Horizon academy ICSE, india
SCHOOL NAME, COUNTRY
BUSINESS PLAN
Nidhi, Swaraj, Vedika, Meet, Aditya, Sukrut
Written by STUDENT 1, STUDENT 2, STUDENT 3, STUDENT 4, STUDENT 5, STUDENT 6
Hemlata tolani
LEAD TEACHER
Created as part of the School Enterprise Challenge Awards Programme – Bronze Level
Section A: Our Business DetailsBusiness Name / Art Attack !
Business Activity / Production & Sale of Artifacts from recycled / eco-friendly material.
Main product / service / Artifacts made of recycled / eco-friendly material like Bird Nests, Jewellery, Pouches & Bags, Pillow Covers etc.
No. of students involved in business planning activities (including writing this Business Plan) / Boys : 30 / Girls : 20 / Total : 50
Financial Summary
Our Local Currency is: INR / US Dollars$
Period of time budgeted for / August 2017 to November2017 / 1 USD = INR 64 (AUGUST)
Total Income(Estimated) / 3,00,000/-(APPROX) / 4687
Total Costs (Estimated) / 1,00,000/-(APPROX) / 1562
Profit (Estimated) / 2,00,000/-(APPROX) / 3125
Start-Up Costs (Estimated) / 50,000/-(APPROX) / 780
OUR MISSION
To run an enterprise that, while earning a profit , creates environmentally sustainable products as well products which promote and preserve
Global Tribal Culture and Heritage and the proceeds of which are aimed to be entirely used for the betterment of the community.
Section B:Market Research and Target Market
1. Here is a description of the Market Research done by us, including how many people we spoke to:
Ø We spoke to around 50 people - parents of our students as well as staff and other community members and a number of people gave us the feedback that awareness about environmental preservation is on the rise. They nowadays prefer buying products which are produced from eco-friendly or recycled material.
Ø Mr. Ramesh Iyer and Mr. Shekhar Gaikwad, eminent environmentalists of our city said that because of the rampant felling of trees in the city, birds do not have sufficient place for nesting , Bird Nests can be made available and hung in houses and veranda’s for birds to nest in. Painted birds nests made of wood are available in the market at around INR 350/- to INR 400/- . Many conservationists and NGOs will be willing to buy a large number for of Bird Nests distribution, if reasonably priced.
Ø Parents as well as other community members, when asked, said many of them had wood left over from renovation work of their homes and offices which we could use.
Ø Our school too has a good amount of wood left over from infrastructure development work.
Ø In our city’s industrial areas, wooden crates which are used for transportation are available at low costs, sold by weight in bulk.
Ø Last month during the INTACH heritage quiz competition hosted at our school, Mrs. Krushna Rathi, a member of INTACH i.e The Heritage Society of India, said that Tribal Art like Warli Painting of our State Maharashtra , Madhubani Art of Bihar State , African & Moraccan Art are slowly diminishing from our heritage and need to be promoted and valued by the current generation. Our prospective customers have shown an interest in buying Artifacts which promote Tribal Art, specially artifacts which are not only decorative but can be used on a day to day basis.
Ø Scrap hardware as well as newspapers and magazines are available easily for making of Artifacts from recycled material.
Ø We have a strength of 3200 students, a staff of around 200. Our trust has a large number of schools and colleges in the city, who are also our prospective customers. Our school parents, staff as well community members have expressed an interest in buying products which we would be selling during our Art Festival. Popular products include Bird Nests, Stoles, Jewellery, Pouches, Purses and paintings amongst other things.
Ø We checked online websites for the general pricing of the products that we are planning to make and sell during our Art Festival.
Ø We checked the pricing of jewelry, pouches, bags and other artifacts available in the market.
Ø We asked our community members about to the impact of social media promotions including Facebook and Whatsapp and the effect of these promotions on their decision of buying the products.
Ø The cost of labour for manufacturing products is a minimum of Rs 500/- per day.
Ø We spoke to Mrs. Navita Parikh whose child had participated a similar Art Festival in another Institute and she gave a feedback that there is a good response from the community for programs organised by students and people are willing to buy products to support little Artisans.
Ø People have expressed the wish to sponsor our art festival to a certain extent, if we are willing to give them a platform to advertise their products.
Ø We asked whether the consumers, when deciding on the products to buy , checked whether the product was environmentally sustainable.
SCANNED SURVEY FORMS -SAMPLE
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Sample Survey Sheet for our planned Enterprise / Sample Survey Sheet for our planned Enterprise
Survey Results
Pie Chart of the survey – 98% of the people think sustainability is an important issue / 87% of people would ideally prefer to buy eco-friendly products
Though 72% select products based on sustainability, there is a substantial number of people who still buy products based on only quality & price.
2. These are the results of our Market Research, including who is going to buy our product/service and why they will buy it.
Ø Large and ready customer base for our products– 3200 students, 200 staff members, numerous other schools and colleges that are a part of our school’s Trust with a large strength of staff and students. Our fast developing city has a population of more than 2 million people and people with increasing buying power. These are all our potential customers.
Ø One area of concern for us after conducting the survey was that a large number of people had not necessarily checked sustainability while deciding on which product to buy. While promoting our business on Facebook and Whatsapp, we will launch a campaign to highlight the importance of buying environmentally sustainable products like ours.
Ø Hence, we decided to make artifacts which are made of recycled material or eco friendly material to ensure that our products are environmentally sustainable
Ø We calculated that with all the scrap wood available, as found in our survey, we can make Bird Nests with costs as low as Rs 70/- per Bird Nest. We decided to make 300 Bird Nests because of the large demand and also contribute to conservation of our city birds. These nests will be bought by conservationists who have already committed to buy them from us. Our selling cost will be lower than the market price because of lower manufacturing costs.
