ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Submitted to: SIR Fakher-e-Alam

Submitted by: Bakhtiyar Ali

Faabeha Irfan

Mazhar Ahsan

Syeda Sabahat

Asfia Fatima

Dated: January 10, 2017

 LETTER OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank Almighty Allah for His grace and for the courage; He provided us that
allowed us to do justice with this report and its topic.

We would like to express our deep and sincere gratitude to Mr. Fakher E Alam for his kindness,
flexibility and the knowledge that he imparted upon us; enabling us to confidently take up this
task. His wide knowledge and logical way of thinking have been of great value to us. We are
thankful that he provided us with an opportunity to explore the various concepts of
entrepreneurship, which has enlightened us regarding different aspects of how innovative
Businesses function which made our belief stronger to work relentlessly.

Thank you for being such a supportive course instructor, mentor and an excellent source of
information whenever needed. Without your guidance and timely feedback, this report could
not have been materialized.

The report that follows highlights the concept of our business idea and details about the entire
business plan. It also includes the financials for our business plan.
In this project report we have aimed to portray our understanding of the entrepreneurship
concepts that we have been introduced to, in this course.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Bakhtiyar Ali

Faabeha Irfan

Syeda Sabahat

Muhammad Ismail

Asfia Fatima

Mazhar Ahsan

1
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS PAGE NO.

SECTION 1: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ………………………………………….

SECTION 2: BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

2.1: General Description

2.2: Industry Background/Analysis

2.3: Goals and Potential of Business

2.4: Uniqueness of Products or Services

SECTION 3: MARKETING

3.1: RESEARCH & ANALYSIS

3.1.: Target Market or Customers (Identified)

3.2: Market Size & Trends

2
3.3: Competition

3.4: Estimated Market Share

MARKETING PLAN

3.5: Marketing Strategies (Sales & Distribution)

3.6: Pricing

3.7: Advertising & Promotion

SECTION 4: OPERATIONS

4.1: Identify the Location

4.1.1: Advantages of Location

4.1.2: Zoning

4.1.3: Taxes

4.2: Proximity to Suppliers

3
4.3: Access to Transportation

4.4: Production Plan

SECTION 5: MANAGEMENT

5.1: Management Team (Key Personnel)

5.2: Legal Structure of Business (Type of Ownership)

SECTION 6: FINANCIAL

6.1: Statements of Financial Position

6.2: Profit & Loss Statements

6.3: Cash Flow Statements

6.4: Break-Even Analysis

6.5: Cost Control Measures

4
6.6: Budgeting

SECTION 7: CRITICAL RISK ASSESSMENT

7.1: Problems & Potential Problems

7.2: Obstacles & Risks

7.3: Alternative Courses of Action

SECTION 8: HARVEST STRATEGY

8.1: Transfer of Assets

8.2: Continuity of Business Strategy

8.3: Identify Successor

SECTION 9: MILESTONES SCHEDULE

9.1: Timings & Objectives’

9.2: Deadlines & Milestones

5
9.3: Relationship of Events

10. References

6
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DIGIPEDIA is all about providing students of member universities variety of sources to

