Article by www.iol.co.za

In a country like South Africa, where job creation is critical, there is a great deal of emphasis being placed on the development of small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

Small businesses, in particular, provide opportunities where smart entrepreneurs can thrive, especially if they pay attention to the advice of experts who have already been down that road. David Seinker, chief executive of office and co-working space, The Business Exchange (TBE) in Johannesburg, has the following top tips for entrepreneurs about to embark on their own journey.

1. Offer a product that offers a solution

Many budding businesses believe in their idea or the products they envisage selling, but the key to success is in knowing, first and foremost, how that idea or product will offer a solution. “Before you even begin to do anything else to set up your business, you need to thoroughly investigate the market you plan to service,” says Seinker. “A product or service must fill a market need. It must go beyond just something that’s a nice idea. Know what problems your offering can solve, or what hole in the market it will fill. At TBE, for example, we recognised the need for serious entrepreneurs and business people to have a space that meets their requirements. They didn’t want a space that offers free drinks and foosball. Instead, they need a space that is as focused about business as they are”.

2. Understand the start-up costs and keep track of your cash flow

Once you know what you want to offer, the next step is to work out how much it is going to cost to set up the business. Apart from costs in terms of finding and kitting out premises and paying monthly rent, you also need to factor in everything from office supplies to staff members and the costs they will incur. This also includes your own personal expenses and how much money will be required to meet your own commitments. “From there,” notes Seinker, “it’s also crucial to keep a careful track of all cash flow. Most often, businesses fail not because of a bad idea, but because they simply didn’t manage their cash flow.”

3. Choose your working space wisely

A work environment conducive to doing business is critical for a new company, and many entrepreneurs start theirs working from home, but this may not necessarily be the best option for clients to take the business seriously. However, neither is splashing out from the start on expensive offices and incurring the many costs that such a set-up can entail. “Enter the rise of the co-working space,” notes Seinker. “This is an environment where new businesses can rent anything from a desk to an entire office, but where they literally just enter, plug and play. Co-working spaces such as The Business Exchange take the hassle and expense away from infrastructure costs such as capital equipment in terms of everything from office furniture to copiers, the provision of reception and maintenance staff, or the costs associated with technological requirements such as the setting up of  Wi-Fi or video conferencing facilities.”

Co-working options also offer new businesses enormous flexibility to enable them to grow when more space is required, or scale down if they need to tighten their belts. “Plus,” says Seinker “there are no obligations to sign leases and no FICA requirements to fulfil. But at the same time – because first impressions really do count – co-working spaces – especially those in prime business locations – provide a professional environment that says your new business really does mean business.”

4. Sort out your tax obligations and insurance from the start

Consult with experts beforehand to find out what tax obligations your new business is required to meet, as well as which insurance policies you may need. From a tax perspective, make provision to pay for the services of a qualified bookkeeper (even if it’s only a part-time agreement or one based on a few hours’ work per month to keep financial records in order), or an accountant who will look after your annual tax submissions. On the insurance front, make provision to protect yourself in terms of medical issues or loss of income, risks to your business such as theft or damage to your stock or items such as computers and cellphones, and even public liability insurance that protects you against claims made by members of the public resulting from accidents or damage to property. “Many new business owners make the mistake of thinking that their home insurance covers their business as well,” notes Seinker, “and this usually is not the case.”

5. Connect

Connectivity is about everything from investing in a digital online presence for your business from day one (whether it’s a website or even just a presence on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) to networking with like-minded or reciprocal business people. This is another area in which a co-working environment can assist, notes Seinker: “A co-working space worth its salt will offer excellent online connectivity from the moment you walk in the door, solving what could be a huge headache for many new businesses. Plus they are renowned for bringing people in similar or complementary industries together to exchange ideas as well as business opportunities. But outside of the work environment, it’s also about attending as many networking events as you possibly can and getting your name and that of your business ‘out there’ as quickly as possible. At TBE, we hold regular networking sessions for our members. This not only means that they are meeting the people who work next to them, but it also provides an opportunity to possibly meet someone who would be able to help with a particular service down the line.”

