Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ILAHA OSMANOVA
RAUF RZAYEV
FARIDA ISGANDARLI
MURAD AGHAZADE
CANOIL
APRIL 2019
Business Plan
Page 2 of 30
Table of Contents
Business Canvas Model of CanOil ........................................................................................... 3
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 4
Company description ............................................................................................................. 4
Mission Statement ................................................................................................................ 5
Vision .................................................................................................................................... 5
Culture .................................................................................................................................. 6
Opportunity Analysis and Research ........................................................................................ 6
Industry Analysis ............................................................................................................................6
Environmental Analysis ..................................................................................................................7
Competition ...................................................................................................................................9
Marketing Strategy (4Ps) ..................................................................................................... 10
Product: ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Price: ........................................................................................................................................... 11
Promotion:................................................................................................................................... 12
Place: ........................................................................................................................................... 13
Management and Operations .............................................................................................. 13
Management Team ...................................................................................................................... 13
Research and Development .......................................................................................................... 14
Physical Location .......................................................................................................................... 14
Facilities ....................................................................................................................................... 15
Inventory, Production and Quality Assurance ................................................................................ 17
Financial Analysis and Projections ........................................................................................ 17
Sources and use of capital ............................................................................................................ 17
Cash Flow Projection .................................................................................................................... 19
Balance Sheet Projection .............................................................................................................. 20
Income Statement projection ....................................................................................................... 21
Break-Even Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 21
Risks and Assumption................................................................................................................... 22
Milestone ............................................................................................................................ 23
Exit Strategies...................................................................................................................... 23
References: ......................................................................................................................... 24
Appendixes ......................................................................................................................... 26
Page 3 of 30
Executive Summary
CanOil is a limited liability startup which aims to serve products (oil and meal) from brassica
known as canola (rapeseed) for the local market users. Our (CanOil) ambition is to introduce a
new type of product to customers and go beyond their expectations. Multiuse option, being
nutritional and healthy are some of the benefits of canola oil. We are planning to increase the
demand for healthy vegetable oil (canola oil) by increasing awareness about the product.
Production of the oil will take place in Neftchala Industrial Park and seeds will be imported from
Russia, Turkey, and Iran. Target groups of our product will be B2B and B2C. Targeted consumers
will be people who care about their health, utilize margarine or olive oil, have income 10000+,
live in Baku, Sumgait and close urban areas and have age 20 and above. Our B2B customers will
be Gazelli, Buta, Azyem, Siyezen, Sefa, and Tamli. In marketing, the advantage of canola oil to
its substitutes and health factors will be emphasized. Price is decided more or less in aligning with
the prices of the other vegetable oils. To create awareness, several promotional activities such as
agricultural fairs, advertisement through TV, newspaper, radio, social media and our own website
will be used. A direct distribution channel is chosen for B2B and B2C customers. In order to fulfill
our plan, we need to raise capital (funding) and for this, we are planning to use government
foundation, equity capital, and commercial banks. In the financial part, you will find a detailed
estimation of the financial information and statements. In 2019 June, we are planning to start
Company description
Page 5 of 30
CanOil is a limited liability company which set the goal of producing rapeseed oil
(Brassica) and selling in local markets as an alternative for olive oil and margarine. Also, to supply
rapeseed (meals) in rural regions in animals feeding. The business was established in early 2019
and because we will operate as LLC, we have some advantages, for example, paying taxes as a
sole proprietorship. Since we are a newly established company, we do not have any background,
however, with our mission, vision, and culture we want to be one of the bests in the industry. The
main purpose of this startup is to introduce canola oil to the local market as a substitute for edible
oil and provide as an ingredient in the Cosmetic industry. CanOil that is located in Neftcala
Industrial Park.is a corporation formed entity which aims and seeks to have further development
as a company.
Mission Statement
Our main mission is to become one of the first supplier of the Brassica in the local market
taking in the environmental factors. Also producing rapeseed in minimum optimal cost level and
serve in the best quality to clients, customers and all buyers with developed and new research and
development methods. Providing Cooking oil and Cosmetic Industry with high-quality canola
oil, we want to create a healthier and happier community for our society.
Vision
Our vision is to be one of the strongest, leader and long-lasting supplier in the market in the context
of quality and price. Additionally, be appreciated by customers to gain their truth and loyalty.
