Management consulting firms-a friend in need for startup companies

Experience is gained through hard work and perseverance. No one arrives in this world with prior knowledge and understanding. An apprentice, by tenacity and dedication becomes an expert. In case of businesses also, it is through a small step that a company gets introduced in the market. With initial sufferings, struggles and undaunted spirit it becomes a concern to look out for. In such cases, some are really lucky with funds while others are not. But, there are bright entrepreneurs ready with brilliant ideas, without having adequate resources. Such projects are known by the name of Startup Projects or companies.

Some typical features like paucity of funds, but having good ideas and ability to garner good returns in future are common. In earlier times, these projects used to die natural death without having any security. However, with the entry of Management Consulting Firms and Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists, new aspirations for such companies are on the rise.

Organizations hire the Management Consulting Firms for variety of reasons including the desire to gain advice and having access to their know-how.

The Management Consulting Firms provides the Startup Consulting Services ideas for growth, expansion, solution of problems and creation of new ideas to the startup businesses. Services like new venture designing assistance include areas like business ideation analysis, plan preparations, Financial Model choosing, marketing and branding, team building, investor sourcing, negotiations, setting up business and information systems-to mention a few. Since, such firms have the requisite skills, their ideas serves multiple purposes:

1. It is required by angel investors and venture capitalists as well as banks for both equity and debt financing

2. Shows financial analysis, including returns, viability, predictions and future actions

3. Valuation can be performed with ease

4. Complete Business Analysis including competitors scenario

5. Brand positioning 

6. What can be expected of the future can be observed and decided upon

7. Unforeseen contingencies and risks and plans to mitigate them

Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists wishes to invest in startup projects since it gives them an opportunity to have a fair share of return, to have a control over the newly started business and also having an important involvement in the business from its inception.

Like the SMEs, Startup companies face the problems of raising funds and such issues may now be solved through Alternate Investment of Funds, Equity Investments, Debt Financing, Hedge Funds and Derivatives and not to forget the funds invested by Angels and Venture Capital Investors.

There are many recognized Management Consulting Firms that aids in above stated services. Of them, major ones are- AT Kearney, Abacus Consulting, Bearing Point, Logica, KPMG, Huron Consulting Group.

Antar Consultants, being a fresh consulting firm is extending its helping hand to Startup Companies. From raising funds to arranging for angels and venture capital investors to planning, building, developing and expansion for the just begun businesses. In nutshell, it provides a cocoon for harnessing the novice to its ultimate goal.

Management Consulting & It’s Importance

Every company, irrespective of their size and the target market, requires certain strategies, plans and processes to stick to in order to ensure a one directional approach from their management and to achieve the common goal of the organisation.

UAE provides a market to the companies where they have a huge potential not only to operate without any external barriers but also to grow and enhance their presence and to build a customer base for themselves within the country and beyond.

The middle east is perfectly placed between the developed western markets and the developing eastern markets to provide a company a chance to tap both these markets and also to form a connection within these to build a strategically placed international firm.

Antar consultancy firm helps such companies, either existing in the market of UAE or those looking to enter the market of UAE, to form such strategies and plans that would facilitate their incorporation, growth and attracting customers.

Antar is one of the best management consulting firms in the region providing a variety of services to the companies affiliated with them. It doesn’t matter what the size of your firm is, antar specialises in start up consulting services as well as in consulting the large companies.

The services offered by antar include:

A. Market entry consulting

Antar consultancy realises the difficulty any company would face, both from the legal perspective and the business perspective, in setting themselves up in the highly competitive markets of today’s world. With this in mind, the provide the following market entry consulting services to their customers:

Development of the brand value of the company.

Development of product and services strategies for the company.

Feasibility study in order to understand the most feasible of all the opportunities available to the company.

B. Management consulting

Antar is also involved in facilitating their customers in forming strategies related to the day to day management of the company’s affairs. These services include:

• Change in the management of the company.
• Enhancing strategic communications to build connections as well as a brand value for the company.
• IT strategy to enhance the digital presence of the brand.
• Operational strategies to enhance the productivity of the company.

