Co-operative Education Solutions CIC – a part of the Community Empowerment Co-operative Consortium.

Name of Enterprise

Business Plan

Address

City, County, Post Code

Phone

E-mail

Author’s Name

Day Month Year

NB. This document.is fully editable and so page layout will be affected by what you insert or delete.

Use it to record and organise your ideas and research findings, so that everything is kept together.

KEEP A BACKUP.

We suggest that you work through the document several times updating and improving your entries.

You can edit the template as you work through the document, inserting your information and deleting anything that is not appropriate to you.

(We do however recommend that you do not delete any sections until you are ready to finalise the document).

When you are ready to present your Business Plan to others, edit and ‘tidy up’ one of your copies by removing instructions, notes, etc and backup that ‘finalised version as your presentable plan. We suggest that you retain the unedited copy as a working document calling it something else such as “Development Plan” you can then use it for further developments.
Table of Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. Business Owner(s) & Product/Service
  3. Mission Statement
  4. Company Structure
  5. Target Market(s)
  6. Current Opportunity
  7. Projection of Business Future
  8. Financial Summary
  9. Market Analysis
  10. Industry, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
  11. Competitive Analysis (Appendix B)
  12. Demographics & Target Market
  13. Entry Barriers
  14. Marketing Strategy
  15. Product/Service
  16. Sales Strategy
  17. Promotion
  18. Pricing Strategy
  19. Web Strategy
  20. Differentiation (Competitive Advantage)
  21. Operations Plan
  22. Location
  23. Operation
  24. Organisation Structure
  25. Employees
  26. Space
  27. Capacity:
  28. Critical Suppliers
  29. Financial system
  30. Computer system.
  31. Equipment
  32. Permits and Licenses
  33. Insurance
  34. Contracts
  35. Patents and Copyrights
  36. Credit Policy

Table of Contents – cont.

  1. Financial Plan
  2. Product and Service Pricing
  3. Funding Source(s)
  4. Cash Flow Projection (Appendix A)
  1. Appendix A: Cash Flow Statement
  2. Appendix B: Competitive Analysis
  3. Appendix C: Resume (Enterprise)
  4. Appendix D: Resume (Personnel)
  5. Appendix E: Notes (to yourself).

Support from the Community Empowerment Co-operative Consortium:

When completing this template please consider the support that may be available from the Community Empowerment Co-operative Consortium.

Community Empowerment Ltd: is a charitable society for the benefitof the community and our charitable aims include the reduction of poverty through the creation and retention of employment.

We also operate “Enterprise Clubs” for unemployed persons considering self-employment or incorporated business models.

Co-operative Service Solutions CIC:

We are primarily a Co-operative Development Body (CDB).offering incubation to new start Co-operatives and social enterprises..

Co-operative Education Solutions CIC: is a Community Interest Company holding contracts in the area of ‘welfare-to-work’.

Our main tasks are improving individual employability, enterprise development (for the creation of further employment) and supporting existing enterprises in order to sustain levels of employment.

We also offer a ‘Community Routes into Employment’ project to assist unemployed people to gain useful work experience in order to enhance their CVs. This project aims for mutual benefits for:

The Community

The unemployed person

Your enterprise.

Please contact us to discuss these potential benefits.

Co-operative Admin Solutions CIC: is a Community Interest Company providing “Back Office” support so that you can concentrate upon your core activities.

We aim to help you to make substantial savings related to administration as well as seeking to ensure that you can direct your attention to the success of your business plan.

We also offer substantial savings on stationery based upon collective buying power.

Please see our ‘catalogue’ for an overview of the range of services that we provide.

You can obtain information related to the above via our portal page at

You can also visit the mutual-self-help forum at op

Executive Summary

Overview of the business explaining the fundamentals.

  1. Business Owner(s) & Product/Service
  1. Who are you and what qualifies you to operate this business?
  2. What is the product or service (brief description)?
  1. Mission Statement
  1. Briefly describe what you will do to be successful and guiding principles (service, quality, community focus, passion for the business, etc)
  1. Enterprise Structure
  1. Sole proprietorship
  2. Unincorporated
  3. LLP
  4. Registered Company Co-operative (state type)
  5. Company Limited by Shares
  6. Company Limited by Guarantee
  7. Industrial & Provident Society – Co-operative (state type)
  8. – Community Benefit Society
  9. Other
  10. Incorporated Charity (not yet available).
  11. Registered Charity
  12. Exempt Charity

NB. Advice on choice of Enterprise Structure may be available from

Co-operative Service Solutions CIC via the enquiry form at:

Please be aware that many mainstream advisors may have limited expertise across the full range of structures. You should not opt for a common structure just because your advisor is familiar with those. Make sure you undertake an exercise to determine what is best for your needs. Community Empowerment Ltd and other organizations offering Advice & Training in association with the Co-operative Enterprise Hub have a free toolkit for this purpose.

