LOCKERS UNLIMITED BUSINESS PLAN

LOCKERS UNLIMITED BUSINESS PLAN

Submitted by: The Partners of Lockers Unlimited October 19, 2011

Statement of Purpose
Lockers Unlimited purpose is to seek funding to offset start-up costs in erecting fifty (50) lockers in the first instance on the compound of Godfrey Stewart High School.

Mission Statement Lockers Unlimited aims at providing quality storage space in a secured environment thus developing a sense of responsibility within students, thereby sustaining the importance and relevance of education to everyday life.

Objectives
Lockers Unlimited aims to: 1. Provide metal lockers that will secure students belongings while they attend classes. 2. Offer superior customer service to all students. 3. Be fair to all students in the rental of lockers. 4. Be good stewards of the security industry.

Executive Summary
Security is one of mans basic needs and is among the fastest growing industries worldwide. Lockers Unlimited is a unique business being offered to the student populace of Godfrey Stewart High School. It is owned and operated by fifteen young entrepreneurs who are qualified to operate such a business venture as we all participated in an extensive one week entrepreneurship course in April of this year, qualifying us as competent persons to carry out this partnership. The partners of Lockers Unlimited aim to provide metal lockers for students to secure their personal items, such as their books and physical education gears. Students are always in need of somewhere to store their belongings while at school. The operational time for this business will be then, between September and June of each year. The idea to provide such a needed service came about when partners were in discussion about how best they could eliminate carrying around their heavy books and other materials while at school, but still benefit from having the items when needed. The provision of the lockers resounded. So a Feasibility study and market analysis was done reinforcing the partners to move forward with this profitable venture. Lockers Unlimited envisions to be profitable thus will socially contribute to the school community by way of erecting a school sign at the front of the school (behind the security post), and also to re-establish the monument with the school letters, GSHS depicting the school name Godfrey Stewart High School. The partners are therefore seeking One hundred and thirty thousand dollars ($130,000) to cover material, marketing and labour costs to provide these needed lockers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS

Lockers Unlimited is a partnership in its final stage of being formed by the fifteen (15) young Entrepreneurs of the Center of Excellence. Our main objective is to provide an essential service to all students of Godfrey Stewart High School, especially those who find their textbooks and equipment heavy to carry around the compound daily. We aim at providing quality storage space in a secured environment. Lockers Unlimited will be situated on the Godfrey Stewart High School compound. Permission was sought and granted by the Principal to so do. We are located here because Lockers Unlimited is a school enterprise and also because of our market pull; our potential customers. Lockers Unlimited was established in June 2011 as a result of the concerns shared by fellow students about the heavy books and Physical Education gears that they have to take to school daily. Thus, the idea to provide lockers to meet the need of the students who have to take these resources to school was born. Lockers are expected to be made of metal, painted in beige and burgundy, numbered, and placed at strategic locations on A block on Discipline Avenue and adjacent to the Physical Education room on Success Drive. These specific areas were chosen because of the close proximity to our main target market, that is, the grade seven (7) students and those doing Physical Education. Lockers Unlimited will be registered with the Centre of Excellence Registrar of Companies Offices and our intellectual property will also be registered with them. Lockers Unlimited is projected to be a profitable business enterprise as it is expected that students will use the safe and secure service to be provided, conducted in a professional manner at a reasonable cost to students. We intend to provide fifty lockers in the first instance for the first two months of operation, and then increase the numbers by twenty to

seventy lockers by December.

SWOT Analysis Availability of storage space area. Majority of the founding members specialize in Business Studies. Strength Low operating cost and minimal maintenance. No competitors. Easy to manage. Accessible to all students. Initially lockers will only be available to fifty students. Weakness Students may waste time between periods to retrieve items for class. Initial cost for setting up the business is high. Caretakers (Students) may lose instruction time because they have to run the business. Students may be reluctant in paying to replace lost keys and locks. Lost of keys may occur thus, there will be need for replacement. Opportunity for expansion (projected 2-3yrs). Opportunity for economy of scale, thus providing different variations of lockers. Opportunity Ready and available customers to access the service. Opportunity to expand the target market base to include teachers and evening school. Students will be able to secure their belongings, thus promoting responsibility. Threats The material used to build the lockers may become damaged by students. Unforeseen circumstances.

Operations
Lockers Unlimited will be operating on shifts, where partners will be rotated on a daily basis to rent lockers to students. A roster has been drawn up to indicate such. For ease of identification, partners who will be operating the business on a particular day will wear their business t- shirt with the logo and name on it. Girls will dress in their uniform skirt or a dress black pant and business t-shirt while the boys will wear their khaki pant with their business t-shirt. When conducting the operation of the business, the females will be seated around a desk collecting the rental fees and a receipt will be issued to each costumer renting the lockers. The male partners will be assisting the customers to their lockers, reminding them of the rules and regulation governing the rental of the locker, making it clearly understandable. The working hours of Lockers Unlimited are: Before school 7:30 a.m 7:55 a.m. During the grade 10& 11 break time: 10:45 a.m.-11:00 a.m. During the lower school lunch time: 11:00 a.m.- 12:00 noon During the upper school lunch time: 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. and also at dismal 3:10 p.m. The reason for the scheduled time is to make things more manageable and easier as partners are expected to attend classes. Kindly see Table 1. The Management Team of Lockers Unlimited consist of: Oraine Shippy - Chairman Silidela Spence - President David Mann - Vice President Anique Palmer - Secretary Fiona Frazer Public Relations Officer Richard Rose Asst. Public Relations Officer Seymour Williams - Marketing Manager Roxanne Sewell Asst. Marketing Manager Trevoy Cole Financial Manager Shackiel Blythe Asst. Financial Manager

