UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, JAMAICA

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

JOAN DUNCAN SCHOOL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP ETHICS AND
LEADERSHIP

INTRODUCTION TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ASSIGNMENT NO. TWO - THE BUSINESS PLAN

As a group of prospective entrepreneurs, you are required to prepare the business plan for an upcoming enterprise
or for a product/service offered by an existing business enterprise. The business should be formulated as a private
limited company and may operate many modes.

OBJECTIVES
This assignment should enable students to:
1. Develop the outline for a business enterprise
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the procedures involved in the registering of a business unit
3. Prepare the necessary legal documents required for a business

GUIDELINES
The business plan must tell a story, must engage the reader, and convince persons to come on board or provide the
resources which you require. The business plan represents a combination of various sub-plans covering the broad
areas of activity in a business operation. The business plan should be a maximum of 30 pages before the addition
of appendices and be done mainly using APA standards. The outline should include the following.

1. Executive Summary (10 marks)

- communicates your overall plan in a concise way, highlighting key points within the plan. Include
ownership structure, business address, product/service, the market opportunity and company strategy,
strengths of the management team, potential profitability and the financial proposal/request and
harvesting strategy where necessary.
2. Market Analysis, /Market Opportunity (10 marks)
- Is intended to identify and specify a clear gap existing in the industry/market which your business intends
to fill. A creative and efficient use of the industry analysis tools is required. Conduct an overview of the
industry (Porter’s five forces), include consideration of the competition (SWOT analysis), legal
constraints, statutory requirements, regulatory bodies (SLEPT analysis) etc.

3. Organization and Management. /Venture Organization (10 marks)

- vision and mission statement, corporate governance/advisory committee, corporate goals, managerial
competence, organizational structure and organizational chart

4. Business Description, /Business Model (5 marks)

- explanation of the business concept, business model, the current offering, and the projected growth

5. Business Feasibility, /Opportunity (15 marks)

- Validate customer interest in the business/products. Conduct a statistical analysis of the demand (include
highlights of the findings of the market feasibility study using both potential overall interest and
interest at a specific price), number of potential customers versus number required for business success.
Draw reasonable conclusions from the survey. Are the survey results credible? Do you need additional
primary or secondary data to back up the survey findings? Do the results need to be analyzed further to
obtain real value from the findings? Consider risk (include business and market risks), risk mitigation and
contingences and environmental impact
6.
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Revised by Novelette Cooke, August 2019
7. Operational Considerations, (5 marks)
- location, technical requirements (explain key business processes), equipment required (state whether it is
a manufacturing or retail business), suppliers of raw materials, utilities, opening hours etc.
8. Marketing Arrangements, /Go to market plan (10 marks)
- Develop a credible Marketing Plan; include target market, definition of the product or service, pricing,
distribution, promotion (show treatment of the seven “Ps” of marketing)
9. Financial Considerations (20 marks)
- Capital expenditure budget, pre-operating expenses, working capital requirements, start-up cost, sources
of financing, sales budget, two-year cash flow projections, income statement (one year), projected year-
end balance sheet, breakeven analysis.
- Return on equity (ROE), return on investment (ROI), percentage of business to be given up in return for
equity investment, harvesting/exit strategy for equity investors.

10. Implementation Schedule,/ Milestones (5 marks)

- Highlight important milestones e.g. activities six months before to six months after the startup date,
accompanied by a Gantt Chart.
11. Appendices (5 marks)
- tools used in feasibility study; profile of management team, letters of commitment from prospective
suppliers and clients; samples of product design, labels, promotional campaigns, floor plan and legal
documents

12. References (5 marks)

- bibliography, credits, acknowledgements

FORMAT OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The assignment should be done in groups, not exceeding five persons. No false statements are to be included in
the business plan e.g. do not claim to have raised funds, or to possess qualifications which you do not have. You
will be marked down severely for such misrepresentation of the facts. Each business plan must be accompanied
by the Declaration of Authorship forms signed by each student in the group. No allowances will be given for
names of students not included on the project. All students are also required to submit a contributions sheet
which outlines their names, ID numbers, as well as the specific details of their individual contributions to
the final project prepared by their groups. This contribution sheet MUST be placed in the Appendix.
The group may choose a name, logo, slogan, etc. The business plan will not be returned to the group. Alternative
copies should be prepared for the group members.
APPRAISAL
The business plan will constitute 30% of the overall course grade (Marks will be deducted for unnecessary
repetition of information throughout the business plan). Oral presentation of the plan will account for an
additional 5% of the grade
DUE DATE
The Business Plan is to be submitted and oral presentation of the Business Plan made in the final tutorial session
for the semester. Please check the module outline for the due dates.

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Revised by Novelette Cooke, August 2019