It’s ideal for every entrepreneur to prepare or know how to write a business plan in Nigeria or anywhere else around the world. Whether you’re starting a business, running a business or about to expand a business, having a business plan as a road map to follow is crucial to your success.
What Is A Business Plan?
A business plan is a professional document that also acts as a road map that provides a well-researched direction for any business to plan its future and avoid problems along the way.
Any business plan is usually a well-written professional document that shows a clear picture of the business in view and provides great clarity for the entrepreneur or financial expert reviewing the document to enable them to have an in-depth understanding of the business model, its viability, and what it takes to succeed in the business.
Why You Need A Business Plan
When a business plan is well-written and prepared by either an experienced entrepreneur or a world-class professional business plan writer in Nigeria or anywhere around the world, it serves as a great guide that when kept up-to-date, thorough, and accurate can be a great investment that would pay great dividends on the long-term.
Highly-effective professional business plans that produce great results do not just help entrepreneurs in Nigeria or anywhere around the world as a guide to growing the business researched from scratch, but to also secure finance from banks, investors, and other financial institutions by always conforming to generally accepted world-class guidelines in the form and content of the business plan.
Writing a business plan will help you achieve your entrepreneurial goals easier. It will give you a clear and concise path to follow through the course of your business execution and will keep you focused on your target. Irrespective of achieving your entrepreneurial goals, having a business plan can be a great element to securing a bank loan and getting funding from an investor. You can find 10 comprehensive reasons to write a robust plan for your business here.
That said, here’s how to write a business plan in Nigeria or anywhere around the world that’d set you up for success and build investors confidence in your business.
1). Executive Summary:
This comes directly after the title page. The executive summary is the general overview of your business plan. It tells the reader exactly what you want to achieve. In a broad view, the executive summary’s purpose is to list out your business goals and expressively describe your company’s profile.
It’s always advisable to study an existing executive summary sample to understand how and in what depth, to craft yours. Expressly copying an executive summary template is wrong, but getting an intelligent stance on how yours should be written can be achieved by studying an executive summary example.
The executive summary should only also be written after the rest of your business plan is finished. This is one reason it is important to know how to write a business plan, so you can prepare a great plan investors and bankers will accept.
The easiest way to write your business plan and finish it fast is to use StartupTipsDaily’s professional business plan writing service or the LivePlan Tool.
See Also: 7 Of The Dumbest Legal Mistakes Small Businesses Make
2). Business Description:
Your business description is an explanation of what your company does, the industry your business is operating in, and what differentiates your business from others. It should also contain a more detailed information about your company profile.
When writing your company description, it’s important you talk about the current trends in your market and how you expect the future to turn out. You should talk about the widespread markets operating in your industry, and how some diverse products or services can benefit or affect your business.
3). Market Analysis & Strategies:
Your market analysis is going to contain a comprehensive research of your market and the competitors in your business industry. When you do a thorough market analysis, you become very familiar with the market, and find it easier to narrow down who your immediate target customers could be. With this information, your business can be well positioned to claim a good percentage of the market when you start out.
If you’re finding it difficult to carry out a market research on your own, you could employ the services of market research firms to help you out in your market assessment. They wouldn’t just provide results, but would also outline a marketing plan you could follow, which covers diverse marketing strategies to get a good percentage of the market.
See Also: How To Do Market Research For Any Business Idea
4). Design & Development Plan:
Here you provide your potential creditors and investors, information about your product design and development plan. You’d show your product development strategy, business development plan, and how the business will reach its goals by creating a development budget.
5). Organization & Management:
The business organization and management will show what business structure your organization is going to adopt. Since every organization is structured differently, picking the right organization and management structure that would aid you in achieving your goals is important for your business plan to be concise.
See Also: This Is How Competition Will Save Your Small Business
6). Service or Product Line:
Here you outline your product line, services you offer, and your general product ideas. You’ll describe how your product lines would benefit your customers, and also show the layout of the product lifecycle.
You’ll list your product line pricing, slightly talk about your product’s market research, your product development process and strategy, and your service line.
It’s important at this phase to tell the complete story of your company’s product line, so that anyone reading through can understand a lot better and easily connect with the message you’re trying to pass.
7). Sales And Marketing:
Your sales and marketing will cover how you intend to market the business and eventually turn a profit. Here you outline your marketing strategies based on the information gotten from your market research and analysis. You’ll also outline how to reach your target customers, your marketing strategies & promotional tactics, how you’ll price your products and/or services, and how you intend to position the individual brands of your products and/or services.
8). Funding Request:
Here you’ll state all your financial needs. If the purpose of your business plan is to get business funding, you should include the total amount it would take to run the company, and how you expect to reap strong financial gains from it in the short or long term.
Getting a grant or seed funding through your business plan can sometimes be tricky if you don’t know the real expectations of the institutions you plan on getting it from. But detailing your business funding request in the most promising and realistic financially rewarding way for the funding agencies to digest, would be your best bet.
See Also: How To Get Seed Funding For Your Small Business In Africa
9). Financial Projections:
Your financial projections have to be detailed in the most cost-effective manner. This becomes more important if you’re seeking funding from a financial institution. Find out the full information you need to include in your financial forecast for your funding request to pull through or look more feasible. If funding is not the reason for creating the business plan, then you still need to be very realistic in the preparation. Any assumed or exaggerated figure can lead to utter disappointments.
10). Appendix:
The appendix part of your business plan is optional. It usually contains your:
- Patents, licences, and permits
- Contracts
- Letters of reference
- Legal documents
- Book references
And a lot more.
You can research the full information your appendix should need; especially based on the region you come from.
