How to Write a Business Plan in South Africa

Part 10 of 15 · Sector playbooks

Part 10: What Changes by Industry

The structure of a business plan is universal. The evidence is not. This part sets out, sector by sector, the licences funders check, the metrics they benchmark, the risks they probe, and the single thing that most often sinks an application in that industry.

Use this part as a checklist against your draft. If your plan does not address the “most common fatal gap” for your sector, it is not finished.

Chapter 58Sector playbooks

Agriculture and agro-processing

Element	What funders require
Land and tenure	Title deed, long lease, PTO or communal tenure arrangement — with security of tenure at least as long as the loan
Water	Water use licence or registered entitlement, borehole yield tests, irrigation design
Agronomics	Soil analysis, yield assumptions benchmarked to district averages, crop calendar, input schedule
Offtake	Signed offtake or market agent arrangement; commodity price assumptions with a stated source
Risk	Crop insurance, drought and hail cover, disease protocols, biosecurity
Metrics benchmarked	Yield per hectare, cost per hectare, gross margin per hectare, stocking rate, mortality rate, feed conversion ratio
Most common fatal gap	Yield assumptions above district norms with no agronomic justification — and no seasonal working capital for the gap between planting and payment

Mining, mining services and beneficiation

Element	What funders require
Rights and permits	Mining right or permit, prospecting right, environmental authorisation, water use licence, rehabilitation guarantee
Resource	Competent person’s report; resource and reserve classification (SAMREC)
For service providers	Mine vendor accreditation, safety record, MHSA compliance, contract term and scope
Metrics	Cost per tonne, recovery rate, strip ratio, availability and utilisation of equipment, LTIFR
Most common fatal gap	For suppliers: dependence on one mine with a contract shorter than the asset finance term. For miners: rehabilitation liability not funded

Manufacturing

Element	What funders require
Capacity	Machine specifications, throughput per shift, planned utilisation, bottleneck analysis
Costing	Bill of materials per unit, labour minutes per unit, scrap rate, energy per unit
Compliance	SABS or relevant standards, factory licensing, occupational health and safety, environmental permits
Localisation	Import replacement value, local content percentage — central to IDC and dtic support
Metrics	Overall equipment effectiveness, unit cost, scrap %, order-to-delivery lead time
Most common fatal gap	Forecast volumes exceeding installed capacity with no capex for the second machine; and understated energy cost

Retail, e-commerce and wholesale

Element	What funders require
Location and lease	Foot traffic data, catchment demographics, lease term, escalation, turnover clause
Stock	Stock turn assumption, shrinkage provision, supplier terms, seasonality profile
Channel economics (e-commerce)	CAC, conversion rate, average order value, return rate, delivery cost per order, repeat purchase rate
Metrics	Sales per square metre, gross margin return on inventory, stock turn, basket size, shrinkage %
Most common fatal gap	Stock funding excluded from the request. Retailers borrow for the fit-out and then cannot fill the shelves

Restaurants, food service and hospitality

Element	What funders require
Compliance	Certificate of Acceptability (health), liquor licence, fire clearance, zoning, business licence
Unit economics	Covers per day, average spend, food cost %, beverage cost %, labour %, wastage %
Ramp	Honest 6–12 month build to steady-state trade; seasonality and day-part mix
Metrics	Food cost 28–35%, labour 22–30%, rent below 10% of turnover, occupancy % for accommodation, RevPAR, ADR
Most common fatal gap	Month-one full trade assumptions, and no provision for the three to five months of losses that almost every new restaurant incurs

Construction and built environment

Element	What funders require
Registration	CIDB grading (and the grade required for target tenders), NHBRC for residential, professional registrations
Contracts	Order book with values and durations, retention terms, payment certificates history, JBCC or NEC contract terms
Working capital	Explicit modelling of retention (typically 5–10%), certification delays, and material price escalation
Guarantees	Performance and advance payment guarantee facilities — and their cost
Metrics	Gross margin per contract, work-in-progress, contract cash curve, order book cover in months
Most common fatal gap	Ignoring retention and certification lag. A contractor with a full order book and no working capital line fails predictably

Transport and logistics

Element	What funders require
Licensing	Operating licence, cross-border permits, roadworthy certificates, driver PrDPs, goods-in-transit insurance
Vehicle economics	Cost per kilometre built up from fuel, tyres, maintenance, tolls, insurance, driver cost, and finance
Utilisation	Loaded versus empty kilometres, backhaul strategy, trips per vehicle per month
Metrics	Cost per km, revenue per km, utilisation %, fuel consumption (l/100km), maintenance cost per km, fleet age
Most common fatal gap	Underestimating maintenance and tyre cost, and financing vehicles over a term longer than the contract that pays for them

Healthcare, day care and education

Element	What funders require
Registration	HPCSA or SANC registration, Department of Health licence, ECD registration and DSD compliance, Department of Basic Education or DHET registration and Umalusi accreditation
Premises	Zoning for the use, health and fire clearance, prescribed space per child or learner, ablution ratios
Revenue model	Medical aid tariffs versus cash, subsidy per child, fee structure, collection rate and bad debt
Metrics	Occupancy or enrolment %, revenue per patient or learner, staff-to-child ratio, collection rate
Most common fatal gap	Fee collection rates modelled at 100%. In private schooling and day care, 85–93% is realistic and the difference is your entire margin

Renewable energy and energy services

Element	What funders require
Permitting	NERSA registration where required, grid connection or wheeling agreement, municipal approval, environmental authorisation
Technical	Yield study (irradiation or wind resource), EPC contract, warranty and O&M terms, equipment tier
Offtake	Power purchase agreement with term, tariff, escalation and creditworthy counterparty — the single most important document
Metrics	LCOE, capacity factor, performance ratio, availability, degradation rate, DSCR through the PPA term
Most common fatal gap	No bankable PPA. Without a signed offtake with a creditworthy counterparty, a generation project is not project-financeable

Professional services, technology and creative

Element	What funders require
Capacity model	Billable hours, utilisation target, realisation rate, rate card, staff leverage ratio
For technology	MRR/ARR, churn, net revenue retention, gross margin after hosting, CAC payback, IP assignment
Dependency	Concentration on founder relationships; documented processes; contracted client base
Metrics	Utilisation 65–80%, revenue per employee, MRR growth, churn below 3% monthly for SME SaaS
Most common fatal gap	Key-person dependency with no documented process, and unassigned IP sitting with contractors

Cleaning, security, waste and facilities services

Element	What funders require
Registration	PSIRA for security, waste management licence for waste, sectoral determination or bargaining council compliance, COIDA letter of good standing
Contract quality	Contract term, notice period, escalation clause, scope creep protection
Labour	Compliance with the applicable minimum wage, overtime, PPE, training — the largest cost and the largest risk
Metrics	Gross margin per site 25–40%, labour as % of revenue, contract retention rate, cost per square metre
Most common fatal gap	Bidding below the compliant labour cost. If your price cannot fund the sectoral minimum plus statutory contributions, the contract is a loss-maker and funders will spot it

Tourism, franchising and social enterprise

Element	What funders require
Tourism	Grading, seasonality profile with monthly occupancy, source-market mix, booking channel costs (OTA commissions of 15–20%)
Franchising	Franchise agreement, disclosure document, franchisor support terms, territory rights, initial and ongoing fees, franchisor’s own financials
Social enterprise	Theory of change, impact metrics and how they are measured, blended revenue model, and honesty about which activities are subsidised
Most common fatal gap	Tourism: annualising peak-season performance. Franchising: not modelling the royalty and marketing levy. Social enterprise: an impact narrative with no commercial engine underneath

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How to Write a Business Plan