Gomolemo Radipotsane

MUSHROOM BUSINESS PLAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary
1. Back Ground (Overview)
2. Organisational and Management Structure
3. Operational Plan
4. Marketing Plan
5. Internal Analysis
6. External Analysis
7. Financing Structure
8. Risk Analysis.
9. Financial projections (P&L, Cash flow & Balance sheet)
10. Implementation plan

Executive Summary
A mushroom company by a proposed name called Nutritious Mushroom Farm (NMF) will
established and recognized as a major supplier of exceptional quality mushrooms in Thamaga
and greater Gaborone. NMF will be owned and run by Gomolemo Radipotsane who has already
started mushroom trainings and farming at household level. She is bringing in her wealth of
farming horticulture and enterpreunship in the business.
NMF is aiming to become a leading profitable company that can compete favorably with other
mushroom business in Botswana and beyond. To be able to effectively compete against our
competitors, NMF intends to ensure that it hires the best professionals in the industry so as to
build the perfect mushroom business structure.
Due to the fact that mushrooms are edible products, we intend to ensure that our mushrooms are
grown in an environment that is conducive and hygienic. We are also growing the mushrooms
organically as we intend to ensure that our mushrooms pack a high dose of nutrition.
Because the demand for mushrooms is increasing as more people are recognizing its importance,
we have carefully chosen our channels of distribution that would ensure that our mushrooms
reach all our existing customers and open opportunities to reaching potential customers.
One of the strongest factors at the proposed business NMF apart from producing and selling
organic mushrooms will be the excellent customer care that will be provided to the customers
which will lead to a high retention rate for us and an overall healthy bottom line for the business.

Business Overview
Mushrooms which are usually grouped as vegetables are spongy and part of a fungus fleshy. It is
widely consumed due to its high medicinal and nutritional value especially as it is free from
cholesterol, fat and gluten and very low in sodium. There are over 2,300 species of edible
mushrooms grown and available globally.
There are basically several kinds of edible mushrooms – such as common button agaricus,
criminis, portabellas, shiitake, oyster, wood ear, morels, chanterelles and enoki – in existence in
Botswana. Mushrooms in Botswana are usually sold as fresh and rarely on processed (dried,
canned, and frozen).
The most common mushrooms grown and consumed on a commercial scale in the Botswana are
the button agaricus, which in 2015 contributed 36.1% towards the total mushroom market.
Other mushrooms like the shiitake mushrooms are also popular mushrooms in Botswana but are
regarded as specialty mushrooms.
Globally, button agaricus, shiitake mushrooms and oyster mushrooms are what dominate the
production and consumption markets and as at 2015, these three kinds of mushrooms accounted
for 76% of the global market.
Factors that drive the mushroom business globally are consumer shift towards nutritional foods,
high demand for organic foods and development in high yield systems and the increasing power
of the supermarkets.

Vision
To be a highly competitive regional mushroom producer of fresh quality mushrooms in
Botswana and beyond by 2026.
Mission
To practice sustainable farming practices by growing edible quality mushrooms in a controlled
environment and using organic substrates.
● Objectives
To have sold 10kg of mushrooms in a month
To supply mushrooms to about 3 more stores per month by year 2022
2. Organizational and Management Structure

❖ Chief Executive Officer

❖ Mushroom Farm Manager

❖ Purchasing Manager

❖ Administrative Manager

❖ Sales and Marketing Team

❖ Store Manager

❖ Front Desk Officer

❖ Accountant/cashier

❖ Delivery Driver

❖ Cleaner
Functions and Responsibilities
Chief Executive Officer

❖ Responsible for the overall direction of the company

❖ Networks with other mushroom businesses and high powered clients on behalf of the
company

❖ Oversees the management staff so as to increase their effectiveness.

Mushroom Farm Manager

❖ Responsible for growing the mushrooms

❖ Checks the mushrooms daily for defective ones

❖ Harvests the mushrooms when it is time

❖ Responsible for purchasing all the raw materials needed by the business

❖ Sources for reliable vendors and distributors for the business

❖ Keeps an accurate database of all purchases and vendors

❖ Ensures that the business runs smoothly with as less hitches as possible
❖ Ensures that employees have great welfare packages and better working environments

❖ Assigns and delegates tasks to employees and ensures that they are carried out accordingly

❖ Ensures that the store is kept clean and well ventilated at all times

❖ Checks level of inventory so as to know when to replenish stock

❖ Keeps accurate report of all stocks in the store

Front Desk Officer

❖ Is responsible for picking customer calls and taking down order requests or receiving
complaints

❖ Receives customers on behalf of staff and direct them to the appropriate quarters

❖ Keeps an accurate database of customers for future profiling purposes

Driver

❖ Delivers mushrooms to various accurate destinations using reliable routes

❖ Carry out light repair on delivery vehicle as well as regular maintenance as well

