Bandar Seri Begawan - The participants of iCentre's ThiNK BIG Business Plan Competition 2009/2010 had an opportunity to improve and boost their executive summary writing skills, prior to the contest's submission date, with help from an established speaker of Singapore's NUS Enterprise during the THiNK BIG Entrepreneur Workshop programme held yesterday at the iCentre in Berakas.

The speaker, Michael Reyes, said that an executive summary is the most important part of a business plan to the investor or banker.

"Most upcoming entrepreneurs underestimate its importance and usually muddle through the executive summary. Many fail to realise that a potential investor or banker will only decide to read the rest of the business plan if he likes the summary.

"In some cases, the summary is the only thing that an investor will read. Thus said, the entrepreneur must capture the interest and imagination of potential investors with their executive summary," he said.

The workshop, according to Michael Reyes, focused on the right way of writing an executive summary, through simple techniques to understand the summary's main purpose, including a technique called The Elevator Pitch'.

The participants were given a series of questions that each of them should consider when writing an executive summary. Michael stressed on the importance of understanding its purpose and to cover every possible angle that one would like to present in the summary.

The workshop was designed to be very interactive, whereby participants were given a chance to share their opinions and the situations they faced when writing such a summary.

The participants have until Aug 14 to submit their executive summaries and, with the knowledge that they had gained through the workshop, it is hoped that they have a much better understanding on positioning their executive summary for the business plan competition.

Michael Reyes was also in the country last year when he conducted a similar workshop relating to the 2008 THiNK B1G Business Plan, which was held at UBD and the iCentre.

"The Business Plan Competition is an excellent initiative by the iCentre to help you start on achieving your dream. It changes your mindset with its requirements and this is the reality of starting a business," added Michael during yesterday's programme, which also coincided with only his second trip to the Sultanate.
The workshop was part of iCentre's Second THINK BIG Business Plan Competition 2009/10, which offers the biggest prize money award for its kind in Brunei under the 1CT industry.

A total of $42,000 will be awarded to the winners, and the first prizewinner will receive $20,000 under the 1CT Business Plan category.

This year's competition also features a new category called the 'Special Award for College and University Students', which aims to encourage the younger generation to explore their entrepreneurial capabilities.

The award targets mainly college or university students studying locally or abroad, while the winner will be awarded up to $2,000 for their business plan. Another award - the ICT Islamic Application - is also featured this year, with $5,000 awaiting its winner.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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