A Critical history of an entrepreneurial venture

Ravinther Kunju Raman

If we can sell our experiences we all will become millionaires

April 1992

August 1992

October 1993

1st October 1993 - 4th June 2004

Career Path
55 54 53 52 51 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43
42

Own Business
Sales Counsellor

MD ED AD GM

AGM M AM MT/JE/E

41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34

Sales Consultant Sales Management

93/94/95/96/97/98/99/00/01/02/03/04/05/06/07/08/09/10/11/12/13/14/15

Overweight (83.5kg)

November 2003 Chen Du, China

The World is my stage

The idea and the resulting product/service offering, the value proposition

 Human beings are capable of accomplishing much more than initially imagined if they are provided with trainings and special know-how. And if these conditions are met, the person assigned will exercised his or her abilities to the fullest if given the chance - K. Matsushita

Sell our experiences

Customer

Sales Staff

Your Competitor

Your Problem

The Entrepreneur and the Team

Why ASK?
Attitude-Skill-Knowledge Ann/Ailyn/Aslyn-Sherryann-K.Ravinther Ask-Seek-Knock

Corporate Information
Company name Date of Incorporation Commenced business operations Board of Directors ASK EDUCATION (636057-A) 5th December 2003 19th March 2004 Sherry Ann Daniel Catherine Lim Ah Sham Ravinther Kunju Raman Leong Li Ling (MAICSA 7028548) JK Huan & Co. Chartered Accountants & TRAINING SDN BHD

Company Secretary Auditors

Principle banker
Registered office

RHB Bank Berhad

Pusat Perdagangan Puchong Prima, Puchong, Selangor

Principle place of business

A-7-6, Tiara Faber, Jalan Desa Utama, Taman Desa, 58100 Kuala Lumpur

Specific Characteristics
Lifestyle firm - set up primarily to undertake an activity that my wife and I enjoy Lean management live simple life, more time with family & friends, work with likeminded people, constantly invest on ourselves to upgrade competencies through study and reproduce what we learn (prosumer) Market influence focus on Electric & Electronic Industry Industry Independence - free from outside control in taking our principal decisions. Personal influence in all decision making. Wife make general decisions and I make major decisions Close relationships with customers, investing our time rather than money. Many of our customers are our close friends

Principal Activity
The company is principally engaged in providing training services and related business

Lecturing Management Courses Tuition Mathematics Science Statistics

Organizations Effective Professional Selling Skills Effective Telemarketing Skills Effective Telephone Style Effective Customer Service Effective Supervisory Skills Effective Communication Skills Effective Team Building & Motivation Individuals Coaching Counseling One-on-one Executive Trainer Career Coach

Marketing Planning HR Consultation

Keynote Speeches Organizing Seminars Organizing Events Master of Ceremonies Game Show Host Youth Programs Children Camps School Camps Spokesperson Seminars to promote Client Moderator Facilitator Professional Speaker Sports Carnival

Basic Management Objectives

Recognizing our responsibilities as educationist, we will devote ourselves to serve others through Training and Development of Attitude, Skills and Knowledge, thereby touching and transforming lives positively Worldwide.

Educationist
Training & Development
Attitude Skill Knowledge

Touching & Transforming lives

Basic Business Philosophy

Our Vision Serving everyone through Training and Development of Attitude, Skills and Knowledge, thereby touching and transforming lives positively World-wide. Our Mission Statement We will challenge our ability as educationist and commit ourselves to research, customize and deliver effective training programs that will assist individuals and organizations to achieve their goals. Our Guiding Principles H - Humble O - Optimistic P - Passionate E - Ethical Our Motto Personal happiness, creative fulfillment, professional success and freedom from fear and a new promise of joy is for those who dare to ask. It is our responsibility as human being to ask others for help because anything is possible if we DARE TO ASK.

should you choose

Why

ASK EDUCATION & TRAINING

Imagine
consuming

as your training provider?

attitude, skill and knowledge in a CAPSULE!

Cost-effectiveness

We deliver customized training solutions at a strategic cost to match your requirements We build our courses grounded in proven theories and based on research We teach our participants to apply learning that brings long term personal and professional development We design and develop training solutions that match your organizations strategic goals and meet your specific needs We assign two or more people to your training project from initial contact to research to course development to actual training. This gives us a very tight control over the quality of our training solutions We put learners at the center of our training solutions and strive to bring the best out of them through promoting active participation. We apply teaching methodology that increases the rate of retention and the transfer of learning to the workplace. We provide experienced trainers who know the industry and are committed to apply the skill sets that they teach.

