Question

Introduction
A business plan is a written document that describes your business, its objectives
and strategies, the market you are targeting and your financial forecast. It is
important to have a business plan because it helps you set realistic goals, secure
external funding, measure your success, clarify operational requirements and
establish reasonable financial forecasts. Preparing your plan will also help you focus
on how to operate your new business and give it the best chance for success.
Securing financial assistance to start your new business will be directly related to the
strength of your business plan. To be considered a viable candidate to receive funds
from a financial institutions or investors, you must demonstrate that you understand
every aspect of your business, and its ability to generate profit.
A business plan is more than just something to show lenders and investors; it is also
necessary to help you plan for the growth and progress of your business. Your
business’s success can depend on your plans for the future.
Listed below are examples of questions to ask you when writing your business plan:
• How will I generate a profit?
• How will I run the business if sales are low or if profits are down?
• Who is my competition, and how will you co-exist?
• Who is my target market?
You are required to write a Business Plan Report and you are advised to follow the
below given outline. To make the best impression, a business plan should follow a
convention structure, such as the outline shown below.
Cover page
Table of contents
1. Executive Summary
• A succinct highlight of the overall plan- include ownership structure, business
address, product/service, the management team and strategy and strengths.
2. Industry Analysis
• An overview of the industry, including consideration of the competition, industry
trends, and regulatory bodies.
3. Definition of the Business
• Explanation of the business concept, the current offering and the projected
growth.
4. Purpose of the Business Plan
• Dominant reason for the preparation of the business plan.
5. Business Feasibility
• Analysis of the demand (include highlights of the findings of the market
feasibility study), risk (include business and market risks), environmental
impact.
6. Justification of the Business
• Economic, social and personal benefits.
7. Organisation and Management
• Vision and mission statement, corporate goals, managerial competence,
organisation structure and organisation chart.
8. Operational Considerations
Location, technical requirements (explain key business processes),
equipment required (state whether it is a manufacturing or retail business),
suppliers of raw materials, utilities, opening hours etc.
9. Marketing Arrangements
• Target market, definition of the product or service, pricing, distribution and
promotion.
10. Financial Consideration
• Source of financing, capital cost, pre-operating expenses, working capital
requirements, cash budget over three years (estimation of the cash inflows
and outflows).
11. Appendices
• Tools used in feasibility study, profile of management team, prospective
suppliers and clients, samples of product design, labels, promotional
campaigns, floor plan and legal documents (where possible)
12. References
• Bibliography, credits, acknowledgements.
Guidelines writing business plan
1. All work must be submitted in English.
2. Please use the same format for completing the final project report:
a. Use A4 size paper and leave at least 40 mm for the left-hand margin and about
25 mm for the right-hand margin. Also leave about 40 mm at the top and 25
mm at the bottom of each sheet.
b. Font is Arial and font size 12.
c. Paragraph spacing 1.5.
d. Number each sheet at the bottom. As you write, make cross-references by
section rather than by pages. Page numbers may change later. If you wish to
refer to the page numbers in the text, do so only after you have the final
version of the report.
e. Sections and subsections should be numbered for reference, but avoid
cumbersome sub-sub-section numbering such as 4.2.3.6. To keep the
contents, list short, include only numbered headings. There is probably no
need to exceed two digit numbers, such as 4.2 or 3.4.
f. Headings should be used at the beginning of sections and anywhere else
necessary. Carefully selected headings make the report clearer and will avoid
confusing the reader. They should be distinguished by a change of font or size,
or may be underlined in the report.
g. Tables should be used to present information concisely where graphs or
histograms are not appropriate. In setting out tables, arrange the data so that
there are more rows than columns and use a minimum of horizontal lines.
Table headings should follow the section number (e.g., in Section 1, Table 1.1,
1.2, 1.3 ...) in the order in which they are mentioned. They can then be referred
to in the text by number only (e.g., Table 1.1). Place the tables in the text near
to where they are first referred to. If you use a very large number of tables,
they may be more conveniently placed at the end of the report or you may
want to put them in the appendix.
h. Equations should be numbered by section (e.g., in Section 2, Equation 2.3, 2.7
...). You may need to show an equation in the financial projection section. This
ensures that if one is deleted or if you need to refer to an equation that you
have not previously numbered, only those in that particular section need to be
re-numbered. Keep the number to the right margin of the page. Check all
references to equations in the text when editing your final draft.
i. Graphs, histograms, drawings, diagrams and photographs should all be
referred to as figures: Figure 1.1, Figure 1.2, and so on. If the size of the
figures is small, you may put two on one page. Insert a caption for each figure.
Place the figures in the text next to where they are first mentioned. Keep the
labelling inside the figures to a minimum using letters, abbreviations and
symbols; avoid phrases. Use the figure caption to explain the details. For
example, different curves on a graph may be labelled A, B, C and so on and
each can then be identified in the caption. Check all references to figures in the
text and any information you quote from within the details of the figure.
j. You may use different colours between curves or parts of a diagram.

