An angel in the rough
| by student accountant 08 May 2008 |
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Accountancy firm Baker Tilly Hong Kong is backing an innovative programme that matches upcoming entrepreneurs in Hong Kong with successful business mentors. Bruno Arboit, director of Baker Tilly Hong Kong who monitors the programme, explained the firm's involvement: 'Strangely, it's sometimes easier to raise $100m than $1m,' he said. 'While the private equity industry has boomed over the past 10 years with the creation of colossal funds targeting multi-billion dollar deals, the work of the Business Angel has remained much as it always was. 'It is still difficult for an entrepreneur, particularly a young entrepreneur without a track record, to find the first round of funding necessary to turn a good idea into a good business. Anything we can do to help people in that position to find sources of funds and other support has to be a good thing. It's not wholly altruistic - who knows, we may be helping the next Google get off the ground.' Baker Tilly Hong Kong contributes towards the cost of the programme and helps the British Chamber of Commerce to organise and publicise events. It also makes available senior professionals from a variety of disciplines in the firm to meet with entrepreneurs and work with them to polish their business ideas. 'We try and help them take what is in some instances quite a rough and ready idea and turn it into a concrete business proposition that can be put in front of a serious investor,' Arboit commented. He believes such initiatives are important. 'Hewlett Packard started in a shed,' Arboit added. 'Google's founders were working from a friend's garage in the early days. Pretty much all the giant corporations of the world started with an entrepreneur and an idea. But how many good ideas that could have been successful have never got off the ground simply for want of a few hundred thousand dollars to kick start the project? 'If we can help a couple of today's entrepreneurs find the initial funding that allows them to get their feet on the first rung of the ladder, then we will have made a real difference.' |
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