Zimbabwe Business Manual 101, Fidelis Fengu [book club recommendations .TXT] 📗

Ask yourself these questions:

What do I like to do with my time?

What technical skills have I learned or developed?

What do others say I am good at?

How much time do I have to run a successful business?

Do I have any hobbies or interests that are marketable?

Use the answers to those questions to then guide you to asking yourself how your answers can help solve or meet a need in the community.

What Niche Will Your Business Fill?

Finding a Niche /Opportunity

A market in its entirety is too broad in scope for any but the largest companies to tackle successfully. The best strategy for a smaller business is to divide demand into manageable market niches, or areas of special focus. Small operations can then offer specialized goods and services attractive to a specific group of prospective buyers. There are undoubtedly some particular products or services you are especially suited to provide. Study the market carefully and you will find opportunities.

While researching your own company's niche, consider the results of your market survey and the areas in which your competitors already have strong businesses. Put this information into a table or a graph to show where an opening might be for your product or service. Try to find the right combination of products, services, quality, and price that will ensure the least direct competition. Unfortunately, there is no universally effective way to make these comparisons. Not only will the desired attributes vary from industry to industry, but it also takes imagination, which cannot be learned from a book.

A well-designed database can help you sort through your market information and reveal particular segments you might not see otherwise. For example, do customers in a certain geographic area tend to purchase products that combine high quality and high price more frequently? Do your individual clients take advantage of your customer service more often than large groups from hotels? If so, consider focusing on being a local provider of high quality goods and services, or a service-oriented company that pays extra attention to individuals. If you do target a new niche market, make sure that this niche does not conflict with your overall business plan. For example, a small tour guide shop that focuses on individual clients go after the market for cruise ship tourists. Ka niche ndo ka gap kako wega. Here are some questions to help you find your niche

Is my idea practical and will it fill a need or solve a problem

What is my competition?

What is my business advantage over existing firms?

Can I deliver a better quality service?

 

Can I create a demand for your business?

Pre-Business Checklist

What business am I interested in starting?

What services or products will I sell?

Where will I be located?

What skills and experience do I bring to the business?

What will be my legal structure?

What will I name my business?

What equipment or supplies will I need?

What insurance coverage will be needed?

What financing will I need?

What are my resources?

How will I compensate myself?

 

These are important questions that must be answered realistically bearing in mind that we are in Zimbabwe . An entrepreneur must be as honest, as realistic and as practical as possible in their thought process. This helps prepare you and your business for the jungle that is called reality.

Your answers will help you create a focused, well researched business plan that should serve as a blueprint. It should detail how the business will be operated, managed and capitalized.

The planning phase is an important phase for the entrepreneur. This phase is like drawing a plan for the house you want to build, it is also like the phase when you are attracted to a girl and getting to know her and observe her before you ask her out or commit to her. This leads to the next topic the business plan.

Here are tips to writing a good business plan

 

 

 

 

 

 

BUSINESS PLANS

Imagine trying to go to Gokwe Nembudziya and you have no idea where that is, how do you get to a place you don’t know without a map or direction? A business plan is like the map to your success destination.

A business plan precisely defines your business, identifies your goals, and serves as your firm's resume. The basic components include a current and pro forma balance sheet, an income statement, and a cash flow analysis. It helps you know where to put your resources, deal with problems you don’t expect, and make good business decisions. Because it provides specific and organized information about your company and how you will repay borrowed money, a good business plan is a crucial part of any loan application. Additionally, it informs sales personnel, suppliers, and others about your operations and goals. Much depends on it: outside funding, credit from suppliers, management of your operation and finances, promotion and marketing of your business, and achievement of your goals and objectives.

Despite the critical importance of a business plan, many entrepreneurs put off preparing a written document as long as they can. They argue that their marketplace changes too fast for a business plan to be useful or that they just don't have enough time. But just as a builder won't begin construction without a blueprint, eager business owners shouldn't rush into new ventures without a business plan.

Four Core Questions

Before you can write your business plan you need to know:

What service or product does your business provide and what needs does it fill, vakomana call it “gap”, gap rako nderipi pa town?

Who are the potential customers for your product or service and why will they purchase it from you?

How will you reach your potential customers?

Where will you get the financial resources to start your business?

Business Plan Outline

The following outline of a typical business plan can serve as a guide. You can adapt it to your specific business. Breaking down the plan into several components helps make drafting it a more manageable task.

 

 

Introduction

Marketing

Financial Management

Operations

Concluding Statement

Introduction

Give a detailed description of the business and its goals.

Discuss the ownership of the business and the legal structure.

List the skills and experience you bring to the business.

Discuss the advantages you and your business have over your competitors.

