This virtual platform is a global initiative of IPPF’s Social Enterprise (SE) Hub to empower and provide our Member Associations (MA) with a custom-designed online business plan tool. This tool is expected to help Member Associations (MAs) to systematically align their social enterprise business information and generate a report.

In the first instance, it indicates to the users the steps of planning and raising important questions so that they can consider all relevant aspects, make an informed decision and bring the business idea to fruition.

Additionally, if used effectively, this tool can help create a plan that is focused, informative, and analytically appealing to the organization and the investors.

Click here to read and understand more about the benefits of a good business plan.

This tool is an exclusive offering for all staff and Board Members of IPPF MAs. It is offered free of cost. Staff from the IPPF Secretariat are also welcome to register and use it.

The submission of multiple business plans by different contact points within the MA for the same project is discouraged, while a collective input of the same plan is encouraged.

Yes. Also, it is custom-designed for IPPF Member Associations

Absolutely. The tool offers a standard format which also covers financial projections, sales analysis, business advice, in-depth reporting and a graphical analytical presentation of the data entered.

Basic business concepts, market conditions, strategies and actions, products and services, competitive edge, marketing plans, and financial data/projections.

The tool also provides a pricing calculator. Refer to our Glossary to read more about this feature.

Based on studies and experience, this information is important to avoid commercial pitfalls, identify tough competition and seek adequate funding from investors. The format also includes an executive summary: a concise overview of the key points of the document that a reader can easily review.

Click here to read and understand more about the contents of this system template.

Unfortunately, you cannot. This is a predefined and system-driven business plan format. What you enter will get reflected in the report as text, tables and graphs. However, if you feel an important area is missing and needs to be included into the format, please Contact Us at the SE Hub and share your feedback.

Yes, you can download the full template (go to ‘MY BUSINESS PLANS’ to access the option) of all the sections as one copy or even separate copies of the various sections/tabs as Word documents.

The finance section contents would be an Excel template.

Please make sure not to change the headings or fields of the template.

This platform is supported by all the IPPF languages (English, Arabic, Spanish and French).

No. Registration is mandatory to access and use the tool as this is an internal web platform for the benefit of IPPF Member Associations. Therefore, on registering, access will be granted by the SE Hub only for the Federation’s staff.

The registration process takes less than a minute, and you will receive prompt email notifications providing the status of your request.

This tool requires a fresh registration even if you have already registered with other SE Hub sites/tools. The registration process takes less than a minute and you will receive prompt email notifications providing the status of your request.

This is not encouraged for compliance and security guidelines purposes.
Therefore, it’s recommended you use your official email address.

When registering, remember to use a ‘strong password’ as prompted by the site.

It is recommended that your organization takes up an organizational Readiness Assessment. For this purpose, you can use the SE Hub’s ‘Readiness Assessment Tool’

If the readiness assessment has been completed and the outcome looks positive, then, as the next step, conceptualize the product or service around which you want to build a business model, have the relevant market research data in place and also the organization’s business location, structure and finance information at hand.

Yes. Click here to check out a high-level and simplified navigation guide.

This guide pops up when you log into the site and can also be accessed from the menu options.

Depending on the depth and the complexity of your business, developing a business plan can take some time. However, you can finish the business plan soon through a consultative effort with your colleagues.

To help a small business/enterprise owner to get a swift view of their financial strength and capabilities of the business. Balance sheets can identify and analyze trends, particularly in the area of receivables and payables.

Ideally, 12 months. The tool facilitates longer durations as well. But the recommended period is 12 months.

The balance sheet is projected for the upcoming year.

Yes, you can do a product or service based pricing and competitor based pricing using our pricing calculator within the financial tab.

This pricing calculator is a supplementary tool for you to test and work out various pricing options to arrive at the best-suited pricing approach for your product or service. Any figures calculated here will not auto-appear in your report.

Please refer to the ‘Help’ section within the finance tab or access the user manual for more information on this feature.

This is not permitted. We strongly recommend to avoid using inaccurate data/information or unverified/hypothetical figures for this assessment. It will then simply be a case of ‘garbage in, garbage out’. Besides results adopted through such an approach will reflect on the organization and could lead to yielding unfavorable results in the long run.