Ø We decided to specially make products which will promote Tribal Art in the form of paintings on our products. This is essential to conserve our National Heritage. The importance of preserving culture and history will be highlighted on Facebook, Whatsapp and all other marketing campaigns.
Ø Most of our products will be made of scrap wood as also used clothes, sarees, denim and other scrap material. This will make the costs of our products lower than the market price and we can sell it at a lower price in the market, while earning a good profit margin.
Ø We have started procuring raw material like newspapers, magazines and wood from people in the community.
Ø While promoting our business, we will make sure to pitch that our products are eco-friendly.
Ø It was decided that we would focus on making a less number of products in large number which are in demand, rather than a large variety of products were the profitability would be uncertain.
Ø We plan to pre-sell at least a 1000 tickets with the promise of an assured gift to the buyers (saplings available with us from our last years project) in order to assure maximum attendance for our Art Festival and also provide us with a start up capital. The visitors will also get free tribal art workshops during the Art Fest.
Ø We decided to do most of the manufacturing ourselves in order to save on labour costs.
Ø We will be inviting partial sponsorships and display their promotional material during our art festival to generate better profit.
Ø Our products during the art festival will be brought by our students, parents, our school’s stakeholders as well as community members, since they would be products which are used in their day to day lives.
Ø We will be distributing Bird Nests free of charge to the first 100 people who buy the tickets. Though its a financial loss, we feel it is worth the loss since it will helps to promote save our little winged friends.
Ø We will be having a special stall at the Art Festival for teaching Tribal Arts like Warli Painting which is a special Art Form of our State i.e. Maharashtra and Madhubani Art Form which is from the State of Bihar as well Native African Art.
Ø We have decided to have a special stall at our Art Festival, where we would explain how our products had been manufactured keeping in mind conservation of the environment and the importance of choosing a sustainable product while deciding on which product to buy.
Section C: Competitors and Competitive Advantage
3. These are our main competitors and their strengths and weaknesses.
Competitor Name / Strengths / WeaknessesProfessional Artifact manufacturers & Retailers / Established Sale Outlets ,existing customer base, established manufacturing process, experience and tried & tested marketing and selling skills. / A higher cost of manufacturing because of labour costs and raw material, Infrastructural maintenance cost, transport cost, the products may not necessarily Eco Friendly
Online commercial websites / Large customer based from all around the world, easy and direct access to customer, ease of the the order process, direct door delivery at large distances. / The experience of seeing and feeling actual products missing. A large number of people are still skeptical about the quality of products bought online. Many are not comfortable with online transactions and cashless payments. The products may not necessarily Eco Friendly, In many of the cases there is a large amount of time between placing of orders and delivery of product.
Other Institutes and Commercial Organisations conducting Art Festival in our cities / Well advertised and promoted events, a large variety of products / Lack of assured customer base. Higher cost of products and promotions, the products may not necessarily Eco Friendly.
4. Our competitive advantage – This is why we are going to be better than our competitors:.
Ø We have a large and ready customer base in the form of parents(we have a student strength of 3200 ) as well staff, including our associated vendors and stakeholders.
Ø Most of our products will be made with recycled or scrap material resulting in lower cost of production and a will leave a smaller footprint on the environment, which people are more inclined to buy nowadays.
Ø A large number of enthusiastic and artistically inclined student volunteers and staff ready to participate in the manufacturing of the product at no cost, thus saving on the overall production cost.
Ø We have an active community service club i.e The Interact club in the school, which is the sponsored club of our city’s Rotary Club, which is willing to have the members help out in promotions as well as attending the Art Festival in large number since the proceeds of our business will be used for community service activities.
Ø School support and parents willing to invest in the initial cost of production.
Section D: SWOT Analysis
5. This is our SWOT Analysis.
Strengths – What are our business strengths?
Ø Large and ready customer base – 3200 students, 200 staff members, numerous other schools and colleges that are a part of our school’s Trust with a large strength of staff and students. Our fast developing city has a population of more than 2 million people and people with increasing buying power.
Ø A wonderful and enthusiastic team of people who are leading this enterprise, with a combination of marketing, artistic and logistics abilities. Our mentor has had some experience in the past in running a business centre and the team has the right mix of people with different skills required to run the business. Though this is our first business project, we have done numerous community service projects in the past, including our award winning Green Marathon project last year.
Ø Availability of skilled art teachers and labour force.
Ø Access to raw material in the form of scrap.
Ø Eco Friendly products.
Ø Promotion through word of mouth through a large number of stakeholders and community.
Ø Availability of large campus to set up stalls and sell the product.
Ø Low manufacturing cost resulting in a good profit margin
Ø A business which promotes indigenous art, has a positive impact on the environment and the proceeds of which will go to the benefit of the community. / Weaknesses – What are our business’ weaknesses?
Ø The scrap material will have to be acquired in large quantity to ensure sufficient useable quantity for production.
Ø Lack of experience in manufacturing of products (which are new for us) as well as marketing and running a business.
Ø Lower availability of capital for promotion and manufacturing.
Ø The entire chain from procuring raw material to the actual selling will have to be established by us.
Ø Time management- balancing our time between academics and the business.
Ø More effort in raising seed capital to start off our business.
Opportunities – What opportunities do we have for our business?
Ø Demand of eco friendly products in the markets.
Ø The GDP of our city is on the rise with people have a good buying power.