The Business Planning Program

"The Art of Crafting a Business Plan for Social Return on Investment," also known as the Business Planning Program (BPP), is a comprehensive blended learning program which utilizes both face-to-face and electronic methodologies to help organizations build expertise in business planning.

This innovative program covers such areas as: capturing and packaging breakthrough ideas, identifying target markets and marketing strategies, and determining the best complement of staff to develop the ideas. It also helps nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) navigate the financial aspects of a business plan—projecting both social and financial return on investment. The tools, techniques, and worksheets supplied during this learning experience serve to simplify the complexities of the business plan, while helping participants to balance their enthusiasm with facts.

Blended Learning

The BPP starts with a one-week face-to-face orientation, after which participants return to their work places where they draft sections of their business plans while consulting via e-mail with an assigned reviewer. Further instruction is delivered via six self-contained modules housed on a CD-ROM. Each module contains questions, assignments, and reference materials, and culminates in the completion of one section of the business plan. A team of three to six people from each organization authors the business plan, soliciting help from others in the organization as needed. The reviewers coach the participants and address any questions and concerns before the final version of each section is completed. A team captain oversees the completion of the assignments. By the end of the Business Planning Program, participants have a complete draft of a business plan—and the ability to sell their new product or service to investors.

A Worldwide Need

Program Objectives and Content Upon completing the Business Planning Program, participating organizations will have a sound business plan and skills they can use to draft business plans in the future. They will have learned to: Describe the unique features of their organization to engage a prospective funder or investor. Generate and articulate a breakthrough idea. Assess a potential market and design a marketing plan. Assemble a design and implementation team. Estimate financial needs. Project social and financial return on investment.

To offer the BPP throughout the developing world, Management Sciences for Health (MSH), under the Management and Leadership Program, has been training Program Partners to deliver the program. In Africa, the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation, and in Latin America, the PROCOSI NGO network, are now Business Planning Program Partners, prepared to maintain the program and enhance it into the future. After receiving extensive facilitator training, Program Partners are equipped with:

• BPP CD-ROM
• BPP Toolkit CD-ROM, which includes the Facilitator's Guide, the IT Guide, the Evaluation Tools, and other resources
• BPP Marketing Package CD-ROM, which includes a BPP promotional brochure, photo essays, and a slide show describing the BPP
• Mock-up Participant Binder

The goal is to prepare Program Partners to promote and deliver the BPP to organizations working to improve public health in their region. MSH's role is to provide updated materials, learning aids, and market leads to the partners.

Becoming a Program Partner opens up these potential revenue streams:

• Donor funding for their business plans
• Revenue from the introduction and sales of products and services described in their business plans
• Tuition income collected from organizations participating in the BPP

Participants

This blended learning program can help organizations significantly expand their funding base, while improving their ability to make a difference in the health of their target communities. Here is what participants have said:

"The program has contributed to changing our concepts. Financing or implementing a project that has the connotation of a "gift" is not the same as offering a service with shared responsibility and empowerment."

"This business planning program allows us to reflect carefully about not only what our organizations are today, but also what they could be tomorrow."

 More on the Business Planning Program
      English [PDF - 615KB]
      Español [PDF - 600KB]

 The PROCOSI Business Planning Evaluation Note - [PDF - 210KB]

 The Africa Business Planning Evaluation Note - [PDF - 86KB]

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