Marketing

Discuss the products/services offered.

Identify the customer demand for your product/service.

Identify your market, its size and locations.

Explain how your product/service will be advertised and marketed.

Explain the pricing strategy.

 

 

 

Financial Management

Explain your source and the amount of initial equity capital.

Develop a monthly operating budget for the first year.

Develop an expected return on investment and monthly cash flow for the first year.

Provide projected income statements and balance sheets for a two-year period.

Discuss your break-even point.

Explain your personal balance sheet and method of compensation.

Discuss who will maintain your accounting records and how they will be kept.

Provide "what if" statements that address ways to solve to any problem that may develop.

 

Operations

Explain how the business will be managed on a day-to-day basis.

Discuss hiring and personnel procedures.

Discuss insurance, lease or rent agreements, and issues that apply to your business.

Account for the equipment necessary to produce your products or services.

Account for production and delivery of products and services.

 

Concluding Statement

Summarize your business goals and objectives and express your commitment to the success of your business.

Once you have completed your business plan, review it with a friend or business associate. When you feel comfortable with the content and structure make an appointment to review and discuss it with your lender. The business plan is flexible document that should change as your business grows.

Using the Plan

Three purposes of a business plan:

Communication Tool

Management Tool

Planning Tool

Communication tool

The Business Plan is used to attract investment capital, secure loans, convince workers to hire on, and assist in attracting strategic business partners. The development of a comprehensive business plan shows whether or not a business has the potential to make a profit. It requires a realistic look at almost every phase of business and allows you to show that you have worked out all the problems and decided on potential alternatives before actually launching your business.

Management Tool

The business plan helps you track, monitor and evaluate your progress. The business plan is a living document that you will modify as you gain knowledge and experience. By using your business plan to establish timelines and milestones, you can gauge your progress and compare your projections to actual accomplishments.

Planning Tool

The business plan helps you see where you want to go in the future and the steps you need to take to get there. It also makes you put down all of your ideas for your business and all of the different areas you need to work, so you know what to do right now. Having finished the idea , and having created the plan we now need to look into registering the business to give it a legal order and life.

 

 

 

Registration

Now that we have thought through the idea and what we want to do to profitably solve problems we need to find out the type of vehicle we need to deliver our solution. This vehicle becomes the legal entity that will execute your plan and help you realise your dream of financial freedom.

There are several types of business organizations and it is important to register under the most relevant that allows you to function legally and carry out your plan with less legal hustles. The next topic explores the types of businesses that you can register as.

Types of Business Organizations

When organizing a new business, one of the most important decisions to be made is choosing the structure of a business. Factors influencing your decision about your business organization include:

 

 

 

 

Legal restrictions

Liabilities assumed

Type of business operation

Earnings distribution

Capital needs

Number of employees

Tax advantages or disadvantages

Length of business operation

Number of directors

Budget for registration

Zimbabwe still has an inhibitive framework that makes it slightly complicated for entrepreneurs to register and operate businesses. The paperwork and process at the registrar of companies' office require patience and at times an agent is best placed to help with registration. Entrepreneurs are not scared or derailed by processes because they focus on the end game. The next topic by right should be the most exhaustive of all , and we will try to do justice and unpack it to the best of our ability.

 

 

 

TYPES OF BUSINESSES

It is important to understand the types of businesses so that you know how to register your business. Should it be a co-operative, a private business Corporation , Private Limited Company or just pasi pemuti enterprises.

How you register your business will have a bearing on what you can do with your business,and how you will expand your vision.

Sole Proprietorship (Private Business Corporation) .This is the easiest and least costly way of starting a business. A sole proprietorship can be formed by finding a location and opening the door for business. There is a fee that is paid to search and obtain a business name, name registration and other necessary licenses .Company Registry fees for starting the business will be less than the other business forms because less preparation of documents is required. This business can have 1 director though its limited to one line of business. A private business corporation is the easiest form of company registration though faced with several restrictions. It gives you a legal platform to begin business and will allow you to expand as the business grows.

Partnership (Private Limited) .There are several types of partnerships. The two most common types are general and limited partnerships. A general partnership can be formed simply by an oral agreement between two or more persons, but a legal partnership agreement drawn up by an attorney is highly recommended. Legal fees for drawing up a partnership agreement are higher than those for a sole proprietorship, but may be lower than incorporating. A partnership agreement could be helpful in solving any disputes. However, partners are responsible for the other partner's business actions, as well as their own. A Partnership Agreement should include the following:

Type of business

Amount of equity invested by each partner

Division of profit or loss

Partner compensation

Distribution of assets on dissolution

Duration of partnership

Provisions for changes or dissolving the partnership

Dispute settlement clause

Restrictions of authority and