Inc

COMMENTARY
How to handle
your bank
THE BUSINESS TIMES Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Page 12 11

SMEs underprepared
Dr Goh: Some SMEs do give
business continuity management a
thought but their approach is to
implement it on the fly as the
situation develops, and that’s the
wrong way to do it

for business continuity Dar points out: “Formal and national

BCM standards such as SS540 and
BS25999 are relatively new, and it
will take time for companies to formal-
ly adopt either standard or both.”
Still, it is not too late. To encour-
The vital necessity to put BCPs in place urgently hasn’t sunk in yet, reports CHEN HUIFEN age take-up among SMEs, Spring Sin-
gapore has set aside $30 million to

I
N THE past two weeks, the au-
thorities have moved swiftly to
minimise the chances of an
outbreak of swine flu in Singa-
pore, with two alert level up-
grades – then a downgrade
yesterday.
Amid the flurry of activity,
you would expect every organisation
here to have woken up to the need to
put business continuity plans (BCPs)
in place in case the virus hits.
Of course, most have. But not all
are treating the threat so seriously, it
would seem.
Contingency consulting firms say
there has been an increase in enquir-
ies, but most have come from govern-
ment agencies and larger firms.
Although a handful of SMEs have
shown interest, it would seem the sec-
tor is a laggard.
“There is an increasing trend for
SMEs, like multinational corpora-
tions, to start to see the benefits of
BCP in uncertain times,” says Control
Risk’s director of crisis and security
consulting in South-east Asia, Bruce
Hayes. “But in terms of prepared-
ness, SMEs are lagging MNCs and gov-
ernments.”
Nathaniel Forbes, founder of
Forbes Calamity Prevention, puts
things more bluntly: “SMEs simply
don’t prepare for disasters. In 14
years in Asia, I’ve had only one SME
as a client. It was a travel agency in
Hong Kong that was forced to pre-
pare a BCP to keep a client – a multi-
national bank that threatened to can-
cel its contract if the travel agency
didn’t get a BCP quickly.”
Naturally, a lack of resources ties
SMEs’ hands; and the challenging eco-
nomic climate doesn’t help. Fighting
fires sparked by declining sales or es-
calating costs will clearly be seen as
more important than preparing for a
scenario that has yet to happen.
As Business Continuity Manage-
ment (BCM) Institute president Goh
Moh Heng points out, some SMEs will
have given BCM a thought, but their
approach is to implement it on the fly
as the situation develops. “And that’s
the wrong way to do it.”
Dr Goh recommends sitting down
and thinking through a company’s
critical functions, planning what to do
if there is a flu outbreak – and docu-
menting this plan, so everyone knows
the role they are supposed to play.
BCM resources for SMEs
IF you are still clueless about how
to start with business continuity
management (BCM) measures,
here are some suggestions on
where to go for help:
◆ Read the Flu Pandemic
Business Continuity Guide for
SMEs. Available on SBF’s and
Spring’s websites, the document is
a useful reference and cites
practical measures that
businesses can adopt to keep the
flu outbreak at bay. For a start,
companies can implement BCM on
“First, identify what’s critical to
your business,” he says. “Normally,
the managing director or CEO of the
SME will have to decide: if there’s an
outbreak, what are the business func-
tions we must do and what are those
we need not do?
“The principle is this: find out
what you need to do. Because there
could be 70-80 per cent of the things
that you will not need to do. What is
the barest minimum you need to do?
This must be decided straightaway.
Once you’ve decided, the next ques-
tion to consider is: well, we may not
have access to our office, so what
should we do? These are what we call
the recovery strategies.”
For SMEs, a recovery strategy
does not require a big-bang approach
like it would for an MNC. Dr Goh says
their own by following Annex 9,
and subsequently use the SS540