Page 6 of 30
Culture
As core value, we take three main issues in consideration: build good relationship among
employees and care about them (insurance, safety and etc.); using the best methods in quality, less
time consuming and innovative while problem-solving and idea generation; gaining trust, loyalty,
Industry Analysis
Azerbaijan, agricultural industry (food, drink, and smoke) is in the first place among other
production industries. In 2014, the production of this industry reached 2.7 billion AZN, in compare
to the Oil sector that produced 2.6 billion AZN. Although in 2008, when the crisis happened in all
over the world, the number of the employees and fabrics decreased, however, from 2012, the
opposite tendency has been begun so that just in that year, more than 31 entities and 2.5K
employees started their work in the industry. When we say the agricultural industry, it includes
food, drink, and smoke; and food subsector itself is divided into subindustries that one of them is
Cooking Oil and Fats industry which contains margarine and butter. According to the State
30,125 in comparison to the butter which decreased from 41,701 tons to 33,394 tons during 2010-
2017. In Azerbaijan, margarine oil is extracted from sunflower, palm, soybean, hazelnut, however,
the rapeseed canola will be used for extraction for the first time. The data shows that people are
going to change their eating habits so that now they care more about their health avoiding obesity,
Page 7 of 30
heart diseases, and diabetes by consuming healthy foods. They prefer products with lower
carbohydrate and cholesterol. Since we are new in the industry, which is in the growth stage of its
life cycle due to the consumers’ new consciousness of “health”, we are in the introductory stage
We will serve both B2B and B2C; our customers will be both end-users and suppliers. In terms of
customers, our target market will be the people who care about their health, who utilize margarine
or olive oil, and the people whose income is 10,000 AZN + living in Sumgait, Baku, and close
urban areas; age range of our customers is 20 (the students who live in the cities we mentioned for
Since we will sell canola oil to the Cosmetic industry, in terms of B2B, our target market is,
mainly, specific companies. Canola oil is one of the main components while producing hair
creams, hand creams, soaps and so on. Gazelli which operates since 1997 and produce a variety of
creams, shampoos, and other beauty products, and Buta that operates since 20 and produce
shampoo, hair balsam, creams and so on, will be our main customers in B2B.
Finally, we will work with poultry which uses the waste of different seeds such as soybeans,
rapeseed that contains lots of protein in itself. Therefore, “Azyem”, “Seba”, “Siyezen”, “Şəfa”,
and “Tamlı” will be our main customers where we will sell our pressed canola seeds.
Environmental Analysis
Page 8 of 30
STRENGTH WEAKNESSES
• Organic ingredients
• Healthy seed
• Aggressive promotion
OPPORTUNITY THREAD
Since we are an innovative company, it will take time to create a trust, share of mind, and share of
heart. However, to increase brand awareness among the people, we will focus on more this issue
via advertising, promotion, and through other methods in the early stage of the production. This
will result in a competition among the existing companies. Another weakness is the lack of local
raw materials so that we should book them from foreign countries. Thus, there might be some
delays or defects in the products. In such cases, we can rearrange our schedule but the chance of
Although there are some challenges, our opportunities and strength outweigh them. Referring
to the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the demand for organic and
healthy food almost doubled in comparison to flour and flour production during 2007-2017 so that
the consumption for fruits and vegetables increased 36% and 33.2% respectively, however, the
demand for the bread products decreased 12% since 2007. Moreover, vegetable oil consumption
increased from 66,804 tons to 155,622 tons. All of these facts support that now people are more
interested in healthy foods which will affect our business positively because rapeseed is more
beneficial than other oils. Moreover, in 2017 the government gave the subsidize to improve the
poultry industry. This support will also affect our business positively because it will increase the
Competition
Since we are in the Cooking Oil and Fats industry, the brands of both margarine and butter are our
main competitors. Thus, as a local company “Baki Qida ve Yag Fabriki” LLC is our basic
competitor. This company sales the both oil and butter under the different brands; Final (corn,
sunflower, olive oil, and butter), Möcüzə(sunflower, corn oil, and butter), Gülüm(sunflower and
corn oil), Belendo(sunflower oil), Zeytun(olive oil), and AnaBala ( butter) . Foreign competitors
are Anchor, Best Cow, Valio, Westgold (butter), Olitalio(olive oil), Solnyshko (corn oil).
However, the price of these brands varies between 3.5 Azn (for 0.5 liters) and up to 19 Azn (butter),
and the quality of the local products is average. On the other hand, because canola is the healthy
seed, we mainly focus on the people who care about their health. Therefore, we want to gain a
Page 10 of 30
share of both minds and heart of our consumers selling healthy oil via creating high quality and
fair price.
