Dubai Technology & Media Free Zone Authority

Business Plan Template for:

Dubai Internet City

To be used as part of the TECOM Business Partner Screening Process

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Guidelines to submit business plan

o plan.
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The prospect is required to submit a comprehensive business This document is a guideline to the expected detail of the The sections in red and with a star are compulsory to submit. The other sections are not compulsory but are highly The Financial plan section could be presented in any form as

business plan.
o

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recommended to fill that it will be additionally advantages for the evaluators. long as it encompasses all the relevant data.

The Title Page should include

o o o o o o o o Company Name Date Business Plan Copy Number [x] Name of point man in financing Title Contact details Company home page (if available) Attachments (i.e. Financial Plan)

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TABLE OF CONTENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE BUSINESS 4 5

REGULATIONS AND PERMITS............................................................................................................5 STRATEGIC ALLIANCES *................................................................................................................5 PRODUCT OR SERVICE....................................................................................................................5 UNIQUE FEATURES OR PROPRIETARY ASPECTS OF PRODUCT *..................................................................5 VENDORS *....................................................................................................................................6 THE MARKET 6

MARKET DEFINITION *..................................................................................................................6 MARKET RESEARCH *....................................................................................................................7 MARKET SEGMENT *.....................................................................................................................7 MARKETING..................................................................................................................................8 POSITION *....................................................................................................................................8 ADVERTISING, PROMOTION, TRADE SHOWS........................................................................................8 COMPETITION & RISK * 9

COMPETITION................................................................................................................................9 BUSINESS RISKS.............................................................................................................................9 MANAGEMENT TEAM 9

OWNERSHIP *................................................................................................................................9 PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT.................................................................................................................9 BOARD OF [ADVISORS, DIRECTORS] *..............................................................................................9 CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS * FINANCIAL PLAN 10 10

ASSUMPTIONS *...........................................................................................................................10 INCOME STATEMENTS *.................................................................................................................10 BALANCE SHEET SUMMARY..........................................................................................................10 CASH FLOW AND BREAK EVEN ANALYSIS......................................................................................10 ACTUAL CASH FLOW STATEMENTS..................................................................................................10 FORECAST CASH FLOW STATEMENT *..............................................................................................10 EXHIBITS 11

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Executive Summary
Distant Learning over Internet has been very common in the market over the last decade. Many Universities and Colleges have setup their own Learning Management system online to facilitate their students. For a student the most encouraging reason to adapt an online distant learning management system is to get quality education without getting mobilized. Another vital reason to adopt a distant learning management system is to get high quality education at very affordable terms. This is equally beneficial for those candidates who are already being employed in any company and want to improve or excel in their company by getting higher level education certificates. This project focuses on the need of an education and learning management system to be both online and socially integrated with other platforms like digital libraries and mega research resources from where students and teacher both can benefit at their respective levels. This project will also focus on strengthening the bond of communication between instructors and the students to a new level which approaches almost to an instructor led physical class offered in all universities. This project will also bring more valuable features in education system like parental controls and reports which are the most important concerns for parenting and nursing young students. Extensive features of this project include strong validation and verification mechanism which avoid any illegal access to the website itself or any users identity. For avoiding identity theft possibilities double verification mechanism has been introduced in this project which will justify the reality of the user by all means. This project will bring students closer to each other and will gradually increase the level of education.

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The Business
What is the core business of the company?
In order to reshape tomorrow with peace and harmony, by bringing young to mid level learners on a platform where they can learn and share their expertise to grow together, the company is creating an interface for all of the audience to join the root of the umbrella and make it all happen. The core idea is to build a web platform to bring all UAE under one hood to learn, share and grow. Regulations and permits What kind of permits/ regulations do you need to operate in your target market? How will you obtain these permits?

Strategic Alliances * Does the company have a strategic alliance? If so state the details of the partner and the nature of the alliance, including the risk and opportunities of this alliance. The product of the company will be built, advertized, marketed and implemented by itself and hence no alliances are made with the local market so far. Product or Service What burning marketplace needs is addressed by your products/services? What value do you add to your products/services? Put a list of services the company offers in order of highest sales or significance in product line? What are the critical factors in the delivery of your services/products? Unique features or proprietary aspects of Product * What is the uniqueness of your products and services? The most important features that makes this product unique out of all other competitors is the level of ease in look and feel developed for the user. The arrangement and collection of the contents will justify the uniqueness of this product.

