In conjunction with Merdeka Day celebrations, I share with the audience comprising graduates students and academes that as a corporate human resource development (HRD) practitioner, way back in 1988-89 whilst pursuing for Master in Management program at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Manila, I had learnt that business is about profitable exploitation of opportunities. But, to me then, at a deeper level, a meaningful business is really about meeting the unmet needs of society in a harmonious way. Some of us used to tease our business school classmates scrambling to secure best jobs with huge transnationals, fast moving consumer product companies. We would say, “At the end of your career, what will you tell your your grandchildren?”
I revealed to the forum that "At one level, locating the larger social purpose for a new business can be based on spending time and effort in meticulously understanding societal needs and imperatives; in local, regional, national or global settings. At another crucial level, it can come about from deep-rooted experiences and sufferings in one's own life and that of near and dear ones. These aspects will translate into a business proposition only when talented entrepreneurial energies emerge, either within oneself or facilitated by the family and community backgrounds or the sustainable business environment.
It is not that businesses which begin by addressing societal needs that are fully met will not be worth pursuing. In such situations, there has to be a real compelling case, long-term competitive advantage and sustainability. I realized that the AIM and companies that I had served for five decades, provided me with the opportunity to steer an engagement in this space with fervor. The buy-in process for a new business opportunity & at times, very demanding.
I can still remember, in a conglomerate, a new business proposal has to compete with incumbent and other new business opportunities on returns of the capital employed. For startups the competition is from other investment opportunities that are part of the ‘deal flow’ of angel investors, venture capital firms and investment banks. Therefore, for any new business, beginnings are critical to ensure long-term competitiveness, scalability, and its social impact.
Zulkifly Baharom (hajizul50@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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