This article is in continuation to my previous article "Is finance the only hurdle for development of Indian SMEs?" I received comments from readers and business owners on my article, where they do agree that issues raised in the Article is important, however they still feel that Finance is the major issue, Good Consultants are difficult to be found and there are few business with 'I know better than anyone else confidence Killer!'

I would like to take you through the above 3 topics in details.

Where are the good consultants?
I agree with the readers that there are not many good consultants available in the market to be trusted for better results and the one who are best are out of reach of small business because their fee is more than the turnover of many small companies. Such big consultancy may not even consider working for small firms due to the amount of work it will have to do to streamline the business model.
There are still plenty of consultants available for SMEs. If you don't find from conventional ways, try to use different approach.

You could probably look for retired professionals who have an expertise of over 30 years in their respective field and are willing to be appointed as your companies Independent Director and can advise you on your business. The advisor will visit your office once in a month or twice in a month will provide with the guidelines and strategy to improve your company's performance. They will charge you sitting fee and meeting attendance fee which is not going to be in millions.

Other option or to add on with appointing Independent Director, you may hire a seasoned young professional with aggressive approach who can lead the team with the energy and enthusiasm on the given strategy of your experienced Independent Director.

Now the question is how to find a good advisor to be on your Board? And the Answer is - nothing will come to you on a plate! Go out in the market, do some networking, meet peoples from different industry and surely you will find what you are looking for.

I know better than anyone else- the confidence Killer!
I have come across few comments where the business owners feel that they don't need to hire consultants because they know better than anyone else about their business!

Agreed! They know business better, that's the reason they are running it and making profits. However, we are talking about building a strong foundation for sustainable long term business model, and that needs help and advice.

Having confidence in yourself is tantamount to success. Realizing when you need help and going out and getting it from an expert is what separates the flat-lining business owner struggling on a daily basis from the climbing higher and higher to new levels of success.

Building a profitable and sustainable business isn't about how much you can do yourself…it's about recognizing what needs to happen to become more successful and then getting it done as quickly as possible …whether you're doing it yourself or having others help you.

World's greatest Cricketer -- Sachin Tendulkar! He has been acclaimed and accepted as the God of Cricket. He knows Cricket better than anyone else in this world but still he has a coach to guide him, instruct him, to make his good best and his best better than best!

Learning never stops! It's not a destination, it's a journey!

Finance still is the biggest Hurdle!
The essence of my article was to make awareness on need for making a sustainable business so that finance can follow through a good business model! The problem is on patience level, everyone wants everything instantly and the world is too cruel to give it to you so easily.

Finance definitely is difficult for SMEs and hence there are many institutions working towards it, but my question is -- Do you have a business that has the charm and beauty to attract the investors?
Ask yourself, what kind of business model you have and what kind of returns you can generate as an owner of the business and as an investor in your business!

Last week I was in Singapore for an Investment Banking conference and I met this guy from an Investment Bank based in Singapore which is part of a giant Private equity firm based out in Dubai and other parts of the world, including India. Because of professional ethics I cannot divulge the name of the Company, but what I would like to convey is all about the availability of finance for SMEs from Private equity firms.

This guy informed me about the newly launched SME Fund specifically for Indian SMEs for which they successfully closed the fund raising activity and raised USD 300 mn. This USD 300 mn which is approx. Rs. 1,600 crore is going to be invested in promising Small and medium businesses across India. This is a huge amount of money and 100 to 300 companies or even more will enjoy these financing to help their business grow at a much faster pace.

Now ask yourself, there is money, but do you have such kind of business which can generate confidence to the investor to invest money in your venture? The fund is ultimately going to invest every single rupee they have raised. They will do the due diligence of thousands of companies and will select few and invest in their business.

My article is not for the few among those thousands selected for private equity investments; my article is for the business that didn't even shortlisted to be considered for evaluation and for firms who were considered for evaluation and rejected!

This is not the first SME fund or not the last fund for SME financing! There are many and there will be many in coming years. The Financial market is gearing up for SME financing, but is SME taking right steps to attract these investors by offering a business model that will earn money for them as well as for their investors?

At the end of the day everyone is here to make money, if your business can make money, there are plenty of financing opportunities available in the market.

* Awadhesh Devanand Jha is one of the SME Times guest authors .

* He is working as Vice President of Corporate Finance in Anfaal Capital, a Jeddah based Investment Bank. His expertise lies in the areas of research and restructuring of business. He has been involved in several multimillion dollar cross border M&A's and has restructured and raised funds for number of private and public funds in the sectors like real estate, infrastructure, energy etc. Recently he has been working on raising SAR 1 bn of fund for the development of SME's in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.