GOAT FARMING TRAINING [DAY 2]: How To Plan Your Goat Farming Business

Hello followers. Welcome to another day of our GOAT FARMING TRAINING

Why do you need a business plan?

There are three reasons why anyone may need a business plan.

First, if you`re about to start a business and you want to convince certain people to raise capital for you. In this case, you will want to use your business plan to “sell” your business idea to the investors so that they will be willing to finance your business.

Second, if you want to start a business and youre willing to be successful. Though you dont need external investors, you obviously need to grow, to compete and to win the battle of the market place, you need a business plan.

Third, you may need a new business plan because the economic or market situation has made your last plans obsolete. A Business plan is not like an academic paper which may stand for many years and still be relevant.

I wrote a business plan last year (I think April) and by December, it was already obsolete.

Why?

You really don`t know tomorrow. Your projections, plans or tactics are dependent on many factors that are beyond your power and when things change that affect your business (positively or negatively), then your plans also must be re-written.

A business plan is a very important part of every business venture and that is why you hear about it very often.

Unfortunately, most people who think about starting a business usually don`t consider writing a business plan.

I have read from different business experts about the fact that most start-up entrepreneurs do not write business plan but what I have not read from anyone is why this is so.

Why is it that most people have fear (so to say) about writing a business plan?

I know the answer.

You see, there are many myths and lies you probably have heard about the subject of business plan. Some people present business plan as if it was a university thesis or an academic report to be defended before certain professors.

Other people think that a business plan has to be 50 pages long and that it must be written in a certain “approved” format.

Well, I am here to tell you that all those opinions are not valid.

Because there are some ugly lies around this important business step, most people are “afraid” of doing it

Journey with me as i will reveal the real truth about business plan and at the end of today`s training, you will discover that it is actually easy to write a business plan.

1 – You need it

The most important benefit of a business plan is that it helps you to put all those beautiful dreams and ideas you have for your business on paper.

Contrary to what you may think; the business plans you have in your head and on paper are not the same. Taking the time to write down a plan for your business forces you to organize and refine your thoughts.

For the very first time, you will be able to see how everything is connected, and some important things you never really thought about will start to stand out.

On a mental level, writing a business plan will make you take yourself more seriously. Investing time, energy and focus to prepare a plan on paper feels like signing a contract with yourself. It increases the confidence and belief you have in your business idea and focuses your mind on those critical things that are obviously missing.

Before you have a plan on paper, all the ideas and plans you have for your business live inside your head. The problem is that they keep swirling around in a random and disorganized fashion. But when you have finished preparing your business plan, it feels like you have a map to your ‘promised land’ with a clear direction and a laser focus.

A business Plan helps you find the gaps in your idea and focus on the things that are really important.

When you interact with an entrepreneur who has taken the time to prepare a business plan, you will know. She is usually more articulate, confident and knows the business like the back of her hand because she can visualize the roadmap in her head. This is what you get when you go through the rigour of preparing a proper business plan.

2 – Banks and investors will want to see it

Depending on the amount of capital you’re asking for, most investors (including your parents or relatives) may want to see a plan that proves to them you know what you’re talking about.

Banks and formal investors (like angels and venture capitalists) want to know if your business can make enough profits to pay back a loan (with interest) and provide a good return on an investor’s investment.

Banks and investors would want to see your marketing plan. They want to see the profiles of the people who will run and manage the company. They want to see a cashflow forecast and your projected profits for the next 3 to 5 years. They want to see that you have analysed your competition and have a plan for your products and services.

Banks and investors will want to see all these things (and more) to convince themselves that your business deserves a loan or it is worth investing in.

Above all, having a well-prepared business plan is often a sign that you are a serious, organized and disciplined person. This is usually the kind of person investors and banks will want to give their money to.

3 – You can make money with it

You would be amazed at the number of business plan competitions that are available every year for African entrepreneurs and small business startups. Many of us don’t even know about them.

Business Plan competitions are usually sponsored by all kinds of local and international organizations to encourage small businesses and entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas.

Kenya’s Lorno Rutto is just one of many African entrepreneurs who raised startup capital by winning a business plan competition / entrepreneurship contest.

In 2010, she quit her bank job to start a waste recycling business.

Her company, EcoPost, collects and recycles waste plastic into aesthetic, durable and environmentally-friendly fencing posts that serve as an alternative material to timber.

But her business would have remained a dream without the financial support of international and local investors and NGOs.

Every year, hundreds of international and local organisations support businesses that tackle issues such as environmental pollution, illiteracy, disease and other social problems. They usually provide grants, donations, loans, equity or even training and advice.

The problem is, many African entrepreneurs don’t know about these funding opportunities, and as a result they don’t apply.

So in 2010, Lorna applied for and won a Ksh.600,000 SEED Award which served as start-up capital for her business.  In the same year, she won a grant award of Ksh.1.2 million from the Enablis Energy Globe-Safaricom Foundation.

She also won a business plan competition organized by the Cartier Women’s Initiative, and received a prize award of Ksh.1 million.

Recently, her business attracted an equity investment from the Blue Haven Initiative and the Opus Foundation amounting to Ksh.5 million. This was used to expand the business and purchase advanced recycling equipment.

HOW LONG SHOULD A BUSINESS PLAN BE?

It all depends on your objective and who will read it.

The last business plan I wrote was written on a single sheet of A4 paper. I typed and printed it out.

If you intend to write a business plan for yourself and not to convince any investor, I strongly recommend that you write your business plan in a single sheet of paper or two, worst, three.

I know this is a strange advice so let me explain.

You see, human nature loves complexity while simplicity is the only valuable thing.

Anything that is too complex will give you stress and then become a burden on you, then you’ll abandon it … making it useless.

If you are planning to write a business plan for your own usefulness, you will have to review it often (or else you won’t even follow it), so tell me, which document is easier to review, a ten pages document or two?

You know the answer.

What if you want to write a business plan to convince the investors?

Some people will advise you to write 50 pages and some other entrepreneurs might have written 100 pages in the past, but let me tell you the truth, nobody has time to read your thesis except the university professors.

The only people who have so much time are the poor people and I am sure if at all you want to use your business plan to get an investor to finance your business, then you are talking about someone who is (probably) very busy.

Let me tell you this so that you will understand what I am saying here. Many CVs have been submitted to me by job seekers in the past and I am sure they would have prepared those CVs thinking, “I will impress the employers”.

Well, here comes the sad news … I have never in my life read a CV, I scan through them. I don`t have time.

Your business plan is like the CV for the job seekers. How long should it be?

Its again depends on who will read it. 10 pages may help you. 15 pages may help you, but when you`re going beyond 20 pages, I am out!

If you forget everything, make sure you dont forget this... the investors you will give your business plan, really dont have time.

HOW MANY YEARS SHOULD A BUSINESS PLAN BE?

Another area where people miss it. They are writing 5 or 10 years business plan.

Think about planning for your Goat Farming Business the way you think about goals for your life.

When I first learned about goal setting, I was impressed and I started by writing 5 to 10 years goals.

I was wrong.

It never worked. I later started writing one year goal and now I am writing goal for a third of the year (4 months).