Article by www.iol.co.za

Article by www.entrepreneur.com

A report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics cites two primary reasons why businesses fail — lack of proper planning and poor leadership. In a way, both these factors are tied to the decisions made by the business owner. Poor decisions, like too much debt or unviable investments, can dramatically alter your company’s fortunes. In this article, we’ll take a look at some ways business owners can keep their financial books in the black through smart planning and earnest leadership.

1. Equity vs. debt.

One of the perennial dilemmas that business owners face while raising funds for their business is the choice between equity and debt. Raising funds by giving up equity might seem attractive to a risk-averse startup businessman. However, giving up too much equity dilutes your own stake in the company and can be a bad choice over the long term. Debt, on the other hand, can be repaid and lets you retain your control over the business. In other words, although raising debt can be painful in the short term, it protects your stake in the long term and can thus reap larger dividends.

2. When to choose debt over equity.

A number of startups in the web and tech space today do not have a clear monetization policy during the launch phase. Companies like Twitter went through several rounds of fundraising before they started making money. It is a good idea to give up equity in such instances since these businesses do not have a clear revenue stream in place to start repaying their debt. However, if you are a startup or a small business with an established revenue stream and a steady cash flow, there is no reason why you should choose equity over debt.

3. How much debt is too much?

There is a limit to how much debt a business can take. It is worthwhile to note that business income is not always going to be consistent. Market forces outside your control can grow or dent the demand in your product or service. It is hence a good idea to only take debt that can be paid back even if you stop making money for a month or two. A good business owner knows to maintain a fair balance between money raised through debt and cash infused through the sale of equity.

4. Keep low working capital.

Working capital is the cash necessary to simply keep the business operating. It is essentially the value of your current assets minus your current liabilities. Building your product requires capital infusion and without a paying customer, your product is a liability waiting to be liquidated. Businesses that offer lengthy credit periods to their customers require high working capital. On the other hand, if you demand upfront payment for your product or service, then the liquid assets in your system are higher than liabilities. You would hence require low working capital. Tweak your business processes, including credit periods, to bring down the working capital required to run your business.

5. Insist on recurring invoices.

Modern invoicing software applications let customers set up automatic invoicing on their purchases. There are two big pros with using recurring invoices for your clients. Firstly, it brings down the accounts receivables of your organization. Although it is customary to mark accounts receivables as an asset in your accounting books, it can be a liability for small businesses that do not have the resources and the means to get paid on time for their rendered services. Secondly, automated payments establish a level of consistency in your income statements. This helps your business plan with better demand planning and logistics management.

The tips provided above can help your organization bring down the owed debt without compromising too much on your business ownership. Also, by tweaking your credit practices, it is possible to set up a healthy business process that is better suited to take on the vagaries and fickleness in the market and ensure survival for the long term.

Article by www.entrepreneur.com

Article by entrepreneurmag.co.za

For any successful business, safeguarding its future through careful succession planning should be an important focus. This applies whether you’re running a large listed business, a family owned business, or a small to medium sized unlisted business. There are interesting parallels to heading a successful family and preserving long term family wealth.

This was borne out in our latest survey of over 150 ultra-high net worth individuals, many of whom run or have run successful businesses, often across jurisdictions and generations. Over two thirds of the respondents identified succession planning as their current primary concern in preparing financially for the future. This represents a shift from our 2017 report which identified capital preservation as the primary concern.

What is driving this change? According to our findings, the answer is the rapidly changing and uncertain socio-political and economic environments. Against this background, our respondents said they see a certain urgency in preparing the next generation of leaders to respond to future challenges and opportunities. This means a more sophisticated, better structured and increasingly democratic approach to leadership, greater emphasis on training and development of young people, and better communication and renewed emphasis on long-term planning. The risk of failing to prepare the next generation is now seen as the highest priority for long-term sustainability.

In the family business scenario, and given the rate of technological, social and political change, intergenerational relationships are also transforming. Nearly all respondents agree that the impact of societal change on a family business must be reflected in the way they prepare for the future. Traditional, informal approaches are thus being challenged as families look to more sophisticated governance and communication.

For many of our clients, a successful business is the principal source of wealth and frequently represents a substantial proportion of their assets. Below are some practical, actionable insights from the report that came out of the survey, Four Pillars of Capital: Practical Wisdom and Leadership for Changing Times.