What is the ‘Status’ of your enterprise?

(start-up, expansion of a going concern, take-over of existing business, franchise, etc.).

  1. Target Market(s)
  1. Who are the customers?
  2. Industrial
  3. Consumers
  4. Government
  5. Are the customers also the owners?
  1. Is your business B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumer), B2G (business to government), etc. Explain.
  1. Current Opportunity
  1. Why is the opportunity currently available to you?
  2. New idea or technology?
  3. No competition?
  4. Consumer Demand?
  5. Special skills?
  6. Consumer Demand?
  7. Response to change?
  1. Projection of Business Future
  1. What is the future of the business?
  2. Limited (time) opportunity or timeless?
  3. Why?
  1. Financial Summary
  1. Total amount of funds sought for venture: £
  2. Total amount of estimated startup costs: £
  3. Total amount of projected average monthly expenses: £
  4. Total amount of projected average monthly revenue: £
  1. Market Analysis
  2. Determines access to the market by studying the industry, competitors and customer demographics (so you can choose a target market).
  1. Industry, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
  1. What industry does your product/service mix fall under? What has this industry done in the last several years, what is it doing today, and what do industry analysts (trade organisations) predict for the future?
  1. Competitive Analysis (Appendix B)
  1. Who is the competition? If there are many it will be easy to enter the market, but hard to get significant share- If there are few, it might be harder to enter, but you could gain significant share.
  1. Demographics & Target Market
  1. Do a thorough study of the population demographics in the market your business will sell in. Then, decide what type of person (target market) will buy your product. Does the population demographic in your area match well? Is there enough of this type of client (target market) in your area to have a successful business?
  1. Market Segments can include:
  2. Age
  3. Sex
  4. Income
  5. Education Level
  6. Occupation
  7. Location (region, neighbourhoods)
  8. Lifestyle (psychographics, hobbies)
  9. Business Organization (size, industry)
  10. Religion
  1. Entry Barriers
  1. Are there barriers to entry? High entry cost? High risk and cost to get in, but limits the amount of competitors. Low entry cost? Low risk and cost to get in, but likely to have many competitors. Are there permits or regulatory approvals required?
  1. Are there other competencies you need to develop? Are they easily achievable?
  1. Marketing Strategy
  1. Build strategy from core competencies (quality, speed, service, product, price, convenience, location, etc.) The strategy is to tell customers what you will do better than the competition. Customer must be able to clearly see value.
  1. Product/Service
  1. Give a detailed description of your product or service. Including photos creates a more powerful presentation.
  1. Sales Strategy
  1. How will you get to your product/service to the market? Direct sales? Through a channel (distributor, manufacturers representative, retailer, internet)?
  1. Promotion
  1. How will you promote your product/service to the customer? Examples are:

Shop Front

Press Adverts

Other Adverts

Door – to –Door (sales)

Leaflet Distribution (how? Who to?)

Events

Mail Shots

Email

Website

Social Media

  1. This goes back to demographics and figuring out what types of person (target market) will buy your product. So, what kind of advertisements does this person respond to the best?
  1. Pricing Strategy
  1. How you are going to price your product or service? Look at the competition’s price, what you believe your costs might be, and can you get the same price or a premium over the competition?
  2. Penetration pricing strategy
  3. Price charged is set artificially low to gain market share. Once achieved, price is increased.
  4. Skimming pricing strategy
  5. Charging a high price because you have a substantial competitive advantage. However, the advantage is not sustainable. The high price tends to attract new competitors into the market, and the price inevitably falls due to increased supply.
  6. Follow-the-leader pricing strategy
  7. Set price based on competitors (leads to “price wars”).
  8. Variable pricing strategy
  9. Price fluctuates based on (changing) cost of production.
  10. Economy Pricing
  11. No frills low price; the lowest possible regardless of what other are doing. Cost of marketing and manufacture are kept at a minimum.
  12. Premium Pricing
  13. High price is for a uniqueness about the product or service. This approach is used where a substantial competitive advantage exists.
  1. Web Strategy
  1. What will you use your web site for? Examples: simply marketing, sales transactions, inventory, customer education, partner networking, etc.
  1. Differentiation (Competitive Advantage)
  1. This brings your entire marketing strategy together.
  1. Why will you succeed? What will you do different than the competitors? These are called your “core competencies”, what you do well that perhaps the competition does not. List your core competencies. Examples would be superior service levels, exceptional quality, speed, better product or service, better location, etc.
  1. If there is enough differentiation, you can be successful. If there is little or no differentiation, then you will usually need to rely on price to get business; not the best option for a start up business.
  1. Operations Plan

How product is made and/or service fulfilled, and other core characteristics of your business:

  1. Location
  2. (include complete address).
  1. Operation
  2. When business will or did open
  3. Hours
  4. seasonal or not
  1. Organisation Structure
  2. sole proprietor, unincorporated, Co-operative, charity, Company, etc
  1. Employees
  2. Number of employees needed.
  3. Are the employees also the owners of the business?
  4. Volunteers?
  5. Number of volunteers required
  6. List each position and what its primary responsibilities will be.
  7. Type of employees needed (special skills, knowledge or education).

