ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

BUSINESS PLAN
Ahmad Tajudin Ariffin
Assoc. Prof. Hjh. Fauziah Pawan
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hj. Saridan Abu Bakar

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Learning Outcome
At the end of the module, students
should be able to:

understand what is a business plan and reasons for

preparing it

understand the format of a business plan

prepare a business plan and
present a business plan

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a written document
which described the proposed business
or project to be undertaken in a
comprehensive manner.
It is also known as a working paper,
business proposal, project paper or
prospectus.

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Reasons For Preparing a Business Plan

1. Opportunity for entrepreneur to assess the business
venture objectively, critically and practically.
2. To study and evaluate the feasibility of the business.
3. To convince venture capitalists, investors and bankers
in order to raise capital and obtain support for the
venture.
4. As a guideline for day-to-day management of the
business.
5. To be able to distribute business resources more
effectively.

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Readers of the Business Plan:

1.

Entrepreneurs

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Investors
Bankers
Financial Assistance Providers
Suppliers
Customers
Employees

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Format Overview

Cover Letter

Cover Page

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Main Body

Appendices

Introduction

Purpose of business plan

Company background

Owner(s) background

Business location

Marketing plan

Operations plan

Organizational plan

Financial plan

Conclusion or summary

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Main Body of Business Plan

Introduction
Should clearly state name of company, nature
of business, location, operational date and
prospects of business
Purpose
State the key purpose of preparing plan (e.g.
for financing, business viability assessment,
operational blueprint etc.)

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Main Body of Business Plan

Company Background
details regarding the company legal structure (registered name,
form address and when registered), main activity & date
operations start.

Owner Background
Details of each individual that is a registered owner of the
business
State relevant qualifications, skills, experience, role in business
and stake or share in business

Location
Specify physical location of business premise, operations
premise (if different), advantage of location in helping business
achieve objectives (e.g. proximity to suppliers, target market or
usability of space)

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Main Body of Business Plan

Marketing plan
Need to highlight target customers, key products and services & sales
forecast

Operations plan
Use sales forecast to plan capacity, material, equipment and manpower
needs

Organizational plan
Indicate company structure and key talents

Financial plan
Amalgamate budget considerations for marketing, operations and
organizational needs into project cost and sources planning as well as
projections of cash, profit and asset & liability position of planned
business

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Writing up the Business Plan

The first step is to have a Business Plan typed and edited.

The second step is to edit the Business Plan.

As a checklist for a complete business plan, entrepreneur

may refer to Table 4.12

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Typing
Format
BUSINESS
PLAN

Major Headings

Font type Arial size 12 or Times New Roman size 14, bold
Left justified, mixed case with major words capitalized and bold with one line
above and one line below the heading to separate it from the text.

The Second Heading Level

Italicized with the major words capitalized.

The paragraph is indented five spaces, or half inch on the left.

The Third Heading Level

Indented, italicized and major words capitalized.

Text in Sections

Font type Arial size 11 or Times New Roman size 12

The first paragraph is not indented.
Do not space between paragraphs within a section.

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Typing
Format
BUSINESS
PLAN

Tables and figures

Professional in appearance and should not be hand drawn.

Auto fit to the Windows/contents from the Table menu of MSWord.
Should not split into two pages.

Printing

A laser quality printer.

Wide margin, at least one and half inch on the left, one inch on the top,
bottom and right.
Double spacing.

Binding

A simple comb or spiral binding

A plastic cover on the front and a thick dark colored paper at the back.

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Table 4.12 Business Plan Checklist

Introduction
What is the name of the company?
To whom the business plan is prepared?
Who are the owners or partners of the company?
What is the correspondence address?
Purpose
Why the business plan is prepared?
Is the purpose to get financing?
Who asked for the financing?
How much financing is needed?
How the financing is going to be utilized?
What help this financing will give to the company?
How are we going to pay back the financing?
Is there any other alternative source of financing to ensure the
proposed project is successful?

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Company Background

What is the main product; good or services, the company is planning to

offer?
What are the main characteristics of the product?
Is it a new company or an existing company planning for expansion?
What form the business is?
Why the form is preferable?
What are the companys strengths and weaknesses?
How to overcome these weaknesses?
How the proposed project is profitable?

The Industry

Is the industry expanding or contracting?

What is the outlook of the industry relative to the others in the economy?
Will the company able to get support from the suppliers?
What are the credit terms the suppliers offer?

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Marketing Plan
Products

What products the company is planning to offer?

What is the product concept?
What are the unique or special characteristics of the products?
Are these products potentially to generate more sales?

Market

Who are the customers of the company?

What market segment are these customers in?
Where is the target market?
Will customer repurchase the products?
What is the size of the target market?

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Competitors

Who are the competitors?

Where are the competitors?
Who are the major competitors?
What are the strengths and weakness of the major competitors?
What differences and similarities between our products and
products of the main competitors?
What strategy is planned to overcome competitors?
Will it be new competitors in the market?
How to monitor competitors?
What is the targeted market share?
How to penetrate and maintain the targeted market share?
What strategy to increase the market share?
What strategy to increase the sales?

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Price

What price to charge for the products?

Does company has a price range for the products?
How company set the price?
Is the price competitive?
Why customers willing to pay for the price?

Promotion

What promotional strategy to be adopted?

Why the company plans to adopt the strategy?
Do we have budget for these promotional activities.
How much is the promotion budged?
Is the strategy appropriate for our products?
How are we going to monitor the effectiveness of these
promotional activities?

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BUSINESS PLAN

Place

How are we going to market our products?

What is the most appropriate distribution channel to
be adopted?
How are we going to deliver the products?
Does company has any policy regarding on returned
goods?
How to maintain good customer relations?

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Organizational Plan

Does company has any policy regarding on recruiting and selecting new staff?
Who are the key members of the management team?
Do owners or partners have relevant experiences to the proposed project?
What experiences do owners or partners of the company have?
Who make decisions in the company?
Who plans for the company?
What jobs to be done?
What skills and experiences needed to do these jobs effectively?
Who will do these jobs?
Who are the key staff needed?
Are these staffs work full-time or part-time basis?
How much remuneration for the administrative staff?
Do staffs need training?
What training do they need?
How much the training will cost?
How long the training will take?

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Operations Plan
What are the operations processes involve in the
manufacturing or producing of our products?
Does company needs any customized infrastructure
to facilitate the operations processes?
What types and number of machineries and
equipments needed?
How much is the inventory for raw materials, semifinished and finished goods are?
How much is the inventory cost?

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Financial Plan

How much is the project cost?

How much capital invested by each member or partner?
How much is the total equity compared to the total project
cost?
What is the source of financing?
How we plan to pay back the financing?
How the forecasted cash flow look?
Is the proposed project profitable?
What are the uses and sources of funds of the proposed
projects?
How the forecasted financial performances look?
What do financial performances tell us?

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

Conclusion
Is the proposed project is viable to proceed?
Have you justified the claims?

Appendix
Have you attached every supporting facts or
documents in the appendix?

ENT/ETR300 FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

BUSINESS PLAN

END OF MODULE 7