❖ Keeps an accurate logbook of distances travelled and also obeys all state and traffic laws
Cleaner

❖ Ensure the farm and the entire premises are kept clean at all times

❖ Ensures that the restroom for customers and employees are kept neat at all times

❖ Ensures that cleaning supplies are always in stock

Farm Laborers
 Required during spawn runs

 Loads goods and mushroom in vehicles

Management Structure
 Name Qualificati Age Nationality Shareholdin Position Experience
on
g%
Gomolemo Nil 49 Motswana 100 Chief nil
Radipotsane years Executive
Officer
New Staff Degree in 45 Any 0 Mushroom 5 years
Mushroom years nationality Farm
Farming Manager

RENUMERATION

POSITION NO. SALARY PER TOTAL TOTAL ANNUAL

EMPLOYEES PERSON PER MONTH SALARY (PULA)
MONTH (PULA) SALARY
(PULA)
Chief 1 2000.00 2000.00 24000.00
Executive
Officer
Mushroom 1 5000.00. 5000.00 60000.00
Farm
Manager
Driver 1 3000.00 3000.00 36000.00
Cleaner 2 1500.00 3000.00 36000.00
Farm 2 1200.00 2400.00 28800.00
Laborers

3. OPERATIONAL PLAN
The mushroom business will be located in Thamaga in my own land demarcated for agriculture
under a business name Nutritious Mushroom Farm (NMF). They require
no arable land for production and the abundant agriculture waste found countrywide offers
opportunity for production, which in turn provides a more economical and environmentally
friendly disposal system, and also they can easily grow in local conditions if the appropriate
requirements of food and moisture for growth are available. Oyster mushroom
(Pleurotusostreatus, Kummer) is the second largest commercially produced and important edible
mushroom in the world market after Agaricus mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms have been
cultivated using tree logs or containers such as shelves, boxes, bags, and bottles containing
growing media. We intend to grow and sell all the kinds of mushroom that is being consumed in
Botswana and will ensure that all our mushrooms are sold via our different outlets and even
directly from the farm. Because we know how important it is to ensure that our business remains
afloat, we intend to ensure that we create multiple sources of income that is in line with our
corporate culture as well as business’ goals and objectives. We however would like to stress that
all the routes we would take to make profit would be legal and within the permissible laws of
Botswana.
Some of the products and services we intend to engage in are:
❖ Fresh mushrooms such as common button agaricus, criminis, portabellas, shiitake, oysters,
medicinal reishi, lions mane, wood ear, enoki and maitake

❖ Processed mushrooms (dried, canned, frozen)

❖ Offer consultancy and advisory services
❖ Sell eBooks for intending new farmers
❖ Give trainings

LIST OF FIXED ASSETS REQUIRED

LIST OF NAME OF COST OF COST OF TOTAL

MACHINERY SUPPLIER EXISTING MACHINERY AMOUNT
MACHINERY TO BE
SOURCED
Racks Local store 0.00 P1500.00 P1500.00
Shelves 0.00 P1000.00 P1000.00
Tools-digging P500 0.00
fork,
wheelbarrow

Vehicle Toyota 0.00 P15000.00 P15000.00

Furniture and own 0.00 P500.00 P500
Fitting

RAW MATERIALS REQUIRED

 LIST OF RAW NAME OF SUPPLIER AMOUNT
MATERIALS
Maize straw Local farmers P100 per 50kg
Spawn Local P100 per 1kg
Growing Bags Local stores P50
Packing Materials Local store P100 per 100 pieces

Maize straws are readily available from farmers locally and I will also be ploughing maize to get
maize substrate every year during ploughing season. Machinery is also readily available locally.
Nowadays internet has become important tool to get latest information. There are various
websites available on Mushroom production which provides useful content. This information
will be shared to farmers. Field visits of mushroom growers will be arranged to successful units
and research stations which will motivate them to adapt good mushroom production practices.

MARKETTING PLAN
Mushroom Farming Business Plan – SWOT Analysis

● Strengths
The strength of our business lies in the fact that we would be growing various kinds of edible
mushrooms to be able to reach a wide number of customers. Asides, offering fresh and processed
mushrooms to our various customers, we will also offer training to intending mushroom farmers
as well as consultancy services as well. Also, we have carefully chosen and perfected all our
channels of distributions, so that our mushrooms can conveniently reach all our customers.
Because we know how important customers are to a business, we are offering an excellent
customer service that will attend to the needs of our customers by attending to their requests,
enquiries and orders and promptly resolving any complaints.
● Weaknesses
The mushroom business isn’t new, which means that there are other established mushroom
businesses in and around Botswana. While this might be termed a weakness, we will however
put strategies in place to ensure that we create the right awareness with potential customers and
also ensure that our mushrooms are of the highest quality, as this we believe will effectively
combat the other competitors.
● Opportunities
Because mushrooms are a healthy meal for everyone, there are loads of opportunities that
abound in this field, from those who are looking to start this business and need guidance. Also,
because we are always on the lookout for new innovations and technologies in this field, we
would be the perfect consultants for those who are new in the business and are looking for better
ways to grow their business.

