Fabulous new startup

I recently spoke with the founders of Marketinvoice (#marketinvoice). It’s not often that I really rave about a new company but these guys are changing the invoice factoring industry for the better and deserve to go far. Any entrepreneur that has worked with invoice factoring companies know how bad they can be. These guys have changed the game by allowing high net worth’s, hedge funds, family offices etc to bid for individual invoices. The invoice buyer gets better returns on their money and the invoice seller gets hands on their tied up capital for less – a true win win. I look forward to these guys succeeding

China’s economy relative to other countries

Here’s a really interesting article from The Economist. It compares China’s states against various countries around the world.

Is the office dead?

Just read this article – very interesting. It discusses the rise of micro-multinationals and attitudes related to the usefulness or otherwise of the traditional office.

Radio interview last week

I was interviewed by Lauri Elliot from the Art of Business last week.  Have a listen here.

 

 

Indian ownership of UK companies

When Tata agreed a takeover of Jaguar and Land Rover, I can recall headlines in the Indian press such as:  “The Empire Strikes Back”.  In the British media the mood was more:  “The Great Indian Takeaway”.   Unfortunately, discussion about foreign takeovers is often laced with xenophobic language which blurs the real issues.

The problem is, it’s costly to be xenophobic in matters of business and economics.  Let’s face it, the British car industry was the proverbial “dead parrot” for decades under domestic ownership and failed to meet the challenges of international competition.  Thankfully, Japanese investment and skillful management, showed that the British car industry was not actually dead, but “just resting”.  The renaissance generated thousands of jobs and left a high quality skills base.

The Tata Group is now the largest manufacturing employer in the UK, and Indian companies as a whole employ nearly 100,000 people in Britain.  Thousands more jobs exist thanks to activity of British companies in India.

Tata Motors’ purchase of the Jaguar and Land Rover marques from Ford for £1.15bn in 2008, is an example of a long-term investment which will benefit both historic marques.  In return, Tata will learn much about the premium and executive car markets.  It’s important to remember that Indian acquisitions tend to be “agreed” rather than “hostile” and are viewed as partnerships, with managements and workforce kept in place.  The approach to business is long-term because the UK is seen as a base from which to expand in to Europe.  Tata has also launched the Jaguar and Land Rover brands in India, where the luxury market is expected to grow quickly in the next 5 to 10 years.  All this bodes well for the future.

In 1600, India and China accounted for over 70% of the world’s GDP.  As both countries take centre stage once again, their economic power will be felt across the world. The UK will need to be pragmatic and forge mutually beneficial business links.

The UK’s economy has been more open, flexible, dynamic and welcoming of foreign capital and talent than many of its European neighbours.  This has been a source of competitive advantage in the past, and will continue to be so in the future.  When the usual concerns about foreign ownership are raised in the UK, it’s worth recalling the words of Deng Xiaoping.  He said:  ” It does not matter whether a cat is black or white, if it catches mice, it’s a good cat.”  In other words, if foreign ownership of UK companies brings investment, skills, and jobs, then surely it’s a good thing.

Britain has nothing to fear from long-term investment from India and everything to gain.  In fact, the UK and India are natural business partners.  JCB, BAE, Mott McDonald, Cairn, Standard Chartered, Infosys, Wipro, Religare, HCL  – these are just some of the companies who do business across both countries.  We have a historic opportunity to develop a relationship between the UK and India which will drive growth and prosperity in both countries whilst reducing unemployment.  As someone once said: “This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.

This article was originally written by Rakesh Rawal of Plus 91 Europe and published in Professional Engineering magazine.

Once again, opportunity presents itself by looking beyond your own borders

I stumbled across a site called Inside Facebook and found this article.  What it tells us is that the fastest growing language on Facebook is Arabic.  What we also know is that Facebook games are also growing like crazy.  So how about this as an opportunity for the globally aware entrepreneur, Arabic Facebook games!  Add to that the fact that TwoFour54 Ibtikar based out of Abu Dhabi is actively seeking media investments so funding is also possible.  Once again looking beyond the horizon to the broader world outside shows opportunities are out there regardless of the global financial situation.