The reason is simple… you`re a human being like all of us. What you think/plan may not happen the way you plan it.

Any agribusiness plan that is more than one year is actually questionable. That is my opinion. Any other business expert may tell you something different.

Let me to cross out a popular lie about business planning.

Most people believe that if your plan is well written, it will win you huge amount of money from the investors.

This is like telling a graduate, hey, if you can write your CV very well, you will be employed in a big company.

I hate certificates and CVs, and every single time people have submitted them to me, I have asked myself, what can this man/woman render as value for us (our business)?

Do you think I am the only one with this mindset?

Do you think your intending investors will be bought by a super-written plan? Think again.

Most investors will rather judge your five sentences than your 50 pages plans. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t write your plan very well. It simply means that you have more to do than just writing a plan.

You have to understand in and out, front and back, up and down of your intended Goat Farming Business.

In fact, the written plan is nothing but the abstract of what is in your head, or else, you will fail in your attempt to convince business partners or investors to help finance your agribusiness.

Some people believe that a business plan is what anyone (an expert) can sit down somewhere and just write for them.

Someone called me on phone sometimes back and that was what he wanted me to do for him. If I write a “superb” business plan for you, will I still be the one to defend it when your investors ask you questions?

That is why the first task you have is to understand your agribusiness very well.

3 EASY WAYS TO WRITE YOUR OWN BUSINESS PLAN

You can write a basic (one page or more) business plan by yourself in less than an hour or two. This is fine if all you need the business plan for is to organize your own thoughts and nothing more.

But if you need to convince an investor, enter a business plan competition or apply to a bank for a small business loan, you will need a plan that is much more detailed and looks professional.

To help you with this, we recommend the following three options to get you that perfect business plan you have been looking for…

Option 1 – Use free samples and business plan templates

Life is too short to be spent on reinventing the wheel.

If you’re new to business planning, it can be really helpful and inspiring to see some samples before you start writing your own plan.

With hundreds of free sample business plan templates out there, you don’t need to become a biz plan expert or pay an overpriced consultant to write one for you.

All businesses may not the same but a sample business plan allows you to choose a format that best resembles your business and adapt the format and content to suit your needs.

Say you want to start a dry cleaning and laundry business, you can use a sample business plan prepared for another Dry Cleaning & Laundry Services business to build your own plan. Since both businesses are quite the same, you will only need to change a couple of things and Voila! you have your own business plan.

You can visit this 2 sites for business plan samples;

https://www.profitableventure.com/business-plans

https://www.smallstarter.com/know-the-basics/100-free-sample-business-plan-templates-for-african-entrepreneurs

Disadvantage(s): While using a sample business plan template is a quick and easy option, you may have problems with some parts of the plan that require specific skills like accounting, marketing and analysis.

Unless the financial and marketing plans you require are basic and will not require the detailed analysis that banks and investors often ask for, you may want to consider options 2 and 3 below which take care of these disadvantages.

Option 2 – Use business plan software

There are quite a number of good business plan software out there that can make writing your business plan an enjoyable experience. These pieces of intelligent software guide you step by step all through the writing process.

The outline for the business plan, titles, categories, and even charts, graphs and tables are automatically produced by the software. What is more interesting is that these software generate all the dreaded accounting information and financial statements which save you the stress of crunching numbers from scratch.

All you need to do is punch in the numbers and the financials are ready in a second!

The downside of using software to write your business plan is that they are rigid and standardized. This makes flexibility difficult as you can only work with the templates in the software.

In addition, it’s often difficult to apply specific knowledge and experience of a particular product, service or market to software; this is where the benefit of an expert business plan consultant comes in.

If you want a basic business plan which doesn’t need any special effects, then a business plan software should work for you. However, you must make sure that the software you purchase is not very expensive and offers good technical support (you’ll definitely need this).

If you think business plan software is the best option for you, we recommend that you use any of the following top products in the market.

Business Plan Pro from Entrepreneur Magazine (https://get.businessplanpro.com/eol/) comes in two editions (Premium and Standard). It has over 500 sample business plans to choose from and thousands of industry profiles that help you to understand the market and any competition that exists. The Premier Plan sells for $139.96 while the Standard Plan sells for $69.95

Live Plan by Palo Alto Software (http://www.liveplan.com) is also a great software with hundreds of sample business plans to choose from. It provides a flexible (pay-as-you-go) monthly payment plan of $11.66 and $19.95.

BizPlan.com (http://www.bizplan.com) is another powerful business plan software. It is an online-based tool that allows you to pick a business plan sample from its huge library, edit it to your taste and then print or share it over the internet.

Option 3 – Hire a business plan expert/consultant

In today’s beautiful internet world, it has become possible to outsource difficult tasks like writing a business plan.

With platforms like jiji.co.ke, ODesk.com and Elance.com, you can now hire an experienced business plan expert from anywhere in the world to write your business plan for you. All you have to do is post your request on any of these websites and all these bright minds will quote and compete for them.

It’s up to you to select the best offer after you have reviewed their profiles, checked their reviews, scores and ratings from previous jobs.

Working with a real-life business plan expert is much more flexible than a piece of software and the final plan can be customized to your taste.

And for business plans that require complex financial analysis, sales forecasts and other kinds of stuff that require critical thinking and an experienced hand to pull off, hiring a good business plan consultant is usually the better option.

On top of this, an experienced business plan writer often knows the things that banks and potential investors often look out for and can help to plug those leaks in your plan.

COMPONENTS OF A BUSINESS PLAN

In terms of writing a business plan format, there are ten basic elements you are expected to cover. The standard contents or format of a business plan includes:

An overview
Executive summary
General company description
The opportunity
Industry and market
Your strategy
The team
A marketing plan
Operational plan
Financial plan
An appendix.

Let’s now learn more about each component.

1. COVER LETTER

The cover letter serves the same purpose as it does when you submit one along with a resume as a job candidate; it introduces your business plan to the reader. Because your goal is to market your idea to prospective investors, creditors, partners, employees, and other stakeholders, all the parts of your plan must appeal to the reader. Here are the elements that you need to include in the cover letter:

• Address of recipient
• Date
• Your address
• Salutation (you must include a specific name as in, “Dear Mr James.”)

Body (state clearly that you are submitting a business plan for your business, which you can describe in one sentence; state clearly that you are seeking financial support for your business idea. Tell the reader what to expect in the following pages, and express your eagerness to hear back from them. Don’t forget to add your contact details)

• Appreciation
• Signature

2. TITLE PAGE

Remember, you will never get a second chance to make a first impression. So, you certainly don’t want to overdo this aspect. Since nobody will blame you for simplicity, stick with that option; which means you should avoid bright or contrasting colors and unnecessary fancy borders. The following are what to include on your title page:

• Your business logo (if you have one)
• The name of your business
• Founder’s name
• The words “Business Plan”
• Date

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Your executive summary should be the opening page of your business plan. It is essential and shouldn’t be missed – any serious investor won’t read a business plan without an executive summary.

You should see an executive summary as the elevator pitch for your business plan. You need to grab the attention of your investors, summarize your business, and show that your plan is viable.