● Threats
Every business faces threats every now and then and we acknowledge that we are going to face
threats likely in the arrival of new competitors to our same location. The threat brought by this
action can be curbed as we have strategies in place to combat any new strong competitor’s
arrival.
MARKET ANALYSIS
● Market Trends
The mushroom market which has grown tremendously and is expected to continue is majorly
drive by customers for consuming food that is healthy. Also, other trends include, increase in the
processed food consumption and the ease of growing mushrooms.
This does not however mean that it is all rosy for the mushroom farmers as the limited shelf life
of mushrooms is a serious hindrance to the business. The mushroom market is filled with intense
competitors – small, medium and large scale – who apply various strategies to attract potential
customers while also aiming to retain their own customers as well.
Another trend is the fact that mushrooms have multi-functional benefits especially as they are
rich in proteins and have low or no fat and cholesterol. These nutritional values have nearly
equated mushrooms as super foods. Also, mushrooms have been widely adopted by most
growers in Botswana, with most selling their products in the farmer’s market.
The major challenge to the mushroom business has always been the limited shelf life but even
that would soon change as there are several improving technologies, innovations as well as
researches being constantly carried out to ensure that more people can have their mushrooms
stay in their homes longer as well as more farmers storing their harvested mushrooms without
worrying due to spoilage.

● Target Market
Mushrooms are a favorite of many homes and so we know that we have a huge target market
available to buy our mushrooms. However, because we do not want to be limited by our idea of
target market, we have also decided to carry out an in depth research into what to expect from
our target market.
This would also help us to be able to draft effective strategies to conquer these target markets in
and around Botswana and also in all other locations where we intend for our mushrooms to be
sold at. The market research will be done with the aid of a farm business consultant who has vast
experience in the mushroom market, leading us to identify the markets that would patronize our
products.
Asides selling mushrooms in retail, we also intend to sell them wholesale to the following groups
of people;

❖ Local health food stores

❖ Households

❖ Farmers’ markets

❖ Supermarkets

❖ Restaurants (Regular and oriental)

❖ Hotels

❖ Factory cafeterias

❖ College cafeterias

❖ Produce places

❖ Caterers and catering services

❖ Food coops

❖ Health spas

4.1 DEMAND ANALYSIS

Competitive Advantage
Our vision of establishing Nutritious Mushroom Farm is so as to meet the needs of mushroom
loving customers by growing all the different mushrooms consumed in Botswana and also to
become the leading mushroom business not only in Botswana but also beyond borders as well.
Our major competitive advantage is in ensuring that we have hired competent hands on board to
ensure that work on our farm goes on smoothly. Our hired employees will work in an
environment that is conducive so as to ensure that they attain a high level of productivity. Also,
we intend to have welfare packages in place that will show our employees that we care about
their welfare.
Customers are the most important reasons a business succeeds, especially loyal customers. We
intend to have an excellent customer service where all the enquiries, complaints and orders will
be promptly attended to. We also intend to have an incentive referral program for our loyal
customers and even our first timers, this will ensure that our customers retain their loyalty to our
brand, thereby giving us the competitive advantage we would need to become industry leaders.
Because we know how internet has inclined the world, we intend to push our business via the
internet as well, by ensuring we build a user friendly website where all our products and services
will be displayed. Also, we intend to remain active through our social media platforms such as
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

● Sources of Income

Nutritious Mushroom Farm has been established with the intention of making profit through
growing and selling of mushrooms in Botswana. We intend to grow and sell different kinds of
mushrooms, such as Shiitake, Oysters, Medicinal Reishi, Lions mane and maitake, so as to be
able to take a large share of the market. We intend to generate income for our business from
different sources such as;

❖ Different kinds of fresh mushrooms such as common button agaricus, criminis, portabellas,
shiitake, oysters, medicinal reishi, lions mane, wood ear, enoki and maitake

❖ Processed mushrooms (frozen, dried, canned)

❖ Offer consultancy and advisory services

❖ Sell eBooks for intending new farmers

❖ Give trainings

Sales Forecast
Due to the fact that mushrooms have zero cholesterol or fat in it, most people have incorporated
into their diets, which means there will always be a demand for mushrooms in Botswana.
Our intention of growing all the kinds of mushroom consumed in Botswana is enough to not only
solidify our position as a leading brand in the business but also means that we would meet our
sales target within a year of growing and running the business.
We will carry out a critical evaluation of our target market via the help of a hired business
consultant and will be able to effectively gather facts in the industry that not only analyzed our
chances of success but also showed how we intend to make our revenue and profit generation
possible in Botswana.
The data below shows the sales projection for NMF:

