Dear Zimbabwe: Today your Cde is doing an IMPORTANT thread on BUSINESS PLAN writing. If you are a young/middle-aged person who needs to acquire start-up capital, this is definely for you. Tag somebody who u think may need this & let's roll. VERY LONG thread with ORIGINAL CONTENT

The front page of your business plan must be either plain simple or totally well graphically designed with the words Business Plan for XYZ Company in the middle & the total amount of capital sought a little bit at the bottom. You may/may not include contact detaile here too.

The next page must carry the Executive Summary of your Business Plan. In here you slot in the main objective of the project followed by preparations to date. If it is a going concern, clearly indicate that it is a going concern (in bold). Follow that with projected sales figures.

Adjust the margins of your Executive Summary inwards on both sides. Three short paragraphs are good enough to shoot the idea through to the intended target. After the Executive Summary then comea your Table of Contents which must contain the main sub-headings in the document.

The next page is where things now begin. Start with a short Preamble that speaks to the need being met by your company. This is the equivalent or Problem Statement in a dissertation/thesis. Convince the reader so they develop interest. Don't make it too long - 1 or 2 paragraphs.

The PREAMBLE must be followed by a full description of the BUSINESS LOCATION with all contact details provided in paragraph form. Under this you insert a table on COMPANY OWNERSHIP (for small businesses only) where you slot in details of the company owner(s) & their shareholding.

This is followed by a paragraph on the "main actor's" profile. By main actor I am referring to the Director responsible for the business. Clearly lable it DIRECTOR'S PROFILE and attach a passport size photo on the top right of that profile paragraph. The profile must be relevant.

The next page states the VISION of the business. One, two or three lines are sufficient to state the vision. Under the vision write a new paragrapgh explaining this vision tk the reader. For instance; "The vision statement clearly defines our desire to provide practical....."

MISSION STATEMENT: By automation, a Vision (Main Goal) is followed by Mission Statement (Main Objective) which is an expanded version of the vision and explains how the Vision will be attained. Talk about stakeholders in your Mission Statement and how the financier will blend in.

Come up with a sensible set of CORE VALUES that will identify with your business forever. These are particularly important to adhering to ethical standards and shaping your desired internal company culture which becomes the benchmark of your success/failure.

BUSINESS GOALS & OBJECTIVES: Subdivide these into short-term goals, medium-term goals and long-term goals. Your goals must be sensible, specific, realistic and measurable. They must be in tandem with with projected sales of the business hence can include specific timelines.

Once you are done with your goals and/objectives, its time to state COMPANY PROMISE (this can however also be written as the second last paragraph at the end). Tell the potential financier what your company believes in and what you promise to the market & your stakeholders.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: A quality Business Plan addresses this matter comprehensively. If an Environmental Assessment was conducted (for big projects), this is where you place all the important extracts from that thick document. If yours is a small business, write one para.

Explain how your business will contribute to protection of the environment & mention any rehistration with relevant environmental agencies. What you say here must be practical & a known practice not some intended experiement. The potential financier must appreciate this content.

TARGET MARKET: Your target market must be elaborate - if it means breaking it down to age groups & customer preferrances - do it to show the financier that you did your homework. Motivate why each category is a sustainable target that can be relied on. Why schools, NGOs etc?

PROJECT PREPAREDNESS: Tell the potential financier how well prepared you are in terms of ground that has been covered to date, personal equity invested, any trainings taken, advertisements, interviews, partnerships etc. If there is paperwork to support this, mention it here.

ENTRY & GROWTH STRATEGIES: Strategies must be sound. Do your research & state them like a professional. This section can easily tell the potential financier whether they are dealing with an organised business or not. Avoid being hyperbolic like a politician at a village rally.

KEYS TO SUCCESS: These buttress the above strategies and must be insync with the main objectives and values of the business. What is it that you can say will guide you to making it in this business you have chosen? How will you tap into that and implement it in you business?

MARKETING PLAN: Start with GAP Analysis (don't leave it out) as it cements your Preamble. Gap will then be followed by either SWOT, STEEPLE or PESTLE ANALYSIS depending on the nature of your business. Some business projects may require two of the three together. Get on with it!

After presenting your analysis, highlight the OUTSTANDING CHALLENGES and give them their separate paragraph or 2 or 3 depending on their number. Elaborate on things like transport costs, high transactional charges etc in detail to demonstrate that you indeed researched well.

The next section is your MARKET SURVEY: Here you include stuff such as domestic, regional and international markets, specific demographics, income groups, customer tastes and/or preferences. You compile 1/ 2 questions on each of the stated, get the responses & present statistics.

Depending on the size of your project and how serious you are at getting funding, the Market Survey section can easily take up to 10 pages of your Business Plan. Do NOT attempt to complete this section in one day as it has intricate details of high interest to the financier.

