TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Symposium 1 - the National Sea ...

A. Description of business
This is a critical element to your plan. Just as a novelist has only a few pages (called "the
hood") in which to capture a reader's attention, you must make a positive impression in
the first few pages or risk losing your audience. You already start off with the
disadvantage that the banker or potential investor you approach with your plan is probably
not familiar with aquaculture, and even if they are, they are even less likely to be familiar
with the concept of operating an aquaculture business in an urban center. You should
briefly describe:
• The legal form your business will take
• Any licenses or permits you will need and how you will go about getting them
• Your products and/or services (i.e., fresh fish for the seafood trade, high quality
ornamental fish for the pet shop trade, high quality fry for grow out by established
aquaculture businesses).
• Whether this is a new venture, an expansion of an existing business, or a franchise
• A short list of reasons why your business will succeed.
• Why you have chosen aquaculture as the business you wish to enter and what
knowledge and skills you bring that apply to this field. Include both work experience
and academic resources.
Above all, show commitment and enthusiasm for the business in this section. This section
is a sales pitch. While you may not enjoy writing the plan, unless your enthusiasm for the
venture shines through, you will have a hard time convincing someone to risk their
finances backing you. If you are not a good writer, get professional help.
B. Marketing and the Marketing Plan
What are you selling and why (from the customer's perspective) should they buy from
you? This is what you must address in this section. Talk about the benefits you offer
compared to your competition and how you will communicate those benefits to your
customers.
When dealing with Urban Aquaculture, you have the opportunity to sell to a broader
spectrum of potential customers than more traditional fish farms do. A single business
could provide:
• Fresh seafood to grocery stores and restaurants, thus cutting out some of the
middlemen.
• Fry and fingerlings to other aquaculture businesses for grow out.
• High quality tropical fish and aquatic plants to local pet stores.
• Direct specialty sales to the public.
This should be a major point used to offset the potentially higher costs of operating a
business in an urban center rather than a rural area. Access to this diverse marketplace
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