All recognized currency types.

You can draft your plan (applicable to pricing and financial data) by selecting your preferred currency from the list of currency options given.

The exchange rates are linked to a globally used and reliable currency exchange rate website.

Also, for the purpose of generating reports, if required - you can convert from the original selected currency to another currency type (e.g. USD to GBP) and extract the report with the desired currency. For this conversion action too, the tool supports all recognized currency types.

Yes, it does. The tool calculates the ‘Payback Period’, ‘Internal Rate of Return’, ‘Net Present Value’ and the sales projections.

Yes, if there is an organizational need to formally do so. Recommend to use externally - strictly upon the completion of the internal review cycle.

Simple. Purely for identification and differentiation reasons. This will help you when you have multiple plans under your profile and need to promptly access a relevant plan.

Yes, you can. It is highly recommended to create a business plan before the organization starts a social enterprise/business.

Yes, you can. It is comparatively easier to create a business plan for an ongoing business than a start-up.

200 words per section. An indication is given within the template as to where this applies.

2Of course. There is a real-time progress bar and percentage indicator to the left of the screen to indicate to you how much of the total plan you have completed.

Yes. Breakeven is auto-calculated based on a product/service or project. Projects such as pilot business trials or product testing can get the breakeven from the tool. The system facilitates product-wise breakeven calculations as well.

Yes, you can. The site does save your data automatically. To be safe though, just ensure to click ‘Save and Next’ and save your responses before you log out of the tool.

When you wish to recommence, you can log into your account, access the saved draft (using the unique name given to the plan) and continue from the point you previously stopped.

However, we would strongly recommend that you try your best to complete and submit the assessment in a focused manner without keeping it on draft for a long time.

Yes, you can. Just ensure to do all the edits before you submit it for review.

Once you submit, the Plan will be locked for review.

Certain fields/sections are mandatory (you will get a prompt when such fields are skipped). You cannot proceed ahead or submit for review until the mandatory fields are completed. Also, if you skip a non-mandatory area it will get reflected in the report as a blank or incomplete. Thus, we recommend that it is best to fill-in as much as you can to have a comprehensive business plan.

No, you cannot! The site will prompt you to complete all the mandatory fields before submitting.

6 months at most.

After 6 months, the data will be obsolete and many factors would have changed in your plans and Enterprise.

On submission, the Business Plan goes through to the SE Hub, and they will review your plan. You can track the progress in the ‘Dashboard’ and ‘My Business Plans’ section. This internal review process could take approximately two weeks. Overall, for any plan, by default, there would only be one round of review. If the user requires an additional round of review for any valid reasons, then please visit Contact Us and drop a note on your request.

Approximately, two weeks.

The status of your plan will be indicated in the ‘Dashboard’ and ‘My Business Plans’ section. Refer to the key/legend indicated there to know the status better.

You will also receive an email notification when a review has been carried out and the plan is returned for your action.

If the review process feedback (refer to the ‘review’ comments under each section/tab, and also the ‘final review’ comments) suggests for you to carry out edits or additions, then please consider those comments and apply them. The feedback given on your plan would only be with a neutral view to genuinely help you to strengthen your plan.

If the plan has been given positive comments and the review cycle is complete, then proceed to convert the currency to your preference and download a copy of the report for your purpose.

Also, thereon, the support from the SE Hub would primarily relate to consultation on moving ahead with the operational elements of the social enterprise project, technical assistance on setting up an enterprise, capacity building opportunities and general administration on project management. You can also connect with your regional office for any additional support or consultation.

Any financial assistance from the Hub is subject to the SEAP having an ongoing-active call for grant dispensation. Thus, it is highly advisable that your organization explores other financial options as opposed to having a funding expectation from the Hub.

Simple. Go to the “Preview and Submit” section and click “EMAIL REPORT – PDF” button. On clicking this button, you can email the Plan to the desired email address. Note that the Plan can be emailed to only one address in any given instance.

You can decide the strength of your social enterprise/business initiative, profitability of the business and financial sustainability.

Sales projections, payback period calculation, internal rate of return are some of the auto calculated parameters which would help with your decision-making process.