information and data at one place, enhancing their capabilities and offering a much convenient
medium of satisfying their needs compared to the conventional libraries. DIGIPEDIA is a sticky
website that not only provides users with e-books, but also research materials, guides, templates,
case studies and video tutorials. The idea is to provide users with a user friendly sticky website
where every piece of information is on their finger tips, and literally just a click away.
Our focus will be on providing users with access to national and international scholarly literature
as well as video tutorials based on electronic accessibility. The aim is to allow researchers to
access related information in a variety of subject areas. The idea is to facilitate time and place
independent information services for students, needed especially if active learning styles become
more commonplace. Initially we will reach out to only students of IBA, SZABIST, IoBM, Iqra
University and Greenwich University to become members of DIGIPEDIA.
DIGIPEDIA will coordinate the purchase and delivery of electronic information and virtual
services. DIGIPEDIA is a partnership among the 5 top universities of Karachi. It seeks to serve
university students with easy access to education. The services provided are geared toward
assisting university students to learn about, find and locate the information they need. DIGIPEDIA
will be part of each step of their lives, as they move from early reading to study and research, to
professional and business initiatives, to gathering health and consumer information, to learning
more about the world they live in and the opportunities available to them.
DIGIPEDIA will provide a number of products and services to support the information and
learning needs of students. The bringing together of these products and services will transform
the way that libraries connect with one another. The success of these products and services will
depend upon the building of a strong foundation for DIGIPEDIA in the areas of technology,
management, marketing and training. While not all will be available at the beginning, the services
and products available to libraries through DIGIPEDIA will grow over time.
The electronic products purchased will include subscriptions to electronic newspapers, journals
and reference materials that will be available to all students via the library Internet website.
Unlike existing Internet search engines, DIGIPEDIA will provide access to professionally selected,
high quality information resources (both those freely available on the Internet and those
commercial resources requiring authenticated access, i.e. the “hidden web”.) These resources
will have been critically appraised and selected to ensure their value and appropriateness.

7
 DIGIPEDIA will take advantage of state of the art technology that allows libraries to provide the
full range of access to electronic information. This technology will allow direct access to
information and allow users to search complex electronic databases easily. It will support the
development of a common search engine for students that will allow them to search multiple
databases and to access credible, reliable information.
Challenges such as authentication and authorization, necessary to ensure appropriate access to
commercial resources, are central to the successful operation of the DIGIPEDIA’S services will
require specific attention during the early phases of the projects. Initial technology will include
the development of DIGIPEDIA project website through our website development agency.
DIGIPEDIA will provide databases that will allow millions of users to access electronic content
directly.

8
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
PARTICULARS PAGE #

DIGIPEDIA Concept ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5-7

 Key elements
 Reasons for going into the business
 Mission and Vision
 Core Values
 Services and Products
Industry Analysis …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8-10
 Future Outlook and Trends
 Analysis of competitors
Merchandising Plan………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11
 Dealing with Publishers
 Website development Agency
Marketing Plan………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12-19
 Market Research
 Market Segmentation
 Target Market - audience
 Pestel Analysis
 Marketing Mix
Organizational Plan………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 20

Risk Assessment…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 22-24

 SWOT analysis
 Competitive analysis – porter’s five forces model
 Action Plan
Financial Plan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 25 - 26
 Assumptions
 Assumption Sheet
 Income Statement
Future Plans…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..... 27

9
 DIGIPEDIA- CONCEPT
CO-OWNERS:
 Bakhtiyar Ali
 Faabeha Irfan
 Syeda Sabahat
 Muhammad Ismail
 Asfia Fatima
 Mazhar Ahsan

All six members are currently enrolled in the BBA program at Karachi University graduating in
the year 2017. Their areas of interest (majors) Marketing (Bakhtiyar Ali, Faabeha Irfan) and
Finance (Syeda Sabahat, Mazhar Ahsan, Muhammad Ismail, and Asfia Fatima). Together the
expertise of each will be used to add value to the venture and enhance the service, ultimately
leading to goal realization and business expansion in terms of target market being catered to.

DIGIPEDIA is an online library that focuses on providing students of member universities an array
of e books and other sources to gain information and knowledge from. DIGIPEDIA is unlike the
boring libraries where students have to spend prolonged time to get to the information they are
seeking, the high tech online library provides a search option where every piece of information
is a click away. DIGIPEDIA is a sticky website, where there are not only e books available online,
but research materials, case studies, templates and video tutorials aimed at various concepts as
well. It aims at satisfying the academic needs of students by providing them with an array of
sources of gaining knowledge.
However, DIGIPEDIA does not permit downloading the documents and e books nor does it allow
any copy paste or printing options, since all rights of the sources are reserved.
DIGIPEDIA is all about providing students of member universities variety of sources to
information and data at one place, enhancing their capabilities and offering a much convenient
medium of satisfying their needs compared to the conventional libraries.
DIGIPEDIA is a sticky website, that not only provide users with e books, but also research
materials, guides, templates, case studies and video tutorials.
The idea is to provide users with a user friendly sticky website where every piece of information
is on their finger tips, and literally just a click away.
Our focus will be on providing users with access to national and international scholarly literature
as well as video tutorials based on electronic accessibility. The aim is to allow researchers to
access related information in a variety of subject areas. The idea is to facilitate time and place

