After reviewing business plans for lenders and investors across Kenya, the same five mistakes appear again and again — and each one can end a funding conversation early.
1. A vague market. 'Everyone in Nairobi needs this product' is not a market analysis. Lenders want numbers: how many potential customers, where, and what they currently pay for alternatives.
2. Financials that do not reconcile. When the cash flow, the projections, and the funding request tell three different stories, the plan loses credibility instantly. Every figure must trace to an assumption you can explain.
3. No competitor honesty. Claiming 'we have no competitors' signals poor research, not a strong position. Every business has competitors — including the customer's option to do nothing.
4. An operations section that reads like a wish. Who does what, with what equipment, at what capacity? Funders finance teams and systems, not dreams.
5. A funding request with no use of funds. State exactly what the money buys and how it produces a return. 'KES 2 million for expansion' is a request; 'KES 2 million: 1.4M for a second delivery vehicle, 600K for stock' is a plan.
A business plan is a sales document. Its job is to make the risk of saying yes feel smaller than the risk of missing out.