Winning JMEC !

And ultimately we won JMEC !

Winning always has a good feeling, especially when you are through a tough competition. Ecstatic mood of whole team is well captured in this photo. No wonder about it. Team was struggling through sleepless nights through research, and totally uncertain about where they stand with respective to other teams due to confidentiality measures.

Once the business plan is submitted , feeling is like "Oh, there is light at the end of tunnel" . I empathize with them.

... When I look back on my experience of JMEC-12 , JMEC-14 and JMEC-15 , I realize today as a team-mentor that it is very important to keep up team-spirit. The way stretched rubber looses all its tension , team looses the steam after submitting the business plan.They just don't show up same level of enthusiasm while preparing for presentation. Most important is to boost team spirit for presentation and facing judges which is almost a month away after plan submission.

I think that's what makes the winning difference !

Whole JMEC cycle is a rich learning experience not only for Participants but for mentors too, giving excellent exposure to real life business scenarios. I am looking forward for similar learning experience in future too.

Presenting Business Plan

As far as JMEC ( Japan Market Expansion Competition ) goes ,though team has prepared the BEST business plan , still they are far away from winning. Team still need to present it to Judges ,face the critic and satisfy their doubts.

This post looks at the Presentation aspect.

JMEC arranges a excellent workshop on presentation skills specifically with respective to business plan. Further as a mentor I advised team to take a serious look at Guy Kawasaki's 10-20-30 rule of presenting business plan.

In general all following rules apply

• Very punchy, good start will ensure that judges will listen more attentively.
• Too much to read on slides or jazzy graphics, both is distracting .
  
• As a thumb rule less than 4 lines on a slide & less than 6 words in a line .
• Remember bullets kill and bullet points too ,know this "Death by Power-Point" ?
  
• It is good to prepare a list of potential questions with model answers – if possible with some backup slides.

From my experience ,sure tips to ensure satisfaction of Judges -

1. Does plan address market potential ?
   
2. Does plan establishes market need ? [ Do you understand the difference ?]
3. What magic team is recommending to the client to address 1 and 2 ?
   
4. And most importantly whether financial section supports this magic ?
   

Japan Market Expansion Competition

If you are foreigner in Japan , then you already know that how difficult it is to get insight about how business works in Japan and why certain things - which prima facie looks very normal to you ,don't work in Japan.There is a way to get around this problem and understand intricacies of Japanese business - enroll for JMEC.

JMEC is Japan Market Expansion Competition ,though it is named as a competition - it is an intensive learning program that runs approximatly from October till June. Essenec of program is "writting a real time business Plan" in a live environment. Program is divided in two phases. In first phase you learn over a period of around 6 saturdays sessions. These lecturs and workshops covers practical aspects of Japanese business from experienced business players. This lecture series is like mini-MBA that will make you sensitive towards issues and practices specific to Japan. Then participants are segregated into different teams with confidentiality pledges. They meet project sponser - a real firm who is doing business in Japan or willing to enter Japanese Market. Team - guided by mentor and a consultant ,works on market entry problem and submit "Business Plan" to JMEC appointed Judges and Project sponser.

JMEC Judges grades these plans. Team gets a chance to present and defend this plan to judges and the client. This presentation is graded and combined grades will decide the three top winners out of all competiting teams. This competition sprit is the principal motivating factor behind high quality plans.

If you are university degree holder working in Tokyo , fluent in English and have minimum 2 years of experience , you can apply for JMEC.

JMEC is a very good opportunity -

* If you want to expand your horizons beyond the nuts-n-bolts of your daily grind.
* Great to network in multinational environment as participants are from many countries.
* Ideal to hone your language skills in business settings as each team has Japanese and English speakers.
* Gain practical business skills like market research , financial planning, strategy and time management.
* Yes and you can win exciting prizes and earn a certificate of participation - which is valued.