Other Partners Shanice Pringle Shanice Dixon Mesha Witter Nicola Jolly Jenae Brown

Market Analysis
In order to ascertain how feasible our business venture would be, a market research was carried out. Five percent of the school population was interviewed and their answers tallied. We received one hundred percent (100%) feedback from our respondents. Almost all of the respondents found it burdensome to carry all their school supplies to school on any given day, and said that if storage areas were provided that would access it. Most respondents indicated that they would rent the lockers on a weekly basis. Although approximately four (4) out of every five (5) percent of the respondents agreed to pay for storage area, others disagreed. Marketing Plan The rationale of our marketing aim is to have all lockers rented on any given day. Lockers Unlimited will cater to all students at the Godfrey Stewart High school who are between the ages twelve to seventeen. The target market group is students who live in nearby communities around Godfrey Stewart High as well as those who live in other communities in the parish. The targeted group often complained of loss of personal items and the load they have to carry around with them throughout the day at school. It is the partners intention to take the pressure off students back by offering to them inexpensive, secure and safe Lockers where they can leave their possessions. As such, providing lockers for this group will reduce loss and provide security for their belongings. These lockers are the solution to the students problem, and hence we expect that they will gravitate towards occupying them.

MARKETING STRATEGIES The marketing strategies we will employ are PRODUCT, PLACE, PROMOTION and PRICE.

Product Fifty metal lockers will be offered to the students of Godfrey Students High. The size will be 16 inches by 16 inches painted in beige and burgundy. There are two models of these lockers on the A Block for all to see. Place Lockers Unlimited will be located at strategic points on the A Block on Discipline Avenue and adjacent to the Physical Education Room on Success Drive. Promotion Students will know of us through several marketing strategies such as sales promotion; advertisement and by issuing brochures to the students. Price Lockers Unlimited also focus on price, where we will start with a special introductory rental price of the lockers for the first week of operation. We also plan to saturate the market with information as to the health benefit of storing their possession during the day rather than walking and carrying such heavy items around. Hence the option to rent a locker, store and lock your items safely away.

Pricing Strategy
The price charged for the rental of a single locker will be dependent on several overhead costs, such as the material and labour costs. The cost of producing one locker is $2,537.13 calculated as below: Cost of producing fifty (50) lockers = Material cost plus Labour cost, that is, $106,871.13 + $20,000 = $126,871.13 Therefore the cost of producing one (1) locker is $126,871.13/50 = $2,537.42. Since the unit cost of producing a locker is relatively small and our target customers are low earners/spenders we decided to enter the market at a low and cost-beneficial price to our potential customers. Each locker will therefore be rented at a cost of $80 per locker per day, and

at $350 weekly. This price was arrived at by taking an average cost that our potential customers are willing to pay for the service offered. Therefore the number of lockers to be rented to break even the cost of one locker is $2,537.42/80 = 31.72, that is, 32 lockers. Funds collected will be lodged with the Bursar daily after the treasurer reconciles receipts issued with money collected.

We at Lockers Unlimited are aware that students will require a clean and sturdy locker to store their items, and as such each locker will be so designed to satisfy our customers needs. Lockers will be cleaned each afternoon after students possessions are removed. Cleaning will be facilitated as the lockers will be mounted to a wall, slanted at an angle to allow for a small dust broom to easily sweep any particle from it. Superior customer service is of utmost importance to the partners of Lockers Unlimited. We aim to treat each customer fairly and equally as we carry out the service of locker rental. Lockers Unlimited may be contacted by telephone at 356-2359; 582-3613 or e-mail us at lockersunlimited@yahoo.com. Lockers Unlimiteds slogan is: Rent it, Store it, Lock it!

Financial Plan Appendix 1 Material Cost Lockers Unlimited material costs amounts to One hundred and six thousand, eight hundred and seventy one dollars and thirteen cents. These costs were arrived at from a hardware store, and comprise of materials such as expanding sheet metals, our highest cost item. Other items are padlocks and other materials needed to build the lockers. Start-up costs In order to build these lockers, several costs will be incurred. Our start-up costs comprise of the material costs as well as labour costs and prepaid expenses. These costs we envisage will be

Community Involvement
As socially responsible individuals, the partners intend to provide a school sign to be placed just behind the security house and to re-build the monument to indicate the initials of the school name Godfrey Stewart High School - GSHS in stone. Area behind the Security post where sign is to erected.

Old Monument

Table 1 showing roster of partners

One week roster of partners MONDAY ANIQUE PALMER SHACKIEL BLYTHE JENAE BROWN TREVOY COLE MESHA WITTER TUESDAY SEYMOUR WILLIAMS SILIDELA SPENCE ORANE SHIPPY DAVID MANN WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY NICOLA JOLLY RICHARD ROSE SHANICE DIXON SHANICE PRINGLE

ROXANNE SEWELL FIONA FRAZER

Table 2 showing working hours of partners WORKING HOURS Times 7:30-7:55 10:45-11:00 12:30-1:30 Monday ANIQUE Tuesday SEYMOUR Wednesday ROXANNE Thursday Friday

FIONA FRAZER NICOLA JOLLY SHACKIEL BLYTHE SHANICE DIXON RICHARD ROSE SHANICE PRINGLE

PALMER WILLIAMS SEWELL DAVID MANN SILIDELA SPENCE ORANE SHIPPY JENAE BROWN TREVOY COLE MESHA WITTER

3:10-3:30

ANIQUE PALMER

SEYMOUR WILLIAMS

ROXAANE SWELL FIONA FRAZER NICOLA JOLLY