CAPSULE

Academic foundation

The value proposition

Practical application

Strategic design & development

Undivided attention

Learner centeredness

Experienced trainers

Funding model
Own funding
Sold house to finance business Paid-up capital of RM100,000

The Business & Revenue Model of the venture, business strategy

Competitive Advantage
Defined by Cost Defined by Distinctiveness

Target Market

Industry-wide (Broad)

Low-cost leadership

Differentiation

Specific Niche or segment (Narrow)

Cost-based focus

Differentiation based focus

Differentiation based focus

Aim at a specific and typically small niche
SME > Consumer Electronics Specialize the firms activities in ways that other broader-line firms cannot perform as well Affordable cost at superior value Focus on repeat buyers ( we are knowledgeable about the firms offering and less price sensitive)

Specialized distinctive competence

research, customize and deliver effective training programs

VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
Infrastructure Acquire capital, perform accounting, legal and administrative (finance, accounting, legal affairs, information tasks for each activity
systems & payroll)

SUPPORT ACTIVITIES

Human Treat employees as special team members ( working for Resource themselves) ; emphasize reward systems that promote Management innovation or quality Training tools, software and hardware support, e-learning; Technology refinement of high quality delivery ; emphasis on excellence; Development world class quality

Procurement Selective purchasing from numerous sources

Analyze Design & Develop
Proprietary processes; patent protection; license

PRIMARY ACTIVITIES

High emphasis to understand customer needs

Implementation Reputation Extra care in training & referral delivery strategy

Evaluation
High emphasis on treating customer as special individuals; fast and courteous special services

Inbound Logistics

Operations Outbound Logistics

Marketing/ Service Sales

The Business & Revenue Model of the venture, business strategy

Partner 45% Direct 55%

The Business & Revenue Model of the venture, business strategy

Corporate 12%

Sme 88%

The Business & Revenue Model of the venture, business strategy

CE 45% Others 55%

The Business & Revenue Model of the venture, business strategy

Event management 14% Consultation 29%

Training 57%

Analysis: analyze the ventures development

cycle and its current position by looking at Initial condition at the time of founding the venture ( the industry, economy, the venture) Major events during the ventures development and the actions taken by the entrepreneur. Are there events in the ventures life cycle that have influenced the ventures development? (events related to the entrepreneur, venture or to the market) Feedback loops and causal relationship between the events and the decisions, actions taken by the entrepreneur)

Initial condition at the time of founding the venture

The Industry In Malaysia, the emphasis on the development of human capital was recorded in the Ninth Malaysian Plan 2006-2010 where RM4.45 billion was spent under the Eight Malaysian Plan and RM4.79 billion was allocated for training The Economy SMEs are important engine of growth Almost 99% of businesses in Malaysia 32% of GDP, provide jobs to 5.6 million employees. The market for my services is growing at an unprecedented rate. In 2004 and 2005, year-end training business increased 25% each year. There were 600 training providers in The Venture I plan to provide a complete training and consultancy service CE industry. I intend to upgrade CE staff competency and assist to bridge the gap between principal and dealers

Ventures development & the actions taken based on feedback loops 000 (RM) 300 Strategic

250
200 150

Sales and Profit Chart versus years in business

Advice 1

Partnership Advice 2 Additional Consultant

205k Working with Training partners

Acquire higher qualification Master of Instructional Technology Master of Management

155k
Advice 3

100
50 2003 -50
Incorporation 5 Dec

Joined team 4 Jun

88k
Commence Business 19 Mac

96k 21k

46k

7k

2004

-29k

2005

-37k

2006

-38k

2007

2008

2009

Legend Sales Turnover Profit

Year

Advice 1: Increase sales, control expenditures and start making profit Advice 2: Build Strategic Partnership Advice 3: Pay Service Tax

Marketing Strategies
Rank Strategies Details

Referrals

Request the referral Repeat the request Reward referrals Reciprocate

Bond the client to my professional practice emotionally (how I treat them) Relationship Selling Toastmasters, Malaysian Institute of Management

Client relations

3 4

Personal Selling Public Speaking

5
6

Internet
Social/business networks

www.askravinther.com
Facebook, linkedn, Matrade

Reflections
Lesson learned:
We can sell experience and make a living We can earn relatively higher income by working for ourselves compared to working for others We can enjoy a greater balance in work-family life when we do our own business We must observe our surroundings to find a need and filling it, thus we will be in business We must respect business ecology and practice prudency, believe in value systems to co-exist and co-prosper There is enough business to do; learn to share and do not be greedy. Increase sales turnover, control expenses and make profit for company

Reflections
New insights:
Do I want to grow my business?
Premises, staffing, number of training days Expand beyond core > CE Bring in outside investors Strategic partnership - merger with other training providers Obtain SME financing

DARE TO ASK