10
independent information services for students, needed especially if active learning styles become
more commonplace.
Initially we will reach out to only students of IBA, SZABIST, IoBM, Iqra University and Greenwich
University to become members of DIGIPEDIA.

FINANCING:
Initial financing is requested to be paid off over a span of 3 years. This debt covers the costs of
building the DIGIPEDIA website, as well as operation costs which are covered in detail later in the
report.

MISSION
“To assist information users in seeking, navigating and using electronic information through the
effective management and delivery of electronic resources to students through our digital
library”.
DIGIPEDIA will coordinate the purchase and delivery of electronic information and virtual
services. DIGIPEDIA is a partnership among the 5 top universities of Karachi. It seeks to serve
university students with easy access to education. The services provided are geared toward
assisting university students to learn about, find and locate the information they need. DIGIPEDIA
will be part of each step of their lives, as they move from early reading to study and research, to
professional and business initiatives, to gathering health and consumer information, to learning
more about the world they live in and the opportunities available to them.

VISION
“To employ the fullest potential of digital technology in partnership with users by enabling
seamless and open access to all types of information without limits to format or geography”

OUR CORE VALUES

 Innovation. We pursue innovation and solve complex research problems for our users by
mobilizing the analytical and creative talents of our organization.
 Collaboration. We extend our reach and amplify our effectiveness through collaborative
partnerships and shared expertise.
 Openness. We know that openness fosters innovation and builds trust, so we support
open practices in access to resources and software development.
 Sharing. We promote the broadest possible dissemination of knowledge, information,
and tools to benefit the university and the public interest.
 Privacy. We safeguard the privacy of our users in their quest for information.

11
  Learning. We value experimentation, exchange of ideas, and the ongoing professional
development of our staff.

SERVICES/PRODUCTS OFFERED BY DIGIPEDIA:

E-books
Video tutorials and cases
Case studies
PowerPoint presentations
Research Papers (local and international)
Publications (local and international)
Thesis Reports
Templates (such as business plans, marketing plans, memorandums etc.)
Sample Reports
Articles

12
 INDUSTRIAL ANALYSIS
Future outlook and trends:
In today’s world, there is a growing trend towards e-learning/virtual learning. The future of digital
libraries looks bright because with the pace our life styles are changing, the need for quick access
to learning material is becoming important.
Market opportunity in Pakistan: Looking at the changing trends in the way education is received,
the need for e-libraries is increasing. The concept of virtual universities is also becoming popular.

The changing world of education:

There are profound changes going on in the educational system. These changes are needed
because of ever growing pressure in the school systems themselves, partly because society is
itself changing into one in which knowledge work becomes ever more important and partly
because of the very information and communication technologies which are transforming our
economies. Because of the differences between students there is a need to accommodate
different learning styles, customizations and alternative learning routes. Courses have to take
more into account the different experiences and the backgrounds of students. Through the
internet, course material can be offered independently of time and place. An ever-increasing
number of students have access to the Internet, whether at home or on campus. Costs of Internet
access will continue to drop in the coming years. More and more information is made available
through the web. Search engines assure the accessibility of this material. Online market research
is quick and easy, and this market information can be combined with transaction log data
allowing institutions to monitor consumer (i.e., student) response on an ongoing basis. Active
learning implies that students don't limit themselves to resources supplied by their instructors,
but also that the students search for new materials themselves in order to solve problems at
hand and to develop their competencies continuously.