MARKETING & PROMOTION STRATEGIES: This section takes up pages - minimum 3 pages for a good project & maximum 10 pages for a brilliant Business Plan. Do NOT be lazy & do a hatchet job here. Arrange your strategies like a business person who understand the importance of marketing.

Marketing & promotion startegies include; social media, franchising, sports marketing, CSR programmes, electronic* print media adverts, public roadshows, winning competitions, radio & TV programmes, network marketing, corporate accounts marketing, websites, brochures, flyers etc.

SALES STRATEGIES. When you are done with your Marketing and Promotion Stategies you come home and present Sales Strategies. Elaborate on how transactional sales will be conducted. For instance; will the clients walk in and buy or order online and wait for delivery etcetera.

UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION: This can either be a sub-heading under Sales Strategies or a totally stand alone sub-heading. It spells out how distinctive your selling techniques will be from the rest. Be a creative thinker here & tell the potential financier something interesting.

PRICING STRATEGIES: Tell the potential financier how you intend to price your products and/or services. These can be easily browsed on the internet and check which one fit your business model. Some contemporary strategies include the red ocean, blue ocean, SQ3R etcetera.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES: The potential financier wants intricate details on how your distribution network is structured.This must be well-catered for in your Cash Flows - many times it's left out. Your distrinbution strategies must be sustainable & ensure you remaim profitable.

OPERATIONS STRATEGY: This is a holistic single strategy document that is used in the day to day administration of the business. You do not present the whole book but just a long paragraph on the operating principles of the business. This is where you include operating hours etc.

QUALITY ASSURANCE: You are going to present how your project maintains quality in its trading practices. This is where you give specific warranties and guarantees to you products and services. If products have been registered with any quality associations you mention them here.

CLIENT RELATIONS & CUSTOMER CARE: Design and explain your client relations and customer care policy. Many businesses operate without any of this which is a big miss. A Business Plan that carries a clients relations policy is worth the dollar investment and financiers know this.

HUMAN CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS: List and explain all positions and follow this through with a well presented ORGANOGRAM/ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE. Each position must be present accorsing to title, repprting line, job scope, key responsibilities & job specification (mapepa) details.

RECRUITMENT POLICY: To add icing on the human capital cake, you demonstrate ethical recruitment practice by stating how you conduct recruitment in your company. If there are exhibits of previous adverts flighted in the newspapers you will mention it here and attach copies.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT POLICY: This needs to be elabotated as much as the Employment Policy above. The section gives potential rinanciera a sense of the level of professionalism within your business and how it cares not only for ita customera but also its employees.

SOCIO-ECONOMOC IMPACT: Here you spell out how your project will positively impact on society. Talk about ubuntu and the benefits that accrue to families down the value chain of your employees. Connect the section to your preamble and the problem the business will solve.

PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY: Here you are blowing the trumpet abit about yourself & how reliable you are. Do not do it in a manner that sounds political but professionally. For instance; if you have borrowed for mortgage from a bank before & successfully repaid, state it boldly here.

RISK & INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Clearly highlight potential risks that come with your business - all of them - assume that the potential financier already knows them & will not have to ask you why you dis not include them in your outline. Talk about copyrights/patents & trademarks

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE: Mention the status of your company registration with every entity where its supposed to be registered and mention that proof of such registration has been attached to the Business Plan. Make sure that all your business tax certificates are up to date.

LABOUR POLICY HIGHLIGHTS: Say something on your business conformity to local labour policy frameworks and include some of the fundamental underpinnings of employee contracts that your company adheres to. For instance; "overtime will be paid at time or time and half for weekends."

CORPPRATE SOCIAL RESPPNSIBILITY: This can not be missing in your Business Plan. You will need to think of how your business will benefit communities within which it operates and write it here. It could be different programmes or just a single one. Be cued to charitable causes.

PERSONAL EQUITY: Depending on your financial & material capacity, this section can take a whole long paragraph. Detail the amount of money and/or assets & materials you invested or are prepared to invest into the project and mention the attachment of proof to the Business Plan.

LOAN REQUIRED & PROPOSED REPAYMENT: Here you state you request and how it will be used and the proposed period of repayment. If you need to acquire machineries, you are going to insert a table with equipment names & costs here. Mention the attached quotations & loan calculator.

LIQUIDITY EVENT OR EXIT/HARVEST STRATEGY: You have arrives at the last part of your Business Plan. Propose strategies that make sense. For instance; "business owners will consider selling the business to other high net worth investors before moving into other industry sectors."

CONCLUSION: Give a strong parting statement that wraps up your business project and reminds the potential financiers of the value they will obtain from associating themselves with your business undertaking. ENDS**

PS: I sincerely hope this will be useful to those who needed it.

Forgive your comrade for all spelling errors. It was not intentional.