I. WHAT SHOULD YOUR BUSINESS PLAN CONTAIN?
II. BUSINESS PLAN – PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
III. BUSINESS PLAN ASSESSMENT

I. WHAT SHOULD YOUR BUSINESS PLAN CONTAIN?
Writing a business plan often scares entrepreneurs. It should not. It often turns out that they have had it in their heads, not even being aware of it. A good business plan drafted for Meridian Capital Enterprises Ltd. should contain information about the company and its managers and describe the market on which the company and its competitors operate. The business plan should indicate the market threats and opportunities, present the plan for the company’s development and financial analysis. Forecasts should cover the term of the project’s financing.

How to write a business plan
a. The Company. We would like to get to know better the company whose project we may invest in. We encourage you to present the history of the company, the key areas of operation, headcount, the simplified structure of revenue and costs as well as the profitability earned in key groups of products or services.

b. The Management team.
We want to learn about the experience of the executives managing the company: education, professional career, achievements. Try to convince us that our partner, that we are supposed to finance, will be a well-integrated team with complementary knowledge and skills.

c. Market opportunities.
This is a key part of the business plan. It is worth emphasising the unique features of one’s own products and services, describing the current and future market position, presenting the main clients, the level of prices and distribution channels.

d. Competition.
In this part of the business plan, apart from presenting the most important rivals (domestic and foreign), one may try to make various comparisons of: prices, costs, margins, methods of operation, opinions of clients and market surveys.

e. Development plan.
This part should cover the investment plan (including the profitability analysis of individual components), the marketing plan (organisation of sale , distribution, prices, methods of promotion) and the operating plan (organisation of the company, information and management system, headcount).

f. Financial analysis,
or: the economic assumptions, the profit and loss account, the balance sheet and the cashflow statement. The future financial projections should be linked with the company’s performance to date.

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