Competitor Analysis:
Direct competition:

 HEC National Digital Library

 Digital Libraries of Individual universities such as; Islamiyah University of Bahawalpur, UET
etc.
 International Digital Libraries such as; Archive (who provide free access)

Indirect competition:

 Libraries across country and in universities

 Urdu Bazaar and other bookshops
 Search engines; Google, Wikipedia and Yahoo

13
  Slideshare.net, YouTube etc

The concept of Digital Library is not very popular yet in Pakistan and hence, we do not have to
face intense competition as the market has huge potential to develop. The need to focus on
competitors in the market is the most crucial element of a business plan. DIGIPEDIA will face
competition from direct as well as indirect competitors. In Pakistan, HEC National Digital Library
is a direct threat to DIGIPEDIA because it is the only known digital library and has access to a
variety of e-books and journals etc. It is the biggest competition we can face in terms of business.

HEC Digital Library:

HEC National Digital Library (DL) is a programme to provide researchers within public and private
universities in Pakistan and non-profit research and development organizations with access to
international scholarly literature based on electronic (online) delivery, providing access to high
quality, peer-reviewed journals, databases, articles and e-books across a wide range of
disciplines.

Strengths:

- Being Government owned gives them ample funds to play around with

- Established repute gives them access to international databases for research papers

- 75,000 number of electronic content has been made available through the Digital Library
Programme

Weaknesses:

- It gives access to institutions with research personnel only, students are not catered to

- Significant restrictions in terms of covering topics those are controversial.

Digital Libraries of universities:

Pakistan has recently revolutionized the library system with the HEC introducing the first major
digital library in the country. Not many universities have been able to come up with library
databases of their own, hence, becoming a member of the HEC digital library.

Our competitive advantage:

Our competitive advantage is our Unique Selling Proposition which adds value to our services
offered. We are providing our customers with convenience at a very low cost unlike other digital
libraries.

14
15
 MERCHANDISING PLAN
Dealing with Publishers:

In order to establish our digital library, the foremost step is to get a publisher who provides us
with all the required locally published and international e-books. We need to contact various
journals for their rights and approval of using publications and researches on our e-library.

Website development:

The second step is to develop the library online. Initial plan is to contact a website development
agency and get them on board. We will present them with our E-library plan and form a contract
with them.

Our contact person: Bakhtawar Ali: Software Engineer at U Online Technologies

Contact no: 03222421300- develops and maintains websites

16
 MARKETING PLAN
Market Research:

Q1- 150 people (75 males 75 females)

a. Male 75 75 Male
Female
b. Female

Q2 - Which university do you go to?

SZABIST
a. SZABIST
30 30 IBA
b. IBA
30 30 IoBM
c. IoBM 30
d. Greenwich Greenwich
e. Iqra Iqra

Q3 - Which semester are you in?

20, 13%
a. 1 1
b. 3 40, 27% 30, 20%
3
c. 5
60, 40% 5
d. 7
7

17
Q4 - How many courses are you currently
taking?
18, 12% 6, 4% 12, 8% 4
38, 25%
a. 4 5
b. 5 76, 51% 6
c. 6 7
d. 7 More than 7
e. More than 7

Q5 - How many courses require you to buy a book every semester on an average?

a. 2 17, 12% 3, 2%
32, 22% 2
b. 3 3
30, 21%
c. 4 4
63, 43%
d. 5
5
e. 6
6

Q6 - Do you own a personal laptop?

a. Yes 67, 45%

b. No 83, 55%
Yes
No

Q7 - Do you own a Smartphone?

a. Yes
b. No 78, 52% 72, 48% Yes
No

18
Q8 - do you own a tablet PC?

a. Yes 42, 28%

b. No
108, 72% Yes
No

Q9 - What version of books do you usually buy?

a. Original 12, 8%

b. Pirated
Original
138, 92%
Pirated

Q10 - How does the idea of having the books that are compulsory to buy for your course and all
other books from the courses being offered in the entire university being available for you to
read 24/7 sound?