C. Financial consulting

Antar understand the importance of financial decisions taken by a firm. In this pursuance, they provide the following services:

• Corporate finance consulting, which includes an analysis of the financial decisions taken by the company.
• Transaction advisory to the company regarding transactions involving a significant capital.
• Valuations, which may be of the customers seeking to sell their company or that of any other company the customer is seeking to acquire.
• Funding for any particular deal or transaction.

D. Other professional consulting

Apart from the above, the experts at Antar are also involved in providing accounting, legal, taxation and other important consulting services to the customers.

Hence, whether you require a small business start up consulting service or a large financial consulting service, Antar consultancy is the way to go.

Author’s Note: Amer Ali is a freelancer who provides consulting services. With over ten years of experience, he is one of the experts in the field.

Market Entry Consulting: Get the Best Advice At Antar

The middle east has a strategic advantage over various other regions when it comes to starting of a business. Not only does it have a huge potential in the form of untapped markets in various fields, it also geographically connects the markets of the east and the west, making it the perfect place to enter any market of your choice and tap into an ocean of potential consumers. 

UAE, in particular, is known all over the world for its friendly trade policies which facilitate all kinds of business practices. 

With such a huge potential and an equivalent demand in the markets of UAE, various market entry consulting firms have crept up in the market which help the businessmen looking to enter into the markets of middle east in their planning and strategy formation. 

These firms help the new companies identify the approach required specifically for the consumers in order to enter the market, notwithstanding the existing competition and any other barriers the particular field may have.

After such recognition of the correct market and region most suited for the company in accordance with their needs, the market entry service providers also facilitate the incorporation of the company according to the laws of UAE and such acclimatization of the company as may be required. 

Following steps are taken by such consulting firms in order to ensure a smooth entry into the desired market by their consumers:

A. Identification of the most suitable market

Any new company looking to incorporate itself in the UAE has to be analysed on the basis of the experience of the businessmen and regional laws of the nation in order to recognise the best market for such firm to enter the market. After a foundation has been established in a particular geographic area, the company is free to expand itself further. 

Such analysis is performed by such consulting firms, which saves the businessmen time and resources of their own which would have otherwise been invested in such analysis. 

B. Business modelling

Once a suitable market has been recognised, there arises a requirement of modelling of the business in accordance with such market, which includes the formation of business strategies suitable for such target market. This requires an extensive market research and analysis. Such services are also performed by the experts in these marketing firms. 

C. Relationship building

Entering any new market requires the support of local banks and other existing players to make such incorporation as smooth as possible. The consulting firms help in establishing such contacts for the company so as to help them function smoothly after their incorporation. 

D. Incorporation services

The laws of UAE require an elaborate incorporation process, like any other market. Consultancy firms are not only familiar with these processes, they also have specific knowledge of how to make the process smoother. 

Antar is such a consultancy boutique operating in the UAE which, among many other services, is a go to market strategy consulting firm for many new companies. 

About Author: Amer Ali is a consultant who provides Market Entry Consulting services. With over ten years of experience, he is one of the experts in the field.

Sme business consultants- Providing impetus to small businesses

Not all business has the capacity to start king-size. Many have meager sources of capital or funds. Such concerns used to be lost in oblivion in the past but with the advent of new ideas and assistance, they are growing in numbers and slowly but steadily charting new barriers to be at par with big corporate houses.

SME Consulting Services offer a range of consulting services particularly designed for small and medium enterprises. Support may include providing SAP solutions to SMEs to helping them in planning, building, running and managing complete life cycle of the business systems, garnering satisfactory returns. The concept of website designing, E-commerce development, content management systems, customer relationship management- comes under the purview of SME consulting services.

Sme Business Consultants offers the necessary helping hand to the small businesses through their expertise and also by creation and designing of solutions to problems. It is clear that their overall goal is to help making a business better through addressing dilemma and suggesting way outs for the same.

A small business consultant should be able to write a business plan and a marketing plan effectively. He/she must be well aware about the plight of SME proprietors. Their work should not be confined in one particular area of the SME but should spread out in all directions, since the ambit of SMEs are small.

