Profile of Organisation

Scandinavian Business Solutions limited (SBS Ltd) is a Maltese based company created in 2014 by Mr. Samir Mdalla and his brother with the aim of enhancing business linkages between Malta and Scandinavia. It is part of a larger enterprise, the Scandinavian Business Group a company group based in Malta and one of the leading players in corporate mediation for the Scandinavian market.

The target group is mainly new entrepreneurs and small business owners in Sweden and Norway who are searching for guidance in their company registration process and other corporate services.

The company has its offices in Gzira and they currently employ approximately twenty people between freelancers and standard employees divided in different departments and directed by Senior Management and Human Resources.

The Beginning

Samir Mdalla set up this business in 2010 with his brother. He stated how they started this company with a very low capital of one thousand euro and how the company grew in the past eight years not only when it comes to revenue generated, but also in the workforce.

When asked about the idea behind this business, Mr. Mdalla has shared his multiple reasons. Firstly a person interested in the world of business itself, but mainly the urge of helping people achieve more in their life.

He strongly believes that many people would gain a lot more by running their own business and that a large number of people would actually be able to do a great job as entrepreneurs. The reason for which many possible entrepreneurs do not actualize their goal stands in lack of encouragement, fear of failure and bureaucratic over complications.

The mission of Scandinavian Business Solution is to assist these newbies entrepreneurs with a potentially successful idea and guide them through the best possible way to develop this idea into a profitable company. This includes a variety of corporate services provided individually or in packages, such as company registration, marketing, lead generation, domain set up, website creation. To assist the Managing Director in providing all of these services the company employs around 20 employees and freelancers divided into different departments.

Mission/ Vision Statement and Values

The vision of Mr. Mdalla for the business is clearly highlighted with the need for providing real value to the customers, while continuously developing the capabilities of the business to provide greater value over time.

Mr. Mdalla wants to maintain his promises of realizing the ideas and vision of each customer and helping them become what they dream to become. He states that: “If we can help someone from an idea to actually getting clients we are doing a good job”. This means that the success of SBS is built in the success of its clients. This company strength is found in a great win-win approach that has allowed a consistent run rate of growth over the years.

That is the reason why the next milestone for the growth of Scandinavian Business Solutions is to reach the incredible result of one hundred thousand registrations in the following three to four years. Mr. Mdalla is a firm believer that setting milestones of this type are highly important both for himself and for the business. Milestones are a motivational key performance indicator that pushes everyone in the business to work harder to set a new record. This is mostly applicable when it comes to salespeople, which are naturally born to compete with each other and with their own limits on a daily basis.

Another major aspect is the open communication policy in relation to employees’ ideas. At Scandinavian Business Solutions the opinions of employees matter. That is why people are encouraged to come up with any good idea and plan to improve or enlarge the services provided. If the higher Management likes the proposal then it will be implemented and executed.

Culture and Leadership 

The culture of the company is the one typically found in a sales company. Employees are pushed to give their best and rewarded with commissions, bonuses, and competitions on a daily basis. The best the performance the more the employee will be recognized and rewarded.

This is a great motivational tool for the team and each member is personally responsible for his or her own results and for assisting the company in the long run through the creation of a relationship with customers then nurtured over time. This allows the company to have loyal customers and a steady profit.

The customer is always put first and the strive to meet customers’ expectations is the center of the culture itself.

When asked how he would describe his own leadership style Mr. Mdalla does not hide his strict nature. He describes himself as very disciplined, but also fair in judgment.

He shares his idea on how the presence of a hierarchy is essential for motivating employees and to give a real chance at growing in the company. Due to the growth of the company and the expansion of areas of services provided, the possibilities to step up the ladder are increasing and effort and hard work are key to receive the opportunity in this company.

Market

The market in which Scandinavian Business Solutions provides its services is mainly Sweden and Norway. This will always be the main market targeted, but expansion is expected in the next years when the process of branding in these two countries will be completed. The country of expansions will be then the one that suggests a majority of opportunities.

As of Q4 of 2018, Scandinavian Business Solutions was covering approximately a market share of 5% of the overall yearly companies’ registrations and an impressive 15% of all sole trading companies’ registration in Sweden.

In relation to the marketing strategy adopted by the business, the main media is the internet. Different advertising is present in relevant websites and a great effort is done when it comes to search engine optimization.

In addition to this, Mr. Mdalla shared his view on the importance of content for building company image and reputation. The key to growth in 2019 will be based on the use of articles and reviews spread online to reach a larger segment of the market.

Capabilities

According to Mr. Mdalla, the main capabilities of Scandinavian Business Solution could be summarized in the highly efficient processes in sales and marketing.