You will want to sell your investors on your story and show that your business has the voice, the products, and the audience to back it up. You will want to use short sentences throughout your executive summary, and use bullet points where possible. You will have a lot of information to cover and you don’t want to lose your investors’ attention.

Each section in your executive summary will act as a sample for the later chapters of your business report. You will want to capture all the important information without getting too bogged down in the details.

Most investors don’t read the rest of the business plan if they aren’t grabbed by the executive summary.

Components of a Business Plan Executive Summary

• Business concept (what you do or what you intend to do)
• Business goals and vision (what you want to achieve)
• Product/service description and differentiation (what you offer and what makes it different)
• Target market (who you want to sell to)
• Marketing plan (how you plan to reach your customers)
• Current financial state (what you currently make in revenue— if you already have an existing business looking at expansion, or how much you already have on ground— if you are starting a business)
• Projected financial state (what you foresee making in revenue)
• The request (how much funds you are asking for)
• The team (who runs your business)

A description of products/services

You will want to begin by talking about what your business does. You may want to use the P.A.S introduction system – you present the problem, aggravate it, and then provide the solution to it. The solution being your product or service.

Summary of your objectives

Use bullet points for this section. Summarize your business’ main objectives. You can talk about the number of potential sales you are aiming for, market positioning, and your other intentions. Most importantly, make sure the rest of your plan shows that you can achieve these goals with ease.

Strong understanding of your market

This section should act as a taster menu for your market research and marketing plan. You need to show that you understand the market you want to move into, as well as past and current trends.

Briefly cover your advertising and social media plans. You may also want to give an idea of how you want your brand to look online. As well as, detailing some buzzwords you want to associate with your business.

Potential for growth/ funding overview

In this section, you should lay out the amount of funding you are looking for (if you need funding), how you plan to spend it, and what kind of profits you are looking to make. You should look at including 1 year, 3 year, 5 year, and 10 year profit predictions. You should also keep these figures realistic and make sure that they are backed up throughout the rest of the document.

Your competitive advantage

In this section, you should explain how you are able to offer something your competitors can’t and how you are planning to eat into their market share.

Company Description

You will want to use this section to introduce your company to the people reading your business plan. By the time they finish reading this section they should understand your company’s mission statement, its structure, what it plans to do, and how it plans to do it. This section will be more detailed than your executive summary, and it will cover all the essential information about the day-to-day running of your company.

Details about your company e.g. location

Start this section by talking about where the company is going to be based. This will be very important for investors (and you), as it will affect what kind of tax will be paid on profits. Then you should talk about whether your business will have a physical location, or whether it will function in another way.

Talk about the different types of locations your business will need to function – i.e. a physical store, a warehouse, a server farm, etc.

How large the company is

In this section, you will want to talk about two things- what your company is worth and how many people you will need to employ (or already employ) to keep it running. These two topics go hand in hand, as you will have to prove that your business will be able to make enough money to support its payroll. You do not need to cover the management structure of your business here.

What your business actually does

In this section, you will want to present your mission statement for your company. This should include why your company exists, what its role is (are you a B2B or a B2C business), and what its overall goal is. You should share your process in detail here. For example, if you are planning to sell hats, you should briefly talk about the process of getting the materials, making the hats, and how you plan to sell them at a profit.

What you hope to accomplish

Here you should expand on your company’s overall goal. Include any smaller goals, you have as a company – for example if you plan to have stores in multiple towns within 3 years.

In this section, you don’t have to show how you plan to make your dreams possible. But you should make sure that you do cover that in the rest of your business plan – investors will look for these answers and won’t be happy if they are not there.

4. YOUR COMPANY’S PROFILE

A company profile is a formal introduction of your business. It usually contains all you would want potential clients, investors, and the general public to know about your business. It is used as a marketing tool and it is your company’s unique selling point.

A complete company profile is expected to contain the vision, mission, and goals of the company, a detailed description of the product and service offering of the company, the profile of the founding members of the company, a brief story of how the company got started and what they intend to achieve. So also, information like company name, address, phone number, website and email e.t.c must be part of your company profile.

Components of your Company’s Profile

• Structure of your business (sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, or an incorporated company)
• The date your business was established (for existing businesses)
• The nature of your business (what are you selling, or what are you planning to sell?)
• The industry you are in
• Business vision, mission, and values
• Background information on your business or its history
• Business Objectives (short and long-term)
• The Business team

5. PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

In this section, you will want to outline the products and services you are planning to provide when you launch. As well as any products or services you plan to launch in the future. You should present your ideas about prices and profits in this section too.

A description

This section should include a description of the products or services you are offering or plan to offer when your company launches. By this point you should have made it clear why these products are necessary, so that you will not need to waste space by explaining how they solve the problem you presented in your mission statement.

How the products and services will be priced

This is one of the most important parts of this section. Here you will show how your business plans to make money. If this section doesn’t sell your business to investors, nothing else will. You should cover the price of your product, as well as breaking down the costs and profits of each item or service. Your expenses and markups should be clear to anyone, even if they are just skimming through the document.

A comparison of the products or services your competitors offer in relation to yours

In this section, you will need to explain what makes your business and your products different from your competitors. You should talk about what new things you bring to the market. And how you plan to improve on your competitors’ business plans.

This is particularly important if you are planning to charge more than your competitors. You will need to convince your investors that customers will want to choose your more expensive option.

Sales literature

Here you should include copies of any sales literature you plan to use. If you don’t have any yet then you should include some mockups of the final literature. This is not to be confused with the advertising you are planning to use.

Any intellectual property, such as trademarks, or legal issues you need to address

In this section, you will want to detail any trademarks that you have made in the name of your company as well as any other intellectual property you have a claim to or are planning to trademark. You should be honest in this section, if you have any legal issues you need to address as a company. It is better for your investors to find out about these things beforehand.

Future products or services you plan to offer

This is the section where you can prove to your investors that you are not just a one-hit-wonder and that you have the knowledge to evolve and keep your company making money even after the market changes. Here you should display any other products you plan to offer in the future.

6. YOUR INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

In this section of your business plan, you will demonstrate that the industry’s market size is worth going after, who your main competitors will be if you decide to take a plunge, and how you will be able to carve out a niche for yourself and give your competitors a run for their money.

Planning a business goes beyond analyzing the potential of your offer. You must analyze the following three factors as well:

• The strengths and weaknesses of your business
• The competition
• Who your customers are, what they want, and how they want it

These are the major components of a business plan’s market or industrial analysis and it is also known as a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. This section of your business plan reveals the chances of your business to achieve success with its offers.

And that’s why the industry analysis is a very important section of your business plan, which must be carefully conducted and documented. This chapter covers everything you need to know about competition analysis, market size and target audience, market forces and trends, environment analysis and risk assessment.

7. MARKETING PLAN

We find that many entrepreneurs find this section the hardest to put together. If you feel like you are struggling, we recommend hiring a marketing expert to help you put together a marketing plan – as this will be a section investors pay a lot of attention to. It also answers your most important marketing questions about your customers/clients which include:

• Where do they live?
• What’s their age range?
• What’s their level of education?
• How many of them are there?
• What are some common behavior patterns?
• What do they spend their free time on?
• Where do they work?
• What technology do they use?
• What ethnicity are they?
• How much do they earn?
• Where are they commonly employed?
• What are their values, beliefs, or opinions?

