Playgroup Business Plan

The assignment involves creating a comprehensive business plan for starting a playgroup business. The focus is on supporting working women who lack time to properly care for their children. The plan should consider two main themes: 'discovering' and 'creating' opportunities. Key financial metrics such as initial investments, cash inflows, net present value (NPV) of $28359 with a 11.34% NPV percentage, and internal rate of return (IRR) of 13.25% should be analyzed and evaluated.

Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Entrepreneurial Themes...................................................................................................................1
DISCOVERING OPPORTUNITIES..............................................................................................2
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES.....................................................................................................2
Business idea development..............................................................................................................3
OPERATION PLAN...................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The business idea is to open a playgroup which can help the engaged mothers to leave
their child here. The idea has been chosen because it is a different concept and also can prove
helpful for the working mothers (Guilfoyle, Sims and Hutchins, 2010). The uniqueness of this
concept is that unlike other playgroups, it will be providing various different services such as
regular check ups, counselling from famous personalities so that a proper guidance can also be
given to the children and they can also be able to share whether they are going through any issue
etc. The target is acquiring admissions of a huge number of children by providing them their
appropriate services and care. The customers will be the children of engaged mothers who are
working and are not able to take care of the baby because of their roles and responsibilities.
Also, the playgroup will be helpful for those women who are suffering some sort of
violence in their home and do not want that its impact can be drawn on their child as well. So, it
can be a better option for the ladies that because of their small works such as going banks, or in
an appointment with a doctor etc. For these cases, this playgroup can be categorised as safe and
comfortable enough where the mothers can leave their child for a few hours. Unlike other play
grounds, where it has been observed that the staff members used to give the children some
medicines for sleep so that the child remain sleeping and do not demand for any food or anything
else. But in this playgroup, care will be taken with proper love and support (Conway, 2010). So
the mothers can leave their child in this playgroup and they can also ensure proper safety and a
well health as well. Reaching till these customers won't be easy but can be done by promoting
this playgroup by various means. Such as the promotion of the playgroup can be done by any
means such as through advertisements or through distribution of the pamphlets etc. So, it can be
considered as a better idea for reaching the customers. Also, proper check ups will be done in the
playgroup and the reports will be given to the parents so that they can themselves check that how
much their child have improved while living there.
Entrepreneurial Themes
Also, with the help of it, the children can also learn to stay active and playful which is
considered as a very good sign in the childhood. It is obvious enough that the customers, means
the families, mothers of the child want that there should be no sort of medication given to their
child without their consideration because parents are concerned of these factors as they feel it as
a risk factor that if some other medication is being given to the child, they may not affect bad on
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the child. So because of these risk factors, parents want that no sort of medical treatment should
be given to them without their own consideration, not even sleeping pills because in various
playgroups, it has been observed that the staff gives sleeping pills to the child so that they can
have a large sleep and they do not get awake to ask for anything. Another important factor,
parents are more concerned about is the safety of the child because at various times, there are
news that this much of children have been stolen etc., so preventing that risk from their minds,
parents are very much concerned for this that is their child safe and happy in the playgroup or
not. For ensuring this, they can visit the playgroup frequently and check themselves that what is
going on in the playgroup, what their child is doing inside it (Turner, Winefield and Chur-
Hansen, 2013). These are the general concerns which the mothers and the families are concerned
with. This business can provide these requirements of the customers by ensuring the safety of
the child and by providing them proper and healthy food. Also, they can try to engage the child
in various activities by which they can stay engaged. By this way, the child will learn various
games and also, learn to sty active and enough playful.
DISCOVERING OPPORTUNITIES
There are various themes as well which helps in determining the whole scenario.
Discovering opportunities can be considered as the first theme and creating opportunities can be
considered as the second one. The discovering opportunities can help the business in analysing
other business of the same sector. By this way, the playgroup can be able to get an idea that what
are the strengths of the other businesses and what are the drawbacks. So after analysing it, the
playgroup can be able to focus on how they can make improvements in their strengths and then
can involve some modifications in it. Also, while considering the drawbacks, the playgroup can
focus on the fact that they do not have to include any such factor that can also further act as a
drawback for this playgroup (Conway, 2010). Considering all the advantages and drawbacks can
act as a better option for discovering what they should include and what not. This will help them
in a better analysis and understanding.
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES
The next theme is creating opportunities. In this, rather than investigating about what
other playgroups are doing, one can think of some new and creative ideas which they can include
and are quite different from the others. As this playgroup has already decided various factors
which they have involved in their plan and it involves different types of services such as
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counselling, check ups, playing with the child etc. Also, they have a qualified staff as well as
they have decided initially the involvement of only 5 people which will be including the
psychologist, nursery staff, nurse, doctor and the teacher. The basic concept behind this
playgroup is that the engaged mom's can take some rest in between and during the time when
they have some other important work to do such as bank related work etc. The idea came after
doing an analysis that the working mothers are not able to take proper care of their children, so it
further affects the health of the children and it can be bad for them. So, this idea has been chosen
in order to provide a sort of support to those mothers.
Business idea development
OPERATION PLAN
The operation plan is to develop a playgroup in which the working mothers can leave
their child for a few hours. It is because usually the working mothers do not get enough time to
work and along with it, take care of the babies. Also, along with the working routine, many
times, the ladies also have some work such as related to bank etc. at that time as well, it becomes
difficult for the mothers to manage so in that case as well, they can leave their child in the
playgroup. In the playgroup, they can also be able to learn various things as there is a doctor, a
nurse, a teacher etc. so all of them can help in giving the child a sort of development which can
help them even for lifelong. The resources required along with the staff includes the proper place
that can be comfortable enough for child and where they can have fun and enjoyment as well.
This idea has been chosen because it is a quite different but interesting concept. The operational
plan can be represented as under :
Location A sort of care home where the children and
small babies can feel comfortable enough and
also, where the environment is healthy enough
for a better health of the children.
Cost Per Hour 50 Pounds
Staff Qualified Graduated with efficient personality skills and
a good communication
Money for Investment The play group can take financial help from
bank and after a few time, they will be able to
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return the specific amount.
Also, along with only the popularity of the business, it can provide help and support to
these mothers actually because various mothers are suffering from various issues because of
which they are not able to take care of the child (Berthelsen, Williams and Nicholson, 2012).
Yes, market research has also been carried out because after analysing the market, it can help the
play group more in implementing plans and procedures because. It is because after analysing the
market because by investigating about various firms which also deals with the same, by checking
all its operations and impact on the customers, which means that what advantages the firm get
and what are the drawbacks of the specific playgroup. By this, this playgroup can analyse better
that what type of options they should involve and what they should avoid. The marketing
strategy is that if the business will not work out in the market, then instead of starting any new
business, the playgroup will focus on including other processes and improve it till it can be
possible.
The marketing mix will be that the business will be covering all the Ps, that is they will
set an efficient amount of price that can act suitable for all the mothers, means it should be
enough affordable that all mothers can afford it, because not every mother may be a married
woman, there may be some single mothers as well and for them, it is really difficult to manage
the amount. So, an affordable price and at that place where it is required the most can help the
business in going better (Council, 2010). Considering other P's, the products they will serve to
the children must be healthy as well because their focus is not to compromise with the health of
the child. The financial plan is to take a part of amount as a loan from the bank and after some
time, the play group will complete all the investments. Making profit in this business is quite
hard as if the playgroup focuses on providing low quality food to the children, in that case, it
may very badly affect the health of the children and it is very big risk. So, the playgroup will not
for sure make profits by doing so.
Project A
Initial
investment -250000
1 40000 -210000
2 50000 -160000
3 55000 -105000
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4 80000 -25000
5 85000 60000
6 92000 152000
Project A
Initial
investment 250000
1 40000
2 50000
3 55000
4 80000
5 85000
6 92000
Total 310000
Average 62000
ARR 24.80%
Machine value 275000
Scrap value 41250
Number of years 6
Depreciation 38958.33333
Project A
Pv @
10% Present value
Initial
investment 250000
1 40000 0.909 36364
2 50000 0.826 41322
3 55000 0.751 41322
4 80000 0.683 54641
5 85000 0.621 52778
6 92000 0.564 51932
Total 278359
NPV 28359
11.34%
Project A
Initial investment -250000
1 40000
2 50000
3 55000
5

