Destiny Steps

Our client, a Pan Asia Leader in technology, partner of reputable Cisco, wholly owned by a company listed in SGX Main, HQ in HK. Its groups staff strength stands at slightly less than 400 with offices in China, Korea, HK, Indonesia, KL & S’pore.

Role :

• Work with existing but most importantly developing new accounts & businesses
• Established strong contacts / network into the industry.
• Work the ground to sniff & source qualified leads
• Work the network diligently to established entry
• Foster influential relationship with decision makers & insiders
• Work with internal team to steer the clients through sales cycle & influential them into favorable decision
• Driver of the complete sales process to arrive at the defined revenue / GP targets.

The person :

• Degree in Business / IT
• No less than 4 years of strong sales experience with solid track records
• In depth knowledge of the systems integration & security solutions for enterprise market
• Has influential contacts & networks in Commercial & Manufacturing industry
• Strong experience in the sales / business development, experience in complex enterprise sales cycles
• Successful track records in business development in enterprise organizations
• Excellent presentation, verbal and written communication skills; Excellent interpersonal and time management skills
• Highly self motivated, Goal & target driven
• Team player, persistent and an excellent communicator; Ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds and experience levels
• Detail oriented, multi-tasking, and able to deal with tight deadlines and stress.
• Well read, well informed, up dated in technology & emerging security technologies.
• Has excellent conceptual understanding of technical considerations of security implementations.

Someone handed me a financial magazine this morning and the title caught my attention. It says “The 3 Golden 10 Years”. It was an interview with 7 Chinese Self-made Millionaires in Malaysia. It was a very interesting read, very informative, very educative guideline toward financial independent and possibly financial freedom.

Here is the summary of it all :

The 3 Golden 10 Years is :

• 25 - 35 y/o
• 35 - 45 y/o
• 45 - 55 y/o

25 - 35 y/o - Wealth Accumulation Years

This is 1st Golden 10 years where it should be spent on Wealth Accumulation. Hear me loud & clear please. It is Wealth Accumulation, not DEBT Accumulation.

The defination of Wealth Accumulation : 

• Save between 10-25%, if possible even 50% of monthly Salary

Eg. given a monthly salary of RM2,000, a saving of RM500/month. The yearly accumulation is RM6,000. 10 years is RM60,000 (the author has not included interest or even compounding interest)

Why is it such a rush to save ? This is the phase of life where you will have least responsibility. By the time one enter the 30s, most will be getting married, children, home, parent, etc will make it much harder to save.

• Set out to accumulate experience & knowledge in the area where it will enrich your job / career as well as about financial & investment

Capitalise this time to build the foundation cornerstone for your career. Learn to be the expert in what you do so that you can be the best or the top and known in the market. Yes, build your “brand”. Be the master of your profession.

At  the same time, take interest, strong insterest in finance & investment. Read, internet & books !! Attend cources like CFP ( not necessary taking the exam) if you can allocate the fund. Be the master of your personal finance.

Check out this one examplary person who had practice the above two aspects really well.  (to read this old post, you will need to subscribe to this blog)

• Purposefully Save (Invest) time into activitties that will take you closer to your Purpose / Goal instead of meaning less lepak-ing, eg. financially independent / be the top achiever in your job / run your own business 

Firm & clear objectives & goals will ground you, set your lifestyle & determine your steps.

Check out this one examplary person who had practice the above two aspects really well. (To read this old post, you will need to subscribe to this blog) 

• DO NOT buy car or house because it will set you back years and by hundreds of thousands debt !!!

I absolutely agree with this point. Many people are badly influence by the banks’ marketing gimmic of home ownership. Lets do the math.

If you buy a house of RM200,000 when you are 5 years into the job market. How much deposit you are putting it down ? Lets assume 15%. That is RM30,000. So RM170,000  is on finance with the bank. Do you think you own the house ?