Very interesting and convenient for us

Q11- What amount of money will you be willing to spend in order to subscribe to a service like
this, and having access to around 50 plus books 24 /7 throughout the semester?

a. Less than 200Rs 23, 15% 31, 21%

b. 200Rs – 400Rs Less than 200Rs
c. 400Rs – 600Rs
96, 64% 200Rs – 400Rs
400Rs – 600Rs

Findings/Interpretation of Results:

So far the response to the use of digital library is positive and many students are willing to use
our services. We interviewed 150 people, an equal amount of males and females (75 males; 75

19
females). We have mainly targeted 5 universities; SZABIST, IBA, IoBM, Iqra. Greenwich. We
mostly asked 5th and 7th semester students and most of them said they take 6 courses per
semester. Upon asking them, most of them told us that they buy 3 course books per semester on
average. Majority of them own a personal laptop. Almost half own a smartphone and only 28%
own a tablet PC. Use of pirated books is popular among students. Almost all the students found
out idea very convenient and most of them are willing to pay between Rs200 to Rs400 for the
subscription fees per semester.

Market Segmentation:

Geographical
Country: Pakistan
City: Karachi (initial plan)

Demographics
Income Group: Rs. 70,000 per month and onwards
Gender: Male and Female
Occupation: University students
Generation: Generation Y
Age: 18 onwards

Psychographics
Socio economic classes: Middle, upper-middle, upper

Behavioral segmentation
User Status: First time user

Our digital library concept is a partly new and growth market as market has a potential to grow.
The only competitor can be HEC Digital Library but it does not offer the same services we do and
thus, our digital library has a potential to grow.

Target Audiences:

Primary Audiences: Our primary audience is the student body of the targeted 5 universities of
Karachi.

20
Secondary Audiences: Our secondary audiences are the targeted universities through which we
are targeting their students.

Targeted Universities: - initial startup

 Institute of Business Administration (IBA)

 Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST)
 Institute of Business Management (IoBM)
 Greenwich University
 Iqra University

Other Audiences: Our other audiences are our future targeted universities in Karachi as well as
other cities of Pakistan. It will be further explained in our expansion plans.

Pest-l Analysis:
DIGIPEDIA is influenced by a number of external factors, including political, economic, social,
technological and legal (PEST-L) changes in the external environment.

Political:

 DIGIPEDIA will not be affected by any political instability since it is a private library owned by
us. Therefore, it cannot be influenced by any political parties or outsiders.

Economic:

Additional benefits delivered by DIGIPEDIA having a positive impact on Pakistan’s economy

include:

 Increasing the ability of businesses to access quality information needed to succeed in today’s
competitive global environment through a single point of entry interface;
 Addressing emerging job skills shortages and facilitating school-to-work and job-to-job
transitions through upgrading skills with the necessary information and knowledge support
and tools;
 Providing and supporting E-Learning, literacy, education and training programs, professional
development
 Whether in boom-time or in a recession, DIGIPEDIA will be an invaluable resource for
students to be connected with quality information sources to serve their needs. An informed
society is an empowered society.

Social:

21
 Understanding changes in demography and changes in social attitudes are key determinants
in prioritizing content and service offerings of DIGIPEDIA. Social trends are changing; more
people wish to achieve higher education and the concept of virtual learning is also
increasingly becoming important.
 Another general trend in society having an impact on library resources is that more
graduating high school students are continuing on to post-secondary education and more and
more adults are returning to school or enrolling in continuing education programs.
 University enrollments continue to increase in Pakistan and they are expected to go up even
more.

Technological:

DIGIPEDIA is an opportunity for libraries to work together to address technological change in a

cost-effective manner and reduce the “digital divide”.

 The explosive growth in the volume of information available on the Internet means that there
is no means to standardize (or control) the content quality and source of that information.
DIGIPEDIA is an opportunity to apply the library’s traditional skills of accessing, evaluating
and organizing information for the user in a digital and on-line capacity.

