Business planning; Business start-up; Business risks; International trade; Exporting; Value chain

In August 2005, Charles Muraguri and Henry Mwaniki, the Proprietors of Biz Commodities, located in Nairobi's Lavington area, in Kenya, were preparing to ship their first container of coffee to the United States of America. Although they had been in business since August 2003, this was the first time that Muraguri and Mwaniki were trading in coffee internationally. In the last two years, Biz Commodities had been involved in international trade of various items such as computers and leather seats. Muraguri and Mwaniki had been importing computers from the USA and leather seats from Europe for resale in Kenya. However, after reviewing the viability of the business, they had decided to trade in the coffee and tea industry. Besides the cartels involved in international coffee trade, and the volatile prices in the London and New York futures markets, the main challenge for Muraguri and Mwaniki was determining whether coffee trade was a viable and profitable business venture. This case has been written for a business planning course. It seeks to determine the viability of a business based on the plan drawn up by its entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs have drawn up a marketing strategy as well as financial projections. Students should assess the business plan and try to determine if they consider it comprehensive enough and worth implementing. The case writing process was financed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Kenya through an IFC / IDA credit to support micro, small and medium enterprises (Project P085007). The process was managed by the Management Education and Research Consortium.