Your rightful ownership is only 15% of the house but you have to be responsible for the totality of all expenditure relating to the house, eg. cukai tanah, cukai pintu, insurance, maintenance,  legal fees, etc. Think of it as a business partnership. Do you think is fair for your major partner to say you bear all business expenditure for the business which he/she own 70% ? or is it a con artist job ? I call it a legalised Ah Long.

Should anything unforeseen were to happen, such as current economy down turn, and that you fall short of servicing the monthly installment, the financing bank will step in for foreclosure and again, you have to bear all the expenditures involved. Tell me, who is the stupid fool here ?

• Resist the temptation & peer pressure, conforming into the society sickness of materialism, consumerism & credit-ism (which is the main cause of American economy melt down).  

This is the major reason of our youth, big majority, below 28 are closed to bankruptcy due to credit card debts.

 35 - 45 y/o - Years for Value Increase

• With the wealth accumulated, it is time to multiply it with the knowledge accumulated while not stopping your saving habit from your 1st Golden 10 years.
• This is a time for discipline financial management.

 45 - 55 y/o - Financial Independent / Freedom creation

• This  is a time for “money make money”, time for your wealth works for you, time of leverage. This can only happen when the earlier 2 Golden 10 years are done right.

So, you set ?

Client : a reputable MNC listed in AUX, niche in providing IT technology solution for Healthcare, FSI & Commercial.

Its FSI division is looking for a strong experience outstanding BDM for global business : Asia + MiddleM East.

This person is responsible to bring the company FSI product success from UK / HK / Australia to other parts of Asia & MEA.

Role :

• To launch, roll out and develop the Electronic Claims and Payments system currently in use in Europe / Austalia to global;
  Maximise revenue from existing user base and generate new business revenue from the successful sale of the Financial’s products in Asia and the MEA;
• Development of a sales pipeline for the territory and delivery of the revenues required to meet and exceed the annually defined revenue targets.
• Strategise & execute plan to promote and sell the Financials solutions and services to new and existing customers within a defined geographical area through the development and execution of the sales strategy for the territory and the bid campaigns for each identified opportunity; 
• Management of the sales forecasts, sales management reporting, competitive analysis reports, bid plans and other reports as required for the territory ;
• Evaluate business opportunities to identify against our product portfolio to meet our commercial objectives; 
• Attend and support the management of local Trade Shows, Conferences, Workshops or other promotional events as requested from time to time;
• Any task deemed suitable to the grade and position.
• Integration of health community, government and business needs to develop opportunities;

Requirements :

• Educated to degree level desirable
• Previous sales experience of no less than 5 years in the IT sector, particularly in the FSI, is essential; FSI domain knowledge is cruicial. Enterprise ERP sales background possible
• Strong sales achievement background;
• Successful track record in high value, complex IT solution sales;
• Successful track record in identifying and bringing opportunities to commercial reality;
• Established relationships with key decision makers and influencers in the territory;
• Knowledge of the key IT strategies affecting the IT buying decisions in the territory
• Must be able to work on own initiative and demonstrate innovation; Hungry for success & achievements
• Be able to conduct high-level conversations with senior executives about their business operations;
• Possess excellent communication, influencing and presentation skills to interact with customers;
• Be able to build, maintain and develop relationships both internally and externally;
• Demonstrates Leadership abilities;
• This individual will need to be strongly motivated with a desire to succeed and driven, target oriented, methodical and tenacious;
  Supports and solicits input from team members at all levels within the organisation.

Reporting line - Business Division MD based in Europe
Remuneration - commensurate with experience & value the individual brings to the team

Company Profile:

My client is a wholly owned subsidiary of a European telecom with subsidiaries in France, Russia Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa. Together with local and overseas partners, we develop, distribute and support software solutions for mobile operators.