When it comes to the entrepreneur's own capabilities, the passion to solve big problems is what Mr. Mdalla perceives as his major one. He explains that he would rather be in charge of solving bigger issues rather than much smaller one, which is in fact left to Management instead of the day to day office life.

I then moved on asking about the importance of good employees to the success of SBS. Here Mr. Mdalla stressed the point of how a company is all about the people who work in it and that is the reason why the recruitment and training processes are one of the main investments for the company.

Industry

The industry of company formation is filled with competitors and new entrants from all over the globe. By checking the web for incorporation services one can immediately notice how many different companies offer this type of service and how competitive this industry can be.

For this reason, the Managing Director clearly states how they aim to be different while still maintaining excellent standards. The two factors which are considered by Mr. Mdalla as the key to attracting customers are fast delivery and price. He believes that is in these components is kept the secret to create value for customers and the reason to be chosen over other substitute companies.

The targeted customers of Scandinavian Business Solutions are new small companies, mainly sole trading companies. This is the reason why adopting a pricing strategy in which prices are kept as low as possible allows the company to attract this segment that is characterized by a need to maintain a low level of investment.

When asked about the level of competitiveness of the industry, Mr. Mdalla confirmes that it is highly competitive to service this type of industry and adds that: “competition makes us better in the end”. This aspect of the nature of the incorporation and consultancy industry is perceived as the main motivator to strive to improve continuously for the entrepreneur and his staff, instead of assuming a negative connotation.

When looking back in the past of the entrepreneur and investigating more in-depth his passion for this type of business. He explains how he previously was employed in a similar business where both his passion and knowledge grew until the realization that he wanted to proceed in this kind of trade on his own.

It took him some time to structure his business idea more holistically and this process is still ongoing every day.

Issues and changes

Scandinavian Business Solutions faced many challenges during the beginning of its operations. Between the main one reported by the entrepreneur is the issue with other people attempting to duplicate their business model while also utilizing a very similar or the very same brand name. This created a great amount of inconvenience and confusion, mainly for the customers. Another range of issues faced can be summarized in the need for testing, changing and adapting the services provided constantly to follow the ever-changing needs of the customers over time.

The business went through plenty of changes in the past eight years. The one that Mr. Mdalla considers to be one that had the greatest impact is his decision to buy out his brother and take on himself the whole company in 2016.

When this change in ownership happened, it created a domino effect in many different directions. The Managing Director was now able to perform all the changes he deeply believed would be essential for growth and increased profitability. The business model was changed and both the offices in Sweden and Norway were closed to make Malta the only operating site and headquarter or Scandinavian Business Solutions.

Even though these changes have been proved to be successful, Mr. Mdalla has highlighted how the core feature of running a business stands in the need to solve issues continuously and how this is the life he chose for himself. He reaches satisfaction and meaning through this problem-solving process and believes that in this lies the judgement in relation to the quality of his work as an entrepreneur. It is in the decision capability of the entrepreneur that lies the success or failure of the business.

In addition, he adds an important reminder for all the business owners by explaining how a company cannot be successful and highly profitable at all times, as this would be unrealistic. Running a company is about the thought put in the processes and in the time and effort spent to improve and solve issues. This is the real sense he sees in becoming a businessperson.

Next challenges

Mr. Mdalla is positive also when it comes to the future of the business due to the immense amount of passion, adaptation skills and attention to the customer experience. He strongly trusts in the potential of his satisfied customers to spread the word about the capabilities of Scandinavian Business Solutions in assisting other businesses to succeed. He says:

“I believe that if we can help someone from an idea to actually getting clients, the only thing they will do it is talking about us….They will just do anything for you. This is what I believe because if you help someone making money they will be forever grateful.”

So word of mouth is an essential marketing tool that the company can obtain free of costs by delivering exceptional customer service.

Competition

To be ahead of competitors a company needs to have unique selling points that differentiate or clearly position the business in a higher tier with respect to the competition.

According to the entrepreneur, Scandinavian Business Solutions provides excellence in delivery time and prices. In fact, customers are served in 24 to 48 hours for all services required from website creation or incorporation of the company to the allocation of the domain.

In addition, the ability of the business to provide packages and employ freelancers allows them to offer great price deals that are affordable also for smaller companies.

I asked if he believes he learned anything from observing the competitors and his answer pointed to the fact that many corporate services businesses are run by accountants and lawyers. While these professionals are able to provide the majority of basic services required effectively, they lack in sales capacities and in marketing skills that are vital for a business to become successful. If new companies lack leads or clients their fate will shortly be domed, as they will not be able to be profitable and fail during the first few months of operations. Then he added that the secret for the survival of a company stands in the ability to keep in consideration and prioritize the major aspects, such as the numerical aspect of the business.