Writing a Winning Business Plan

Have you ever wondered why as a business/ entrepreneur the need for a business plan?

To make matters worse how to come up with one?

Wonder no more, we shall try to demystify a business plan.

A business plan is a simple document that explains a business opportunity, identifies the market to be served, and provides in detail about how an entrepreneur plans to explore it.

A business plan further differentiates the entrepreneur’s business as it details his/her unique qualification and the resources needed to achieve its set target together with a snap shot of projected future financial performance

Many entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs often complain that a key challenge to either starting or running their businesses is lack of capital or financing.

A business can finance its operations using either owners capital or through debt financing/ borrowing from a financial institution. Lenders and equity investors want to see a logical and coherent plan before putting their money at risk.

Many entrepreneurs in Africa have exiting ideas but unfortunately lack the skill to develop a document that;

• Makes the best business case for the idea or business
• Avoids burying the idea in irrelevant information
• Engages the reader

Experts indicate that most start up businesses wind up in the first two years of operation. What is interesting is that the same businesses are usually very exiting but often lack a coherent strategy or plan.

It is therefore important that entrepreneurs understand that apart from using a business plan for seeking financing, it has several other importance such as;

The mere act of developing a business plan forces an entrepreneur to think deeper about the business and its future operations.

Business plan development helps the entrepreneurs identify future opportunities and possible bottlenecks/ threats and identify ways of taking advantage and management respectively.

A business plan acts as a blueprint for operating your business over one or three years, increasing the chances of business survival and eventual success.

The financial projection can be used as a budget which can be used as a control tool .i.e taking corrective action based on actual performance.

Business plans are just like resumes/CV, you have the liberty to customize them to suit your target audience.  A sample business plan format would look like this:

Viffa Consult Limited Business Plan

i.            Executive Summary

ii.            The Opportunity

iii.            The Company and its Products and strategy

iv.            The management team

v.            Marketing plan

vi.            Operational Plan

vii.            Financial Plan

Appendices

i.            CV of management team

ii.            Supporting marketing research

iii.            Sales projections for products

All the best!