There will be four tasks in total:

1. Group Selection
2. Business Plan Document
3. Business Plan Slideshow
4. Business Plan Presentation Pitch

1. Group Selection For this assignment, you will work in groups of threes or fours. Any students without a group will be assigned to one by the teacher. In addition, your group might be assigned a Grade 12 mentor from Ms. Tam’s IBS 12 class, whose role is to provide guidance for business plans and presentations. In your group, identify a few registered charities (or causes) that your group wishes to donate to. They may include an existing school clubs to which you belong (e.g. UNICEF, Free the Children) or anything to which you have a strong personal connection. If your group need further ideas, consider searching the registered charity listings on Revenue Canada. Once your group has a few charities, brainstorm at least five business ideas that complement your chosen charities. The $100 loan will be used to start and possibly grow your business. The money may be for advertising (e.g. photocopies, art supplies), buying start-up supplies (e.g. cups, ice, lemonade), and growing and sustaining your business (e.g. more cups, more lemonade). You do not need to spend the entire $100 to start the business but $100 is the maximum investment towards your venture. Your group will eventually need to create a realistic budget and financial projections. Debate the strength and weaknesses within your group and mentor, and then share your best three ideas with the teacher before starting the next section. Note: If you plan to sell food or beverages in the school, they must meet the Guidelines for Food and Beverages Sales in BC Schools. 2. Business Plan Document The first evaluated task is to develop a business plan. Your business plan must be 8 to 10 pages in length, maximum 1.5-spaced, which include the title page, table of contents, and any graphs, tables or images. Click here to download a template (in .docx format). A typical business plan will include the following sections:

• Title Page: 1 page
  • Include group name and logo, member names and positions, block and submission date; slogan is optional.
• Table of Contents: 1 page by itself
  • List your sections and its respective page numbers; often done last.
• Executive Summary: 1 page in well written paragraphs
  • Introduce your group name, your group members and your product(s)
  • Summarize your purpose; i.e. how much money do you need to borrow, how will you spend this money, what do you intend to do with the money you make?
• Management Summary: 1 page in written paragraphs with photos
  • Start with a Mission Statement that reflects your company’s philosophy and your charity; less than five sentences.
  • List Members and Roles with a short synopsis for each individual; start with the CEO. Include relevant past work/volunteer experiences, personal interests, hobbies and personality traits that you can back up with specific, concrete examples; written in third person and present tense.
• Opportunity Recognition: 3 pages, indented paragraphs with lists and tables
  • Provide a brief Business Environment Analysis (i.e. problem statement) that identifies a problem in your community and explain your business or product attempts to solve it.
  • Identify the Market Size and Target Market broken down in terms of demographics, geographic, psychographics and behavioural. Make references to your market survey. About 1/2 page.
  • Include a SWOT analysis that identifies the internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats; i.e. what are the risks and threats confronting the business, and what can be done to mitigate them? This may be presented as a table or a list; about 1/2 page. It may be helpful to refer to examples.
  • Also include a Competitor Analysis that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors: i.e. who are the competitors, and how will you maintain a competitive advantage? Compare yourselves to three other competitors (at least one local and one big store); 1 page.
  • Lastly include a Financial Budget and Projections. The budget breaks down your expenses and explains how the loan will be used (e.g. capital, rent, inventory, marketing costs, etc.). The projections are estimated earnings based on your market research survey. The budget and projections will allow you to estimate your net profits. This section will be reported in a table.
• Marketing Plan: 1 page, mostly lists and visuals
  • Provide a summary of the 4Ps:
    • Product(s) or Service(s)
    • Price(s)
    • Place (distribution and operations with flow chart)
    • Promotions
• Appendix – Market Survey: 1-2 pages
  • Explain the Methodology in which the market research survey is conducted:
    • Where / when / to whom / how did you ask the questions?
    • How many people did you ask? How many people responded?
    • How many people did not respond? Why not? Did you provide incentives to respond?
    • How well does the sample survey represent your market? Justify your claim.
  • Include the Survey Questions from the market research.
  • Present the Results with graphs and tables.
  • Include any other supporting evidence that show your business idea is ready to be executed (e.g. advertising posters, written permission from teacher/admin to run special event, sample handcrafts, etc.)

Refer to these sample business plans by real high school students who have won state competitions: http://www.highschoolplans.org/resources. All these business plans follow a similar format to the above structure. Evaluation:

• Presentation – 30 marks
  • Formatting: 15 marks
  • Spelling and Grammar: 15 marks
• Content – 50 marks†
  • Title Page and  Table of Contents: 3 marks
  • Executive Summary: 8 mark
  • Management Summary
    • Mission Statement: 2 marks
    • Members and Roles: 4 marks
  • Opportunity Recognition:
    • Business Environment Analysis: 3 marks
    • Market Size and Target Market: 4 marks
    • SWOT Analysis: 4 marks
    • Competitor Analysis: 4 marks
    • Budget and Projections: 6 marks
  • Marketing Plan: 6 marks
  • Appendix: 6 marks for Market Research + up to 6 marks for Supporting Evidence
• Overall Idea / Proof of Concept – 20 marks

† All sections must be completed with a minimum of 50%. Failure to meet the minimum will result in a redo until satisfactory. All groups are allowed one redo without penalty.  Subsequent redos will be capped at the lowest grade level. Lates will count as redos.

Number of Redos/Lates	0	1	2	3	4	5	6+
Maximum Mark	100	100	86	73	67	60	50

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