Howwill they be recruited?

  1. Space
  2. for production needed
  3. for people needed
  1. Capacity:
  2. how much product/service can you provide in a certain time frame.
  1. Critical Suppliers.
  1. Financial system.
  1. Bookkeeping - do it yourself or use the services of Co-operative Admin Solutions CIC?
  2. Payroll – do it yourself or use the services of Co-operative Admin Solutions CIC?
  1. Computer system.
  2. You will need some sort of business system, even if it is manual to begin with. List what it will be and what it will need to do.
  3. Do it all yourself or use support from Co-operative Admin Solutions CIC?
  1. Equipment
  1. Computers
  2. Tools
  3. Fixtures
  4. Displays
  5. Vehicles
  6. List everything you need to conduct business!
  1. Permits and Licenses
  2. Permits
  3. Licenses
  1. Insurance
  2. Type(s)
  3. Public Liability – coverage amount?
  4. Employers Liability – coverage amount?
  5. Professional Liability – coverage amount?
  6. Products Insurance -coverage amount?
  7. Property – buildings – coverage amount?
  8. Property – contents – coverage amount?
  9. Other?
  1. Contracts
  1. Patents and Copyrights
  1. Patents
  2. Copyrights
  1. Credit Policy
  1. Financial Plan

Explain your financial strategy.

  1. Product and Service Pricing
  2. List all of your products and services and how they will be priced. Then, list how many you will sell each month for the first year. Add these totals to your cash flow projection.
  1. Product / Service
  2. Price / Rate
  3. Product / Service
  4. Price / Rate
  5. Product / Service
  6. Price / Rate
  7. Product / Service
  8. Price / Rate
  9. Product / Service
  10. Price / Rate
  11. Product / Service
  12. Price / Rate
  13. Product / Service
  14. Price / Rate
  1. Funding Source(s)
  2. Explain where you intend to obtain funding and how much you will receive from each source.
  3. Location
  4. Amount
  5. Location
  6. Amount
  7. Location
  8. Amount
  9. Location
  10. Amount
  11. Location
  12. Amount
  13. Location
  14. Amount
  15. Location
  16. Amount
  1. Cash Flow Projection (Appendix A)

Appendix A: Cash Flow Statement

Insert Cash Flow Statement

Appendix B: Competitive Analysis

Take a look at your most prominent competitors and rate them on the following characteristics. Now you have done that, decide how you will make your business appear different (better) to the public, by rating how you want to be.

Factors / You / Competitor 1 / Competitor 2 / Competitor 3 / Competitor 4 / Competitor 5
1. Products
2. Price
3. Quality
4. Product selection
5. Customer Service
6. Product Service
7. Reliability
8. Abilities: Services Offers
9. Image
10. Location
11. Atmosphere
12. Appearance
13. Sales Methods
14. Credit Policy
15. Availability
16. Management
17. Stability
18. Marketing

Appendix C: Resume (Enterprise).

Please insert a summary (overview) of the Enterprise.

Appendix D: Resume (Personnel).

Please introduce the key personnel involved in the enterprise, highlighting relevant skills and experience.

Appendix E:

Notes:

Use this area to record notes (to yourself) during the development stage(s).

Delete the notes from the ‘finalised’ version of the Business Plan before presenting it to people.

We do suggest that you retain a copy of the document, with notes, to use as a Development Plan.

Enquiry Form for Admin support services:

We offer these admin and compliance services so that you can concentrate upon your core activities:

The most recent versions of our documents can be downloaded from the following links:

Indicative Rates for Bookkeeping and Allied Services:

Payroll Services:

Buying Group:

Our Clients are invited to benefit from special rates for stationery from Lyreco

-thanks to the shared buying power of The co-operative.

Enquiries:

Co-operative Admin Solutions CIC:

Enquiry form -

Community Empowerment Ltd – for support to social enterprises that are based upon co-operative values & principles:

Enquiry form -

For all of your training needs please use the form below:

Community Empowerment Ltd – a charitable society for the benefit of the community.

Registered Offices & Training Centre: 113-115, Commercial Road, Portsmouth PO1 1BU.

W: E: Forum:

T: 023 9217 8483.