Question

I wrote my start-up business plan for entrepreneurship class.

Please loot at the my outline and figure out what I don't have or What I can add more, and write about the part in detail.

Executive Summary

According to Wisconsin Farming bureau there are 77,000 farms in Wisconsin with a total of 14.4 million acres of land and agriculture in Wisconsin provides $88.3 billion to the states economy. With the advent of the organic foods trend younger households have seen a 68% increase in gardening. These farms and gardeners require soil replenishment yearly EcoPost seeks provide that service. While also recycling food waste which is a huge problem in America consumers have the added benefit of helping to save the environment. In doing this EcoPost LLC offers farmers and gardeners an environmentally friendly alternative to soil enrichment we offer not only an organic product, but also a product that helps cut down on food waste. We are environmentally friendly on both sides of our supply chain.  

Our clients are gardeners and farmers who seek natural and organic methods to enrich their soils in order to better their crops. Our operations are located in Heartland, WI and we seek to help Wisconsin farmers and gardeners in finding greener alternatives to soil enrichment while bettering the environment by recycling food waste.   

Currently there are other a few composting companies within Wisconsin, but none of these companies have reached out to big named grocers or multiple restaurants. They do pick up services weekly or monthly to individuals or businesses that contact them, by going out and creating partnerships with grocers such as Walmart, Roundy’s, and Sendik’s we ensure a steady supply and gain free publicity by grocers promoting their efforts against food waste utilizing our services.   

EcoPost relies on outreach to market our product within our target market by maintaining our presence at farmers market, farming expositions, and the Wisconsin Gardening Club Federations. We seek to engage our consumers directly we build a real relationship with our customers. We pride ourselves in developing a superior product that is not only environmentally friendly, but also environmentally conscious. By engaging our consumers directly, we not only build a better relationship but also are able to address their needs and concerns which helps foster customer loyalty.  

The corporate structure of EcoPost consists of an owner Abdul Guled, and four-part owners: Kyle Komplin, Qilin Jian, Hyung Suk Ji, and Tamara Alexander. [Enter individuals bios]

Industry and outlook

The compost industry is on the rise with the 2008 recession behind us and not a lot of manufacturing companies in the compost market allows for less competition. As stated by USCC Executive Director Frank Franciosi “Our record results indicate that the composting industry is growing and interest in expanding it has never been greater,”. Also, with the growth of urban gardening and the need for more organic and healthy foods consumers have begun to grow their own fruits and vegetables. This bodes well for our company since we promote organic materials with natural nutrients for soil development and to help grow organic and healthy foods. With consumers leaning more towards organic foods the need for using natural fertilizer has increased and the market has not seen much new competition. To this end our company takes advantage of two critical needs. First using organic materials to increase richness of soil and give better yields of crops. Secondly to reduce and reuse organic waste which helps better our environment and eliminates food waste. Based on the interviews we conducted this is a growing market with a lot of potential for entry and market share.  

Now that people have a stronger sense of protection of the environment and are aware of the impact of the environment on society and humanity. In agriculture, the most common chemical fertilizer is inorganic fertilizer. The factory produces these fertilizers. Relevant investigations have shown that the utilization rate of chemical fertilizers is low, and the loss rate is high, which not only leads to soil pollution in farmland, but also causes organic infection to water bodies, eutrophication pollution, and even groundwater pollution and air pollution. Our company respects organic fertilizers. Raw materials for making fertilizers are made of natural materials that are readily decomposed. In this way, our products can meet the needs of consumers and protect our environment. Processing the organic waste into compost takes time and lots of equipment, but the once the process is started it becomes very profitable and there is little to no cost of sales. Most of the competitors in this market don’t not reach out to large grocers and do not partner with waste management instead they employ their own trucks for pickups and their services must be sought out. EcoPost reaches out to grocers and local waste management to effectively intercept tons of organic waste meant for landfills in order to process our product while also reducing food waste.

  

Target Market

Our company targets Farmers and Gardeners in Wisconsin who both can benefit from our product which enriches their soil to grow quality crops. The gardeners we sell our product to can be content knowing they are using organic materials to help fertilize the soil they use to grow fruits and vegetables within their gardens. Urban gardens or communal gardens where a group of people use a plot of land to grow their crops can also require large amounts of fertilizer. Our main targeting strategy is for farmers and gardeners who wish to grow organic produce that do not contain any chemical or synthetic materials. We pride ourselves in being environmentally conscious and give an image of “environmentally friendly” towards grocers who work with us. We also saw a lot of enthusiasm with the concept of recycling food waste and creating organic materials to use for soil enrichment most gardeners we spoke to seem to care about Eco-friendly products and being able to be green on both sides of supply and chain appeals to them. Another target market for us is grocers who provide the organic waste we need in order to make our product. These grocers will be offered low tipping fees for disposal of their organic waste at $4 a truckload or $4 for 1500-2000 pounds we will be able to make revenue on the procurement side of the supply chain as well.  

