Scholarship of Entrepreneurial Engagement 2009/2010 Economics & Entrepreneurship Program Student Business Plan Assignment and Preparation Instructions

Revised November 2009

Ashland University and John Klipfell

As part of the SEE program, your teacher will likely ask you to develop a business plan. Once developed, your business plan may be eligible for entry into a judged business plan competition. A. Business plan preparation and format instructions for the student: A business plan is very important to the development of any business or entrepreneurial opportunity, whether commercial or philanthropic. It is an excellent way for investors and interested parties to review your ideas future potential. A business plan can also be an excellent management tool. It can help you focus on the development of your entrepreneurial ideas into a viable opportunity as well as provide a logical and organized manner to allow you to monitor and assess the ongoing development of your concept. Your plan should include a discussion of each of the Key Points listed in Section C below. In total, the discussion of the key points from Section C should be no less than four full pages or more than ten pages in length, excluding a required title page and any graphs, data charts, etc. you may wish to include as supporting documentation. Starting from that vantage point, develop a written plan that also addresses the points that follow. Your business plan must also include a title/cover page containing the following information: Name of Business or Entrepreneurial Idea Your name (Will not be given out to judges.) Your grade level (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th) and name of course or class School name, address and telephone number Teacher's name and email address Other formatting requirements: Do not use a font size greater than 12 point type Do not use unusual fonts that are difficult to read (Arial and Times New Roman are best to use.) Your name should only be included on the title/cover page. Do not show it on pages within the plan itself. B. Getting started:

Oftentimes, the hardest part about getting started is to come up with an idea for your business plan. In coming up with an idea, remember that entrepreneurship is about challenging the status quo and transforming or developing products, markets, services, and organizations that meet the changing needs and wants of society. As such, entrepreneurship embraces the whole spectrum of marketplace activities, which means that your business plan idea can be either commercial or philanthropic. The first step in becoming an entrepreneur is to put your imagination to work. Start by looking around you at needs that aren't being fulfilled, problems that remain unsolved, and things that don't work. Then imagine potential solutions to those problems and challenges. Imagine how things could be. Imagine how the need can be fulfilled, the problem solved, or the challenge met. Once you've imagined a new product, a new process, a new service, or other new concept, think about it again and again until you're sure it's a good idea. In doing so, consider what others would think about your idea. Consider whether or not they would see it as a genuine solution to a problem, or something they would need or want, or value, or embrace. Indeed, ask family and friends what they think. If you want to be successful, be honest with yourself. Reconsider your idea in the light of a new day and the comments of others. Weigh it again and again. You want it to be good. You want it to make sense.

C.

KEY POINTS THAT NEED TO BE DISCUSSED AND INCLUDED IN YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

1. NAME OF BUSINESS/ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEA 2. DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS OR ENTREPRENEURIAL IDEA: Describe your idea its purpose, background information, and description of the product or service. In doing so, discuss what significant marketplace need isnt being fulfilled; problem not solved, or challenge not being met that is addressed by your proposal. Discuss why you believe it is worth pursing. 3. LOCATION Where you would propose to establish this business and why? 4. MARKET ANALYSIS: Define the target market for your idea, why you think it exists, what you believe to be the size of the market demand for your idea, and who your competitors will be. In doing so, address the following: POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS: Who do you expect will be your customers? Describe their demographics. Why will they be interested in buying or using your proposed product or service? MARKET SIZE AND TRENDS: What do you believe to be the current and potential size of the market for your product or service? What are your market estimates in 5 years? 10 years? COMPETITION: Discuss who you believe will be your competition. Discuss what competitive advantage you believe your product or service will have over the competition and why. What do you believe are your potential competitors' strengths and weaknesses? On what basis will your product/service compete?

5. DISCUSSION OF HOW YOU WOULD BRING YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE TO MARKET: Discuss how you would go about building or developing your product, service or idea into a real, tangible product or service that customers would want and buy. Discuss what it would cost in terms of time and resources to bring it to market and make it available to the public. In doing so, outline your plans to manufacture the product or perform the service (including the proposed manufacturing process or method of performing the service) and your projection of the production costs, which may include: MATERIAL, LABOR AND OTHER COSTS: In estimating these costs, consider: the cost, availability, skills, and needed training of employees; the cost, availability, and proximity of needed materials and services; as well as the distribution costs of actually getting your product or service into the hands of customers and end users. FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT: Describe what facilities, equipment, software and systems you believe will be required to bring your product or service to market and what you believe it will likely cost to acquire those assets through purchase or lease.

6. DISCUSSION OF RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES INHERENT IN YOUR PROPOSAL: Outline what you believe are the most significant risks and uncertainties that you are likely to experience in bringing your idea to market and discuss how you would deal with them. You may wish to consider such questions as: How sure are you that consumers will actually buy or use your product? Is the competitive risk well understood and acceptable? Can the product or service actually be delivered with the necessary quality at a reasonable cost? Can the necessary human resources, materials and suppliers be reliably sourced?

Can the needed financial resources (personal investment, investor capital and/or loans) be secured? Can all government regulations be met and legal liability risk be adequately managed?

7. MARKETING STRATEGY: Discuss your marketing and sales strategies. In doing so, discuss: Your strategy for reaching your target markets. Your pricing strategy, comparison with competition, and your anticipated profit margins. . Your sales and market share projections and sales plan.