Environmental:
 Environmental factors that may affect the business are the months in which the semesters
are off, that is, summers and winters. If not completely non-existent the interaction
frequency may be significantly low, there will be an absence of new data entry throughout
this period.

Legal:

 DIGIPEDIA will have downloading rights for students. In order to use our digital library,
students will have to abide by our downloading and copyright laws.

22
Marketing Mix:

There are a number of goals for DIGIPEDIA in its marketing programme:

• To get universities on board by providing them incentives so that their students can benefit
from the services offered by DIGIPEDIA. To increase awareness of the services provided and
how it can assist students in their coursework.
• To educate library staff, students and users about the role and importance of digital
information in education and lifelong learning and that the information available through
libraries is broader than what is available just on the Internet.
• To continue, sustained funding will be required for its operations from a variety of sources.
• Our goal is to attract more potential universities and get them on board with us within 3 years
of our business startup.

Product/Service:

DIGIPEDIA will provide a number of products and services to support the information and
learning needs of students. The bringing together of these products and services will transform
the way that libraries connect with one another. The success of these products and services will
depend upon the building of a strong foundation for DIGIPEDIA in the areas of technology,
management, marketing and training. While not all will be available at the beginning, the services
and products available to libraries through DIGIPEDIA will grow over time.
The electronic products purchased will include subscriptions to electronic newspapers, journals
and reference materials that will be available to all students via the library Internet website.
Unlike existing Internet search engines, DIGIPEDIA will provide access to professionally selected,
high quality information resources (both those freely available on the Internet and those
commercial resources requiring authenticated access, i.e. the “hidden web”.) These resources
will have been critically appraised and selected to ensure their value and appropriateness. The
following services will be provided by DIGIPEDIA:

E-books
Video tutorials and cases
Case studies
PowerPoint presentations
Research Papers (local and international)
Publications (local and international)
Thesis Reports
Templates (such as business plans, marketing plans, memorandums etc.)

23
 Sample Reports
Articles

Price:

Our pricing strategy is based on the concepts of price penetration. This means that initially when
the business starts, the price is low and gradually the price increases as the business penetrates
into the market. Starting subscription fee per student is Rs.200. It is expected to increase as more
universities come on board with us.

Branding:
Similar to other successful digital libraries (such as HEC), DIGIPEDIA will develop a brand which
clearly identifies itself as a leader and partner in delivering products and services to support E-
Learning and access to information critical in education, professional development, literacy and
lifelong learning.

Promotion:

Much has been written recently in the media and professional literature about the move toward
the ‘googlization’ of information. The analogies are based on the popular search engine “Google”
and the misunderstanding by its users on what and how much information can be found using
this and other similar search engines. A critical issue for libraries and information providers of
databases and full text information is to train students and other users about the wealth of
information that is not available through Internet search engines but is available in libraries.
Accordingly, a structured marketing campaign must be developed by DIGIPEDIA aimed at
familiarizing students with our e-library and how they can access valuable information through
the library. The campaign’s slogan will be “Digipedia@yourlibrary.com” and will focus on getting
students to use the digital library to access the products and services offered through DIGIPEDIA.
We will put banners and standees’ of our digital library in all 5 universities so that their students
get to know of our library and they visit hem.
We will also give the 5 universities leaflets and brochures to promote our digital library to their
students.
Our marketing efforts focus on business to business marketing because we are mainly targeting
universities.
While marketing to the universities, we can suggest them the incentive to charge Rs.40 over the
subscription of Rs.200 as their profit.

ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN
24
We are a team of 6 people who have come together for a project venture; Digital Library. We will
be dealing with top 5 business schools in Karachi namely: IBA, SZABIST, IoBM, IQRA and
Greenwich University.

