Business Plan
Introduction
The world has been negatively affected by the Coronavirus pandemic as many sectors of the economy in various countries, including the UAE, have been hampered completely. In the wake of this pandemic, the WHO has issued various directives that aim at combating or rather containing the spread of this disease. Most notably, the most propagated preventive measure by both the WHO and UAE is the use of PPE, particularly medical masks and respirators. It is evident that many countries across the world now face PPEs shortages, and UAE is no exception. Given these PPE shortages, UAE should outline measures that will ease or promote the production of the PPEs. This shortage provides an opportunity to develop a project or a plan that will focus on the manufacturing of reusable masks (PPEs masks).
Business plan
Executive summary
This business plan seeks to provide a roadmap for the manufacturing of PPE (masks) that can be used to prevent the spread of Coronavirus among UAE citizens. The target market for this business is all the UAE citizens. The shortages of “PPEs” in UAE is the motivation behind this business project.
The PPE production plan will be centrally located in the UAE, and this mask will be sold at a price that is 15% less than the market price. Moreover, this mask will have three layers as opposed to the common masks that are often used. The estimated shelf life of this mask is one year and should be stored in a cool and dry place.
Since these masks are urgently needed as a result of the prevalence of Coronavirus in UAE, the target customers will be all the citizens in UAE and, more specifically, the low- and middle-class level citizens who are not able to purchase masks on a daily basis. These masks will be stationed at strategic places. For the less privileged household individuals, the door to door initiative will be undertaken. The product will be advertised on various platforms, which include; using billboards, social media platforms, as well as distributing hard copies in a bid to create awareness. The sales strategy that will be incorporated in this plan is the idea of online sales, which will be the main tool used to sell these masks. Given the ongoing advocacy to maintain social distancing, the best sales method will be to incorporate the “online sales strategy.” For the underprivileged groups who cannot purchase goods online for whatever reason, they will be reached out manually by the sales representative. Most of the masks that are produced in UAE are not reusable, and those that are reusable are expensive to the normal citizens. It is true, however, that close to 30% of the UAE population do not afford to purchase this reusable mask. This plan, however, aims at reaching out to these marginalized groups trough selling this mask at fair prices, which will be feasible for everyone. More broadly, several masks available in UAE are made of 3 layers, and by manufacturing a four-layer reusable mask, the market share for this type of masks will be increased significantly.
The distribution of these masks will begin at the most affected areas where the demand for masks is high, and therefore the sale of these masks will encounter little or no resistance as it enters the market. The masks company will also participate in the community programs as some of the already existing masks manufacturing companies are also participating in this program. This will soften the ground for the entry of this product into the existing mask market. Finally, special attention has been given to the idea of developing a label that will emphasize on the quality and reusable nature of this product. This will enable these masks production to leverage on the absence of enough reusable masks in UAE. The production of these masks will be carried out at one of the small companies that have halted operations as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, and since the production of masks is a tentative activity, it does not require a permanent structure. Ten sewing machines will be enough to start up the production process.
A funding request will be made to the government, well-wishers, the WHO, friends and everyone who is willing to support the containment of this pandemic. The starting capital will be required to kick off the production process is $10000 to be used to purchase materials and the sewing machines.
While careful planning was incorporated in setting up the goals and objectives of this project, in the event that these goals are not met, the zone of acceptability has been designed as follows. A 20% deviation from both sale and financial targets are accepted. Moreover, if 90% of all the goals and objectives are not met, various strategies and actions will be made, and this includes: liquidation of assets as well as contracting with the marketing specialist in UAE. Alternatively, merging with already established PPE producers will be another prudent option to incorporate. Finally, the scaling down of operations will be the last choice that will be carried out.
Conclusion
Due to the shortages of PPEs in most parts of UAE, the production of reusable and cheap masks will go a long way in the fight against Coronavirus since masks are the main preventive measure alongside social distancing that has been advocated by the UAE Ministry of health and prevention.