4 80000
5 85000
6 92000
IRR 13.25%
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that the playgroup for starting its business has a focus
on providing support and help to the women who are working and do not have much time for
taking proper care of the child. So for that, a playgroup has been decided as it is a quite different
concept and also, will be beneficial for the women who are working and because of any external
reason, are not able to take proper care of their child. Two themes, discovering and creating
opportunities have also been used that can help in implementation of the business plan for the
playgroup. Also, proper care of all the marketing mix and strategies have also been included in
the essay.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Council, B.D., 2010. NEW HOME FOR PLAYGROUP TO TAKE SHAPE.
Berthelsen, D.C., Williams, K.E., Abad, V., Vogel, L. and Nicholson, J., 2012. The parents at
playgroup research report: Engaging families in supported playgroups.
Berthelsen, D.C., Williams, K.E., Abad, V., Vogel, L. and Nicholson, J., 2012. The parents at
playgroup research report: Engaging families in supported playgroups.
Crowe, B., 2013. The playgroup movement (Vol. 3). Routledge.
Verny, T. and Weintraub, P., 2014. Nurturing the unborn child: A nine-month program for
soothing, stimulating, and communicating with your baby. Open Road Media.
Turner, M., Winefield, H. and Chur-Hansen, A., 2013. The emotional experiences and supports
for parents with babies in a neonatal nursery. Advances in Neonatal Care. 13(6). pp.438-
446.
Conway, E., 2010. Caring for your baby: birth to six months old. Health Service Executive.
Guilfoyle, A., Sims, M., Saggers, S. and Hutchins, T., 2010. Culturally strong childcare
programs for Indigenous children, families and communities. Australasian Journal of
Early Childhood. 35(3). p.68.
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