How to write a good business plan in Nigeria?

A business plan in Nigeria is a much-required part of any big or small company. No matter in which nation you are or in what sort of business you are running, a business plan is needed. Thus in Nigeria also you must have a proper business plan for the future goals of your company. While big companies write their business plans by experts, the small startups in Nigeria tend to write theirs by themselves. It is good to write it by yourself because nobody can better explain your goals and demands than you. But to write a proper business plan, you need to know certain things.

For instance, you need to have a clear conception about what is a business plan, what are the things to write in a business plan, or what is the importance of a business plan, etc.

Here in this article, you get to know everything necessary and important about a business plan and how to write it.

What is a business plan?

Various critics have different conceptions about a business plan.

Some say that it is “a document that comprehensively describes the goals and objectives of a business, and equally shows in detail how and when they will be save”.

Some say it is “an action program that outlines in detail all the necessary aspects of a proposed business”.

And for some, it is “a structured guideline on how to accomplish a business goal”.

Whatever the definition be, it is clear that a business plan has a direct connection with a company’s wellbeing.

It is construct to get a closer look at the company’s future aspirations and the logical ways to fulfil it.

Without proper planning, thus a business cannot run in Nigeria or any country.

How important a business plan in Nigeria?

A business plan is a route map that tells you about what the business will sell, how much it will sell, how the market looks, and how to sell your products or services to a bigger community.

Nigeria is also now giving scope to budding startup businesses and entrepreneurship.

So, if you are thinking of having your own business, then start making your business plan.

Even a small startup business needs proper directions to bloom.

Every business has some risks involved, whether small or large.

RELATED: How to make money in Nigeria?

Thus by writing a business plan, you can carefully analyze the risks and get suggestions to lessen them.

A business plan is not only important for the owners or the directors of a company.

Every employee should have clarity about the company’s aims.

Also, the investors try to know about the company’s visions and potentials before investing money.

A business plan includes all this information in its body.

You can say that it is a bio-data or resume of your company that is much needed to get a job in the competitive world.

Top business plans in Nigeria

You can divide a business plan into four major groups.

The types of business plan purely depend on the purpose it serves.

Enterprise business plan- it is the conventional form or the basic form of a business plan. It is the most popular type of business plan among beginners.
Investment business plan- this type of business plan aims to address the investors for investing their money for your business.
Business plan for loan this type of business plan aims to generate loans from the banks. Here you will have to mention your need, your purpose for spending the money, and when will you possibly return the loan. Especially small companies and startup businesses in Nigeria require this sort of business plan to grow.
A business plan for a grant in Nigeria, you can get aid or grant from the country or foreign donors. Here you will have to highlight the benefits your area or your country Nigeria will get from your business.

What information a business plan contains?

The information you need to put on a business plan is:

Customers: who are your customers? What do they need?
Competitors: who they are? How much their market share is? How you can compare your business with them in terms of pricing or quality.
Financing: what is your company’s financial structure? How can you compare the borrowed funds with equity?
Suppliers: whether they locate far or near? Do you have many sources of supplies or not. Do the supplies are causing an advantage or disadvantage to your business.
Products: why your products are unique or what makes them unique? What is the competition in the market about the product?
Employee: what sort of employee you prefer for your business?
Equipment: what technology you are using for manufacturing the products? What is the equipment? From where you are sourcing them?
Location: why you choose a particular location to be suitable for your business? What are the local benefits you will get?

Tools you need for writing a business plan

You need to have some tools by your side apart from a deep and careful knowledge of the specific business.

Here are the five tools you need:

A notebook or diary and a pen
A laptop or computer with Microsoft Excel in it
A calculator
A business plan software
Different templates of business plan

The structure of a professional business plan

For a better impact and global understanding, you should follow the universally accepted model of business plan structure.

Here we will discuss a conventional structure of a business plan and give you business plan examples.

Some points may appear to be more important in the case of your business.

In that, you just need to highlight your specified areas.
It should have the following order:

A cover letter

It is a formal letter that you should write to introduce your business to the reader.

This letter will sell your business idea to investors.

While writing a cover letter, you should think like the reader and his queries.

A cover letter usually consists of the receiver’s address, your address, salutation, the body, or the content, conclusion, and signature.

A title page

A title page consists of the business name, the founder’s name, date, and the logo of the company.

You will have to make the title page appealing and straightforward.

Avoid using sharp colours on the title page.

List of contents

Simply list down the contents you are going to write in your business plan.

Executive summary

It should be a simple and understandable description of your company and its roots and history.

A profile

It will be a description of your business in the present condition.

Structure of the management

It will be a brief discussion about the management structure of your business.

Services or products to provide

Here you need to enlist the kind of product you are selling or the sort of services you are providing in your business.

Funding request

Here you need to mention the amount of money you require in the upcoming 2 to 4 years for the growth of your business.

Marketing

Here you will write down your pre-conceived methods of marketing your product and your sales strategy.

