15 July 2010, Kuala Lumpur – Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNIRAZAK), in collaboration with Babson College, recently organised a four-day workshop on business planning and entrepreneurial finance from 12 to 15 July 2010. The workshop was conducted by Professor Andrew Zacharakis, John H Muller, Jr Chair in Entrepreneurship of Babson College, at the RAZAK Campus and Director of the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference. Professor Zacharakis is also the author of five books on entrepreneurship, business planning and how to raise capital, and has been published in numerous academic journals.

The workshop covered a number of topics on entrepreneurship, with a special focus on business planning and venture capitalism. In each session, the participants, consisting of entrepreneurs and educators, were exposed to a number of activities to help them plan and launch their business ideas – from learning how to make realistic projections on the sustainability and potential growth of the business to raising critical questions when researching their new ventures.

Participants also examined the financing food chain and discussed the primary sources of capital for most new businesses worldwide. They also analysed the value and risks involved in engaging such investors and how to structure investment deals.



A total of 50 participants took part in the workshop which culminated with an industrial pitching session, simulating a venture capital meeting. The participants were divided into teams and were required to prepare an executive summary of a business plan. A total of three representatives were selected to present their executive summaries to a panel. The panel, playing the role of stakeholders, would then question the viability of the proposal as the presenter tried to convince them to buy into the business model with the lowest possible outlay of cash and resources.