Answer 1

Business Plan

Climate sensitive agriculture- Market Assessment of natural compost-“Vardan”

1. Executive Summary :

The Chemical pesticides and fertilizers are toxic, particularly to pollinators and aquatic species, earth worms. The toxic elements present in pesticides are highly persistent and difficult to remove from the environment. They move across environments through ground, water and air, like from agricultural fields to rivers and forests.

The Climate Smart Agriproducts LLP is a team of professionals with considerable experience in the industry, who came forward to set up this venture. They will operate operations from a place near New Delhi, Capital City in India. The Plant location is around 45 KM from the National Capital and based in Hapur, which is famous for many agricultural commodity marketing in the country.

This venture is aimed to offer solution to the farmers in the agriculture sector who are in stress to increased input cost. Unavailability of quality natural compost throughout the year is a constant problem. We will offer and market innovative indigenous compost products at genuine cost and offering solutions within the framework of Local Abundant Circular Economy. We will use indigenous raw materials to manufacture the final product. We have developed the machine design and prototype of machine is being developed.

The packaging will be done in pack suitable for small area use as well as large area use. The product will be tested and monitored regularly in lab to keep the quality in order. This plan discuss about the product development and market access opportunity with the help of capital requirement in the tune of One crore.

Part of it will go to the product development to realize the idea in serving to the farmers of the country in a decentralized way. The second part will be for market assessment and finding the early consumers to make venture sustainable.

2. Industry Analysis :Market studies -

As per a report published by E&Y, global market for organic products are growing at the 16% (CAGR) is much faster than conventional products which is 10% (CAGR). In India the market is at nascent stage and contributes 1% of total market size but our contribution to global trade has grown significantly in recent years. We are exporting more than 300 products in the 20 categories, in the natural or organic products stage.

Farmers also face an acute shortage of quality standardized organic agriculture inputs, which are often much more expensive than conventional agricultural inputs. There are no subsidies from the Government on natural agriculture inputs, especially bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides, making the cost of cultivation for organic farming quite high. Unless the farmers use their own farm grown manure in large quantities, they are unable to meet the expenses. Lack of proper organic inputs often results in low yield making organic farming unsustainable for the farmers.

Availability of natural manure in the market is another challenge and is a major concern. The market is highly fragmented. So the opportunity for such venture is immense. This so much so because of greater global demand pattern as well as that in India for natural/organic food, natural compost is the need of hour. On the other this will substantially reduce the burden on government as we consume 32 million ton of urea alone. We import more than 50,000 Ton urea to meet our demand. We must move in direction to find a permanent solution.

3. Definition of Business - the Climate Smart Agriproducts LLP plans to foray in Organic manures made from bio waste and free from chemical. The current market is highly fragmented and there are hardly any big players and so offers big opportunities for a player like us. We plan to Make it 7 million company withing 3 years of operation.

