Business HUB

Business HUB

Business HUBby Alen Dananovi

Living in Bosnia and Herzegovina seems like an impossible struggle for every day survival with unemployment as topic number one. This is a picture one can imagine when listening to an average Bosniak about life in his country. It is a very odd to picture because an average Bosniak would probably tell this with a cup of coffee and cigarette in coffee shop (lowest cost of those two: BAM 5.00). I recently read on Forbes that Paul Romer (American economist, entrepreneur, and activist) once said that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste and that Warren Buffett was listening when he invested billions during last crisis and came out even richer, and the crisis is still in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Knowing Bosniak as pessimists, instant comment would be that those people are billionaires and that it is easy for them to say that. Those people are too rich to fail and amount of pressure they handle is unimaginable. Moreover, there is a fast-growing trend of startups becoming billions worth companies adding more pressure on them. This startups trend is also present in Bosnia from two years ago but in a different manner. It is created from competitions for best idea which wins money prize as a starting capital. There are about dozens of those competitions similar in nature and they all end up generating few startups each with one or two employments. The participants of those competitions can learn how to write a business plan for their ideas and possibly to become familiar with the latest trends in startups. More important effects like introducing participants into country laws, management in business, assessing the risk, general threads and opportunities, maintaining liquidity and solvency and most important social responsibility, is not achieved. Except the money prize that one can win for an idea, there is no other support for conducting business plan what so ever. This affects participants in a way that they are not eager to start their businesses if they have not won the prize and creates mindset that they should wait for that easy money. Only encouraging fact is that these competitions attracts more and more, mostly young, people proving that they are creative and want to work. In just one year period these competitions grew from few hundred to few thousands of entrances. These people need a place which would gather them in one place at any time, not only for a couple of months, and certain rules that will constantly move them forward, make them work collaborative not competitive and to guide them into right direction.

