Training on Business Plan

MERCI is the name of mangrove reforestation project in Indonesia. Besides focused on mangrove plantations and monitoring year by year, there are also activities of empowerment local community in this project. Merci team assists local people in the working area in improving their community business.

In order to build their business skills, both the staff and the members of local community need this training.
The objectives of the training :

– Increase the participants’ knowledge on business plan development in micro and small scale.
– Train the participants in analyzing the business potency for daily livelihood in their living environment.
– Support the participants in developing business plan in small scale agribusiness

This training is relevant to the needs of the organization (MERCI project) since community livelihood empowerment is one of the important activities of the project. The assisted village of MERCI is usually able to conduct small business on the basis of agricultural/ horticulture/ fishery/ poultry/ animal husbandry but the assigned staff lacks knowledge in formulating business plan together with the community.

It is difficult to find the one who can give that kind of training around Merci site, so we need to hire volunteer from outside.

The beneficiaries expect volunteer to help them to know about:
• How to design an effective small/micro business (family-based business);
• How to conduct a market analysis and strategy and a financial plan;
• How to implement a marketing and sales plan and a competitive analysis.

The training is expected to apply multi-methods (analysis, group discussion, games, case study, etc) by using multi-media.

Training will be carried out at the MERCI Project office (5 days) and in the field/village (5 days) to understand the context in the field.
Daily learning hours are 4 – 5 hours per day and will be agreed with the participants whether it is held in the morning or afternoon session.
Training is carried out Monday to Friday and Saturday and Sunday are free.

Volunteers need to anticipate the time that will be used for each session because the training will use a translator (English – Indonesian) because most participants cannot speak English.

– 3 are membres of the projects;
– 7 are community representatives.

The three members of the project have a high academic level yet none of them have had a professional training nor skills in bussines development.
– Environmental Education and Campaign officer), 27 years, master degree on natural sciences education. She is also assigned to assist community livelihood program.
– Finance and Administration Assistant Staff 33 years, bachelor degree on management.
– Reforestation and Livelihood Assistant, 24 years, vocational high school graduated.

On the other side, the seven representatives of community have low education background.

None of the participants speaks fluent English so we will hire a translator (English – Indonesian, vice versa). The volunteer needs to take into account this element.

We suggest that the volunteer arrives Saturday evening at the Soekarno Hatta Jakarta Airport (CGK). The Merci team will pick up the volunteer at the airport and then he will sleep in a hotel nearby the airport.

The following day (Sunday morning) the volunteer will be driven to the Merci Office, in Labuan, Pandeglang City, Banten. It will take about 4 hours by car to get to labuan office where Merci project office is located (140km).

During the mission, volunteer will stay in a simple hotel namely Rizki Hotel, located in 1 km from the mission venue. They will go to the office by motorcycle local transport/ motorcycle rent or walking because the distance just 500meters. A helmet will be provided for the volunteer. But if the volunteer like to have a walk, it is 15-minute walk.
For session in the field, the volunteer will go with the project staff by car.

Seokarno Hatta Airport – Jakarta City – (CGK)

The Host of the mission is MERCI Project (the project directly implemented by Planete Urgence Indonesia). The training will be conducted in MERCI Project Office in Labuan – a small sub-district/town in Pandeglang District, Banten Province. Even though it is a small town but we can easily find shop selling daily goods needs.
The volunteer will stay in a hotel nearby in a single room with aircon with hot/cold water for shower in private bathroom. The area of Labuan in general is safe place. Labuan is not a malaria area so people in general don’t use mosquito net when sleeping, however, we will provide one just in case the volunteer needs.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be taken in hotel or restaurants nearby.

For example : Kedai Pempek Kembar (menu: all varian pempek, it is a fish ball frying, made from fish and flour), Nasi Padang Ari (rice, soup with coconut milk, any fish and chicken food), Juna kitchen (menu : fried rice, and noodle) etc.

For volunteers who have food restrictions, for example vegetarians, they can inform them in advance and this can be provided.
Since Indonesia is a tropical country with hot weather and humid, the volunteers needs to bring suitable clothes.

The equipment available for the training include:
– LCD Projector
– Learning media (whiteboard, board marker, flipchart, etc)
– Wifi

The volunteer will be also provided a local SIM Card to be used in his/her cellphone when is not connected to wifi. Volunteer is expected to bring his own laptop. Any other specific learning media requiered, it need to be informed in advance