  

Market Share

Currently Wisconsin facilities manage about 500,000 tons of compost yearly. Within the first year we expect to operate at 40% capacity which would yield 10,000 tons of compost at an annual income of $35,000 which would be around 2% of the market share. As we begin the first year we will have a slow start getting our suppliers and materials kick started. Also, we will have to build a manufacturing center where we can begin to make compost which is why we estimate that we will not be able to reach full capacity within the first year. Our main product we will start out with is a compost at units of 1 cubic yard. When we gain a foothold in the industry we will look to quickly increase capacity as well as promote our product by outreach within the Wisconsin agricultural community. There is lots of demand for our product and meeting that demand will require more output of compost. By our second year we look to double our capacity to 80% by increasing our output from 10,000 tons to 20,000 tons which will give us a 4% increase in our market share. Our goal being a market share of at least 5% or full capacity of 25,000 tons amounting to 1.6 million by the end of year 3. At year four We look to expanding our market from just Wisconsin to neighboring farm states such as Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. Being able to recreate deals with waste management and grocers would be ideal before launching any expansion projects into these states. Building another facility using our established model in anyone of these states will double our output and market share in these later years.

  

  

Organization and Management

Eco Post will be structured as an LLC Corporation with equal ownership:

Abdul Guled - 20% with an operational role

Qilin Jian – 20% with a logistics role

Kyle Komplin – 20% with a marketing role

Hyung Suk Ji – 20% with a supplier relations role

Tamara Alexander – 20% with an outreach role

Our business will have a main office that acts as a type of headquarters. If not the same building, it will be in close proximity to our main plant. Employees and owners will meet here in the mornings to go over daily activities, check voicemails and emails, discuss strategies, and various other things. In addition to the main office having its own phone line, contact numbers for upper management will also be provided for urgent matters, etc. Company phones will be provided to members to upper management and are expected to be on at all times during the work week.  

Operations Requirements for Medium S plant

For our operations we require land and a plant to make our products. When grocers and restaurants want to get rid of their waste they pay Waste Management to deal with it. We plan on an agreement with Waste Management to take this organic waste so they don’t have to use space within their lots to store it. We then have them transfer the organic waste to our plant in Allenton, Wisconsin where we will build a plant to make our compost. The following charts are going to be what we need to make our material and the cost for buying land and building a plant.

Table- Characteristics of different types of composting facilities analyzed

Technologies Required

Annual Operation costs

Our annual operating costs is directly tied in with our capacity we will start-out with low capacity to test out our market and make sure to build on a good foundation with the quality of our product. Once we perfect our product which we expect to take 1-1.5 years we will increase our capacity from 25,000 to 100,000. If the quality of our product holds by year three we expect to increase our capacity to 200,000 and if we have a good enough foothold in our market look to expand to surrounding states such as Minnesota and Iowa. Our operations cost will start out at $34,000 and by year three it will be $197,000 and could increases based on growth and expansion.

Annual operating costs of prototype composting facilities

Answer 1

Pls add the following:

“Our objective and mission are to create a sustainable environment by picking it up the compost from dumping ground and sending it back to the farms.”

Government regulations:

We will follow all regulations laid out as follows:

• USDA organic regulations
• Odor impact minimization plan
• Regulatory tier requirements as specified “14 ccr §17854.1”

The competition

• Existing Competition: high mountain compost, Norcal Ag service, Bs ranch and Farm inc
• Competition strength and weakness
• Competitive advantage: We will give initial penetration pricing by being lower by 15-20% then our competitors, we will give packaging of 1 kg, 5 kg and also take bulk orders.

The Market

• Market segments: Our target segment is house owners who would need small packing for their gardens and large farms and agriculturists.
• Product and service

Our products include compost, soil blends, mulch-Compost mulch and natural hardwood mulch

• Prices and Distributions channels: We will follow a multi-pronged strategy by selling through supermarkets and retails stores and sell directly to large farms and agriculturists. We will focus on selling through green shops and will be recognized as a green brand.
• Market trends: Currently there are 3000 compost manufacturers but the industry is growing and giving a direct competition to chemical fertilizer manufacturers.
• Sales and Market promotion: Our promotion will be online through blogs, PR agencies; social media network and chat forums. We will also give blogs on how to maximize farm productivity researched by top agriculturists. The farmers will log in to your FB account to read our regular new updates and we will have order online option.