Name: Gilbert Rocky Were Reg. No: SCT221-0129/2017 Assignment: Innovation & Technology Transfer (Business Plan) MELLOW ICE CREAM – FLAVORED TOOTHPASTE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction Mellow ice cream-flavored toothpaste is a new product that I want to introduce into the market. As the name suggests, it is a toothpaste brand which will consist of the following flavored toothpaste brands: Vanilla Blue berry Mint Rasp berry Our aim is to offer these products at a competitive price to meet the demand of the middle-to higher-income local market area residents and particularly their kids.
This product will have a competitive advantage in the market because currently, only bubblegum flavored toothpaste is available for kids in the market. The Company Our company currently has no official premises. All our activities are currently being held at our home office in Nairobi, Kenya. So far we have only three unofficial employees who are: Gilbert Rocky Were – Chief Operations Officer (COO) Malory Simons – Chemical Engineer Phillip Brooks – Marketing Expert The company intends to hire an accountant who will be charged with the responsibility of handling the company’s financial books.
We will also seek the services of a lawyer for legal advice on issues such as insurance and licenses. The Market The toothpaste market in Kenya is well-endowed with a variety of brands. The major brands in the market include: Colgate (Have a leading market share of 59%) Aquafresh (Our main competitor) Pepsodent Sensodyne Aquafresh will be our main competitor as it also produces a product specifically made for kids – bubblegum flavored toothpaste. However, this product is not fancied by every kid in Kenya. This is why we decide to come up with more flavors of toothpaste.
Market Penetration For success of our business, we intend to do the following: Practice competitive pricing Providing the highest quality product Promotions and offers Advertising on social media platforms for wider customer outreach Finances Our company expects to raise Kshs. 250000 of its own capital, and to borrow Kshs. 150000 guaranteed by a plot of land I own as a 5 year loan. This will help provide the bulk of what we need for current financing considerations. The Business Plan SECTION ONE: BUSINESS PROFILE Description I plan to market a complete line of ice cream flavored toothpaste of various flavors.
The product line will be designed in my home office and manufactured and packaged at our factory. Target Market and Customers My customers will be mostly parents having small kids who want to be rid of the hustle of forcing their children to brush their teeth. We will be supplying to major supermarket store chains including Tuskys, Naivas, and Chandarana Food Plus, just to mention a few. Growth Trends in This Business The toothpaste market is quite dynamic and ever changing. Customer needs vary with taste and price preferences.
Leading brands in Kenya supplying toothpaste include Aquafresh, Colgate (having the leading market share of 59%), and Pepsodent, just to mention a few. Penetration into the toothpaste market requires brand awareness and extensive advertisement which has helped Colgate be recommended to many friends and relatives – hence its lion’s share of the market. In Kenya, the people are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of good oral health. International brands dominate the Kenya market for Oral care hence the need for more local brands to claim a share of the market. Local toothpaste brands have the potential of gaining trust from the country’s citizens as they would prefer to use a product of their own – as long as the product is of international standards. Pricing Power At first, I will not enjoy the pricing power in marketing mellow ice cream flavored toothpaste.
Supermarkets and other retail shops will be primarily interested in the price. To beat competition, I plan to do the following: Door to door sales where I offer free samples to increase brand awareness. Advertise on YouTube and other social media platforms to enhance customer outreach. Visit schools and speak to the pupils on the importance of oral care while explaining to them the benefits of using our product. My ultimate goal is for my product to be always sold at a premium in order to encourage favorable perceptions among buyers. Mellow Ice-cream flavored toothpaste will have the following features: Toothpaste with an Ice-cream flavor which tastes better than other brands.
Attractive packaging with a variety of colors which are pleasing to the eye (especially to encourage kids). SECTION TWO: MY VISION AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND The Vision I have a long term plan to be in business. The business relationships I will develop will help me achieve this this target. I expect to have links with vendors, supermarkets and manufacturing resources. I feel that my plans are realistic because in Kenya, the toothpaste brands that are available all have the same bitter taste which is sometimes not a pleasant experience apart from a select few.
Mellow Ice cream-flavored toothpaste will have different flavors depending on the customer’s preference and will have a sweet taste. However, like all other toothpastes, mellow ice cream-flavored toothpaste will not be consumable. There are special market conditions that are favorable for me to penetrate the toothpaste market at this time. These include: Lack of enough toothpaste products designed specifically for kids. High prevalent growth rate. Government policies encouraging local brands.
Professional Background Personal Background and Education Credentials Academic Background Tertiary: EMobilis Mobile Technology Institute –Mobile Software Development (Android Programming and Web Development) January 2017 to May 2017. Currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology at Jomo Kenyatta University of agriculture and technology (September 2017 to date). Currently enrolled in a Computer Information Communication Technologist (CICT) course at KASNEB (January 2018 to date). Secondary: Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) – 2016 – Mean Grade A- (minus) Primary: Kenya certificate of primary education (KCPE) – 2012- Mean Grade A I am also well conversant with the following computer packages: EXCEL MICROSOFT WORD ACCESS POWER POINT PUBLISHER QuickBooks Hobbies and Activities In Secondary School I participated in the following activities: Participated in a National Mathematics contest held in Alliance girl’s high school. Participated in the Brookside Mathlete national mathematics contest on 25/6/2016 ; 02/07/2016. Sub-county National Science congress.
I was also a school prefect. My hobbies and interests are: Playing Football Watching movies Writing program codes Watching innovational videos In addition to all my academic credentials, I consider myself to have the following special attributes: Fluent communicator Flexible and responsive Team worker Fast learner and ingenious problem solver Remarkable patience. SECTION THREE: COMMUNICATIONS Computer and Communication Tools I plan to take full advantage of all the computer and communication tools available in the market so as to compete favorably. My budget for this equipment is as follows: Computers These computers will be used to receive orders from customers, upload featured product videos on YouTube, foster staff communication, just to mention a few uses.
