Part 3 of 15 · Writing every section
Part 3: Executive Summary, Company, Products, Market and Competition
Six chapters, each following the same structure: what the section is for, what funders expect, the mistakes that trigger declines, and a good-versus-bad example you can hold your own draft against.
From here to the end of Part 5, every chapter covers one section of the plan. Write them in the order given — except the executive summary, which you write last and place first.
Chapter 15The Executive Summary
Purpose
To enable a busy, sceptical reader to make a preliminary decision without reading anything else. In practice, the executive summary determines whether the rest of the plan is read at all. It is the single highest-leverage page in the document, and it is almost always the worst-written.
What funders expect
One to two pages. Never three. It must independently answer eight questions:
- What does the business do, in one sentence a non-specialist understands?
- What problem does it solve, and for whom specifically?
- What is the evidence that customers will pay? (Contracts, revenue, pilots)
- What is the trading history, or the founder’s directly relevant track record?
- How much money is required, and in what instrument (term loan, equity, grant)?
- Exactly what will the money buy? (Use of funds, in line items)
- What are the key financial outputs — revenue, EBITDA, DSCR or IRR, over the forecast period?
- How is the funder repaid or exited, and what secures them?
Common mistakes
- Opening with the company’s founding story instead of the opportunity
- Describing the industry for three paragraphs before mentioning the business
- Omitting the funding amount — astonishingly common
- Using adjectives (“innovative”, “dynamic”, “cutting-edge”) where numbers belong
- Writing it first, so it reflects an early draft the rest of the plan has outgrown
Weak — what gets declined
“Sizwe Agri Holdings (Pty) Ltd was founded in 2019 out of a lifelong passion for agriculture. Our vision is to become the leading agricultural producer in the region, creating employment and contributing to food security. We believe that with the right support, our innovative approach will transform the sector. We are seeking funding to grow the business.”
Strong — what gets funded
“Sizwe Agri produces 480 tonnes of table potatoes a year on 22 hectares of leased land outside Lichtenburg, supplying two Joburg Market agents under a rolling 12-month arrangement that generated R6.1m of revenue and R1.3m of EBITDA in FY2025. We are raising R4.2m — R3.1m of term debt and R1.1m of owner contribution — to install centre-pivot irrigation on a further 18 hectares, lifting output to 830 tonnes and EBITDA to R2.4m by FY2028. The facility is secured by the pivot equipment and a cession of Joburg Market proceeds, with a forecast DSCR of 1.7x at prime + 2%.”
Chapter 16Company Overview
This section establishes legal and operational reality. It is short, factual, and it is where compliance is proven. Funders use it to confirm that they are lending to an entity that exists, is properly constituted and is not carrying a hidden history.
| Element | What to include |
|---|---|
| Legal identity | Registered name, CIPC registration number, entity type, date of incorporation, registered address, trading address |
| Ownership | Full shareholder table with percentages, ID numbers, and any shareholders’ agreement in place |
| Transformation status | B-BBEE level, verification agency, certificate or affidavit date, black ownership and black women ownership percentages |
| Compliance | SARS tax compliance status, VAT number, UIF, COIDA, sector licences (liquor, transport permit, health certificate, PSIRA, etc.) |
| History | Founding, key milestones, prior funding, and — if applicable — a frank account of prior business failures |
| Banking | Primary banker, account age, existing facilities and their balances |
Chapter 17Products and Services
The test for this section is whether a reader outside your industry can describe what you sell after reading it once. Write for an intelligent generalist, not for a peer.
