Business Plan Guidelines

Purpose of Business Plan

Set Goals and Objectives for the Business

Resource Planning

Secure Funding

Structure and Presentation

Executive Summary maximum two pages

Business Plan Elements must address relevant strategic and functional elements

of the business focus on specifics

Presentation avoid complex technical language use tables as appropriate use appendices as appropriate.

Executive Summary Case Study

Company Profile/ the Team Market Opportunity Description of Product/Service Competitive Analysis Sales and Marketing Plan Production and Operations Plan Summary Financial Projections

Product Market Description

Describe your proposed service(s) (non technical description).

market description with size and growth rates (focus on target market segment)

Append copies of / references to relevant market reports.

Identify the specific customers or types of customers you propose to target.

Competitive Analysis

Give a pen picture of your main existing and potential competitors. table highlighting the relative strengths and

weaknesses competitors can be direct and indirect

Clearly identify why you will have a competitive advantage against these competitors.

Sales and Marketing Plan

Explain your pricing strategy How you will promote the product, sell it, deliver

it, provide technical support and/or customer service, etc.

Detail the resources required for these tasks Describe any marketing alliances or sales

channels which have been agreed.specify sales process, lead timescosts must be quantified specify projected returns on investmentuse tables as appropriate

Sales Projections

Give a breakdown of your projected annual sales by customer, product or geographic area as appropriate. assumptions must be supported projections must be credible and related marketing

effort

The Team

Name the promoters, investors, senior managers, board members, key advisers etc.

Provide the following for each of these individuals: CV; role in company; shareholding %; time and cash commitment to company, other business interests. use appendices and tables as appropriate

HRD Plan

Provide organisation chart showing key personnel and their responsibilities.

Outline plans to strengthen the management or board, e.g. training, recruiting managers, consultants, non executive directors, etc.

Outline any Human Resource Development plans Employment projections by year and employee

category (Include the average annual salary for each category and projected total wage bill by year).

Financial Projections

Current balance sheet (if company already formed)

Projected quarterly P&L and Balance Sheets for 3 years.

Projected cash flows by month until breakeven is achieved and quarterly thereafter.

Financial Projections (continued)

List all assumptions used in drawing up the above projections. Justify the key assumptions.

Copies of any other schedules or information used in preparing your financial projections.

Note Summary information in Business Plan Detailed information in Appendices

Funding

Detail of proposed funding (loans, credit, equity) indicating amount, status of negotiations, sources, and the terms/valuation etc.

Any funding shortfall and plans to seek additional funding.

Detail any investment in a form other than cash (e.g. time spent, equipment donated etc.)

Provide table setting out Requirements and Sources of funds

Technology

Provide R&D Plan including current/projected number of R&D staff by year and current/projected R&D spend by year.

Details of patents if significant in retaining/growing sales Indicate the technical strengths and plans to address

gaps if any. Details of external sources of technical expertise Identify likely bottlenecks and plans to address them (provide tables as appropriate)

Production and Operations

Give an overview of proposed operating processes Detail proposed location as well as the size and

specification of building requirements. Details of any capital expenditure required.

Project Plan/Timeframe

Indicate clearly the timeframe for the different key tasks/stages of the project (e.g. initial fund-raising, developing first product etc) ,

Milestones that must be achieved before subsequent phases (including the next round of funding) can properly commence.

Ideally, provide this by means of a Gantt chart with back up notes

SWOT Analysis

Please provide (in bullet point format) a summary of the company’s Strengths and Weaknesses and the Opportunities and Threats facing it.

Legal Structure

Outline the (proposed) legal structure, e.g. if there are patent companies etc.