the purpose of the executive summary and to cover every possible angle that one would like to represent. Participants were interactively sharing their opinions and the challenges they encountered when writing their own individual executive summary.

This is the second trip for Reyes to Brunei, his first visit was back in 2008 where he conducted a similar workshop relating to the 2008 Think Big Business plan which was held at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). Reyes is currently the Director of MoneyTree Asia Pacific Limited, a company which offers and conducts programmes on improving financial investment and entrepreneur skills amongst the youth.

After the workshop, participants were invited to submit samples of their business plan executive summary.

The Brunei Times