Products and services and your unique selling proposition (USP)

What makes your product unique? Why should your customers spend their hard earned money on your product? What will keep them coming back for more? What makes your product better than your competitions’ products?

These are the questions that you will need to answer in this section. This should be a customer-focused section that really shows how your customer will benefit from your product and interacting with your business.

Pricing strategy

Here, you will want to go back over your price point, your costs, profits, margins, and markups. However, in this section, you will want to compare these figures to your competitors and their products. If you are spending more on materials you will need to justify it.

If you can include exact details about your suppliers, then do.

Sales and distribution plan

In this section, you will cover how your product (or service) is going to get from the factory and into the customer’s hands.

• Will you sell your products online? In your own stores?
• Will you have it stocked in larger stores? If so, how will you pick out stores that align with your brand values?
• What channels will you use to get your product out there? Will you sell via your website, a retailer, wholesaler, or a totally different channel?
• How will customers pay for your product?
• What will your return policy look like? Will you offer any guarantees? If so, what will they look like?
• What happens after a customer makes a purchase? What type of customer support will you provide?

You will need to talk about batch numbers and how much that will cost upfront.

Advertising and promotions plan

This should be the longest section in your marketing plan. Here you will cover how you will build buzz before the launch of your first product. Then how you will keep the excitement and sales going. You should discuss how other companies have done this and show that you know the best way to advertise your target audience.

You should talk about promotions, what response you expect to see from them, and how you will make up any money lost.

• Will you have a dedicated presence across many of the popular online channels (such as website, social media, relevant marketplace, etc) used today to gain brand awareness?
• Will your marketing plan be primarily inbound focused (such as SEO, social media, blogging, etc), outbound focused (such as PPC, affiliate marketing, sales teams, etc), traditional focused (such as direct mail, brochures, and print advertising), or a mix of all three?
• What are other low-cost yet effective marketing mediums that you will leverage to get attention?
• What is your PR strategy? Why would the press be interested in your story?

Social media

Long gone are the days when a company can get away with pitching without a social media plan. The power of social media is strong right now, that with the right selection of pictures on Instagram, companies can gain thousands of followers before anyone knows that they are selling.

While poor social media presence won’t destroy a business. A good social media presence can make one a success. When putting this plan together, you will want to make sure you show that you understand how your target audience uses social media, what social media they use, and when they use it.

For example, if you are planning to offer a B2B (business to business) service, then you should be present, posting, and advertising on Linkedin. But if your social media plan for your B2B (business to business) service focuses on Instagram, your investors might be concerned that you hadn’t really researched your market.

However, if you were looking at selling products to moms with teenagers – then Facebook would be the right place for you. Its average user is a female between 35 and 45.

If you do not feel like you understand the field of social media well enough then you may want to hire someone to help you put this plan together and implement it.

8. OPERATIONAL PLAN

This will be the least glamorous section of your business plan (and probably the most boring section to write). But that doesn’t make it any less important. In this section, you will show your investors that you understand how your business will run on a day-to-day basis and that you are prepared for that. Here you will show your strategy and implementation plans.

Objectives

This is the place to discuss the fundamental goals of your business. For example, you want to be turning a profit after 6 months. You want to have 100 employees by the end of the first year. You would like to open a second store before the business turns 5.

Here, you should step out these goals with a point-by-point plan underneath them. Depending on the type of goal you might want to put a timeframe on the goals or use some other tangible measure of success. These goals should be related to keeping the business profitable – for example, talking about social media based goals in this section is irrelevant.

Timeline

There are two different types of timelines you need to consider in this section. Firstly, you should be looking at production timelines. These should include the timeline that covers you putting in an order for your product to the time when it arrives on the shelf.

This will give you an idea of how far in advance you will have to plan launches and how long restocking products might take. Secondly, if you are planning to expand or have set yourself tangible goals – you should have a timeline for achieving these goals set out.

Procedures

In this section, you will want to break down the day-to-day operations of your business. Talk about opening hours, holidays, and seasonal variables. Cover any of the assets that the business has or will acquire. Cover the equipment the business will be using.

You will want to talk about your plans for product testing, for acquiring materials, and for meeting health and safety standards. You will need to outline how any physical premises will be run. Talk about whether they will need power, water, drainage, etc. You should provide a detailed cost analysis of everything that you have covered in this section.

The Production Process

You will also need to give details of your entire production process, and that means answering the following questions:

• How long it will take you to produce a single unit or a predefined number of units?
• What measures have been put in place to integrate customer feedback into your product or service? As in, have you allotted time to create and test prototypes, pricing, or delivery mechanisms?
• How will you deal with major influxes in demand? That is, what procedures or steps will you have in place when you offer a sale and orders come flying in?

The Supply Chain

Let’s start with the workflow that you will have to deal with to make your ideas a reality. Some of the things you will want to touch on are as follows:

• Suppliers: Who will be providing you with all the materials that you won’t be manufacturing yourself?
• Facilities: Where will you house your inventory (if any), or which office will you use for your operations?
• Personnel: How many staff will you require for your daily operations? What will their duties look like?
• Equipment: What tools and technology do you require to be up and running or to take your company to the next level? (This could include everything from computers to office desks and everything in between).
• Shipping and fulfillment: Here you will have to outline whether you will be handling all the deliveries on your orders or if you will be using a third-party fulfillment partner.
• Inventory: Here you will highlight how much you will keep on hand, where it will be stored, and how you will have it shipped to third-partners if applicable. Also, an important detail to note is how you will keep track of everything going in and out.
• Customer support: How will support requests, refunds, and customer complaints be considered and integrated in your business workflow?

In essence, this section should signal to the reader that you have a good handle of running your business. It also passes the message that you have a contingency plan in place to account for uncertainty in the marketplace. By taking this advice into account you will create a more convincing operational plan.

9. MANAGEMENT PLAN

This is the area of your business plan that you will have to update most frequently, particularly at the beginning of your journey when you are seeking funding. When you first write this business plan, this section may be a proposal to possible lenders. With you offering them stakes in your company, rather than sharing concrete facts about who owns what.

As you are gathering investors, you should make sure to update your management plan between meetings. You don’t want to bring people into a team with accidental false promises or with an incorrect idea about their position in the company.

Ownership

This is the section where you will outline who owns what parts of your business. If the company is very new then it may just be owned by you and your fellow founders. If you have put money into the business then you may want to list yourself as a stakeholder.

How you list yourself will affect the tax you pay on the company’s profits. If you are looking to draw investors into your business then you can use this section to show what percentage of the business is up for sale and the predicted profits for the future owner.

Management

In this section, you will be detailing the experience and the roles of the management team you have in place to run the business. The idea behind this section is that you want to reassure possible investors that the business is being run by experts in the field who know what they are doing.

