Access new markets using a business plan
A textile dealer draws a plan for her work. Business people are encouraged to develop business plans in order to widen their footprint in new markets. Photo by Rachel Mabala
What you need to know:
- Syntra West provided funding to train small businesses in Uganda in developing business plans.
- When a start-up is trying to expand into new markets, the one thing that will help keep it afloat is a business plan, writes Mark Keith Muhumuza.
The Ugandan market is constantly being flooded with several businesses ranging from retail to small scale production. Much as that is good, the businesses end up collapsing because they fail to access markets.
Business plan
According to Ms Shari Ghyselen, the project fficer at Syntra West, this failure to access markets has a lot to do with the lack of a proper business plan. Syntra West provided funding to train small businesses in Uganda in developing business plans.
“We feel that people lack some important entrepreneurial skills. That is why we have come up with a template for a business plan for small businesses,” she says.
The handbook: Access to market – how to develop your business idea and bring it to the market focuses on how small businesses can use pricing, planning and branding to access markets in the country. The template business plan gives the entrepreneur an opportunity to understand their market, income, profit and how to boost their sales.
Working with the Uganda Small Scale Industries Association (USSIA) and the Uganda National Apiculture Organisation (TUNADO), Syntra has been training entrepreneurs on how to use the handbook to train their fellow entrepreneurs.
“It is easier for entrepreneurs to learn from other entrepreneurs. That is why we have picked some of members, trained them so they can train others,” says Mr Dickson Biryomumaisho, the executive director TUNADO.
It has to be noted that Ugandan businesses are mostly informal with no proper structures. Some of the products are poorly branded and cannot access markets like supermarkets where shoppers frequent.
According to USSIA, the market in Uganda has been evolving and you have to adapt to those changes. You can only do that if you have a proper business plan that defines your roles. The trouble with some of the small businesses is that they only look at products in their context and not that of the market.
Target
The target is that if small businesses are able to have proper business plans, then it creates greater job opportunities and growth prospects. According to Syntra, this would drive better business survival.