standard as the guide.
◆ Spring Singapore has carved
out $30 million to encourage more
SMEs to be prepared for BCM.
There are two routes they can
take. One is to approach SBF to
help them obtain BCM
certification. Such SMEs can get
up to 50 per cent of qualifying
costs supported. The second
approach targets MNCs that form
consortiums with their SME
suppliers to obtain BCM
simple strategies such as working at
the MD’s house, hosting a back-up
server in the CEO’s home office and
conferencing via Skype are possible
solutions that will fit SMEs’ operation-
al scale. A simple rehearsal can be
carried out so that the SME can identi-
fy parts that may be missing from the
plan.
Ron Chua, a business continuity
management consultant with Marsh
Risk Consulting, says: “The key steps
are to implement measures that liter-
ally stop Influenza A(H1N1) at the
door, prevent contamination from the
work environment, reduce the con-
centration exposure and risk, and in-
crease the availability of staff through
a combination of work-from-home,
shift work and cross-training to cre-
ate redundant skill sets.”
certification. Companies in the
consortium can get support for up
to 70 per cent of costs incurred in
enhancing their BCM. The costs
will cover consultancy,
certification, manpower, training
and hardware/software.
◆ Engage a third party equipped
with business continuity skills to
help. Depending on the size of the
firm and the level of risk
management required, this could
cost anywhere from several
thousand to a few hundred
thousand dollars.
YEN MENG JIIN
For manufacturing companies,
manpower planning is vital. Many of
them depend on foreign workers, ei-
ther commuting daily from Malaysia
or living in Singapore. They will have
to identify and decide what worker
pool they can rely on under different
scenarios – such as if the source coun-
try of foreign workers is also hit by a
flu outbreak, or if borders are closed.
Similarly, with most raw materials
coming from outside Singapore,
SMEs in the manufacturing industry
have to give their supply chain man-
agement some thought. Mr Forbes
says that, in addition, a copy of each
customer’s contact details should be
printed and stored at the boss’s
home.
According to the Singapore Busi-
ness Federation (SBF), the adoption
of formal BCM/BCP standards among
businesses here has been slow, al-
though national standard SS540 (for-
merly known as Technical Reference
19, or TR19) has been around more
than three years.
SBF chief executive Teng Theng
support up to 70 per cent of cost in-
curred in obtaining BCM certification.
The government has also said SMEs
that provide essential services will be
given preferred status in government
procurement exercises. It is also con-
sidering making disaster-ready certifi-
cation a mandatory requirement for
those supporting the public sector.
So far, SBF has received more
than 70 enquiries from companies
(predominantly SMEs) about SS540,
says Mr Teng. “And we have reached
out to more than 300 companies
through a national BCM programme
launched on Dec 1, 2008.”
If anything, the turnout at yester-
day’s briefing on “Influenza A(H1N1)
and Business Continuity”, organised
by SBF and the Singapore National
Employers Federation, is an indica-
tion of rising awareness among SMEs
of the importance of BCM. The Rock
Auditorium at Suntec City, where the
event was held, was packed with
more than 1,000 executives, mostly
from SMEs. But whether they take the
next step of planning and enforcing re-
mains to be seen.
Urging swift action, Mr Forbes
notes gravely: “It’s never too late to
start planning for any disaster, includ-
ing an infectious disease epidemic.
Sooner or later, there’s going to be a
disease epidemic in Asia – as surely
as the sun will come up tomorrow.
Six years ago, it was Sars; two years
ago, it was bird flu; this year, it’s pig
flu. Do you see a pattern here? How
many more diseases do you need to
see before you’re convinced that
Mother Nature is serious about thin-
ning out the population?”
☛ Fighting the flu bug, Page 13

