Business Plan
Business Plan
1-Executive Summary
Importers ltd is a proposed Canadian based company that intends to fill the market niche that exists between international students who would wish to pursue their tertiary education in Canada and the various universities available in Canada. At a figure of 98 universities spread over 8 provinces, Canada offers opportunities to international students to pursue various university programs (Parrish & Foxon, 2006). However currently, information provided at the various universities’ website is not adequate as it does not handle issues like conversion of the various grading system to compare them with the Canadian grading system. Some universities have also not done enough publicity in the international field so that they are recognized by international students and the various programs they offer known. These among other issues detailed in this report have informed the decision to form a company which will majorly carry its operations through a website (Okudan & Rzasha 2006).
A 2013 OECD’s Education report projected mobility of international student to double to 8.5 million by 2025. This explains the stiff competition between universities in English-speaking countries to admit more international students and enjoy the benefits that come with that. Our business plan therefore is suited to breach the gap between these students and the various universities that wish to admit these students. We also plan to make arrangements for accommodation of the students once they are in Canada and also provide them with guides who will show them around town to ensure they find it easy during their fast few day of staying in Canada (Katz & Green, 2009).
We have done our due diligence about our proposed business and considered the various regulatory and financial requirements that we need to establish this business. This business plan gives a detailed report of our facts about the business and out financial projections on whether the business is a viable one.
Mission Statement
Our mission as Importers ltd is to provide a platform that links international students to the various universities in Canada available for them to pursue their education. Our aim is to fill the gap created by the lack of adequate information about Canadian universities as compared to the demand for it by the international community.
Vision Statement
2.1-Description of the business
Importers ltd is a business that is to be established in Ontario Canada but which will be felt worldwide. We are determined to provide international students with vital information that they need when it comes to universities in Canada and the various program that they offer. On the other end, we are giving opportunities to universities to lay bare the world the various programs which they have (Edvardsson & Enquist 2008). In addition to that, we are also offering business opportunities to investors who would wish to provide accommodation to international students who come to Canada for studies. We will also ensure the safety and ease of stay in Canada to these international students for the first few days of their stay in Canada by providing them with guides to show them around the cities of Canada.
Our company plans to modernize the exchange of vital information between international students and Canadian universities. We have decided to use the most widely used and cheap information tool, the internet, to ensure that we reach as many international students as possible. This tool will also enable us the reduce costs as a company since it only involves the use of a website which is cheap as compared to other information delivery systems which would be expensive in the long run considering our wide spread clients.
2.2-Major Demographic, economic, socio-cultural and geographic factors
Demographical
Importers Ltd targets those international students who would wish to join Canadian Universities. This demographic characteristics of this group of people therefore are diversity of backgrounds (both religious and political), diversity of language, computer and internet savvy, would desire to know more about Canada, apart from her universities and the programs they offer amongst other issues. With the appreciation of the following characteristics of our target demographic set, we shall design our website and business in general being cognizant of the demographic characteristics of our target clients. For example, our website shall provide information in various languages amongst them Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, French and Russian (Reichheld & Covey, 2006).
Economic
With the uncertainties that abound to this business on whether we will actually succeed in bringing university students to a Canadian University, we have devised means to lower costs on our operations. We have also considered the dynamics of Canada’s economic climate and its favorability to the target clients. We have hence liaised with developers who would wish to accommodate these international students are negotiated, on our clients’ behalf, various packages that would ensure they are able to afford staying in Canada as they pursue their studies. We shall also liaise with Canadian Immigration departments enable these students process their immigration and travel documents. Due to the various bureaucracies involved in admission, we have also liaised with various universities who would wish to admit our client’s. These negotiated packages reduces the cost implication on international students who would wish to join Canadian Universities through us as opposed to those who decide to go through the whole process alone.
Geographic factors
Our business’s main office will be located in located in Ottawa Canada, the capital city of Canada. This location is prime for our business since most international students will fly into Canada and land in the capital city. Secondly almost all universities have their offices in Ottawa hence it is easy to co-ordinate with the various universities while in Ottawa. However, due to the fact that not all these universities are in Ottawa, arrangements on how these international students will reach their universities upon arrival from different countries are in place.
Social and Cultural factors
Most of our clients are from different social and cultural backgrounds, we have designed our websites to define both the cultural and social environments within which various universities in Canada exist. These prepare our clients mentally on the likely social and cultural scenarios they are likely to meet in their preferred universities (Harrison & Waite, 2006). For example, our website will give information on various communities and social amenities that are available in university of western Ontario. Our business also appreciates the social and cultural diversities of our clients hence we have employees from diverse religious, social, language and racial backgrounds.
2.3-Major Players
We have identified major players in this sector to be the national government and in particular the department of immigration and the ministry of tertiary education, Canadian Universities and property developers especially those involved in provision of hostel accommodation for students. These major players work independently and the coming of our company will provide the link needed for the smooth operation of these key players to function optimally as international students are concerned.
2.4-Nature and trends in the industry
This business falls partially on education sector and on the tourism sector. The nature of the industry is that of hospitality and professionalism. Hospitality in the sense that we are dealing with foreigners who are from all over the world and professionalism in the sense that handling of maters education requires a bit of professional ethics and codes of conduct. The trend in the industry today is the integration of more hospitality aspects to this business of helping international student’s access information about universities in Canada (Harrison & Waite, 2006).