Our company plans to implement a comprehensive marketing strategy that will reach the targeted
customers. These strategies are expected to help the company to be well-known not only in the
local market but also in the global market. We believe that these strategies will not only be about
advertising, promoting or selling, rather it will create sustainable value and relationship between
Product:
Rapeseed is with its ingredients is considered to be the third largest source of vegetable oil and the
second largest source of protein meal. According to the article by “report.az”, Azerbaijan imported
179 tons of rapeseed oil from Belarus. This figure shows that there is not any local producer of the
rapeseed oil. Therefore, our company has decided to produce rapeseed oil in Azerbaijan and then
reuse it rather than exporting. There are 2 main types of rapeseed oil: Industrial rapeseed oil which
is used for making engine lubricant or biodiesel in the machine and chemical industries while
Page 11 of 30
culinary oil also called canola oil is used for all sorts of cooking. One of our main goals is to
produce the second type of rapeseed oil (canola) since industrial rapeseed oil contains higher erucic
acid which is harmful to the human body. We will produce the oil by pressing the imported seeds
in our factory in Neftchala. Product offerings will include the healthy culinary oil that is used for
daily cooking, cosmetics made/personal care products made from canola oil and waste oil that will
Price:
It is obvious that no organization can be successful without implementing the right pricing strategy
even if the product has high quality. Since we are new in this business, we have decided to
implement a pricing strategy that will set the price based on the mark-up on the cost of the product.
Choosing a lower mark-up will attract consumers and other companies in the beginning phase of
our growth. Although we will be running on low profit, this strategy will encourage people to buy
our products. For price determination, there are several factors to be considered such as
transportation cost, quality, rent, inventory, and other costs. Putting lower prices than competitors
is not about selling on a loss but setting a relatively fair price for consumers. Using 25% mark-up
on cost, we set the price 7.62 AZN for 1 liter of oil (Cost = 6.10, Mark-up = 25%, Price = 6.10 +
(0.25*6.10) = 7.62 AZN. This price is less than the lowest price for olive oil. Rapeseed grows in
the regions with the limited number of sunny days, and it takes 80-90 days for rapeseed to grow
which also decreases the final cost compared with wheat, soybean, and corn. According to the
market:
Page 12 of 30
After the market analysis, we set the price – 440 AZN per ton. Although the rapeseed has almost
the same characteristics as soybean, consumers will be able to buy a ton of oil for almost 2 times
Promotion:
In this part, we have decided to use several promotional activities that will help to create awareness
of the company. They include agricultural fairs, free samples, advertisements through newspapers,
radio and TV, social media and the company’s own website. As we are new in this business, there
is a need for awareness. We will create this awareness by participating in trade fairs where different
companies come to display their products and investors look for the opportunities to invest. During
these events, promotional products such as t-shirts, pens, hats and etc. which carries the brand
name and logo on it will be distributed to the participants and customers for brand recognition.
Moreover, advertisements through the Internet, radio and community-based newspapers will have
a huge impact on brand awareness. Advertisements will mention the health benefits, convenience,
beneficial use of the products. As the number of Internet users grows rapidly, having own website
Page 13 of 30
for the company will not only help the company grow but also create a long-lasting relationship
with customers.
Place:
We will use different strategies for the distribution of our products to customers by indirect and
direct channels. An indirect distribution channel is considered to be used for consumer products
and services for Rapeseed oil while direct distribution channels will be used for business products
and services for Rapeseed meal. Sales of cooking oil will be done through retailers which include
the hypermarkets such as Bazarstore, Bravo, Araz, Rahat, Favorit. Moreover, cooking oil will be
sold to firms such as “Gazelli” and “Buta” for the production of consumer products such as
cosmetics and personal care products. For the sale of Canola meal, which is used for animal
feeding, we will negotiate with poultry firms directly. These poultry firms include “Səba”,
“Siyəzən”, “Şəfa” and “Tamlı”. This part of the sales will be direct since the meal for poultry firms
Management Team
• CEO-Konul Badalova- Leads the company, responsible for maximizing the value of the
company and plays an important role as a decision maker on strategy and other key policy
issues.
• Technical Manager- Murad Agahzada- Responsible for technical and customer service,
company and its customers, using different channels to promote the company.
5-10 factory workers are also included in the management team. As the business grows, the
numbers of the workers and divisions between managers are expected to increase.
In the market research part, the main consideration will be given to gain more effective consumer
insights and based on consumers’ need and wants, our company will give importance to the product
development to extend the offerings for including cooking oils and meals with much higher energy
and protein level. Azerbaijan Ministry of Economy was decided to launch the production of
biodiesel and vegetable oils such as rapeseed oil, palm oil, etc. are the main raw materials. Optimal
conditions for biodiesel sector are constructing and 3 million manat investment is expected to
reach, so these show that there will be developed in this sector, therefore, in the future years we
Physical Location
Neftchala Industrial Park was chosen as a physical location for our factory. It was established for
the development of the non-oil industry, especially to support and promote small and medium
entrepreneurship. There are advantages of supply-side policies of government for the small and
medium businesses operating in this region such as the cheaper labor force, and proximity to our
Page 15 of 30
target groups. Furthermore, in this territory, optimal conditions have been created including
Facilities
For the smooth production process, space allocation is very helpful, and we have implemented it
which helped us to carry out the production process without congestions. In the layout below, you
can separate production areas which help us to decrease the potential risk of cross-contamination.
