How To Write A Good Pharmacy Business Proposal For Bank Loan

Pharmacy business proposal

Most pharmacist in Nigeria like to own a pharmacy business. Their major setback is start-up capital. They fear bank loans because of their difficult terms and conditions. The few that meets these requirements and apply may not get approval. Corp members are privilege to enjoy soft loan from three sources (bank of industry, central bank of Nigeria and NYSC foundation) with no stringent conditions. Due to this, many apply. However, very few get approval. This is most likely due to failure to provide a robust business proposal.
Acquiring a loan for an existing business is easier than a start-up. All it takes is to state the current stand of the business, what the loan will cover, the value of the loan and how to repay. On the other hand, acquiring loan for a start-up require you to prove beyond reasonable doubt why the business is profitable, the start-up costs, the potential profits with little risk.
Read Also: Low interest rate loan for corp members
A business proposal is like a project. It covers every details necessary to prove the value of the business. It shows in details every possible move to set it up, keep it running and how to reduce risk. It is with the proposal you can prove you have the academic and or professional qualifications to handle the business. In cases some of your services fall short of some task, who is to be called upon to fix it or solve it. Thus a good business proposal answer the following questions;
1. What is the problem
2. How will the business proffer a solution
3. How much will it cost to set up the business
4. What skills are on ground to achieve it
5. How will you repay
6. Legal notes
If the above questions are well answered, there is a high chance it will be approved.

Pharmacy Business Proposal

Before you begin a proposal, first you must consider your business plan. Most of the content of a business plan is added to a business proposal. A business plan is all about you. It outline goals and how these goals are to be met. The proposal is to tell the bank how the business plan will work out with strategy.

Information

You cannot write a good business proposal without having a first hand information about things outside the profession. That you know about drugs is no guarantee that you will have a good business plan. You need to read and ask questions those who are in other fields. Get answers from those who just got a business of your choice running. Even if it a new concept entirely, experience on other fields can help a lot. Information such as a population of a place, the academic standard, work ethics, nature of jobs, roads network, cost of services, cost of living, etc play a vital role in understanding a business environment.
You need to gather some information about your target audience, their problem and what they actually wants. You may be surprise to find out that it may be different from the services you intend to render.

Write A Sample

For a start, write out some draft about your strategy to start the business. Keep reading it everyday. As you sleep and wake up everyday, you will see more loopholes to attend to. After some days, you can then sit down to do the final write-up.

Writing A Pharmacy Business Proposal

When writing a good proposal, you can either start from the top or the bottom. From the top, you tell the reader who is your target audience. Then explain the problem they are facing and how you intend to solve it for them. Explain why they will be willing and able to afford the cost of your service. You can then proceed to how they can contact you, your location, the cost of you location and how you intend to source for professional helping hands. Lastly, touch on how to get your materials needed to serve your target audience. The highlight of proposal is your cash flow. This detail the expected expenditure, sales and profit margin over an expected time frame which will help predict repayment plan.
For example, a community in delta state have a population of over 200000 men and women as at the last population census but have just one patent medicine store in the community with no visible presence of at least a clinic. The service of the patent dealer is not serving them enough due to the population and it is below standard but still the people need better service. They are peasant farmers but are willing to afford good pharmaceutical service. Citing a community pharmacy at the outskirt of the community will pay off as the next village will also benefit from the services because they have not even a single patent medicine store in their own village.
Read Also: NYSC camp registration procedure
The rent of the shop in the community is cheap with low cost of service. There are few secondary school students who will be willing to join the team as sales assistant as well as a pharmacy technician who promise to work in the community if there is accommodation. Every materials needed to run a community pharmacy can be source from the community. They also have a fairly stable power supply that can keep the fridge running. The nearest drug market is not very far off with good road network. The drugs there are genuine and cost are ok. (This is just a simple sample).
The above example can be reverse starting with the drug market. However, you can see that without much talks, I was able to point out the fact that there is no competition or the competition is weak without actually talking about it. But when there is likely going to be competition from others, state what your likely competitors are doing wrong and how you intend to capitalize on it to get more customers.
Also, the above proposal did not touch anything about cash flow. The cash flow should be included to help make the proposal solid. State the task, the cost estimate and multiply the cost by 1.5 to cover for unexpected expenses.
There is a design for business proposal. It is not a plain text. There is standard but common sense works. The proposal must be type. The font, size, colour, template and design should all match. They must make for an easy read. Avoid using long sentences and paragraphs. Make use of many headings, bullet points or numbers, images and graphic illustration. It should be interesting to read with a good layout and format. It should be like a story telling.

Topics In A Business Proposal

1. Cover /title page

This is the first page in a business proposal. It should contain some simple design. The title must be simple, self explanatory and short. Other details include your name, contact information, the name of the person (bank) you are submitting the information to, date of preparation and any other useful reference.

2. Introduction And Executive Summary

This is the point to sell yourself as the right person with the right business idea. You should be able to sell your expertise in the field. If the business is to be owned by many persons, explain all their strength and how each can contribute to the success of the business.
Focus on how to prove that the business is the best and how to get customers. It should be focused and persuasive. They need to know your vision, mission, objectives, aims and goals.

3. Table Of Content

Not very important. It show all the topics covered in the proposal. This is good for a proposal that is long. However for corp members applying for the three loans above, they may not need this because their proposal should be short.

4. Body/Project Details

This is the main proposal. This is where you detail everything about the business as well as cash flow. The cash flow involve the capital in renting the shop, cost of furniture and every other expenses expected to come up. Estimate your monthly income and expenditure for like half the period of the loan. If say the loan is for seven years, then estimate for three and a half year. As you carefully analyse these, always visualise risk and include it and how to reduce chances of risk. If possible, state how to overcome the risk if it arises (methodology). The total expenditure should not be more than the loan. If it falls above it, you have to prove you have the capital to cover those extras. Also provide timeline for repayment. You can use a table for this part.
Talk about your employees. Explain the role each person will play and their responsibility. Inside their overhead cost for their service and how they will provide benefit to the company. Also, state your existing project. If you already have a shop, explain it in the proposal and what is needed to make it up to standard and how the loan will help..

5. References

Reference is very important for an existing business. You can make reference to previous loans and repayment plan and how well you met up. If not, pin point some past successful business deals that you pulled through on your own. Even if it is small investment, include it. Refer to your past client.

6. Disclaimer/Legal Statement

This a statement that keep you safe in case of eventuality. You can include 'this profit margin may change if selling price or cost price change which may affect repayment plan.'

7. Collateral

This is what you are expected to part with in case things do not go as planned.
Read Also: How to create a a good video CV for NYSC job portal

Proofread

Read through the work again and again. This is to help reduce unnecessary words. Delete professional jargon s the readers may not understand because they may not be in the profession. Use simple terms that will bring out the beauty of the business.
Give somebody else to read through the proposal. A neutral person is best. Ask them what they understood by all your write-up. If there is anywhere they are not clear on, do not explain it to them yet. Look at how to explain it better in text. Let them read it again if they will understand it now. Give it to someone good in command of English language to clean up the work.
When you are done, get your own copy and submit the work. Remember, you can be called upon to explain your business proposal verbally anytime if need be. Always be prepared.
If you want a community pharmacy business proposal, you can request for one. Send me an email at phcgaius@gmail.com or my mobile number at 08081062183. I can draft it within 24 hours.