Financial projection

Here you need to project your company’s financial capacity and potencies in the market.

You can enlist some balance sheets for better projection.

Future projects and aspirations

Here you can conclude your business plan format by mentioning your upcoming projects and deals.

You will have to finish the business plan with a positive note.

But do not emphasize or make unrealistic promises.

Staying real and truthful to your investors and employees is necessary for the long run.

Things you need to consider while planning business in Nigeria

For writing a successful and fruitful business plan, you need to follow certain norms.

It is always better to do the struggle before than regretting after.

So take as much time you need and follow these methods:

Proper research

A successful business plan needs good research.

Proper research can only tell you about the company’s pros and cons.

For beginners in this field, it is always better to look at some sample business plans before starting.

There are numerous sample business plans available on the internet.

Search them in Google and study them free.

Search and choose the sample business plan you think is appropriate for your business and make your business plan accordingly.

And if you are the business owner, then you know the basics of your business, but for a futuristic success, you also need to research and plan.

You should know what you want.

Everything related to your industry and your competitors should be well analyzed.

A new business owner in Nigeria should focus on collecting more and more information about his field.

This will give your greater grip, knowledge, and make you hear logically in front of the investors.

You can talk to people or gather feedback from your consumers.

You can even seek technical help to analyze your growth.

Sought answers to the questions like- is my plan realistic?

If yes, then why?

Why my product is better or different from others?

What are the problems that my product or services solve?

Also, you need to know your targeted customers and the ways to address them.

Always feel free to seek inspiration and help by analyzing your fellow businesses.

This will eventually make you counter your competitors.

And lastly, research about the location you are choosing for your business.

The success of a business depends greatly on the location and local resources.

You need to have educated and confident local youth for directing your company.

The motive or purpose of your business plan

There are various purposes for which you can get a business plan in Nigeria.

This can be a business plan used for only internal purposes.

It can be a business plan written for addressing investors.

It can also be for getting bank loans or funding.

So it is dependent on your purpose of how the business plan will look like.

While writing a business plan to attract investors, you need to focus more on strategic figures.

While writing for internal purposes, you can have a friendlier and guiding point of view.

However, you need to present it clearly and concisely to avoid misconceptions.

Thus after proper research, you need to think about the sole purpose behind your business plan.

Think about- who would be the readers, and what is the purpose of this plan?

The exact answers to these questions will help you to make a futuristic business plan.

Make it believable and adaptable

While writing your business plan, you need to make sure that whether you sound believable or not.

To make yourself superior, thus do not ever try to pull your competitors down.

To exclude the implausible words like “a completely new product” or “no competition” etc.

Instead, always make your company free for healthy adaptations and changes.

Make your every statement legalize by using proof along with it.

Do not promise anything that you are not sure about.

Give assurance that you are always ready to change your policies for the benefit of your consumers.

This will make a good and trustworthy image of you in front of the reader.

And thus you can make a successful business plan.

Show your confidence and passion

Being confident is very much important for selling products in the market.

Your confidence can do half of the work.

And while writing the business plan, you are selling your thoughts and visions to the investors.

So it becomes very important to be confident.

Do not use words like “may”, “maybe”, “possibly” or anything that shows you are not sure about what you are saying.

Instead, you should write about your passion and vision.

The reader should realize that you are dedicated to your business and will do everything to make it stand.

They will thus eventually feel an emotional connection with you and get ready to believe in you.

Thus with a positive and confidant approach in your business plan, you can become a successful businessman.

Things you need to emphasize more while planning business in Nigeria

The company profile

You can find the company profile of any company in Nigeria on their official websites.

You will have to include this company profile while writing your sample business plan.

A company profile includes the history of your company, the goods or products you manufacture or will manufacture your resources, your targeted market, and your visions.

You can briefly discuss your goals and why you are unique in your field.

Explain how you can serve your customers or how they will get benefit from your company.

You will also have to mention the names of the members of your management team in the company profile.

You can also point the strength and experience of your team and their potentials.

Proper documentations

Only your words will not show impacts unless you produce documents on your support.

In the case of approaching the investors, you will have to use truthful and to the point statistical graphs to validate your statement.

You will have to make the investors believe that your business will return the money and profit.

Thus investors will be more curious about knowing your actual position on the market.

Thus bombastic promises will not satisfy them.

You will have to show them the facts and reality along with the documents of your expenses, your industry projection, and your cash flow.

You can also include bills or receipts for materials and their prices.

Make this presentation look clear and compact to the reader.

A marketing plan

At the marketing plan section, you will have to give extra efforts.

Ultimately it is your marketing plan that will give you profits in the long run.

So while making your business plan show extra concern in this section.

Explain your marketing strategy, your targeted customers, and your methods to reach them.

Also, you need to mention your total functioning market and how you have the potentials to stand in the market.

You will have to mention your strategies against your competitors.