Idea is creating Business HUB (in further text HUB) as a simple place that would enable young people to meet, exchange ideas, engage into creation of values and contributing to each other. It is both real and on-line place for easier connection and to be easily accessible for all. It will be completely opened community for new members or attenders at classes and trainings, but each would have to pay membership fee. Membership fee is small figure amount, about BAM 10.00 to BAM 20.00 per year, depending on initial number of members and planned development. Membership fee is a psychological instrument for making people feel responsible and aware that the HUB is something valuable, but it is also a channel for fund raising. It is expected for HUB to attract all participants of startups competition which would generate inflow of BAM 40,000 to BAM 60,000 per year. This money would be mostly invested in a way that would make HUB growing. More important fact is that with attracting a large number of members, HUB would have diversity of knowledge and provide members with already created network of people which would help them in their businesses.HUBs activities are divided into several areas: education, investments and projects. Educational aspect of the HUB is organized in a manner that members, in groups or individually, prepare lecture or training on certain topics related primarily to business and teach to others. This is conducted in person and on-line, by providing distance members with video of any lecture. General areas needed to cover with topics are chosen by HUBs management, but members can also propose topics to teach about. Mutual education would develop members to become professionals, valuable on a labor market. Contribution of each member is evaluated by others with rating quantity and quality by voting. Voting would comprise grading of several skills such as communication, presentation, quality, amount and others per which one can be profiled and different from others. Having this, employers would have more information on person when hiring than just theirs CVs. Votes also give points to individuals which is explained in further text. Investments aspect comprises several activities. HUB would constantly have competitions for best business plan, meaning that members can apply for competition at any time. Education activities would support this in form of introducing members to planning and writing business plan in purpose of quality applies. HUBs management board would grade each plan for accuracy, objectivity, feasibility and sustainability. However, decision on best one is going to be brought by all-members-vote principle having all entrances shown by descending order for grades of Management Board. Founded company would have constraints in hiring only HUB member because they deserved it. Members with highest ranking, that is with largest amount of points gathered trough votes, would be first in row for employment in these cases, but acceptance is theirs decision. Also, ownership would be divided on a 40%:60% basis, with 60% in HUBs ownership and 40% of business plan creators ownership. Net income received from each founded company would be used in further investments. Other investors can also invest in member business plans but part of ownership must belong to HUB which is a subject of negotiations with HUBs management. However, hiring constraints cannot be fully applied, but number of employees to be hired from the HUB can be reciprocal to percentage of ownership.Activities aspect includes contributing to society in terms of conducting projects related to HUBs mission. Funds for projects would be raised from donors in the beginning and later on, when grew enough, from HUBs assets. Projects proposals are written by members and bided on tenders for grants. When grant is won, writer of project chooses members for team to conduct it with priority to members again with most points. This is one of the activities where members can earn personal income in form of wage directly from the HUB, without employment at some company.Business HUB would be established as a non-government organization. Thus, it would be independent of politicians influence and ensure that profit cannot be extracted but invested back into members. Such organization has to have management board which must include five to seven persons that are capable and proven, whether academically or in praxis, in some function of business: general management, accounting and finance, marketing and PR, human resources, purchase, sales and IT support. All aspects are led by management board which is elected by HUB members, later on. Their duty includes: Control that all activates of the HUB are accordant to rules written, Decide on areas of business needed to study and cover with lectures, Provide members with basic literature and education necessary for business plan writing, As NGO, bid for grants and donations related to promotion of starting a business, education and related topics, to gain additional inflows, Make sure to present HUB to employers as a valuable center of labor force, Attract some successful businessmen or other renowned persons as a lecturers on a voluntary basis, Attract outside investors and negotiate best deals possible.Management board members is also responsible for establishing each function, in which they have expertise, within HUB as a support to funded businesses as it is cost effective for small businesses to outsource it. However, these services are also to be sold to other companies in purpose generating additional inflow for investment fund. That is, when you establish accounting within HUB, you can support all founded businesses and also sell the services to other companies. Such accounting service can gain better references than any other, because it has the HUB as a clients supplier. Other functions can also be organized in the same way. Members are engaged in these functions, also based on points from votes and qualifications for each function, and earn wages for their work.Supervision over the management board is done by all members. All transactions on bank accounts, fund raised from membership fees, grants, net income of the businesses founded, services sold and other, would be transparent to all members, as well as all expenditures. Members assembly would act as a Shareholders assembly in a public company. They would control management with proposals, suggestions, demands, dismissals of management members and other similar instruments.Business HUB may look like a very complex organization to found and sustain, but in nature it would be very simple with one rule: The more you work, the more you get with the mission of boosting people to act entrepreneurial. For founding the HUB and conducting the idea of it, there is a need for support of institutions like World Bank and The World Bank Group, USAID, UNIDO and others which recognizes the problem, domestic associations that already works on solution for unemployment and some domestic or foreign companies. Support comprises funds for initial marketing campaign and right to use the name of those organizations as partners in project. The HUB would also need amphitheater, auditorium, conference room or some other space where people could gather for lectures, seminars and meetings. And finally, video and audio equipment quality enough to provide media content of activities held on HUBs website. With gathering few thousands of young people, HUB would achieve power of big data in a way that everyone is good at something and, moreover, knows someone else that is even better. Also, such community presents loyal customers of the founded businesses when the business is selling products for final consumption and members would act as free promoters with recommending and spreading a good voice on the founded companies. Further development is to integrate HUB into universities and scholarship donors as an activity that would provide extra credit when applying for it. Also, key is to integrate it with Federal and Republic Srpska Bureau for Employment, especially the ranking system, to move the people into working on themselves until they get employed. It would be stimulating if government institutions and bodies act supportive to this strictly because there would be fewer obstacles in growth of the HUB.

One can be given all the resources he needs, but if one does not know how to use it, those are resources thrown away. Knowledge comes with a desire to achieve something and a desire is most important thing on that way. Desire varies from time to time depending on circumstances one is affected with and support given. Circumstances are certainly not encouraging in Bosnia and Herzegovina and they would not change for a long time. Only thing that people can easily contribute with is to give support. Key is to combine enthusiasm of young people and change their mindset in the way that they act supportive, collaborative to each other and that nothing comes alone. If you want something, you go and get it. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is hard, but either way, you must work to obtain it. It is a simple rule which is neglected by majority. Most successful people are certainly not smartest ones in the world, but wise enough to apply this rule in their life. Business HUB idea is not business plan. It presents a mechanism for creating such mindset of young people that will in certain period of time, move the whole nation to better. It is certainly a need in todays world.8