Bakhtiyar Ali Faabeha Syeda Mazhar Muhammad Asfia

Irfan Sabahat Ahsan Ismail Fatima

Web Development Agency

and their personnel

All six members are currently enrolled in the BBA program at Karachi University graduating in
the year 2017. Their areas of interest (majors) Marketing (Bakhtiyar Ali, Faabeha Irfan) and
Finance (Syeda Sabahat, Mazhar Ahsan, Muhammad Ismail, and Asfia Fatima). Together the
expertise of each will be used to add value to the venture and enhance the service, ultimately
leading to goal realization and business expansion in terms of target market being catered to.

The Web Development Agency will be our site manager as well as developer. We, the members
will be doing the database updating ourselves.

RISK ASSESSMENT

25
SWOT Analysis:

A SWOT analysis of the proposed Digital Library (DIGIPEDIA) is an important tool to help start
prioritizing areas to concentrate on.

Strengths:

 Increasing trend of online education

 Technological advancements
 Is a unique response to solving problems of time and place
 To deliver digital products and services
 To meet the needs of students and teachers

Weaknesses:

 Will require high speed internet connection

 Teachers might not approve of sharing their PowerPoint presentations openly
 Continuous technological advancement
 High startup costs
 Some teachers and courses require books in class
 Some people prefer reading physically rather than online virtual reading

Opportunities:

 To be at the forefront of technology, offering new and leading edge information services
and products on a timely basis
 Provide Long term cost savings through economies of scale
 To foster partnerships and cooperation between different library sectors
 To learn and build upon the numerous examples of successfully implemented digital
libraries around the globe

Threats:

 More competition can enter market

 Marketing effectively that the digital library goes beyond internet and offers superior
added value to the internet
 Me too products/services – duplication of efforts
 Electricity concerns/frequent power outages across country

Porter’s Five Forces Model:

26
The Porter’s Five factor Model can b applied to DIGIPEDIA in the following way:

Threat of New entrants:

Since the major competitor for the time being is the HEC digital library, there is a potential for
growth in competition. This can be in the form of new ventures all together, existing digital
libraries owned by institutions expanding or introduction of the feature by other parties. Our goal
is to counter these threats by constantly improving on our service, adding new content and
services frequently, building strong client relationships and gathering periodic feedback for
improvement and innovation.

Bargaining power of Buyers:

Even though the plan is not to allow bargaining of any kind from customer side because the initial
cost needs to be covered and funds are needed to maintain the DIGIPEDIA, certain incentives can
be offered to universities after they have a smooth relationship of atleast 3 years with DIGIPEDIA.
These incentives can include waiving off a year subscription fee of top scoring students, offering
video cases facility etc.

Bargaining power of Suppliers:

27
Since E-books are not pirated and in order to provide optimum experience, DIGIPEDIA will be
hosting books that are recognized in their fields from all over the world. Here the bargaining
power of suppliers come in as the costly e-books can only be discounted minimally. Hence the
bargaining power of the suppliers is strong but it has been agreed upon those 5 years from now,
the discounts and other complementary benefits like authors notes, audio lectures etc.

Threat of substitute products and services:

As mentioned earlier, digital libraries are an emerging phenomenon in Pakistan where people
have started to move towards and accept on screen reading and studying. Therefore it can be
said that for the time being the scope for DIGIPEDIA is very vast and there is no immediate threat
about substitute services emerging.

28
Action plan:

DIGIPEDIA envisions an ambitious three-year approach to developing its products and services.
The focus will be on the development of the foundation for DIGIPEDIA (technology, governance
and management, marketing and training, purchase of electronic content, the creation of the
One Place to look service and the development of lifelong learning tools to help students develop
critical analysis skills).
We plan to launch our business in August 2013 as the semester starts in August for most
universities. A summary of the intended achievements at the end of each year of the business
plan include:

Year One The initial projects will be chosen, decisions made about how the services
and products will be offered, and early marketing efforts will begin.
Year Two The initial products and services will be expanded, building upon the
identified needs and work done in the first year. Additional partnerships
will be sought.
Students will see more resources to support their curriculum, additional
content will be made available to all students and an easy-to-use gateway
will be launched to help them access credible, reliable information.
Instead of outsourcing, now we will focus on handling the e-library
ourselves by hiring relevant personnel.
Year Three An evaluation will take place of the work completed to date. A marketing
campaign will focus on getting more universities on board.
Electronic and digital content will continue to expand.