An experienced management team is less of a risk for your investors. If you don’t have a team put together yet then you can just discuss the structure of the team you hope to build. Your investors may want to have a say in who you hire or how the team is structured.

If that is something you are open to, you can mention that in this section.

Board

The final part of your management plan should be about the board of directors at your company. Companies that are in the early stages of fundraising will not have a board in place. This is nothing to worry about. Take a similar approach with this section to your ownership section.

Talk about the kind of board you would like to set up and how someone would earn their place on this board. Talk about the kind of people you want taking up those spots -you can talk about both experience and attitude. If you do have a board then you want to talk about their roles and experience in this section. Show possible investors that your board members will look after their money.

10. BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGY

In this chapter, you will learn how to devise your short and long term business growth strategy. This is important because investors want to know your long term expansion plans and where your company will be in the next five to ten years.

How to Present your Business Growth Strategy

*Explain the development options and opportunities in detail.

*Review and document the financial requirements for each option.

*Document the marketing strategies you will need to accomplish and nurture your chosen growth option.

*Review the financial breakdown of internal or external capital and how the capital will be made available throughout the growth process.

*Document a breakdown of other things that will be needed, expanded, or ditched.

*Print your growth plan and review it regularly until you are ready to implement it.

11. FINANCIAL PLAN

This is another section that many entrepreneurs struggle with. It is very important to get the numbers in this section right, as you do not want your investors to think that you are trying to mislead them. If you don’t feel like you can put together a financial plan on your own you should hire someone to help you do it.

In this section, you are going to cover all the financial elements of your business. Including what kind of investment you are looking for, how much the day-to-day running of the business costs, and any new investment you think you will need over the next 5 years.

The amount of money to set up or maintain the business

This section will be different for every business, but you should have a clear figure at the top of the page that shows how much it will cost you to set up your business (or to maintain it in its current state).

Underneath that, you should have a breakdown of all the different costs that make up that final number. Try to keep this section to a page. If needed you can put more detailed notes in an appendix and refer the reader to that page for more complicated sums. You want to keep this section as clear as possible.

The amount needed for the next few years

Next, you will want to take a deep dive into how you think the day-to-day running costs of the business will change over the next few years. You should also discuss any big expense that you can foresee. For example, if your bakery business picks up, you might need to buy a second oven to meet demand and hire an extra baker.

You may want to do a couple of sets of calculations showing how different rates of growth would affect the costs of running your business. For example, slower than expected growth, expected rate of growth, 5% faster growth.

How do you plan to spend funds?

This section is about mapping out what you will do with the money you are requesting and any money you make as a business. This will include loans, investments, grants, sales, and profits. You should talk about how you will be spending your money and how it will benefit the company or why it is essential you spend the money in that way.

For example, you may want to invest in electric vehicles for the company’s fleet. While the initial cost will be higher than buying petrol cars, the fuel costs will quickly make up for this.

Ongoing business expenses e.g. salaries

Finally, you are going to want to break down the ongoing costs of running your business. These are costs that are unavoidable and shouldn’t be ignored when you are working out how much it costs to run your business. Three key examples of ongoing costs are salaries (the wages you pay your employees), taxes (the money you pay to the government), and rent on your buildings.

You should explain what the tax rules are in your line of business in this part of the document, as business taxes vary wildly across the country. This will be especially important for any international investors.

12. PROJECTIONS

The role of your projections section is to convince the people reading your business plan that your business is built to make money. You want to show possible investors that your company and ideas aren’t a risky investment. Instead, they are a great opportunity.

In this section, you will want to be optimistic but not unrealistic. Again, you do not want to bring investors in with false promises, as this could get you in legal trouble in the future.

Components of a Business Plan Financial Statement

Income statement

This beautiful composition of numbers tells the reader what exactly your sources of revenue are and which expenses you spent your money on to arrive at the bottom line. Essentially, for a given time period, the income statement states the profit or loss (revenue-expenses) that you made.

Balance sheet & Cash flow statement

This section is only for businesses that are already established and are looking for further investments. In this section, you will want to include as much financial information about your company as possible. This is in order to give investors the opportunity to see that your business is already making money and is not a sinkhole for cash.

You should include these documents for the last 5 years or however long your business has been open if less than that:

• A complete set of balance sheets
• All your cash flow statements
• List of company expenses
• Income statements
• Payroll details

Financial Outlook

In your financial outlook, you want to paint a similar picture of success. You want to use this section to show how your investor’s money could be put to work and make them even more money in return. You should prepare your predictions for the next 5 years.

You should devote more space to the first year, covering it with quarterly reports, rather than annual ones. We would also recommend that you put two 6 month reports in for the 2nd year. You should include the following information in your financial outlook.

• Capital expenditure budgets
• A complete set of balance sheets
• All your cash flow statements
• List of company expenses

13. BUSINESS EXIT STRATEGY

You are not going to die with your business; neither are your investors. This is why you need to prepare an exit plan not just for yourself but also for your investors. An exit strategy is a method by which entrepreneurs and investors, especially those that have invested large sums of money in startup companies, transfer ownership of their business to a third party, or by which they recoup money invested in the business.

Some forms of exit strategies include, being acquired by another company, the sale of equity, a management-employee buyout, etc.

Types of Exit Strategy

• Initial public offering (IPO)
• Selling your business
• Acquisitions and mergers
• Liquidation of assets
• Management buyout
• Family succession

14. FINAL PART

Appendices – Prototypes, statements, contracts, legal documents, etc.

Appendices of a plan

In this final section, you should include anything that is relevant to your business proposal as well as anything you refer to throughout the document. You should not expect your investors to go online and find an article for themselves, instead include it in your appendix.

To make your appendix easier to follow, include a contents page and clearly label the appendices. You could even use a color-coding system – i.e. all the appendices related to your financial plan have a green bar across the top of the page.

A SAMPLE GOAT FARMING BUSINESS PLAN

1. Industry Overview

The agricultural industry of which livestock farming or better still goat farming is a subset of is no doubt among the leading industry in most countries of the world; it is the industry that produces food for the populace and raw materials for industries.

Because of the significant role the agriculture sector plays, the government of most countries ensures that they go all the way to subsidize seedlings, fertilizers, and farming implements and machinery for farmers and also encourage entrepreneurs to go into various kind of farming including goat farming.

There are several business opportunities available in the agricultural industry and one good thing about the industry is that there is market for all the produce from the industry. Goat farming is of course a thriving and profitable business because usefulness of goat meat and other by products from goats.

People eat goat meat, drink their milk, and use their fur and skin. With goat milk, cheese can be made, along with other dairy products. Some farmers use goats for weeding farmland. Other times, the goats are used to keep grasses and other plants from getting too tall. The diet of the domestic goat includes eating grass, leaves, shrubs, root vegetables, and other kinds of plants.

Goats come in different breeds with each breed having its own unique specifications and uses. Some goat breeds known as ‘dairy goats’ are raised mainly for the milk that they produce while some other breeds can grow very big and fat, hence, they are raised for meat purposes.

You must first decide on why you want to raise goats and then select a breed that is most suitable for that purpose. You could also raise both dairy goats and regular goats if you can afford to feed and care for them. The livestock production industry includes companies that mainly provide support services for raising livestock.