❖ First Fiscal Year-: P500, 000.00

❖ Second Fiscal Year-: P1, 000,000.00

❖ Third Fiscal Year-: P1, 500, 000, 00

● Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

In successfully marketing mushroom, it will be well packaged, branded and of the highest
quality. In ensuring that our products and services reach as many of our target market as
possible, we will ensure that we sell our products directly to the public via farmers’ market and
special food festivals. Our products can also be sold via wholesalers and through our official
website online. All our channels of distribution will be carefully chosen so that we can
effectively penetrate the market.
Our marketing and sales team has been fully empowered to ensure that our corporate sales and
marketing goals are fully achieved. Most of the strategies that would be used by our marketing
team are those that will take cognizance of our overall organizational objectives.
Nutritious Mushroom Farm will use the following strategies below to effectively market our
different kinds of mushrooms to our different customers;

❖ Creating a website and ensuring that our products and services offered are prominently
displayed

❖ Using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram to effectively market our goods

❖ Sending out weekly or monthly newsletters to existing and potential customers about
mushrooms and its benefits

❖ Networking with other mushroom farmers to ensure we are well known

❖ Distribute flyers in strategic locations

❖ Advertise our mushroom business via television, radio and newspapers

❖ Engage in word of mouth marketing

❖ Reward our customers with incentives if they refer customers to us

❖ Sponsor relevant activities and events in the local community

❖ Use letter drops and mail outs to effectively promote our mushroom business
Publicity and Advertising Strategy
Some of the platforms we intend to use in publicizing and advertising our mushroom farm
business include;

❖ Creating a unique website and making sure that we engage our customers vigorously through
our webpage

❖ Participating in all food festivals and trade fairs for networking purposes

❖ Placing adverts in local newspapers, food and lifestyle magazines as well as on radio and
television stations

❖ Distribute our unique fliers in various strategic locations

❖ Make use of our social media platforms lime Instagram and Facebook to promote our
different kinds of mushrooms and the business in overall.

❖ Participate in community programs and relevant events

❖ Install billboards in various strategies and conspicuous locations all around

Pricing Strategy
The prices for our mushrooms will totally depend on the kind of mushrooms as some breed
demand more attention than others. We would also cut down costs where necessary so that we do
not fix an unnecessary cost into our final price. This means that we would be fair to our
customers and ourselves as regarding the price we would set for our mushrooms.

● Start – Up Expenditure (Budget)

The key areas where we will expect to spend our start-up capital on are;

❖ Total Fees for registering the business P1500.00

❖ Cost of start-up inventory (spawn, substrate, growing bags, packaging materials) –

❖ Cost of store equipment (racks, bin, shelves) – P184 800.00

❖ Purchase of fairly used vehicle – P150,000.00

❖ Other start-up expenses (stationeries, furniture, computer, phone, printer) – P500.00

All this money will be from savings.
Sustainability and Expansion Strategy
The major aim of any business is to make profit. However, the aim of this profit making for most
companies is to ensure that the life cycle of the business is sustained for a long time to come
through competence of the employees, increase in customer retention, excellent customer care
and intensive publicity and advertisement.
We also intend to ensure that our employees work in a conducive environment, and our strategic
location has ensure that there is ease in accessing the farm. Our employees should also be able to
effectively communicate the brand for all our customers – existing and potential. Knowing how
important it is for our employees to remain happy thereby increasing their productivity, we
intend to have enviable welfare packages in place for all our employees and also have fringe
benefits and promotion structures in place to reward all our hardworking employees. We will
also ensure that our management staff benefit from our profits. We also intend to constantly
train our employees so that they will remain updated on new innovations and technologies
needed to make growing and selling mushrooms easier.
All these put in place will ensure that we attain our sustainability and expansion dreams while
also achieving our goals and objectives of becoming industry leaders.
Check List / Milestone

❖ Business Name Availability Check:

❖ Business Registration:

❖ Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts:

❖ Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines:

❖ Opening Mobile Money Accounts:

❖ Opening Online Payment Platforms:

❖ Application for business license and permit:

❖ Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed

❖ Writing of Business Plan: Completed

❖ Drafting of Employee’s Handbook:

❖ Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress

❖ Design of The Company’s Logo:

❖ Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In

Progress

❖ Recruitment of employees:

❖ Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress

❖ Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress

❖ Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured

❖ Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress

❖ Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers / merchants: In

Progress

❖ Purchase of vehicle: in progress

NB: All Preparation for Projected Financial Statement, Financing Structure and Projections will
be conducted by a Financial Consultant that I will engage as I am limited in acconts