1.12 - Business plan basics

While the specific formats of business plans vary depending on the enterprise and industry, the basic format for any business plan is fairly consistent. You can use the template below to prepare a written business plan that can be presented to investors, your bank etc.

• Executive summary
  A concise overview of the entire plan. Sometimes a diagrammatic representative of the plan on one page is useful and can be kept on the wall as a reminder.
• Company details
  Company name, location and pertinent production details (land types, average rainfall etc.), personnel, business structure.
• Mission, business goals and objectives
  Refer  to Procedure 2.
• Product offering and target market
  What you are selling, trading or producing and who you are selling your product to. Also include anything that differentiates you such as quality assurance programs etc.
• Capital requirements
  What capital items you need to achieve your goals and objectives.
• Financial plans and budgets
  Relevant information and budgets showing historical and current performance and financial information as well as forecast budgets and performance based on the attainment of goals and objectives.
• Implementation and action plan
  The steps, activities and timeframes you will work on to achieve what you have specified in the plan.
• Monitoring plan
  An outline of what you measure and monitor and when, who is responsible and also what the early warning indicators are that will give you advance warning if you are drifting off course.