Concern #1: Succession Planning

As mentioned, the survey showed a shift in the primary concern by respondents from capital preservation to succession planning. We found that 69% of respondents identified succession planning as one of their top three concerns for future financial planning, followed by capital preservation (62%) and tax planning (48%).

Our Recommendation: Planning for the long-term is crucial in any business. Discuss strategic planning for future ownership with your Board, your mentor, your family and or key business stakeholders, which could include raising external finance or planning for an exit. Develop a purpose or planned vision for your business.

Partner with an independent professional to help advise and implement suitable and practical strategies to support governance and succession.

Concern #2: Leadership Selection

We asked families how they selected their leaders and how this should change in the future. One of the most interesting results of the survey is that 28% of families interviewed still currently operate on the basis of primogeniture (the right of succession belonging to the first-born child). When asked about their intentions for the future, however, the figure is now around a third of that at 10%. There is a growing preference for wider consultation for the selection of new leaders, possibly including a formal process. Currently only 13% use a committee to select the leader, however at least a third (33%) expect leadership to be selected this way in future.

Our Recommendation: Our experience tells us that having a clear leadership structure and process will provide the best chance of managing unforeseen risks – both internal and external – pursuing opportunities and ensuring that the business prospers. Most business owners need to employ leaders who can keep pace with the modern world and are able to adapt to a fast-changing environment. This means more broadly-based preparation than in the past.

The counterweight is that there is greater need for leadership responsibilities to be shared with others who have both the knowledge and stature to debate the key areas of risk and ensure the interests of all stakeholders are properly protected. Having an experienced mentor to help think through ideas and handle challenging relationships is invaluable.

Concern #3: Failure to prepare the Next Generation

Respondents identified that the top risks to long-term family wealth relate to family disputes (68%) and lack of planning (67%) as well as the failure to appropriately engage or train the next generation. This happens in businesses too, whether or not they are family businesses. Partners in a business can fall out, leaving the business and its employees to an uncertain future and often resulting in detrimental impact to the value of the business.

Our Recommendation: Increasingly, we suggest that families and business owners should engage in ongoing, regular and transparent communication with all company stakeholders, regardless of their responsibility or position within the firm. Employees should be given an opportunity to contribute towards defining the company’s core values and owners should invest in continuous development training programmes for their younger, more inexperienced employees.

Article by entrepreneurmag.co.za

Article by entrepreneurmag.co..za

Many startup founders and small businesses dream of receiving an offer to becoming the next billion dollar business. Whether its because they are ready to move onto another project, or they are ready to expand and are looking to leverage the financial power of a bigger partner, selling a business is a big move for any business. For many business owners, getting an offer from a buyer is certainly exciting, but before you jump into anything, remember that there are important steps to take before you sign the paperwork that will move a successful transaction forward.

Some entrepreneurs are ‘starters’, they like to start a business, get it off the ground and then flog it. Others are ‘growers’, they look for existing businesses and have the ability to grow them beyond their original value. Both will probably get to the same end point: Selling the business.

But entrepreneurs are often misled when it comes to the sale. They have put everything into the business and it is worth a huge amount to them because of it. But buyers are seldom willing to match the price, because what is being sold, and what is being bought, are not the same thing. Sellers see the emotional and financial investments they’ve put in; the buyer mostly looks at one thing: Profit.

Prepare for the challenges of selling

Once you get to market you will soon realise that there are, unfortunately, fewer buyers than you’d like. Unlike listed companies, you can’t sell shares easily and quickly on a public platform. Instead, you need to find an interested individual or business, many of whom just aren’t buying what you’re selling.

Some of them are, but that doesn’t guarantee a sale. Most SMEs must put their faith in a cash deal, since banks will never finance anyone wanting to buy them. In reality, this means that you may have a genuinely interested buyer for your business, who won’t be able to get finance for it from the bank. So, after a few months, you’re back to square one. After a few rounds of this cycle many entrepreneurs will just sell out of desperation, forgetting what the business could actually be worth.

Selling a business can be very emotionally draining and this will be compounded by many people who will waste your time and mess you around. You spent a large portion of your life building this, but others will not see it the same way you do. Ensure that you prepare and mitigate against all of those issues, and have the stomach for the fight.