Passion turned ‘We wanted to

provide the

into regional best education

enterprise
By MICHELLE YEO
A LOCAL chain of pre-
schools has created an edu-
cation system that encour-
ages children to be inde-
pendent thinkers and
dreamers, and is now think-
ing of exporting its model to
countries in the region.
White Lodge Early
Learning Centre was found-
ed by husband and wife
Ganesh Kanapathy and
Jayne Nadarajoo, who
wanted the ideal education
for their two children but
were disappointed with
what the market offered.
“We wanted to provide
the best education for our
children. We wanted a
school which met their edu-
cational needs, yet is car-
ing, loving and snuggly;
this was difficult to find. We
wanted to inculcate in them
a love for learning and a
love for life,” says
Ms Jayne.
But since no school then
met their requirements,
they decided to start one as
they also wanted their chil-
dren to mix with other kids.
“We became businessmen
by accident,” Ms Jayne
chuckles.
“We wanted our chil-
dren to look back when
they have grown up and
say that their preschool
days were the best experi-
ence of their lives.”
In 1999, the couple
opened the school in
Linden Drive, in a rented
bungalow, with four teach-
ers and three students, one
of whom was their son.
And they’ve not looked
back, with a new branch
opening every other year.
Now, White Lodge hires
88 teachers who look after
520 students – 90 per cent
of whom are foreigners
from 21 nationalities.
proach more than results.
Some love houses, others
cars. We personalise our ed-
ucation and inspire them to
be what they want to be, by
providing them with an edu-
cation that allows and en-
courages them to pursue
their interests.
“There was a boy who
was really fascinated by
cars and told his teacher
that he wanted to build a
Formula One car in the fu-
ture. This is one lofty
dream for a six-year-old,
but children should not be
told that it is impossible.
We encouraged him and ex-
plored ‘a unit of enquiry on
cars’ to extend his interest
further.”
On the day of the BT in-
terview, the children were
learning about Nelson Man-
dela and Martin Luther
King, and that the latter
made a speech entitled “I
have a dream”. Ms Jayne
says: “We inspire children
to have dreams here at
White Lodge, and nothing
is impossible. We always
tell the kids to go for it.”
The children will each
be giving a freedom speech
during the parent presenta-
tion.
At White Lodge, the
teacher to children ratio is
1:6, compared to 1:15 at
most other kindergartens.
The aim is for teachers to
have time to observe and
give their fullest attention
to every child.
White Lodge offers
three-hour or five-hour ses-
sions. For a five-day week,
the charge is $180 for the
three-hour session, and
$220 for the five-hour one.
This is almost half the price
of other international pre-
schools.
The current economic
climate, says Ms Jayne, is
lar. With fees at less than
half of international
schools, their children can
get a comparable quality of
education in a homely envi-
ronment.
With five schools under
their wing now, the couple
go round the various
branches to monitor teach-
er standards and make
sure that procedures are fol-
lowed, but more important-
ly, to interact with the chil-
dren. Ms Jayne works with
the head of curriculum to
ensure that the content is
relevant and interesting.
This will also be imple-
mented in the schools in
the region as well.
In Singapore, the loca-
tion of branches is based
on the addresses of chil-
dren on the wait-list. “We
only open a school in the ar-
ea when we have demand
for it. Same goes for our re-
gional plan, there is de-
mand for our education
abroad, so we are going
there.”
On exporting the brand
to the region, Mr Ganesh
says: “We are confident
that made-in-Singapore
brands have quality. Since
we have such a great educa-
tion opportunity, why not
share it with fellow educa-
tors who are passionate
about teaching?”
there is a growing expatri-
ate market there. A market
survey found that there are
not enough international
schools in Hanoi, and there
are also returning Vietnam-
ese who are looking for a
unique education system
for their children. A joint
venture with a Vietnamese
partner is already in the
works. They are planning
to have 100 students in
their school in Vietnam.
They are also looking at
India and China where they
will be franchising their ed-
ucation model and working
in partnership with schools
that are interested in their
curriculum.
Ms Jayne says that there
is a special reason for eye-
ing India. She has always
wanted to educate the chil-
dren in the slums of India.
I-India is also the charity
she adopted for White
Lodge in Singapore.
“Education is a business
CATS Recruit
The first step on
your ladder to success
for our
children. We
wanted a
school which
met their
educational
needs, yet is
caring, loving
and snuggly.’
– Jayne Nadarajoo (with
children in picture)
ARTHUR LEE
that never goes out of
style,” says Ms Jayne. De-
spite the recession, the cou-
ple are thinking of expand-
ing their business into the
region.
Mr Ganesh points out
that during the downturn,
rent and labour costs are
cheaper. “When (the mar-
ket) peaks, we will reap the
rewards.”
Besides, Singapore is an
education hub and export-
ing an education model
from Singapore would most
likely be well-received by
people around the region.
To ensure that the quali-
ty of education is present in
every school around the re-
gion, the couple will send
staff from Singapore over
to train the new teachers,
have audit procedures in
place, and make sure that
environmental standards
are met. “After which, any
good business should be
self-sustaining,” says
Mr Ganesh.
CLA/AUG06/g

“At White Lodge, we al- good for preschools such as The couple say that they
low them to dream,” says White Lodge because par- are looking to venture to Ha-
Ms Jayne. “We focus on ap- ents can stretch their dol- noi in Vietnam because