The Loaf - Advice from Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on Starting and Running a Business

I read the news on the advice given by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia to participants of a SME seminar held in Kuala Lumpur. Dr. Mahathir is the owner of The Loaf - which is a gourment bakery and pastry restaurant with 5 outlets in Malaysia. I will normally visit The Loaf whenever I am in Kuala Lumpur to buy some buns and pastries.There is one pastry that I enjoy eating and that is called The Moon. This bun is covered with almond and with crust of orange peel in it - very special taste. In my view the bread and pastry are expensive as compared to other bakery stores in Kuala Lumpur. But The Loaf produces good quality buns and pastry - this is one of their strength.

Dr. Mahathir had given some very good advice to the particpants of the SME; and they are as follows:-

1) don't assume that you know about business - there are many things that you may not be aware of on the business that you intend to set up or run.

2) when you start your business, it is better to start small.

3) expect to inject more capital into your business that what you thought it required. An example he gave was a business that initially requires RM1 million capital may quickly snowballed into RM3 million.

4) he will consider franchising his business only when it is profitable.

5) he does not like to borrow money from the bank for his business.

I think these are very sound advice for those entrepreneurs who intend to start a business. Maybe Dr. Mahathir could write a book on his experience in the setting up and running of The Loaf. If he does, then I would definitely want to buy his book with his signature (autograph) on it if possible.


.