See Also: 10 Amazing Small Business Growth Strategies
How to Write A Business Plan In Nigeria That Stands Out
1). Identify Your Niche:
It’s easier for a person to resonate with your business plan when it’s focused on a particular niche. This doesn’t just portray you as serious minded, but shows you have lesser distractions and a higher chance for success.
2). Make What You Have To Offer Very Clear:
Make sure anyone going through your business plan understands what you have to offer immediately. If the person still has to ask, then the plan is not good enough.
3). Your Business Plan Shouldn’t Portray You As A Jack Of All Trade:
As mentioned earlier, focus on one thing in the plan, and remove all elements of distraction. No one wants to invest in a person that thinks they can achieve every single business idea they think up at the same time. A directed focus breeds more results.
See Also: 5 Important Things To Know Before Starting A Business In Nigeria
Trying To Secure A Business Loan? Finance? Or Investment?
You can now greatly increase your chances of geting the loan/investment you need with our bank and investor ready professional MBA standard business plan writing service
Writing a bank and investor ready professional business plan can be challenging. If you need a professional and affordable business plan service, StartupTipsDaily’s MBA standard professional business plan writing service is perfect for your small business.
All you have to do is request an understanding of your proposed business model, and you’d have a professional MBA standard business plan ready for you in anywhere from 5 to 14 days. You can click here to get started with using StartupTipsDaily’s professional business plan writing service to create the perfect business plan that’d get accepted anywhere.
What are your thoughts on this article about how to write a business plan? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
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Nice one.
I have learnt a lot from this
Thanks for the commendation Linda.
Have a wonderful time!
Thank you, well detailed.
Thank you Damilare for the commendation.
Very nice and wonderful lecture
Thank you Christian for the commendation.
I’ll need d lifeplan cos am working on a business which am about to register with CAC n we need funding. So I need to come up with an excellent business plan to present to prospective funders. Thanks for d article cos I’ve learned a lot n I’ll like to learn more as a young person.
Thanks Udofia for the comment.
You can use LivePlan to prepare a basic business plan, but we also write professional business plans for people seeking bank loans, funding, and more. You can reach us via the contact us page for a custom business plan.
Have a wonderful time!
I have a friend who has a very good vision/idea. He can manufacture a generating set that can generate electricity without fuel orbgas. But the problem is funding. He has tested the project with a small generator and it worked perfectly well. I don’t know if you know where we can apply for funding. Thank you
Hi Digbani,
I previously wrote an article here >>> https://startuptipsdaily.com/how-to-get-seed-funding-in-africa/ on getting seed funding for your business in Africa.
Do check it out.
Thank you for asking.
He may have to apply for a patent. This will better help his negotiation power and put him in a position of strength with potential investors. He may contact me for further advise on how he can apply for a patent. My details are [email protected]. +2348079115390
Hello Stan, I came across your post. It is very inspiring. Can you reach me on email with your contact for meeting. Thanks
Thanks for the commendation Orji.
You can reach me via the contact us page by phone or by filling in the form.
Have a great time!
Thank You So Much!
You’re welcome Khalamullah.
Have a great time!
This is explicit and would like to consult with the writer when I aset to begin.
Thanks Ebuka for the commendation.
We can help you out with your business plan when you’re ready.
Have a great time!
Thanks for the article, I have been running my business without a detailed business plan , now I know what I must do to stay abreast of competition.
Thanks Franklin for the comment.
Wish you the best in your business.
Wow… What a nice piece… Very educative and inspiring… Sharing it already…
Great commentary on how to write a biz plan. I need your contact am in need of one compelling plan.
Thank you for the commendation Moses.
You can reach me on [email protected] or fill the form on the contact us page or call the phone number on the contact us page.
Thank you for asking.
How much do you charge per busin
ess plan
Hi Ido,
Please send an email to [email protected], and I’ll provide you with all the information you need on having a business plan ready for you in the shortest possible time.
Thank you for asking.
Wow, this is really inspiring, am working on my business plan, but having an headache on it. It kept confusing but ds article help me little but I still need more professional on. Cos am into graphic design
I’m glad you found value in this article Ariseyab.
Thank you for sharing.
This is a very helpful write up. I must start writing my own business plan now.
I’m glad you found value in the article Isiaq.
Thank you for sharing.
i have benefited in some of the tips you mentioned in starting SME, i intend to apply for the tony elumelu foundation that is if programme which sponsors SME every year, that is if
you have what it takes to starts a business of your own,
Good to know you’re applying Hibbert.
I wish you the best.
This is a very good information you are giving out here. I really learn some new things very time I check here. Keep up the good work, God bless you.
Thank you for the commendation Seun.
Have a great time!
More grease to your elbow man…it’s awesome!
Thank you for the commendation Alonsoft.
I am pleased reading this piece.
I don’t mind doing business with u in the nearest future.
Thank you for the commendation Godswill.
Have a great time!
I am working on setting up a law firm and my currently preparing my business plan. This article has broadened my horizon on what is needed. A very big thank you to the author.
Thank you for the commendation Adejo.
Great information you have here. Really learnt something new. Thanks
Thank you for the commendation Equipux.
Am quite impressed by ur articles on business ideas and essence of good planning.You are a stitch in time to so many beginners.I am interested in agribusiness n look fwd to engaging u on the same. Hezron (Kenya)
Thank you for the kind words Hezron.
I hope to help out in any way I can.
Do have a great time!
Have really learn a lot.Thanks for inspiring me.
You’re welcome, Esther.
Well written. The executive summary is actually a very important part of a business plan.
Hi pls I really interested to start a Bakery Breads company in Nigeria
But I don’t from where I will start
Pls help me to writte the Bakery
Proposal pls pls I am beg you
For information 08106919019
Please send an email to [email protected].
Thank you.
This is helpful very straight to the point. It is a simple business plan format for any start-up