Livestock is a term used to describe domestic animals, such as cattle, goats, hogs, horses, poultry and sheep, which have been domestically raised for meat, milk, wool and work. Other services in the livestock production industry include breeding services, pedigree record services and vaccination et al.

The Livestock Farming (Goat Farming) industry is indeed a large industry and pretty much active in countries such as United States of America, Israel, Egypt, China, Germany, Turkey, Kenya and Nigeria etc.

There is no single livestock farming company that has dominate market share in the industry hence smaller goat farming business can successfully make profits.

Statistics has it that in Kenya alone, there are about 2,712 registered and licensed livestock farming business responsible for employing about 67,814 and the industry rakes in a whooping sum of 50 billion shillings annually. The industry is projected to enjoy 1.4 percent annual growth.

If you are looking towards leveraging on the agriculture industry to generate huge income, then one of your best bet is to start goat farming business. Goat farming business is all about mass – breeding of goats for the sole aim of making profits. In most cases it is referred to as livestock farming business.

One thing is certain about goat farming business, if you are able to conduct your market research and feasibility studies, you are more likely not going to struggle to sell your goats because there are loads of people out there who eat goat meat, drink goat milk and industries that make use of byproducts from goats in manufacturing their products.

Over and above there are few barriers to entry into the livestock production industry.

2. Executive Summary

Kirui Farms Ltd is a registered and licensed livestock farming company that will be based in the outskirt of Kitengela, Kajiado County – Kenya. We have done our detailed market research and feasibility studies and we were able to secure 2 acres of land to start our livestock breeding business.

Our livestock breeding business is a going to be standard one hence will be involved in commercial breeding of goats and other livestock. We will be involved in boarding services, breeding services, dairy support services, livestock health services, farrier services, and shearing services etc.

In the nearest future, hopefully within the first five years of officially running Kirui Farms Ltd, we will start our meat processing plant and also start exporting our products to other parts of the world.

Which is why aside from the fact that we have secured the required farming land for breeding goats in commercial level, we have also hired some key employees who are currently undergoing training so as to be able to fit into the ideal picture of the 21st century livestock breeding workforce that we want to build.

We are in the goat farming business because we want to leverage on the vast opportunities available in the livestock farming industry, to contribute our quota in growing the Kenyan economy, in national food (meat) production, raw materials production for industries, to export agriculture produce from Kenya to other countries and over and above to make profit.

Kirui Farms Ltd is well positioned to become one of the leading goat farming business in Kenya, which is why we have been able to source for the best hands and equipment to run the business.

We have put process and strategies in place that will help us employ best practices when it comes to livestock breeding / goat farming processes and meat processing and packaging as required by the regulating bodies in Kenya.

Kirui Farms Ltd is a private registered livestock farming company that is owned by Mr. Kirui and Family. The company will be fully and single handedly financed by the owner – Mr Kirui and his immediate family members at least for a period of time.

Before starting Kirui Farms Ltd, Mr Kirui has worked with some of the leading livestock farms in Kenya. He has worked in the industry for well over 10 years before resigning to start his own goat farming business.

3. Our Products and Services

Kirui Farms Ltd is a licensed livestock farming business that is committed to goat farming and meat processing and packaging for both the Kenyan market and the global market. We will also produce related raw materials for industries in commercial quantities.

We will also ensure that we operate a standard food processing plant as part of our complimentary business offering. These are the areas we will concentrate on in our livestock farming business. If need arises we will definitely add more related animal breeding services to our list;

• Boarding services
• Breeding services
• Dairy support services
• Livestock health services
• Farrier services
• Sale and export of cotton wool and other dairy products
• Sale of Cattle and milk (Including goats, sheep, grass – cutters, pigs and rabbits et al)
• Sale of processed meat (beef) / can – beef (Processed Diary foods, and can beef et al)
• Shearing services
• Livestock farming related consultancy and advisory services

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

Our Vision is to become one of the leading livestock farming brands not just in Kenya, but also in Eastern Africa.

Our mission is to sell our produce (goats), byproducts and processed meat in commercial quantities both locally, nationally and internationally.

We want to build a livestock farming business that can favorably compete with other leading livestock farming brands in Kenya and in the world.

Our Business Structure

Kirui Farms Ltd is a livestock farming company that intend starting small in Kitengela, but hope to grow big in order to compete favorably with leading livestock farms in the industry both in Kenya and on a global stage.

We are aware of the importance of building a solid business structure that can support the picture of the kind of world class business we want to own. This is why we are committed to only hire the best hands in Kenya.

At Kirui Farms Ltd, we will ensure that we hire people that are qualified, hardworking, dedicated, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business that will benefit all the stake holders (the owners, workforce, and customers).

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our senior management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of five years or more as agreed by the management of the farm.

In view of the above, we have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions;

Below is the business structure of Kirui Farms Ltd;

Chief Operating Officer
General Farm Manager
Administrator / Accountant
Cattle Ranch Manager / Supervisor
Sales and Marketing Executive
Field Employees
Front Desk Officer

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Operating Officer:

Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results; developing incentives; developing a climate for offering information and opinions; providing educational opportunities.

Responsible for providing direction for the business

Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.

Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company

Evaluates the success of the organization

General Farm Manager

Responsible for the planning, management and coordinating all farm activities across the various sections on behalf of the organization

Supervise other section manager

Ensure compliance during project executions

Providing advice on the management of farming activities across all section

Responsible for carrying out risk assessment

Using IT systems and software to keep track of people and progress of the growth of crops, fishes, birds and animals

Responsible for overseeing the accounting, costing and sale of farm produce after harvest

Represent the organization’s interest at various stakeholders meetings

Ensures that farming goals desired result are achieved, the most efficient resources (manpower, equipment, tools and chemicals et al) are utilized and different interests involved are satisfied. Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization

Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization

Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process

Carrying out staff induction for new team members

Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees

Oversee the smooth running of the daily farming activities across the various farming sections.

Administrator / Accountant

Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization

Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process

Carrying out staff induction for new team members

Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees

Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization

Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.

Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies

Responsible for administering payrolls

Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation

Handles all financial transactions for the company

Serves as internal auditor for the company

Cattle Ranch and Animal Manager / Supervisor

Responsible for managing the commercial breeding of goats and other livestock.

Responsible for managing boarding services, breeding services, dairy support services, livestock health services, farrier services, and shearing services et al.

Work closely with the General Manager to achieve the organizations’ goals and objectives

Sales and Marketing Officer

Identify, prioritize, and reach out to new partners, and business opportunities et al

Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts; participates in the structuring and financing of new business

Writing winning proposal documents, negotiate fees and rates in line with company policy

Responsible for handling business research, marker surveys and feasibility studies for clients

Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients

Develop, execute and evaluate new plans for expanding increase sales

Document all customer contact and information

Represent the company in strategic meetings

Help increase sales and growth for the company

Field Workers / Contract Staff

Responsible for feeding goats and other livestock as instructed by the supervisor

Responsible for cleaning the cattle ranch

Change the water in fish ponds as instructed by the supervisor on a regular basis

Handles farm implements and machines as instructed by the section manager / supervisor

Assist in handling the breeding of goats

Carries out task in line with the stated job description

Assist in transport working tools and equipment from the farm and back to the designated store room

Handles any other duties as assigned by the line manager

Client Service Executive / Front Desk Officer

Welcomes guests and clients by greeting them in person or on the telephone; answering or directing inquiries.