For each product or service line, provide: description in plain language, the specific customer it serves, the price, the direct cost, the gross margin, and the current or planned volume. A simple table does this better than three pages of prose.
| Line | Price (excl. VAT) | Direct cost | Gross margin | Monthly units | Monthly GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard site clean (500m²) | R14,500 | R9,860 | 32.0% | 11 | R51,040 |
| Deep clean / post-construction | R28,000 | R17,920 | 36.0% | 3 | R30,240 |
| Consumables supply | R6,200 | R4,340 | 30.0% | 9 | R16,740 |
| Specialised (hygiene, pest) | R9,800 | R5,880 | 40.0% | 4 | R15,680 |
| Blended | — | — | 33.6% | — | R113,700 |
Chapter 18Market Analysis
Part 2 covered the research. This chapter covers presenting it. The structure that works, in order: market definition, size (TAM/SAM/SOM with the bottom-up reconciliation), customer segments with a profile for each, demand drivers, and the evidence of demand specific to you.
Customer segment profiles
For each segment, state: who they are, how many of them exist in your reach, what they currently do instead, what they pay now, what triggers a purchase, who signs off, and how you reach them. Vagueness here is the tell that separates researched plans from written ones.
Weak — what gets declined
“Our target market is the growing South African middle class, which represents a significant and expanding opportunity, particularly among urban consumers aged 25–45 who are increasingly health-conscious.”
Strong — what gets funded
“Primary segment: procurement managers at Gauteng private hospital groups (14 facilities within our service radius). Each currently contracts one of three national providers on 24-month terms at an average of R19,800 per site per month. Decisions are made by the facilities manager with sign-off from group procurement; the trigger is contract expiry or a compliance incident. Three of the fourteen have contracts expiring within nine months; we have met with two.”
Chapter 19Industry Analysis
Market analysis is about buyers. Industry analysis is about structure — the forces that determine whether anyone in this sector makes money. Keep it to two or three pages and make every point consequential for your business.
| Force | The question | SA-specific factors to address |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer power | Can customers force your price down? | Customer concentration, public sector payment terms (30–90+ days), retailer listing fees, B-BBEE scorecard leverage |
| Supplier power | Can suppliers squeeze your margin? | Import dependency and rand exposure, single-source inputs, Eskom and municipal tariff escalation, fuel price pass-through |
| Threat of entry | How easily can someone copy you? | Licensing barriers, capital intensity, accreditation lead times, established procurement relationships |
| Substitutes | What else solves the same problem? | Informal sector alternatives, insourcing, imported product, doing nothing |
| Rivalry | How brutal is the competition? | Number of players, fixed cost structure, differentiation, price transparency |
Add a short PESTLE where the sector is policy-sensitive — energy, agriculture, mining, health, education and telecoms all qualify. Full PESTLE guidance appears in Chapter 29.
Chapter 20Competitive Analysis and Positioning
Having built the matrix in Part 2, the writing task is to state a defensible position: the specific reason a specific customer chooses you over the named alternative, and why that reason will still hold in three years.
Sources of durable advantage in South Africa
| Advantage | Durability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory licence or accreditation others lack | High | SAHPRA, PSIRA, NHBRC, mining rights, spectrum — genuinely defensible |
| Long-term contracts and offtake agreements | High | Especially with escalation clauses and renewal rights |
| Location and site control | High | Long lease on the right corner is a real moat in retail and logistics |
| B-BBEE level in a procurement-driven market | Medium-high | Real and valuable, but replicable — never the only pillar |
| Proprietary technology or IP | Medium | Only if registered and enforceable; most SME ‘IP’ is know-how |
| Switching costs (integration, data, training) | Medium-high | Underrated and cheap to build deliberately |
| Team and relationships | Medium | Real, but concentrated in individuals — a key-person risk in disguise |
| Price | Low | Not an advantage. It is a decision to earn less than the next entrant. |
| Service quality | Low | Everyone claims it. Only durable when systematised and measured. |
Part 3 quality control
- The executive summary states the funding amount, the instrument and the use of funds
- Every number in the executive summary appears identically in the financial model
- The shareholder table sums to 100% and matches the CIPC record
- Blended gross margin in the product table equals the income statement gross margin
- Each customer segment has a size, a price point and a named route to reach it
- The competitor matrix concedes at least one genuine advantage to a competitor
- Your stated advantage would survive the question ‘why can’t a bigger player copy it?’