29
 FINANCIAL PLAN
Assumptions:
1. Obtaining loans for an e-library business where no security/collateral can be given to the bank
is not possible and hence, we plan to start the business with self-finance. We are the 5 project
initiators who will contribute Rs. 150,000 per person to meet our initial costs. We can also
persuade the universities targeted to pay us advance of Rs. 20,000 each so that promoters’
contribution can be reduced. The amount taken in advance from the universities can be
adjusted monthly.
2. We are assuming the cost structure of our business:
- As we plan to give the handling of Digipedia to the website development agency, we do
not have office infrastructure, furniture and fixture costs in year 1.
- Pre-operating expenses in year 1 will become our running expenses in year 2 and 3
(mentioned in the income statement).
- As we progress and move towards growth, we will have to purchase more and updated
e-books which will add to our costs.
3. To keep it simple, no inflation has been added to the costs and revenues. Zero inflation
assumed.

Startup Costs (Rs.) Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Website Development (includes domain
50,000 - -
registration and legalities)
E-Books 250,000 300,000 325,000
Licensing (includes copy right costs, published
30,000 15,000 15,000
journals and researches, articles etc.)
Initial Marketing /Promotion/Survey 40,000 30,000 25,000
Contingency 10,000 10,000 10,000
Pre-operating expenses (time, travelling,
15,000 - -
telephone etc)
Furniture/Fixtures (Air conditioner, generator,
- 200,000 50,000
servers, computers etc.) – year 2 onwards
Company development costs 50,000 - -
Total 445,000 555,000 425,000

4. Assumption is that the assets will finish off/depreciate in on average 4 years.

Depreciation Schedule: 200,000/4 = 50,000
Per year depreciation of all furniture and fixtures will be Rs. 50,000.

30
 When the contingency costs (Rs. 5,000) are added to the depreciation schedule the
depreciation will become Rs. 51,250.

5. Amortization: Includes intangible goods such as licensing costs, pre-operating costs, company
development & web-development costs.

Website development costs Rs. 50,000

Company development costs Rs. 50,000
License costs Rs. 30,000
Pre-operating costs Rs. 15,000
Total Rs. 145,000

Amortization will take place in 5 years: 145,000/5 = Rs. 29,000 will be amortized each
year.
When the contingency costs (Rs. 5,000) are added to the amortization schedule, the
amortization will become Rs. 30,000.

6. Salary Structure in the 2nd year of operations. In the 1st year, owners will not earn salaries or
wages.

5 Project Owners Rs. 50,000 Per person/month Rs. 250,000/month

2 Hired Personnel Rs. 50,000 Per person/month Rs. 100,000/month
Guard Rs. 25,000 Per month Rs. 25,0000/month
Total Rs. 375,000/month

Income Statement (annual basis) in Rs. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Sales Revenue 6,000,000 10,500,000 15,000,000
Less: Variable Costs (900,000) (6,501,250) (8,501,250)
Gross Margin 5,100,000 3,398,750 6,498,750
Less: Tax (30%) (1,530,000) (1,019,625) (1,949,625)
Net Profit 3,570,000 2,379,125 4,549,125

31
 FUTURE PLANS

The future plans for DIGIPEDIA incorporate the following:

 Expansion in terms of other fields of study than business. Apart from this we plan to
contact other major universities in Karachi initially and then expanding all over Pakistan.
 Procuring more international standard e-books that are updated, research oriented and
authentic. We also plan to introduce Member University prescribed reference books
along with video cases, lecture slides and others to facilitate the learning activity.
 In terms of operations, we plan to employ more people from all over Pakistan as the
databases need to be updated from the universities that we plan to approach, it will be
less costly if we employ people that reside in the same city.
 In terms of investment, after being able to cover the initial costs we will look to reimburse
the money for expansion.

32