In order to protect products and materials, fiber-cement roofing is used for the rented building. The
rationale behind this decision is to take advantages of this as it performs well in different weather
conditions and especially it is like insulation against sun heat. Furthermore, the structure of cement
protects the building against rot, and insects as well as mold and mildew.
In the production process, the following list of equipment will be purchased from Alibaba,
moreover, the criteria for choosing will be quality, durability and price that affordable for our
Pre-treatment: Good pre-treatment begins with cleaning, namely, to remove the sand, stone, leaf,
stem, etc. from canola oil seed. For washing part of seeds, water tubs will be used to clean seeds
from any dust or impurity. This part also is very important because it assures the quality of the
Drying, Warming, and De-hulling: In this part, with using solar bubble dryer, seeds will be dried
until they reach 10% or less moisture. After this process, seeds will be de-hulled and then will be
warmed with using boilers. In the end, in order to remove fiber or oversized particles, seeds will
1. Roasted rapeseed enters to the canola oil press machine. Screw pressing extracts the oil and
2. To remove the phospholipids in the crude oil, degumming has been done.
3. Next step is alkali refining which is done to remove fatty acids and bleacher in the crude
oil.
5. The final step is deodorization which is utilized for filtering the oil.
The remaining residual will be stored and used for sales as animal feeds and fertilizers. PP bags
Packaging: With the aid of gravity and counter pressure fillers, oil will be filled into hygienically
cleaned 1-liter bottles. For the sealing part, heat sealer with a broad heating bar will be utilized for
achieving a safer seal. Finally, for labeling, bottle labeling machine will be used.
Page 17 of 30
We will import raw seed from Russia, Turkey, and Iran and it will be charged 15% tax as it is
mentioned in export.gov website and the transportation will be fast between 7-8 days. Quarterly
based purchasing will be made because of the flexibility issue in the production process. Imported
raw materials will be stored in the inventory for a few days so high inventory cost will not be
charged. For our outputs (end products) such as oil and meals, extra space will be given, and quality
checking will be done frequently for being certain about the condition of raw materials and outputs.
are a newly established company, our scale of operation is small to medium. However, as industries
grow and people began to know our product, we are expecting to grow in Azerbaijan and attain
Distribution of our product will be like that some part of oil as edible cooking oil will be sent to
the customer segments in Baku and remaining oil will be sent as we mentioned, to Buta and Gazelli
for using in cosmetic. Finally, meals will be sent to the farmers in the bulk amount.
In order to follow health and safety regulations, we will get the “International Health Certificate”
from the Food Safety Agency, moreover, we will also get “Consumer Food Safety Seal”.
We are using 3 capital sources to finance our business. The first source is our own equity capital
which is 52% of the primary request of needed capital. Furthermore, we are going to take 12% of
the money from Government Support and the other 36% from the commercial bank. The interest
rates for these 3 sources of capital are 6% for capital from Government Support, 20% for the
commercial bank loan. We are going to use this raised money in the initial investment and
In the beginning, like many other companies our cash flow for the first year will be a negative
number. We plan to generate plenty of cash flow after the second year, and we will have enough
It is obvious from the tables that, the working capital takes a huge quantity of Balance Sheet. We
plan to get 63% of the sales in the year and for the upcoming year 37% of sales for our business.
Page 21 of 30
From the table, we can conclude that account receivables and account payables make the great
amount of Balance sheet. As a result, there is a risk from the financial side of the company.
We can see from the Income statement that the huge part of our revenue comes from the sales of
cooking oil. To sale the meal has no cost. However, we have used other expenses for a meal in our
income statement to give information about the expenses of the meal. These expenses are 39% of
the revenue from sales of the meal. The duration of depreciation is 10 year. Interest expenses are
the cost of Governmental support plus the cost of Commercial bank that we got the money from
Break-Even Analysis
Page 22 of 30
140,000 bottles of oil should be sold to shut the money for the initial stage. In Our Company, we
get the main part of the revenue from oil, not from the meal. We use the meal just to increase the
revenue and decrease the waste of the product. Therefore, in a Break- Even Graph we do not use
The financial risks of the business can be because of demand and receivables. Because of our
culture, the use of rapeseed is not much popular in Azerbaijan; we can only forecast the demand
for whole rapeseed product. As demand for the product can be less than our expectation, we try to
take this number low enough not to make a lot of mistakes and damage. We have calculated
demand for consumption of oil which is used as a meal and we got the statistics from Statistic
Committee of Azerbaijan. Furthermore, the receivables from the customers can make the financial
risk for the business. We can meet liquidity problems when the customers do not pay the
receivables timely.