The investors will show interest in your promotional methods and marketing tactics.

So do not miss out to mention these.

You will also have to point out the problems in your industry.

And mention how you are managing them.

You need to understand that not every consumer is going to be your customer.

You cannot satisfy every person in the world with the same product.

Thus you will have to classify your products according to the demands.

It is always better to target the youth for benefits.

But you can choose any age group if you know the way to be visible to them.

Is it important to study some sample business plans in Nigeria

For a better understanding, you need to look at some sample business plans in Nigeria.

You can take a quick look at the sample business plans and sort out all your queries from them.

So, after researching the company, you are going to write the business plan for, try to research on the sample business plans by the other similar companies.

Focus on the flaws in their sample business plans and try to cover it in yours.

You can get hundreds of free sample business plans online.

What are the blooming businesses in Nigeria?

If you are seeking companies to write business plans, then, you should know what the fields that are in profit in Nigeria presently.

Also, if you are trying to open your business, then you need to know how much demand is in Nigeria for your business.

Here are some businesses that are running smoothly and profiting in Nigeria today.

A beauty salon business in Nigeria

It is one of the successful businesses in Nigeria as it does not need much investment or capital to start.

Also, it does not need educational qualifications, but your skill and dedication to flourish.

You can even start your business from your home.

Firstly skilled and groomed yourself to do the haircuts and makeup of your customer.

Start on a small scale.

If the demand increases, then you can hire skilled employees.

You can also conduct grooming tutorials for people and earn money out of it in Nigeria.

Catering business in Nigeria

This is one of the lucrative businesses in Nigeria.

If you love to cook and want to serve people outside your family, then start this business.

Food is something that will never go out of demand.

And with the increase in outdoor work, people get less time for cooking by themselves.

Thus you can do the pious job of providing food and also get profits.

You can serve corporate food offices or to government schools at lunchtime.

Also, you can serve food on social gatherings and functions like a wedding ceremony or birthday party.

You can cook by yourself or hire efficient cooks who can deliver tasty food to your customers.

Daycare and child care business in Nigeria

We are noticing that by the passing time there is an increase of demands for child care centres in Nigeria.

If you love children and have the patience to tackle them, then this business is for you.

For this business, you need to have free space in your room where the children could play and learn.

Also, you can have a large area of rent.

Begin from your neighbourhood by taking care of the local children.

Then go on step by step improvement by slowly promoting your business online to get more calls.

Agricultural business in Nigeria

If you belong to the rural part of Nigeria and have your land to cultivate or farming, then use it for business.

Agriculture contributes only 20% in the GDP of Nigeria, but there is scope for developments.

You can do cassava farming as almost 90% household in Nigeria depends on cassava products directly or indirectly.

You can also try snail farming, poultry farming, catfish farming, maize farming, and honey bee farming successfully in Nigeria.

Fitness and gym business in Nigeria

Fitness is getting priority in the country even more now.

City people are getting conscious about their health and habits.

Thus opening a gym in the urban areas can be a profit-making business for you.

Gym business will require some investments.

You will have to buy all the equipment before starting your gym.

A standard gym setup will cause you between 500,000 to 5,000,000 Naira.

But if you successfully market your gym business, then it will not take much time to return your money.

Fast-food business in Nigeria

The fast-food business is a profit-making business in any country nowadays.

With a busy lifestyle, people are getting less time for eating, not to mention cooking.

Thus you can start your fast food business by simply holding a stall.

Or if you have money in hand then try to set up your fast food restaurant or QSR (quick-service restaurant).

You should take your inspiration from the renowned fast-food company “Mr. Bigg’s” and try to spread your services to more and more common Nigerians.

Serve quality food at an affordable price as it is the key to success for fast food businesses.

Medicine business in Nigeria

You can start a patent store in distant villages to serve needy people.

However, you need to have proper qualifications and knowledge about drugs to run this business.

For medicine business, you need to have your registration first by the National Association of proprietary and Patent Medicine Dealers.

After getting registered, you need to choose a favourable place and buy or set up your medicine store there.

Bakery business in Nigeria

A bakery shop is also a good choice of business. Bread is a necessary item in the three main courses per day.

And by a standard bakery, you can earn profit up to N 2,500,000.

Some necessary tips for business in Nigeria

No matter which country you are living or what sort of business you are planning for, here are some tips that you must have in your mind.

You must plan a business than can run and prosper after you or without you.
Your business should prioritize customers first.
The root of your business should be moral values and passion.
Create a customer-friendly image in the market.
Do not let go of efficient employees for money.
Build up a strong team to manage your business.
Set targets regularly and encourage all to beat it.
Have faith but do not overlook flaws. Use strategies to achieve your goals.

The Bottom Line

So anything and everything needs proper planning to become successful and durable.

Thus whether you are a company head or a beginner, you need to write a strategic business plan for your company.

But the success or failure of a business plan is completely dependent on how much you implement your planning into action.