8. PROFIT, INVESTMENT AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT EXPECTATIONS: Estimate the revenues you expect to earn, as well as the costs and expenses you expect to incur, and the resulting profits you would expect to earn over the first 3-5 years. Remember, even a non-profit business needs to be able to bring in enough revenues to cover its expenses. Estimate the amount of money you think would have to be invested to get your entrepreneurial idea off the ground and operating. Once you've done that, discuss the following: Where would you expect to get the money needed for startup investment and ongoing operations? Discuss whether or not you believe that an outside investor would be willing to invest in your proposal. Offer your assessment of whether or not your new product, service or idea is likely to be successful? Discuss whether or not your opportunity for reward (return on investment) is worth the risks that you will face and the time, treasure and talent you will have to invest to bring your entrepreneurial idea to life.

9. TIMING OF MAJOR ACTIVITES: Prepare a schedule that shows the timing of activities for major events in your business plan. D. How the student business plan competition will work:

After students have written their business plans and turned them in to their teachers for evaluation (ask your teacher for turn-in deadline dates), the teacher will prepare a short list of what they believe are the best plans in their class(es). These plans will then be turned over to a judging committee consisting of several members of the local business community to grade. The committee may also be looking at plans submitted by other classes within the same school district. The judges will grade the plans by applying a standardized grading rubric (see copy of rubric attached). The plans judged to be the best will be eligible to receive a small cash scholarship award at the local high school/ school district level. While the number of cash scholarship awards may vary by high school/school district, there will be a minimum of $250 in cash scholarship awards per school year per high school/school district (assuming that the eligibility standards in Part E below are met). Based on the joint decision of the teacher(s) and the SEE program, the scholarship award dollars may be distributed either as a single award or divided into a first, second, and third place prize. Generally, all cash scholarship awards will be distributed near the end of the 2009/2010 school year. In addition to the above mentioned SEE business plan competition at the local high school/school district level, there will also be a Northeast Ohio Business Plan Competition that will held in May 2010. Depending on eligibility requirements and the total number of student business plans submitted for grading at each high school/school district, one or more winning student business plans will be selected for possible entry into the Northeast Ohio competition. If a students plan is selected for entry into this competition, it will be judged by application of the same

grading rubric by a largely different committee of judges. Northeast Ohio Business Plan Competition winners will be eligible to win one of several $500 cash scholarship awards. E. Other requirements for eligibility to potentially receive a cash scholarship award:

To ensure fairness and to ensure that scholarship awards are indeed awarded for plans of quality content and thinking process, the following additional eligibility requirements must be met before a cash scholarship award will be distributed: To be eligible to receive a cash scholarship award, a student must be 19 years old or younger. Students may participate in the various business plan competitions either individually, or in teams at the instruction of the teacher. If a student team is chosen as a winner, the amount of the award will be divided among the members of the team. For a high school/school district to be eligible to participate in a business plan competition with cash scholarship awards, a minimum of five quality student business plans must be submitted for competition. For a student to be eligible to receive a cash scholarship award, their business plan must receive an average score of at least fifty (50) grading points from the judging committee (based on the standard grading rubric). If none of the plans submitted receive the minimum score, then no cash scholarships will be awarded.

F.

Examples of five of the highest-graded business plans from prior years available for review:

While dozens of business plans have been recognized as SEE competition award winners over the last several years, the SEE program has made available to your teacher five of the highest-graded plans from prior years on the Ashland University website for review. These five plans cover a wide of topics from commercial to philanthropic. Ask your teacher if you can review a copy of one or more of these sample plans. G. Notice the student retains no propriety interest in their business plan:

In submitting their business plan to their teacher, the student acknowledges that they retain no proprietary right to the concepts, ideas, and writings included within their business plan. Furthermore, the student acknowledges that their business plan may be published or publicized, in whole or in part, along with their name by the SEE Program, particularly if their plan is chosen as a winner in a SEE judged business plan competition. H. Other matters:

To the extent that other issues may arise during the conduct of the SEE business plan competitions, the SEE Program Director(s) shall endeavor to find a fair solution to the issue in question. Regardless, the decisions of the SEE Program Director(s) will be final and binding.

Note: These instructions are for business plans submitted as part of the SEE Economics & Entrepreneurship Program only. (Science and technology students that are participating in the October 2009 Science & Technology Forum generally prepare a science concept plan, for which a different set of instructions and timetables are to be followed.)

Scholarship of Entrepreneurial Engagement 2009/2010 Business Plan Judging Criteria and Grading Rubric Form
Circle the # Points awarded for each criterion, then total the points and note them at the bottom of the form

Criteria How well thought through was the student's market analysis? How well thought through was the student's discussion of how they would bring their product or service to market? How well thought through was the student's discussion about the uncertainties and risks in their proposal? How well thought through was the student's marketing strategy? How well thought through was the student's discussion of their profit, investment and return on investment expectations? How feasible and complete is the plan in written form and how well did the student communicate the plan? How original and interesting is the plan as an investment opportunity? Maximum total Points Total Points Awarded: _________

Exceptionally Well Done / Exceptional 15 points

Well Done / Good 12 points

Adequately Done / Fair 9 points

Poorly Done / Poor 6 points

Barely Addressed 3 points

15 points

12 points

9 points

6 points

3 points

15 points

12 points

9 points

6 points

3 points

15 points

12 points

9 points

6 points

3 points

15 points

12 points

9 points

6 points

3 points

15 points

12 points

9 points

6 points

3 points

10 points

8 points

6 points

4 points

2 points

100 points

Name of business/entrepreneurial idea ____________________________________________________ High School / School District _____________________________________________________________ Judges Name: __________________________________________________ Date: _____________