Your business plan is the document which will, in as concise a manner as possible, convince potential investors that your project is a sound one.

Your plan will begin with a well-written executive summary, which is critical to the success of the rest of the document, states Bernadette Barrow, assistant general manager of National Commercial Bank of Jamaica, and head of the NCB SME Unit.

Barrow will this week guide us through the basic structure of the document, which you will require to present to loan officers or potential equity partners.

You will use the executive summary section of your business plan to accurately describe the nature of your business venture, including the need/needs that you plan to fill.

Show the reasons why people need your product or service. Show this by including a brief analysis of the characteristics of your potential market, Barrow states.

Include numbers

You will need to describe the organisation of your business, including your management team. Also, briefly describe your sales and marketing plan or approach.

Finally, include the numbers that those reviewing your business plan want to see - the amount of capital you seek, the carefully calculated sales projections, and your plan to repay the loan.

The next section of your business plan is the business overview.

This includes the legal name, physical address and detailed description of the nature of your business.

Next, states Barrow, is the business structure and organisation in which you will briefly describe the organisation structure (that is, sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation), ownership, directors and senior executives/management.

Make sure to include résumés and biographies of key players on your management team and show staffing projection data for the next few years.

Your business plan is also expected to have a section dedicated to a management team.

The management team section demonstrates that the company has the required human resources to be successful.

The business plan must answer questions including:

Who are the key management personnel and what are their backgrounds?

What management additions will be required to make the business a success?

Who are the other investors and/or shareholders, if any?

Who comprises the board of directors and/or board of advisers?

Who are the professional advisers (e.g., lawyer, accounting firm)?

Also to be included in your plan is a market analysis.

The SWOT analysis, another critical element of your plan, includes strengths and weaknesses which are internal, and opportunities and threats, which are external.

Last but not least is the financing section. This includes the financial plan or details the required capital, and how this will be distributed between debt and equity.

It also includes projected income statements, balance sheets and cash-flow statements, broken out monthly for the first year, and annually for years one through five.

The financial assessment should also include a sensitivity analysis on key revenue and cost variables.

Importantly, Barrow notes, all of the assumptions and projections in the financial plan must flow from and be supported by the descriptions and explanations offered in the other sections of the plan.

Your business plan should also include an appendix with a full set of financial projections that would have been summarised in the financial plan and the executive summary.

Other documentation that could appear in the appendix include technical drawings, partnership and/or customer letters, expanded competitor reviews and/or customer lists.

You can get assistance with putting your plan together from Jamaica Trade and Invest as well as the Jamaica Business Development Company in Kingston.

If money is no object, there are also large marketing firms listed in the Yellow Pages that can put together the profile for you.

Email Bernadette: barrowbd@jncb.com.