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What is the differentiator of your products and services compared to competitors? Reliability Security & Privacy Easy integrate able with previous working systems Flexibility Extremely User Friendly Focused & Precise Search Options High Quality of Reports

Vendors * Do you have multiple supply sources? As the nature of the company is IT based and hence it doesnt require any raw material from the market for development of the product despite of hardware and software. Who are your suppliers, or potential suppliers? The hardware being used is vendor by Fujitsu and Operating System being used for Development of the Product is Open Source Linux Distribution ubuntu.

The Market
Market Definition * What markets are you competing in? At the kick start of the project, we will be in competition with UAE markets only but the follow up and expansion with the passage of time, this project will facilitate entire GCC region. What is your niche market? GCC region
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What is the market fact you obtained and wish to target? Identify where you got this information, and how up to date it is. As per a study conducted by Dubai School of Government at Arab Social Media Report till June 2012, Facebook user count reached 45,194,452 and LinkedIn user count reached 4,294,484 in GCC region. The point where the extensive and rapid growing use of these social engines have excelled the advertisement and marketing industry cannot be debated but on the other hand the curse behind this extensive use is that the love of most of the people to get connected with each other waste plenty of their useful time which could have been used for higher level of productivity in either learning of sharing ideas instead of exchanging status updates and actions at time. The other vital curse which social media have brought is the theft of identity and personal information by keeping the user blind of the fact that their personal information could have been used for any other purpose too which the user did not intended ever. It is a fact that social engines sell their some of their users information to marketing companies to grab more business and make more money. Market Research * Has the company conducted a market study of the target market? If so, state the supporting details to your business Yes the parent company, based in USA, has conducted a deep and detailed study for the entire targeted market. Market Segment * Define your market segment? The product has three market segments. Generic learners and Students from 13 to 20 years, Mid level learners and employees from age of 21 to 30 years and Professional which are 30+ years. List, in general, the types of customers you are likely to reach?

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 Students Employees Businessmen Companies Schools, Colleges, Universities

What is the weakness of your services/products in your market segment? The only weakness so far the product has to face is to bring awareness in the people to adopt this change. Marketing How are you planning to penetrate in the above segment(s)? What will be your primary marketing channel? What percentage of market share do you plan to obtain in your first two years of operation?

Position * How will you position your products/Services? (Good value for price, top quality, cheap and fun) Good Value against the price. Which is a position not presently being addressed by the competition? Quality and reliable services against the said price. Advertising, promotion, trade shows What is the advertising and promotion strategy? What would be the most efficient method? Product sampling, demonstrations, pilot projects, etc What trade shows would you likely participate in?

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Competition & Risk *

Competition Tell us about key competitors in regard to product/service, price, location, promotion, management, and financial position. Who do you compete directly with? Does the competition use the same or different suppliers? Business Risks What risk Does your organization face? What is your strategy to face these risks?

Management Team
State the competencies in your management team? List the people in the management with their tiles, and attach their CVs

Ownership * List the persons or organizations that are significant owners of the company, list shares held and percentages of ownership?

Professional Support Do you have any professional services such as Corporate Attorney, Accounting Firm, Other Consultants? If so list companies and the nature of the service

Board of [Advisors, Directors] * Does the company have a board of advisors, if so, list names, and current positions of the individuals.

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Capital Requirements *
What is the capital required? What is the breakdown of funds that would be spent: Complete development Purchase S/W, H/W Market the new/next product line Fund working capital Other [AED] [AED] [AED] [AED] [AED]

What is the payback period of these funds?

Financial Plan
Assumptions * State the main assumptions of your business? Number of forecasted clients Size of forecasted clients Other related assumptions

Income statements * An income statement, otherwise known as a profit and loss statement, is a summary of a companys profit or loss during any one given period of time, such as a month, three months, or one year. The income statement records all revenues for a business during this given period, as well as the operating expenses for the business. The income statement would include: Revenue Operating expenses

Balance Sheet Summary Comment on any large or unusual items, such as other current assets, other accounts payable, or accrued liabilities. Cash Flow and Break Even Analysis Please provide the following data Actual Cash Flow Statements These show an historic view, showing the actual flows of cash into and out of a business that have occurred over a previous trading period, e.g. 6 months, or 1 year. Forecast Cash Flow Statement * The Cash Flow should show the expected flows of cash into and out of a business over a trading period in the immediate future, e.g. next 3 year.

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Exhibits
Product literature and brochures Sales sheets Media coverage Clips from industry publications Relevant patents Market research data Past advertising campaigns Other

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