BUSINESS PLAN GUIDELINE

COVER PAGE AND PRELIMINARY PAGES FOR BUSINESS PLAN PROJECT ( DEGREE AND
DIPLOMA).
The business plan is divided into five main sections plus the executive summary. The outline
of a business plan is as follows:
Preliminary Pages:
These come before the main document and are paged using the roman numbers i.e
I, ii, iii . . .

They include:
1. Cover Page (NO UNIVERSITY NAME OR LOGO AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE).
This is the top page on the document and should contain the following information:
 Name of the business (bold).
 Address of the business and telephone number where applicable.
 Business Logo (where applicable).
 Title of the document i.e. BUSINESS PLAN
 Presented by: Name and Adm. Number of the student/candidate.
 The last statement on the cover page should be
A business plan submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
award of degree/ in . . . , in the department of . . . . , school of . . . .,
Technical University of Kenya.
 Date when the business plan is to be completed i.e. end of semester or term.
Indicate month and year only i.e. APRIL 2024.
NOTE: The cover page is the first item the examiner sees about your business
plan. The image and impression created is important and will attract or deny you
marks. Ensure the cover page is presented in a very creative way to give the
document an impressive look. The cover page is NOT paged or numbered.
(Number 2 to 7 are to be on their own pages/sheets)
2. DECLARATION
This is a statement in which a candidate declares or provides a disclaimer that the
document he/she is presenting for examination is authentic and original – not copied
from somewhere else, but researched and compiled by the candidate. Provide a
place for your signature, name and date and also for your supervisor’s name,
 signature and date that he/she supervised your document (Refer to and use the
statements already given).
3. ACKNOWLEGMENT
This part provides the candidate with an opportunity to appreciate all the people
who helped or assisted him/her in one way or another as he/she worked on the
business plan. Please acknowledge God here.

4. DEDICATION
This provides the candidate with an opportunity to appreciate the one person who
has had great impact on his/her life in terms of inspiration and encouragement. DO
NOT dedicate the document to God!

5. TABLE OF CONTENTS
This provides a roadmap for the reader/examiner to know exactly where the
candidate has placed what information. It shows the pages where the chapter titles
and the chapter sub-titles are to be found. (Table of contents may be more than one
page. Number them appropriately). Table of contents is done when all the chapters
have been typed.

6. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This is a short version/form of the whole document. It is written last, after all the
chapters of the business plan have been written, but is placed just before the first
chapter in order to give the reader of the project a quick glimpse of the entire
document. It highlights the main points for each chapter of the business plan, in a
paragraph or two. (Write each chapter number and name and come up with the
highlights of the chapter in the correct tenses). A general description without
reference to the information contained in the chapter renders the executive
summary valueless.
7. APPENDICES (placed after chapter five).
These are attachments to the document that provide additional information that
supports what has been written in the business plan. Examples of appendices are:
Business location map, business premises layout, industry analysis data- supporting
the summary of industry analysis, or any other documents of interest or relevance to
what has been presented.
 NOTE FOR THE FINAL DOCUMENT.
The paging of the document from chapter one is done using numerical i.e. 1, 2, 3 etc at the
bottom of the sheet/ page.
The typing of the project is done in a minimum of double spacing. The font to be used is
New Roman 12. The margin, left 1.5 and the right 1. (Use the normal page format in MS
word).
Each chapter starts on a clean page. Each page of the document faces the reader, no back
to back printing.

NOTE:
1. Use continuous prose (complete sentences that form full paragraphs) to give a
description about your business. The points raised in this handout (and for the
other chapters) are intended to assist in organizing your thoughts and ideas in a
coherent manner. They are not to be treated as dis-jointed pieces, but one
continuous report, broken into various sub-headings.
2. The businesses are start-ups which are yet to be started, so, we use future tense.
However, in 1.8 which deals with Industry, some use of present tense will be
accepted.
3. Keenly use the guides the way they are, i.e no changing of the format. Copy the
number and name of the chapter(s) and the sub-topics as given. You will realize
that as you respond to what is required, you will be writing the full sentences
mentioned in note no.1.
4. There should be no underlining, bolding /highlighting, no numbering of points
(check note no.1, prose form of writing), no bullets, dashes etc.
5. Your business will have a name. Let the business talk, by using the name! Do not
talk of, ‘my or our business’, but XYZ or the business will be located at. . .