Surprise!surprise!

It's week 10. All of us were surprised when we first entered our class as we saw a man lecturer stood before us. We thought we have entered a wrong class. Later we got to know that he is Prof Madya Azizi Bin Zakaria and he replaced Pn Rafidah for that day. His purpose was to inform us about the MSC Malaysia-IHL Business Plan Competition (MIBPC) and at the same time, to encourage us to participate. MIBPC is held with the collaboration between Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) & Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) in Malaysia with the mission to build an ecosystem for the growth of a critical mass of sustainable K-based ICT companies that will contribute to high economic growth. To make the session more interesting, he also showed us some pictures of the events that were taken in the previous years.

It is now the week where we closed our dedication orders for the Mid-Autumn Festival. This will enable us to do the final calculations on how much products we should be buying because the purchasing task will be carried out during the Raya break. After the finalization, we did not anticipate by the amount of dedications we get as it exceeded our expectation.

From the talk, I have learned that sharing business ideas and form teams that leverage on both technology & business competencies are important steps to produce good business plan. MIBPC gives us an oppurtunity to provide exposure and knowledge of key competencies required in becoming a successful technopreneur. I have also learned to always accept new things in life and always be prepared for unexpected situations.

Because the Mid-Autumn festival is approaching right after the Raya break, we will then have only a few days to pack all the dedications before delivering them. My concern is the shortage of time we will face as our workload for packaging and delivery increased consequently after the unexpected orders. I am afraid that I won't have the time to participate in the MIBPC competition though it seems interesting but I guess I will attend the next workshop and see how it goes.

Some Pointers on Business Plan

Week 9. Pn Rafidah gave us some guidelines on the business plan report. She also adviced us to focus on the business plan report as presentation is not necessary. Besides, she asked us to refer to the slides she gave and also, to look into the internet for samples and examples of business plan reports for additional informations. After that, we were given time to discuss about the business plan. My group leader decided that parts should be divided fairly among us to smoothen the report progress.

As for presentations on Thursday, Pn Rafidah pointed out that we should not enclose everything we do as there will then be no surprise during the last and final presentation. Instead, we should make the audiences feel interested to know more about our business activity. Next, a quiz is conducted to test our understanding towards what we had already learned.

This week I have learned that a good and precise business plan is needed before a business can be run. Therefore, we must learn to do a business plan correctly to ensure the direction of the business is clear. I am worried that our business plan is over-ambitious and we may fail executing the business operations.

Business Model

On Monday, we had a day off as its the National Day. Merdeka! This week Pn Rafidah discussed about business model after the second presentation on weekly activity progress. Business model usually include all activities that define how a firm competes in the marketplace. She took Dell as an example as the company succeed by starting off their business in a different way. Using online applications, users can choose specifications. Everything is done without even physically seeing the product. She also said that every business start-up should have mission and scope.

Meanwhile, my group and I are also distributing the Mid-Autumn Festival dedication as part of our business activity. Besides going room to room to promote our dedications, we also ask everyone around us. Everything becomes easier when each one of us do our part. We planned to deliver the products on the week after the Raya holidays.

I come to a conclusion that starting up a business is not as easy as what I initially thought it would be. Providing good services and support will sustain a business and gain customer loyalty. My only concern is that prodcuts cannnot be delivered on time as there is not much time left after the holidays.