Just
the other day i was at the head quarters of the bank of industry, with a
representative of the divisional manager for Small and medium
enterprises who pointed out to me that most entrepreneurs and business
owners that approach the institution for financial assistant don't have
and cannot put together a detailed and viable feasibility study or
business plan and naturally the institution cannot invest in such a
venture that has no clearly documented plan for survival.
I
was made to understand that there have been funds made available for
the support and growth of sme's in the country by numerous other avenues
and institution. Many initiatives from either the African development
bank, to the U.S intervention fund to numerous government initiate that
have been set up in the country to provide growth and funding to sme's
as they have been recognized as having the potential for job creation
and overall development of the economy. But so far the majority of the
entrepreneurs are not connecting to this opportunities partly because of
ignorance and majorly because of their lack of proper developmental
structures and planning that should be set in place.
Planning
and projecting objectively in a detailed and organizationally viable
form, has no alternative, with it comes what we refer to as Constant And
Never-ending Improvement, which includes up-to-date IT and managerial
advancement tools.
There are 6 important ways a business plan helps to run an organization:
1. Strategic direction
2. Performance management
3. Performance measurement
4. Coordination and control
5. Communication
6. Empowerment
A business plan must be S.M.A.R.T: Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Timed.
To be useful a business plan must:
1. Establish goals and set strategies straight.
2. Involve staffs who must carry out the plan and win their commitment to the plan.
3. Have clear actions specified and responsibility defined.
4. Review progress by being prepared to amend the plan and to deal with people who are not meeting their objectives.
Results of the review should be:
I. Finding out why actions have not been taken.
II. Doing things to ensure they are done in a timely manner.
III. Setting revised target, actions & timing.
IV. Revising the plan itself if appropriate.
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