Required: 10 HP Desktop Computers (Windows 10 OS; 4 GB RAM – 1 TB ROM) Budget: Kshs. 25000 each (Wholesale Price) = Kshs. 250000 Communications Equipment These will be used to deliver messages and product news to customers. Required: – Professional Video Cameras (2) Public Address (PA) system Budget: Video cameras at Kshs.
15000 each = Kshs. 30000 PA system at Kshs. 30000 Telephones I will require an official business telephone line to handle customer requests. This will also be used to provide customer service for any clients with queries regarding the product.
Each department will receive a telephone. Required: Huawei Cordless Telephone (5) Budget: Kshs. 4500 each = Kshs. 22500 Internet Internet connection required for communication with customers, communication between staff ; inter-site communications.
Required: 15 Mbps Safaricom office internet (covers 50 devices) Budget: Kshs. 14000 per month. SECTION FOUR: ORGANIZATION Business Organization I plan for my business to have five departments initially i.e. Industrial Operations, Finance, Sales, marketing and Management departments. Professional Consultants I will seek the services of the following professional consultants, to help in setting up my business initially.
This will ensure that my business is up to date with market standards. These professional advisors include a lawyer (for legal issues), an accountant (to handle finance issues), e-commerce consultant, architect (to develop premises), and a chemical engineer (to come up with the product formula). SECTION FIVE: PREMISES Location As I start my business, I will be operating from my home office during the early phases of development. The finished products will be taken for storage at a rented store room near the home office.
Once the business is established, I will require factory premises of approximately 5000 square meters with the following specifications: Product line area (Manufacturing) Two private offices for Executive Management with secretarial areas Four open offices for the various departments Packaging and Sales area Our legal advisor will review any lease documents before they are signed. Future growth plans include setting up a warehouse for large scale distribution. SECTION SIX: ACCOUNTING AND CASHFLOW PLANNING Accounting Personally, I have basic knowledge in accounting. This will enable me to manage finances by myself as we plan to seek the services of certified public accountant to help manage our financial books. For accounting, we will be using the QuickBooks software to manage our financial books and even payroll, for employees. Our accounting methods and standards will be subject to those approved by the Kenya Revenue Authority for businesses dealing in manufacturing and inventory.
Our accountant will help set up records for payment of taxes. Taxes: Taxes will be paid in the appropriate time frames. Bank account reconciliation: This will be done on a monthly basis so as to ensure that we have enough data on assets, liabilities and equity. Cash flow Internal controls: With the help of our accountant, we will set up proper controls for handling funds in the business including inventory policy. This will ensure that no money is syphoned out of the business through mischievous dealings. Inventory policy: An employee will be dedicated to be in charge of releasing goods and another one for requesting supply.
This will enhance sanity in the sales and marketing departments as only authorized personnel can control inventory. SECTION SEVEN: FINANCINGTo set up the business, I will require the following start-up capital: Communications expenses – as stipulated in section four above. Overhead expenses – supplies to manufacture the product. Travel expenses – for distribution purposes.
I would like to purchase four delivery trucks for distribution purposes (Each truck is estimated to be worth Kshs. 2.5 million) Trucks10 million Kenya Shillings Payroll expenses – To pay our employees for initial startup. Truck driver(s)Kshs. 20000 per month Chemical EngineerKshs. 50000 per month AccountantKshs.
35000 per month Sales agent(s)Kshs. 10000 per month (commission on every sale) Electricity expenses – Kshs. 15000 per month Store expenses – For storing the finished products prior to distribution. Kshs. 10000 To reduce on costs, I will consider leasing of equipment and fixtures, credit from suppliers My sources of financing for starting up my business will include: bank loans, potential lenders including friends, relatives. SECTION EIGHT: MARKETING Marketing Strategy Initially, I plan on door to door sales plan.
This will involve our sales team identifying a potential residential area where they will look for potential clients and sale our products. In addition to door to door strategy, we will be holding promotional concerts where we will invite up and coming artists for shows. During these concerts, we will set up stands for selling our product at a discounted fee. Another marketing strategy we will use is to sit down with leading supermarket brands so as to agree terms on how we can sell them a bulk of our products (at a discounted price).
This will help us establish brand awareness and reach more customers. Advertising ; Promotional plans Initially, advertisement and promotion will be done at a personal level using social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Our social media accountant will be managed by well vibrant youth who can promote our product to our main target market, the kids. Once the business is well established, we will consider paid advertising.
We will be using YouTube ad services as well as billboards and TV commercials for wider customer outreach. E-Commerce I plan to build and register a website for my business under the domain name: www.mellowpaste.co.ke. This will help us reach more customers over the internet. The website will include the following pages and features: Home page. Brief description about the company, our location and the company vision and plan. Products page.
Here, customers will be able to place orders online and pay for them on delivery. News and Events page. Featured here are the business activities and product offers (including discounts and other offers) Contact us page. Customer can be able to get our contact details here.
Staff page. This will include all our staff so that our customers can know who they are dealing with. With the e-commerce website, our customers will be able to order merchandise online. The budget for design, implementation and startup of the e-commerce website will be completely free as I am well conversant in web design and development. However, the estimated hosting costs will be at Kshs. 5000 per year.
The site will be constantly improved so as to keep up to date with emerging market trends and also compete favorably. SECTION NINE: COMPETITION My principal competitor is Aquafresh. They have a brand of bubble gum flavored toothpaste which is specifically made for kids. I plan to overcome their leadership by coming up with better designs and very attractive packaging. In addition to that, I plan to price my product very competitively so as to ensure that more clients are attracted.