Always keep the end in mind

If you are looking at exiting your business, it is crucial to allow enough time to prepare yourself for it. Maybe you’re simply tired of your business and you just want to get out, but, because the business is not in a great state at the moment, you’re too fed up to care, and you simply don’t have the energy to fix the issues.

You’re at risk of letting your business go for next to nothing. All the hard work for hardly any reward.

If you have the end in mind, and prepare for it, it can be a very different, more lucrative story. A successful transaction will mostly boil down to having a solid business with great systems in place that is making decent money and the starting point for these transactions will be financial information. You need to have proper financial records for your business and you need to be able to show the potential buyer how much the business is making and how it is making it. It sounds so elementary, yet most entrepreneurs don’t have financial information when they want to sell their businesses. If you think you may want to sell in the future, make sure you’re keeping solid records now.

If your business’s financials are messy, start cleaning them up at least twelve months before trying to sell your business. Remove all your personal expenses from the business and ensure that all transactions are properly recorded, and that your taxes are up to date and accurate. Work with your accountant to prepare a sales pack with all your financial information, including details of your clients, employees, suppliers, what your strong and weak points are and how the business could grow in the future. It’s at this stage that you can pick up on issues and resolve them before taking your business to the market, making it a much more attractive product.

With some (more) hard work, you will be in a great position to sell your business, you will have serious buyers and the valuation that you deserve for all your hard work.

That being said, here are 4 essential steps that will help you avoid potential setbacks and increase the chances of a fair and satisfying transaction while you are selling your business.

1. Preparation is everything

Since you’re already a business owner, you most likely already know the importance of preparation. When it comes to selling your business it’s always wise to conjure up all that you have learned along the way and apply that to the process of making a sale.

Some of the key documents that buyers expect to see are:

• Corporate records
• Records of any important contracts
• Information concerning stocks and investments that would affect the relationship with the buyer.

Preparation also entails that you are forward about any setbacks or issues you had in the past that currently affect company operations. Being open about what failed in your business model will help buyers feel confident in their decision working with you, in addition to understanding what to potentially avoid in the future.

2. Setting up the right environment for buyers

Your business may have received endless praise from the press and has made the “most up and coming list” time and time again that doesn’t mean you are ready to sell. Good press will very likely attract buyers, but if you haven’t created the right environment to continue along with a merger and acquisition, those investors and businesses that were one so eager to scoop you up may not stick around that long. To ensure a productive environment for selling your business  it pays to be open to new ideas, while also maintaining a professional setting from which trust can build.

3. Make sure your finances are in order

Financial records are vital when making a sale. Not only to they provide a clear outline of your businesses progress in numbers, they are also key to making sure you get what you want out of the final sale in the end; investments and any and all financial commitments. Ensuring that both parties are satisfied.

4. Hire a merger and acquisitions advisor

Even the most experienced business owners can benefit from the expertise of a mergers and acquisitions advisor. Trained specifically to help owners assess their the value of the business by reviewing it’s strengths and weaknesses on both a macro and micro economic level.

Some of the key ways that an M&A consultant can help you streamline the selling process are as follows:

• Professional who specialise in mergers and acquisitions are highly skilled at preparing for due diligence, helping you to navigate and organise the necessary documents and information that is needed by all prospective buyers
• If you are in the unique situation that you have more than one buyer interested in acquiring your business, an M&A consultant can help you assess which one will be the right relationship for you, especially if you will still be activity participating in daily business operations.

Again, experienced business owners may know everything there is to know about running a company, but that doesn’t mean they know how to appeal to buyers. Not only do you have to be in tune with your own company’s needs, but it’s essential that you understand what buyers and investors expect from a sale.

At the end of the day, even if you think you’ve found the perfect buyer, taking a few extra steps to ensure that a potential buyout will meet both parties needs and is overall good for the business can be done by being fully prepared and and working alongside an expert that will help to point you in the right direction. Successfully taking your business won’t happen overnight, in fact most transactions take about six to twelve months to complete, so it pays to be prepared every step of the way.

Article by entrepreneurmag.co..za