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 times  costs must be quantified  specify projected returns on investment  use 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.