JOHOR BARU: Local small and medium-enterprises (SMEs) have been advised to conduct feasibility studies and due diligence before planning to export their products or services.

Exim Bank assistant vice-president, product development Zulkipli Md Yunos said the most important thing that they had to identify was export destinations.

He said upon identifying the export destinations, they had to study who were their buyers or importers in the respective countries and methods of payments involved. “But, the most important aspect is to choose countries which are politically stable with a conducive business environment,” said Zulkipli yesterday.

He was speaking on the topic SMEs Going Abroad' at the forum held at the Grand Paragon Hotel in conjunction with The Star Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA) 2011 themed From Mediocre to Merit'.

Zulkipli said as a government-owned bank, its main objective was to promote exports and to assist local exporters in their quest to expand their businesses globally. He said the Government encouraged local companies including the SMEs to move away from their comfort zone and look at ways to grow and expand their businesses by going abroad.

Branding Association of Malaysia vice-president Datuk Yusra Sabar said the SMEs had to be willing to allocate and spend money on brand building.

He said many of the famous brands and big corporations in the world today such as Google, IBM, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and Nestle started as SMEs and they continued in brand building despite their status now. Yusra said many of the SMEs had the mindset that it was not necessary to spend money on brand building citing financial constraints as their setback. He said without branding, a company could not survive. “Branding has to start with the owner of the company and brands must be simple enough for people to remember, recognise and even say,” he said.

SOBA is an award programme which pays tribute to the SMEs striving to carve a niche for themselves in the world of business and also to recognise the contributions of outstanding businesses to Malaysian communities and the overall economy.

It is organised by The Star with Exim Bank as the main presenter and BMW Malaysia as the gold sponsor while Bernama TV is the official TV news partners,Shang Hai the official business magazine and 98.8FM the official radio station.The event is supported by Bursa Malaysia and audited by BDO Binder.

The next SOBA forums will be held on July 5 in Penang, July 13 in Kuching and July 26 in Kuala Lumpur.