There is also a pricing calculator for you to test and work out various pricing options to arrive at the best-suited pricing approach for your product or service. (Any figures calculated here will not auto-appear in your business plan.)

You can view the below information and features:

• your recent three business plans
• ‘status’ of each of these plans
• when they were created or last edited
• action buttons: ‘view’, check ‘review’ comments, ‘edit’ or ‘delete’ the plan, reopen request

You can view the below information and features:

• all your recent business plans
• ‘status’ of each of these plans
• when they were created
• when the last action took place on these plans
• action buttons: ‘view’, check ‘review’ comments, ‘edit’, ‘download’ a report, reopen request, delete

Of course. You can download the business plan as a PDF document.

We recommend you to download the finalized business plan only after the review cycle is complete.

Yes, you can download it from the “Preview and Submit” section by clicking the “Download Business Canvas – PDF” button.

In the first instance when you click on the delete button, you will get a prompt asking you to confirm if you wish to delete the plan. If you do confirm on it and delete it, then you can access the ‘Deleted Business Plans’ option from the left menu and recover the plan.

Though currently there isn’t a custom-developed mobile app for this tool, you can still access it from your tablet and mobile phone. However, visibility and certain features will definitely look and work better on your desktop PC or laptop.

Thus, the SE Hub recommends you to use a desktop or laptop to access the tool and draft your business plan.

The tool has been designed and tested to support and be compatible with all the commonly used and safe web browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari and Opera. If the tool happens not to work on the browser that you are using, please contact your local IT team for first-level assistance. If you do not receive a solution, then please Contact Us at the SE Hub, and we will try to help if it’s something within our control to assist.

This is most likely due to a pop-up blocker on your browser. Note that once your pop-up blocker is disabled, you can try relaunching.

You may also try clearing your ‘cache’ from your browser settings and refresh the web page.

The other technical reason for this to happen could be due to internet connectivity or bandwidth issues.

For assistance on the above, please get in touch with your IT team.

Of course. Your Association is free to connect with the SE Hub at any point for assistance on this topic or other general areas of support. This platform has been designed to provide a certain level of standardization and the convenience of automated business plan. All other usual modes of connectivity and communication with the SE Hub are still applicable and can be pursued.

Yes, you can. There is a blue chat icon in the right-hand bottom of the screen. Just complete the fields, type your message and send. A contact point from the SE Hub will get in touch.

Refer Contact Us for more information and modes of communication.

Please refer the Contact Us section for details on how to get in touch with the SE Hub to raise your queries/concerns.

You can also connect with us through the chat feature. This chat option is the blue chat icon visible at the right-hand bottom of the screen. Just complete the fields, type your message and ‘start chat/send’.
A contact point from the SE Hub will then get in touch.

You can also register or browse through the below mentioned online platforms which may interest you:

• Social Enterprise Academy/Website
• Readiness Assessment Tool
• Online store for IPPF MAs
• IPPF Workplace - Social Enterprise - Open group

Currently, due to security reasons, we have disabled the function where you can change your own details after registration. Therefore, please reach us (SE Hub) through the Contact Us section and drop us a note on your change request.

Simple. Click the Forgot Password option in the ‘Log In’ box (login page) and follow the instructions.

Do make a ‘mental note’ of your new password after you reset it.

Please go into ‘Change Password’ which is under My Profile on the top right corner (profile icon) and proceed to change the password to your preference. Do make a ‘mental note’ of your new password after you change it.

Click here to read and understand the Data and Information Privacy Notice.

Additionally, measures have also been taken to ensure that this platform is supported with SSL certification.

There is an option given as Rate Us inside the tool to share your rating and comments to help us understand your experience and also to further improve the tool.

Additionally, refer Contact Us on . how you can reach out to the SE Hub to share your comments.

This is rather unfortunate but we understand that you may decide to do this due to personal or professional reasons (including change of employment). If so, please reach us through the Contact Us section and drop us a note with your request.

Once the SE Hub takes the necessary action, you will receive an email confirming the deletion of the account.

Checkout our Glossary and be well-informed before you commence drafting your business plan.

Try reading through our User Manual which covers the features and functions of the site.

In case your question is still not clarified, not to worry…just simply connect with us through theContact Usoptions and raise your query.