2.5-Government regulations
(i) Authorization
Since this business involves immigration, it is subject to direct regulations from the supreme law, the national constitution, statutes and provincial laws. Operations under these legal requirements are very strict and involve a lot of processes. It also require caution as it involves admission of international students from different parts of the world hence no escape from scrutiny by immigration department. We have however ensured we put down measures to ensure we obtain as much information from our clients as possible and authenticate them. This will ease the clearance of our clients to enter the country. All these come at some costs to the company (both financially and otherwise), however, we will spread our costs to ensure we cushion the business from potential losses, we also plan to have lawyers to advice the company on some legal aspects (Mathee et al, 2007).
2.6-Product and Services
Our services to our clients have as already been discussed above are immigration clearance and visa processing, provision of information about international clients to Canadian universities, negotiating for accommodation on behalf of our international clients to secure affordable rates for them, provision of guides to help the students with their first days of stay in Canada and also providing information in various languages to our clients so that we have a worldwide outreach (Russo & Mele, 2012).
2.7- Human Resource
We have designed our operations and employment procedures in accordance with the employment and labor laws of Canada, we therefore are even favored by some of these laws for example, those that require non-discrimination on religious, language, racial or cultural backgrounds. A picture of non-discrimination is a plus for our business.
2.8-Market Segment
As at the time, there are not more than five companies that offer the services that our company offer to the clients. This has provided an environment to thrive as a company since there is little competition. With a free market economy, entry of new competitors is of high possibility with the booming business. We, however, have strategize to have a very good public relations policy that will ensure we remain a company of choice to our clients even amidst stiff competition.
2.9-External factors
Other external factors which might affect this business include wars in the different countries where we draw many of our clients, a bad foreign policy from the Canadian government in relation to the international community, terrorist attacks and many other (Borges & Luce, 2009).
2.10-Pricing and Distribution
The pricing of our services is based on percentages. From the hostel management firms, our services of getting them clients attract a 10% commission on a full academic year’s rental income. Universities pay a fixed amount of $600 and the clients $700. The later are payed once the student successfully gets into Canada and is provided with accommodation. The former is however paid once booking of the hostel rooms are done and this normally happens before clients fly into the country.
2.10-Risks
The business involves undertaking risks such as a change in government regulations which might affect their relationships with the international community. These may include the government’s foreign policies (Okudan & Rzasa, 2006). There are also risk associated with technological advancement in universities so that they are able to reach these international students by themselves. The economic risks involved are generally the unfavorable economic climate such as political instability, inflation, wars and economic sanctions. These may reduce the number of international students willing to study in the country and hence reduce business.
2.9-Our competitive advantage
A compared to our competitors, we have managed to secure deals with all key major key players in the sector. We therefore are able to connect to immigration departments, universities and hostel suppliers in Canada. Most of our competitors however major on providing information to clients only. Therefore the extra mile we go to negotiate accommodation to our clients, seek immigration clearance among others give as a competitive advantage in the business.
2.10-Action plan and Financial Plan
We plan to commence business on 5th of October, 2016. This is because we have to wait for clearance from the various departments of government. We however plan to start marketing our business online once we get our certificate of incorporation. The business will maintain advertisement on various social media throughout its operations and will maintain constant touch the international community. Our offices will run during day time during the first three years of operations, we will however assess the situation and determine whether there is need to start 24hrs operation of our business both online and in our offices in Ottawa.
The initial capital required for our business is $287. $40 will be spent to establish our website and $35 to be used to process the various documents needed for the registration of the company and obtaining clearance for the business. On financing the business, we plan to use 50% equity and 50% debt.
Our financial projections on expenses and income from the business are summarized in the table below
The above financial projections show that the business will record negative cash flows within the first and second months of operations. This is attributed to the low income and high expense at the commencement of business. However within the third month, the business is likely to record positive cash flows. The repayment of the debt in this financial projection model is that the debt will be paid over the life of the business. With the business controlling a very small market in the industry within the first year and able to record positive cash flows in its third month of operations, the potential for this business is very high.
In conclusion, the statistics provided in this table, the business is a very viable venture. With the 50% equity available, we are therefore seeking to borrow the remaining 50% in terms of loan financing. Even with fluctuations of interest rates, the cash flows will not reduce by much hence the business will remain relatively elastic in terms of cash flows even with fluctuations of interest rates on loans.
References
Katz, J. A., & Green, R. P. (2009). Entrepreneurial small business. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Matthee, K. W., Mweemba, G., Pais, A. V., Van Stam, G., & Rijken, M. (2007, December). Bringing Internet connectivity to rural Zambia using a collaborative approach. In Information and Communication Technologies and Development, 2007. ICTD 2007. International Conference on (pp. 1-12). IEEE.
Russo-Spena, T., & Mele, C. (2012). “Five Co-s” in innovating: a practice-based view. Journal of Service Management, 23(4), 527-553.
Borges, M., Hoppen, N., & Luce, F. B. (2009). Information technology impact on market orientation in e-business. Journal of Business Research, 62(9), 883-890.
Reichheld, F. F., & Covey, S. R. (2006). The ultimate question: Driving good profits and true growth. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Harrison, T., & Waite, K. (2006). A time-based assessment of the influences, uses and benefits of intermediary website adoption. Information & management, 43(8), 1002-1013.
Okudan, G. E., & Rzasa, S. E. (2006). A project-based approach to entrepreneurial leadership education. Technovation, 26(2), 195-210.
Edvardsson, B., & Enquist, B. (2008). Values-based service for sustainable business: lessons from IKEA. Routledge.
Parrish, B. D., & Foxon, T. J. (2006). Sustainability entrepreneurship and equitable transitions to a low-carbon economy. Greener Management International, 2006(55), 47-62.