Ensures that all contacts with clients (e-mail, walk-In center, SMS or phone) provides the client with a personalized customer service experience of the highest level

Through interaction with clients on the phone, uses every opportunity to build client’s interest in the company’s products and services

Manages administrative duties assigned by the manager in an effective and timely manner

Consistently stays abreast of any new information on the company’s products, promotional campaigns etc. to ensure accurate and helpful information is supplied to clients

Receives parcels / documents for the company

Distribute mails in the organization

Handles any other duties as assigned by the line manager

6. SWOT Analysis

Kirui Farms Ltd does not intend to launch out with trial and error hence the need to conduct a proper SWOT analysis. We know that if we get it right from the onset, we would have succeeded in creating the foundation that will help us build a standard goat farming business that will favorably compete with leading livestock farms in Kenya and in the rest part of the world.

As a goat farming business, we look forward to maximizing our strength and opportunities and also to work around our weaknesses and threats. Here is a summary from the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Kirui Farms Ltd;

Strength:

Our strength as a livestock farming business is the fact that we have healthy relationships with loads of major players (agriculture merchants) in the livestock farming industry; both suppliers and buyers within and outside of Kenya.

We have some of the latest livestock farming machines, tools and equipment that will help us breed goats and other livestock in commercial quantities with less stress. Aside from our relationship (network) and equipment, we can confidently boast that we have some the most experienced hands in livestock farming industry in our payroll.

Weakness:

Our weakness could be that we are a new livestock farms in Kenya and we may not have the required cash to pump into the publicity of our business. We are aware of this and from our projection will overcome this weakness with time and turn it to a major advantage for the business.

Opportunities:

The opportunities that are available to us cannot be quantified, we know that there are loads of homeowners, and industries that will source for goats, goat meat, and milk and also industries that will source for the raw materials from our livestock farms both in Kenya and other parts of the world.

Threat:

Some of the threats and challenges that you are likely going to face when you start your own livestock farm are global economic downturn that can impact negatively on household spending, bad weather cum natural disasters (draughts, epidemics), unfavorable government policies and the arrival of a competitor (a commercial farm that rears same animals) as our livestock farms within same location.

There is hardly anything you can do as regards this threats and challenges other than to be optimistic that things will continue to work for your good.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Trends

One of the common trends in the commercial livestock farming line of business is that most players in the industry are no longer concentrating only on farming a particular species of livestock or just livestock / goat farming alone.

They now find it easier to run both livestock farming and crop cultivation. Some even go ahead to include meat processing and packaging business alongside their product offerings; it helps them maximize profits in the agriculture industry.

Despite the fact that commercial goat farming / livestock farming has been in existence since time immemorial, that does not in any way make the industry to be over saturated; commercial goat farmers are exploring new technology to continue to improve goat farming processes and also meat preservation and packaging process. The fact that there is always a ready market for commercial goat farming makes the business ever green.

As a matter of fact, one of the new trends in livestock farming industry is that with the recent advancement in technology livestock farmers can now improve the various breeds of the animals they are breeding.

As a matter of fact, it is now easier for livestock farmers to comfortably import the kind of breed of domestic animal they want to breed from any country of their choice and also advancement in technology has made it easier to cross – breed different animal.

9. Our Target Market

Naturally, the target market of those who are the end consumer of livestock farm produce and also those who benefits from the business value chain of the agriculture industry is all encompassing; it is far – reaching.

Every household consumes produce from livestock farms be it goat meat, goat milk, and the skin (leather) used for bags, belts and shoes production et al. So also a large chunk of manufacturing companies depends on livestock farms for some of their raw materials. In essence a goat farmer should be able to sell his or her farm produce to as many people as possible.

We will ensure that we position our business to attract consumers of agriculture produce not just in Kenya alone but also other parts of the world which is why we will be exporting some of our farm produce either in raw form or processed form to other countries of the world.

Our Competitive Advantage

It is easier to find entrepreneurs flocking towards an industry that is known to generate consistent income which is why there are more commercial farmers in Kenya and of course in most parts of the world.

These goes to show that there are appreciable numbers of farmers in Kenya but that does not mean that there is stiffer competition in the industry.

As a matter of fact, entrepreneurs are encouraged by the government to embrace commercial farming / livestock farming. This is so because part of the success of any nation is her ability to cultivate her own food and also export foods to other nations of the world.

Kirui Farms Ltd is fully aware that there are competitions when it comes to selling livestock and meats all over the globe, which is why we decided to carry out thorough research so as to know how to take advantage of the available market in Kenya and in other parts of the world.

We have done our homework and we have been able to highlight some factors that will give us competitive advantage in the marketplace; some of the factors are effective and reliable livestock farming processes that can help us sell our livestock and processed meat at competitive prices, good network and excellent relationship management.

Another competitive advantage that we are bringing to the industry is the fact that we have designed our business in such a way that we will operate an all – round standard commercial livestock farms that will be involved in diverse areas such as animal rearing and meat processing and packaging plant. With this, we will be able to take advantage of all the available opportunities within the industry.

Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be amongst the best in the industry meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our objectives as a standard commercial livestock farms with a meat processing and packaging plant.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

Kirui Farms Ltd is in the livestock breeding industry for the purpose of maximizing profits hence we have decided to explore all the available opportunities within the industry to achieve our corporate goals and objectives. In essence we are not going to rely only on the sale of our livestock to generate income for the business.

Below are the sources we intend exploring to generate income for Kirui Farms Ltd;

• Sale and export of cotton wool and other dairy products
• Sale of Cattle and milk (Including goats, sheep, grass – cutters, pigs and rabbits et al)
• Sale of processed meat (beef) / can – beef (Processed Diary foods, and can beef et al)
• Boarding services
• Breeding services
• Dairy support services
• Livestock health services
• Farrier services
• Shearing services
• Livestock farming related consultancy and advisory services

10. Sales Forecast

From the survey conducted, we were able to discover that the sales generated by a commercial livestock farm depends on the size of the farm, the network of the farm.

We have perfected on sales and marketing strategies and we are set to hit the ground running and we are quite optimistic that we will meet or even surpass our set sales target of generating enough income / profits from the year of operations and build the business from survival to sustainability.

We have been able to critically examine the agriculture industry cum commercial livestock farm business and we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projection is based on information gathered on the field and some workable assumptions as well with respect to the nature of commercial livestock farm that we run.

Below are the projections that we were able to come up with for the first three years of running Kirui Farms Ltd;

First Year-: Ksh.20,000,000
Second Year-: Ksh.45,000,000
Third Year-: Ksh.70,000,000

N.B: This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown that can impact negatively on household spending, bad weather cum natural disasters (draughts, epidemics), and unfavorable government policies.

Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

We are quite aware that the reason why some commercial livestock farms hardly make good profits is their inability to sell off their livestock to a larger market. In view of that, we decided to set up a standard meat processing and packing plant to help us maximize profits.

Over and above, we have perfected our sale and marketing strategies first by networking with agriculture merchants and companies that rely on raw materials from the livestock farming industry who are likely to become our customers.

In summary, Kirui Farms Ltd will adopt the following strategies in marketing our commercial farm produce;

• Introduce our business by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to stake holders in the agriculture industry, companies that rely on the livestock farming industry for their raw materials, hotels and restaurants and agriculture produce merchant et al.
• Advertise our business and livestock farms in agro – allied and food related magazines and websites
• List our commercial livestock farms on yellow pages ads (local directories)
• Attend related agriculture and food expos, seminars, and business fairs et al
• Leverage on the internet to promote our business
• Engage in direct marketing
• Encourage the use of Word of mouth marketing (referrals)

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Any business that wants to grow beyond the corner of the street or the city they are operating from must be ready and willing to utilize every available means (both conventional and non – conventional means) to advertise and promote the business. We intend growing our business which is why we have perfected plans to build our brand via every available means.

We know that it is important to create strategies that will help us boost our brand awareness and to create a corporate identity for our commercial livestock farming business. Below are the platforms we want to leverage on to boost our commercial livestock farm brand and to promote and advertise our business;

• Place adverts on both print (newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
• Sponsor relevant community based events / programs
• Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote our business
• Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations.
• Engage in road show from time to time in targeted neighborhoods
• Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas
• Contact corporate organizations and residence in our target areas by calling them up and informing them of Kirui Farms Ltd and the farm produce we sell
• List our commercial livestock farms in local directories / yellow pages
• Advertise our commercial livestock farms in our official website and employ strategies that will help us pull traffic to the site.
• Ensure that all our staff members wear our branded shirts and all our vehicles and trucks are well branded with our company logo et al.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

Some of the factors that will help you sell your farm produce at the right price that will guarantee that you make profits is dependent on your strategy while some of the factors are beyond your control.

For example, if the climatic condition is unfavorable and if there are natural disasters in the location where you have your commercial livestock farm, then it will directly affect the prices of your livestock.

Over and above, if you want to get the right pricing for your livestock, then you should ensure that you choose a good location for your commercial livestock farm, choose a good breed that will guarantee steady and multiple breeding (prolific breeds), cut the cost of running your farm to the barest minimum and of course try as much as possible to attract buyers to your farm as against taking your livestock or even your produce to the market to source for buyers; with this, you would have successfully eliminate the cost of transporting the goods to the market and other logistics.

We are quite aware that one of the easiest means of penetrating the market and acquiring loads of customers for all our agriculture produce is to sell them at competitive prices hence we will do all we can to ensure that the prices of our livestock and processed and packaged beef are going to be what other commercial livestock farmers would look towards beating.

One thing is certain; the nature of commercial livestock farming we are involved in makes it possible for farmers to place prices for their livestock / farm products based on their discretion without following the benchmark in the industry. The truth is that it is one of the means of avoiding running into loss. The easier you sell off your livestock when they are mature the better for your business.

Payment Options

The payment policy adopted by Kirui Farms Ltd is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of Kenya.

Here are the payment options that Kirui Farms Ltd will make available to her clients;

• Payment via bank transfer
• Payment with cash
• Payment via online bank transfer
• Payment via check
• Payment via bank draft

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our client make payment for farm produces purchase without any stress on their part.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

When it comes to calculating the cost of starting a commercial livestock farm, there are some key factors that should serve as a guide. The most important expense is the construction of the cattle ranch / cages / fencing as the case may be.

For example, the start – up cost for a fish farm is different from the start – up cost for mechanized crop farming, so also the start – up cost for poultry farming is different from the start – up cost of cattle ranch (dairy farm) et al.

As a matter of fact, if you choose to start a mechanized crop farming, then you should be willing to raise huge capital base to start the business. This is so because some cultivation machines / equipment can be pretty expensive.

Below are some of the basic areas we will spend our start – up capital in setting up our commercial livestock farm;

• The Total Fee for incorporating the Business (aquaponics commercial farm) – Ksh.75,000.
• The budget for key insurance policies, permits and business license – Ksh.50,000
• The amount needed to acquire / lease a farm land – Ksh.3,000,000
• The amount required for preparing the farm land (for construction of cattle ranch and cages / fencing et al et al) – Ksh.3,000,000
• The cost for acquiring the required working tools and equipment / machines / fencing et al– Ksh.2,000,000
• The amount required for purchase of the first set of goats and other livestock – ksh.3,000,000
• The Cost of Launching an official Website – Ksh.60,000
• The amount required for payment of workers for a period of 3 months – Ksh.1,500,000
• Additional Expenditure (Business cards, Signage, Adverts and Promotions et al) – Ksh.100,000

Going by the report from detailed research and feasibility studies conducted, we will need an average of Ksh.13,000,000 to start a standard commercial livestock farming business in Kenya.

Generating Funding / Startup Kirui Farms Ltd

No matter how fantastic your business idea might be, if you don’t have the required money to finance the business, the business might not become a reality. Finance is a very important factor when it comes to starting commercial farming. No doubt raising start – up capital for a business might not come cheap, but it is a task that an entrepreneur must go through.

Kirui Farms Ltd is a family owned business and it will be financed by the owners of the company – Kirui. These are the areas where we intend sourcing for fund for Kirui Farms Ltd;

• Generate part of the start – up capital from personal savings and sale of his stocks
• Generate part of the start – up capital from friends and other extended family members
• Generate a larger chunk of the startup capital from the bank (loan facility).

N.B: We have been able to generate about Ksh.10,000,000 (Personal savings Ksh.8,000,000 and soft loan from family members Ksh.2,000,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of Ksh.3,000,000 from our bank.

All the papers and document has been duly signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of a business lies in the numbers of loyal customers that they have the capacity and competence of the employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business (company), then it won’t be too long before the business close shop.

One of our major goals of starting Kirui Farms Ltd is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running.

We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to sell our farm produce (livestock and processed beef) a little bit cheaper than what is obtainable in the market and we are well prepared to survive on lower profit margin for a while.

Kirui Farms Ltd will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our organization’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and re – training of our workforce is at the top burner of our business strategy.

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of five years or more as determined by the management of the organization.

We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List / Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check: Completed
• Business Incorporation: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts various banks in Kenya: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of All form of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Leasing of farm land in Kitengela: Completed
• Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
• Start – up Capital Generation: Completed
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: Completed
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Building /construction of cages and fence et al: In Progress
• Purchase of the needed working tools, machines and equipment: Completed
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business (Business PR): In Progress
• Farm land Treatment, Health and Safety Arrangement: In Progress
• Establishing business relationship with key players in the industry (agriculture farm produce merchants and transporter / haulage): Completed

END OF DAY 2 GOAT FARMING BUSINESS TEACHING SESSION

We now come to the end of today`s teaching session.

Our blog is now open for questions and discussions on what we have learnt today.

Also a PDF file containing notes on what has been taught today.

Save it for future reference.