Is the correction starting?

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine forwarded this article to me.  It talks about a small town in Wyoming in the US providing English language training to students in Asia via video conferencing technology.  Then today I was visiting a client in the north of England who told me that there was a significant salary differential between the south and the north of England; a distance of just 200 miles or so.  The two points set me thinking about whether the correction in costs is beginning to take place?

The UK and US look set to have growth rates of maybe 2.0 – 2.5% for the foreseeable future while India and China are both forecasting growth of at least 9%.  Will we see salary and office space costs rise in the growth countries while they plateau in the developed nations?  Will the differential reach a point where it no longer makes sense to locate teams in countries like India?

My conclusion though is no, it will still be many years before the so called correction is really in place.  In the UK, the salary cost inflation that is already going on in places like London will spread outwards.  It may take a year or so but it will happen; it’s just that people forget that when they’re in the middle of a recessionary period.  We’re already seeing banks start hiring technology staff in particular and that is bound to have a ripple effect.  I recently heard an example of a developer from one of our clients in the UK moving jobs for a £20k ($31k) annual salary increase.  In addition, we’re seeing office space rental rates in the London and again this is bound to spread outwards.  Even if it doesn’t spread, differentials like that are bound to make people move.  In addition, companies will delve deeper into China and India away from the well known cities where costs are still relatively low and cost of living more affordable.

As for the article above – it makes sense for English to be taught by native speakers.  The world is full of English as a Foreign Language teachers from the UK and US and this just uses the technology to make it more cost effective – no more and no less.

Proof that startups need to think global from day one

I was in San Francisco last week with my co-founder Kaushal Chokshi.  He had attended the Innovate!100 Pitch Slam Europe event in Istanbul, Turkey last month and gave me an update on what he saw there.  One of the most surprising things he learned was the Facebook’s second biggest market outside of the US is………Turkey!  Take a look at this article from Techcrunch.  The article was written in January and subsequently, I believe Turkey has taken the number two spot.

The reason appears to be that some people decided to translate Facebook on their behalf in order to satisfy a need for social networking in Turkey.  Being the only show in town, Facebook was then widely embraced in a country with a population of 70 million people an average age of 29 years old.  So Facebook simply got lucky.

My guess is that traditional thinkers would say to startups that they should stick to their own country first before expanding internationally.  I believe this Facebook example shows the flaws in that thinking.  There is a significant opportunity in looking for what has worked in the US or Europe and see whether emerging markets have that offering yet.  For another example, see Siondo, who, aided by Quickstart Global, have launched SaaS ERP targeted at smaller companies in both India and China.  This from a very young startup based in the UK.

The age of the born global startup is upon us!

Time for a global super regulator?

I’ve been reading today about the attempt by the UK’s Prudential to take over AIA, AIG’s Asian business.  It seems at the last minute, the UK financial services regulator, the FSA, has blocked the bid with worries about whether the combined business has enough liquidity to support itself in a severe economic crisis.  The worries are that some countries regulators such as Thailand’s might ring fence capital making it unavailable to the broader group.

The reality seems to me that business is going global and regulators need to find a way to understand and support that.  If not then businesses will be forced to remain exclusively in their own regions.  American financial services companies will be forced to remain American, European companies will be forced to remain European and so on.  That in turn will favour companies that are already global and place growing companies at a structural disadvantage.  The big will carry on getting bigger and too big to fail will take on a new meaning.

Maybe instead it’s time for a global super regulator that countries sign up to.  If you don’t sign up, you are at a disadvantage because your companies will not be able to expand internationally and innovation will be stifled.  Perhaps this is what some countries want, a pure, low innovation, low risk financial services industry.  I though, don’t subscribe to that view.  If companies are to succeed, they need a thriving financial services sector to support them

Quickstart Global featured on BBC Radio 4

I’m over the moon with coverage that we received on Sunday on BBC Radio 4’s In Business program, presented by respected journalist, Peter Day.

The 28 minute show featured interviews with 5 Quickstart Global clients as well as staff members that work with them.  If ever there was proof that what we do works, this is it!

Listen for yourself at http://bit.ly/8YCH2E