Business Plans Necessityor “nice to have”?Roderic RennisonDirector, The Ideas Lab

Objective of workshop

• To enable you to decide if your firm needs a business plan to increase the chances of success and if so, how to go about writing it

A business plan is more than numbers

Agreeing what and who the plan is for

• The Plan content should reflect its purpose and audience

• To enable the firm to plan and manage its future activities

• To set up a new business or venture

• To raise finance

• To sell the business

What to include and what to omit

• What’s relevant!

• “Less is more”

• What you have been asked to– and sometimes not

Business Plan Content• Executive Summary

• The business

• Market demand

• Competition

• Strategy

• Resources

• Financials and forecasts

• Risk, opportunity and sensitivity

• Conclusion/Recommendations

Whether, how and where to get help

• If in doubt, do – a second opinion is helpful

• Sources of assistance

• Business colleague

• Accountant

• Business consultant

• Books/The web

• “Writing a Business Plan” – Vaughan Evans FT Publishing

How to write the plan; get the resource,and buy-in• Writing the plan

• Research

• Preparation

• Drafting

• Review

• Presentation

• Getting resource• Ask!

• Obtaining buy-in• Know your audience

Putting the Plan into operationand monitoring it• Implementation

• Present clearly and effectively and disseminate

• Allocate responsibilities

• Agree timelines and reporting

• Monitoring• “What get’s measured, get’s done”

• Don’t let timelines slip

• Update at appropriate intervals

• Adapt to changing circumstances

Let’s debate!