• business section.
• financial statements.
• appendix.
The sub-sections that come under the introductory elements of a business plan include;.
• Cover page: the purpose of which is to inform the reader of what they are about to read and how they can contact the business in question.
• Table of contents: the purpose of which is to guide the reader to the specific sections of the plan that they wish to access.
• Executive Summary: this is the first main section of any business plan as it is designed to communicate the potential to interested parties. By conveying factors that will make the venture a success and it is critical that this is included because so many readers of a business plan do not get past the executive summary unless they become sufficiently intrigued. It has been stated:.
"that the goal of the executive summary is to have the reader "read on" .
(2) Brown 1996.
The key elements that the executive summary should portray include; a well specified venture concept and corresponding product, a description of the ventures unique competitive advantage and technical development to date. As well as planned business development and technical milestones. It should also identify the ventures critical success factors and key risk areas, in addition to illustrating the amount of capital investment required and the timing thereof. Not to mention a representation of the expected return on investment, return on equity, and payback period predicted.
There are three core sections of the business plan remaining subsequent to the introductory elements, the next of which is the business section. .
This should convey the reader with information on the industry, status and trends that the organisation wishes to succeed in as well as including detailed product and development information, and a portrayal of the management team (including how many staff they already have and how many they will need to recruit) plus their overall marketing strategies.