Key Responsibilities:

• Deliver integrated products or solutions to the customer according to agreed-upon scope, timeline and budget
• Ensure an efficient and smooth communication/coordination between all involved stakeholders in the project
• Contribute to the company’s process and implementation improvement
• Maintain confident rapport with the customers, increase customer knowledge of our products
• Secure resources to realize projects
• Control project costs
• Obtain final acceptance from customer

The Candidate:

• Very good knowledge in project management methodology
• Experience in managing project using project management tools and techniques.
• Several years of experience as a project manager in the Telco environment
• Good knowledge of software integration in a Telco environment
• Pleasant personality, good client management skills and a team player
• A Degree/Diploma in Engineering, IT or Telecommunication
• Excellent command of English and presentation skills
• Familiar with mobile telecommunications or IT field
• Willingness to travel

Company :

A European Software Vendor, focus in the Supply Chain & logistic industry, pride technology leader in optimization. A company characterized by high quality standards and a result driven focus. A strong team of professionals work together to develop and market a standard software package of unprecedented quality and flexibility. 

The Role : 

Business Development Manager (SEA) 

Function :

To lead the identification, development, marketing and achievement of profitable new business across the South-East Asia business unit. Prime responsibility : 

• researching & understanding market competition info, leads generation,  
• Identify / create needs demand, develope value proposition proposals & presentations
• influence prospects through sales cycling, create trust & confident relationship and lead it into closure
•  

Ideal Candidate : 

• An experience savvy strategic business developer,
• In depth understanding of the industries
• Excellent networker
• A hungry sales person

Requirements

• Experience in complex sales cycles. E.g. selling large scale ERP/SCM / Enterprise Application solutions with track records to evident
• Domain knowledge in either Supply Chain, Logistics, Manufacturing, Aviation or other Process;
• An influencial & convincing communicator & presentator, excellent leads qualification and client relationship skills;
• A good command of the English;
• Focus & goal driven, self motivated yet team player.
• Enjoy travelling.

I am not financial & economies savvy at all. So, I try my level best to read / watch & comprehend business news. I think it is important to learn the atmosphere & environment we are living in. In the past weeks, amidst Walls Streets / US Economy issues, everyone seems to have a comment or two on bailout or not bailout but not the big giant like Soros / Warren. But you hear nothing from the big giant like Soros or Warren on should or should not.

Warren is on bargain hunting shopping spree and he called the latest happening in Wall Street / US economy - Cardiac Arrest…Read for your self, taken from Bloomberg

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Billionaire Warren Buffett, the world’s preeminent stock picker, said the U.S. economy is “flat on the floor” after a cardiac arrest as companies struggle to secure funding and unemployment increases.

“In my adult lifetime I don’t think I’ve ever seen people as fearful, economically, as they are now,” Buffett said today in an interview with Charlie Rose to be broadcast tonight on PBS. “The economy is going to be getting worse for a while.”

The biggest housing slump since the Depression has spurred a wave of defaults and a yearlong contraction in global credit markets, squeezing companies’ capacity for investment. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., based in Omaha, Nebraska, agreed in the past two weeks to buy $8 billion in preferred shares from General Electric Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to help the companies fund their businesses.

The credit freeze is “sucking blood” from the U.S. economy, Buffett said.

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc., and the emergency sales of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Wachovia Corp. fueled fears about the vulnerability of firms that rely on capital markets for short-term funding.

Buffett is taking advantage of fragile stock markets, the lack of available credit and his own reputation as a picker of successful companies to extract outsized payments for Berkshire’s cash and endorsement. He has told shareholders that his strategy is to be “greedy when others are fearful.”

`Seizing Opportunity’

“He’s seizing the opportunity,” said Tom Kersting, an analyst for Edward Jones & Co in St. Louis. “His philosophy is always to keep some powder dry. That allows him to take advantage of the current turmoil we’re in and take advantage when others can’t.”

For both Goldman and GE, Buffett’s endorsement comes with a cost. Both companies agreed to pay Berkshire a 10 percent dividend on his preferred shares, and each gave him warrants to buy their common stock at any point in the next five years at a price that’s a discount to where it’s currently trading.