One of the serious issues that the SMEs are plagued with is the difficulties encountered while raising funds. Big Banks and Consortiums are reluctant to provide finance to SMEs since they are miniscule in nature and are regarded as non-viable for investment or loan repayment purposes. But, with the intervention of new rules and regulations, assistance by Government, and the hopes of big corporations joining hands to bail the SMEs out, there has been a new leash of life for them.

Funds can now be raised through the following means:

1. Inter and Intra company borrowings in case of Working Capital requirements

2. Equity Investments for business expansion

3. Need of fund for equipment, hire purchase or leasing are good options

4. Alternate Investment of Funds- another concrete way of fund raising being approved by Ministry, the Government and FEMA.  It includes venture capital, and hedge funds and private equity.

5. There are Angel Investors who are interested to invest in startups and SMEs allowing them a fair share of profit, control and involvement.

Antar Consultants has spread its wings in the direction of SME Consultancy Services and extends all kinds of help be it through raising of funds or creating solution based strategies. With the lifting of sanctions from Iran, many corporate shall be ready to enter it. Antar, working around this area, has the proper infrastructure and expertise to guide the companies and contribute in opening up the doors for them. Be it finding local partners or company formations, scouting for business and allied support or regulatory aid-Antar will be acting as a friend and guide in all areas possible.

About Author:
Amer Ali is a management consultant who provides various startups, Sme business consultants and SME Consulting Services. The above article is his take on the topic.

Corporate Finance Consulting - Trendy Assistant To Financing

Finance is now part of most common and trivial activities of routine life. Be it marketing, selling any wares, assistance to any person in any form, finance forms the core element. Finance having widespread branches is not merely confined to regular chores of life. In tune of this discussion, comes the concept of Corporate Finance. Corporate Finance, as the name suggests, deals with the sources of funding for big corporate houses and multi-national companies. It is nothing but the steps taken by managers to make the body corporate more viable and lucrative to share-holders and the tools and scrutiny deployed for allocation of financial resources.

As Corporate Finance is big in itself, there are a number of streams of work associated with it. Such activities come under the purview of Corporate Finance Service. Corporate Finance Services includes a wide range of assistance like managing money, which includes banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy firms, investment management companies ,stock broking firms -to name a few. Many of them provide a series of services under one umbrella.

Corporate Finance is quite complicated, specially to an organization or a person just being a fresher and thus comes the idea of Corporate Financial Advisory. The basic ideology behind this is the variety of advisory services that are offered to the MNCs and conglomerates about the financial aspects of operations. Such services may either be provided by Boards of the companies constituted particularly to give shape to this idea or by bodies of professionals, being experts. Moreover, among the numerous finance service, which one is the best suited for a particular company is best judged by Corporate Financial Advisory.

The foundation on which the work of a Corporate Financial Advisor is based on is facilitating mergers and acquisitions, joint venture, disposals, apart from others. They are often found in consortium with large investment banks or corporate advisory firms.

It may be pertinent to mention here that strategies that are adopted for a specific company is totally different from that of another.. Strategies are the clever techniques that are adopted to tide over war-like situations. These strategies are being designed by Corporate Finance Consulting mechanism. The work is basically the linking of capital markets ideologies, corporate strategies and financial strategies to help executives and their teams for value-addition purposes.

Worldwide there have been quite a few firms well-known in their area of expertise as Corporate Financial Consultants. Famous ones are A.T. Kearney, PwC, Ernst & Young, Mckinsey & Co., Bain & Co. Deloitte, BCG, and KPMG.

Among the new and rising firms is the Antar Consultants which is a boutique consultancy company offering clear, simple, effective and tailor-made financial services and solutions to its clientele. The name “antar” signifies “difference” and it is this uniqueness that sets “Antar” apart from other companies. Among the plethora of services that it offers, Business Recovery, Valuations, Funding, Corporate Finance Services, Transaction and Advisory comes under the endeavour of Financial Consultancy.

About Author:

Amer Ali loves to write for about corporate finance consulting firms and corporate finance advisory services.