4. Solution offered

A multi- disciplinary approach to create localised, self-reliant to abundant, cradle-to-cradle and social economy (Local Abundant circular Economy or LACE model). We at GAIA believe momentum is big motivator and we need multiple stakeholders to come together for a tipping point and make it happen. We operate with a framework-

a.) Nature has blessed us with abundant resources to live healthy and happy life for all living species Human as well as Plant,

       b.) Waste as resource,

       c.) Zero to landfill

If we examine leaves of any plant or tree from jungle we find that there is hardly any deficiency of NPK in them. So we all agree that there is a natural process which distributes all the required nutrients in plant or tree. These can be listed as

1) Nutrient cycle

2) Capillary Force

3) Cyclone

4) Activities of local earth worm

All ingredients used in the natural compost –“Vardan” are natural. So if we amend our farming practices and resort to natural ingredients in compost, we can get better yield for the crops suitable in the climatic condition. Our natural compost- vardan, when used in right climate zone will be vardan for crop in true sense if applied

5. Marketing Plan-

Products will be made available in the package of 5 kg, 10 kg, 20 kg pack. This will be marketed in the local market in a radius of 100-150 km radius. We will use conventional marketing channels as well as e commerce and promotions strategy to promote the products between farmers in the cluster of neighborhood in rural, semi urban and urbal locality. We will also use the social media, chat group and other networking and promotional platform. We will also organize farmer meeting periodically to explain them about the products and its benefits. Some handouts and literatures will be printed and distributed among the farmers and krishi mitra available in the regions. We will contact KVIC also to spread the words about using our products and its benefits.

The cost of the products is in the range of Rs 20/- to 22/- per kg. Farmers need to use nearly 200 kg of this solution per acre. We are confident this will significantly reduce the input cost for farmers and help them increase profitability in a short span of 2-3 years time.

As explained earlier, we see informed and aware farmers in village, semi urban area to be early adopters for this product. As we know nearly 60% of the rural household are engaged in the farming activities, and in semi urban area agriculture activities with the rooftop farming, backyard farming, and Kitchen gardens practices. There are huge opportunities to scale up by setting up manufacturing units in the cluster of villages or semi urban localities, so that it can be made locally and used locally.

6. Competitive analysis

SWOT- An analysis is done here-

Strength-

1. 100 % natural product

2. Very low cost

3. Raw materials available locally

4. Easy to manufacture locally

5. Easy to apply in the farm

6. Produce are free from chemicals hence gives monitory benefits to farmer

Weakness-

1. Transportation to distant place may be costly

2. Labor intensive

Opportunities-

1. Can be used as preventive measures for detoxifying soil

2. Can be used as a small scale business model as village level

3. Can re establish the village eco system and initiate reverse migration from Cities

4. Farmers can become self reliant and their dependency on bank credits can be minimized

Threats-

1. Misleading advertisement by fertilizers and pesticide MNCs

2. Open to attack by big players

7. Financial Projection

CAPEX	Value (in Rs.)
Plant and Machinery	650000
Shade of 1000 sq ft	1000000
Pre Operative Expenses	500000
Product Development Cost	1500000
Packaging design and dev	200000
Bio Chemical lab	500000
Miscellaneous Expenses	425000
Total	4775000

Sheet 7.1

Value- (In Rs)
Operational exp	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Salary and wages	1500000	1500000	1500000
Raw Material	1500000	1600000	1600000
Electricity	100000	100000	100000
Transport	500000	700000	700000
Consumables	300000	500000	700000
Other Non Trading items	100000	300000	300000
Travel and Administrative Expenses	500000	600000	700000
Packaging Cost	200000	400000	700000
Contingencies	300000	400000	500000
Total	5000000	6100000	6800000

Sheet 7.2

Revenue Projection	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Production	3600000	5400000	7200000
Rate @ 18/kg	18	18	18
Production In KG	200000	300000	400000

Sheet 7.3

Operating Profit ( in Rs)
	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
Production cost	3000000	4620000	4950000
Net Revenue ( Rs 18/kg)	3600000	5740000	6270000
Operating Profit	600000	1120000	1320000

8. Key Team

Dr Prem Rawat (D. Sc., University of Oxford)

Shri Sanjay Kumar Singh (M. Tech- IIT Roorkee)

Shri Chandra Shekhar (MBA-IIM Cal, B.Tech- IIT KGP)

Pranav Kumar Jha (MBA, University of Pune)

Penny Rodrigs ( BBA, Amity University)