Page 23 of 30
Milestone
Buta
Siyezen, Azyem)
created)
Exit Strategies
As a ConOil company, we are planning to stay in this sector while improving our
techniques, production, increasing demand, and entering a new industry(biodiesel). Since this is
an innovative sector in the local market where there is growth, potential development in front of
us. However, in the worst case, we can do an IPO if we will be in the extreme situation. On the
Page 24 of 30
other hand, after regaining our power and profit, we will redeem our shares as much as possible.
We are guaranteeing that every investor will get the required return in any conditions mentioned
below.
Merger & Acquisition (M&A): Merging with the third party or selling to a bigger company could
be a way to exit and investors can get their money from selling price.
Initial Public Offering (IPO): Making public investors be able to invest in the company and raise
the capital.
Sell to an individual: This is not M&A as no companies merge, however this is selling the
company to a new individual which has some skills in this sector. This method helps to liquidate
quickly and payoff to investors and take the adequate level of money for yourself.
Page 25 of 30
REFERENCE
Az, N. M. (2018, July 8). Raps yağının faydaları. Retrieved from News Milli:
https://news.milli.az/interest/665255.html
az, R. (2015, February 17). Belarus Azərbaycana 170 tondan çox raps yağı ixrac edib. Retrieved from
Report az: https://report.az/senaye/belarus-azerbaycana-170-tondan-cox-raps-yagi-ixrac-edib/
Azerbaijan, T. S. (2018, July). Azerbaijan Exports: SITC: Animal and Vegetable Oils, Fats and Waxes.
Retrieved from CEIC.
Azerbaijan, U. E. (2019, February 3). Health and Safety. Retrieved from US Embassy:
https://az.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/health-and-safety/
Azertac. (2015, February 3). Neftchala Industrial District established. Retrieved from Azertac:
https://azertag.az/en/xeber/Neftchala_Industrial_District_established-829312
Canola Oil Processing Plant. (2018, November 12). Retrieved from Seed oil Process:
https://www.seedoilpress.com/oil-production-plant/canola-oil-processing-plant.html
Cluster, F. a. (2007, November 23). Heyvan və ya bitki mənşəli piylər və yağlar və onların parçalanması
nətəcəsində alınan məhsullar; hazır yeyinti piyləri; heyvan və ya bitki mənşəli mumlar. Retrieved
from Financial and Legal Consulting of The CIS Regional Cluster: http://www.az-
customs.net/az/grup15.htm
Davis, J. (2014, February 27). Rapeseed King of Europe’s Biodiesel Feedstock. Retrieved from Energy
Agwird: http://energy.agwired.com/2014/02/27/rapeseed-king-of-europes-biodiesel-feedstock/
Export.gov. (2019, February 14). Azerbaijan - Import Tariffs. Retrieved from Export.gov:
https://www.export.gov/article?id=Azerbaijan-Import-Tariffs
Fabriki, B. Y. (2016, January 18). Products. Retrieved from Baki Qida ve Yag Fabriki:
http://bakiyag.az/productsen.html
Mammadova, L. (2019, January 23). Biodiesel production to be launched in Azerbaijan. Retrieved from
azernews: https://www.azernews.az/business/144433.html
MarketWatch. (2018, November 13). Global Rapeseed Oil Market Growth Analysis, Key Manufacturers
And Forecast Period 2018-2027. Retrieved from MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/global-rapeseed-oil-market-growth-analysis-key-
manufacturers-and-forecast-period-2018-2027-2018-11-13
N.A.M. EskinR, Przybylski,L.-F. Li, K.M. Olsen. (2017). Rape Seed Oil/ Canola. ScienceDirect.
Republic, T. S. (2018, September 19). Consumtion of vegetable oil. Retrieved from The State Statistic
Committee of Azerbaijan Republic: https://www.stat.gov.az/source/food_balances/?lang=en
Page 26 of 30
Appendixes
APPENDIX 1
Page 27 of 30
APPENDIX 2
APPENDIX 3
Page 28 of 30
Page 29 of 30
APPENDIX 4
Page 30 of 30
APPENDIX 5