FoodFun LIS's Business Plan Paper Example

1.0 Executive Summary

This business plan aims at creating awareness and understanding of FoodFun Life skills Instructional Software (FoodFun LIS). The company is a startup whose vision is to create the most exceptional education and entertainment software for people who are unable to read and have developmental disabilities. The software was developed by Sue Altamirankow, a veteran of the special education industry and is based in Chicago Illinois. The software aims at creating a teaching environment for disabled individuals to develop life skills in a fun and interactive way, therefore, encouraging them to use the software more and more.

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The software aims at targeting the over 6 million individuals in the United States who have developmental disabilities. A developmental disability is a chronic and severe disability issues caused by the physical or psychological impairment of an individual. This impairment affects a person able to move, learn, to express any form of language, to become independent and also hinders a person's ability to earn a living by having a job. There are various examples of developmental disabilities, and they include fetal alcohol syndrome, brain injury, autism, cerebral palsy, Spina Bifida, and Down syndrome. Individuals with developmental disabilities should be given a comprehensive and long-term program to help them blend within the society (Babin, 1995). FoodFun LIS aims at providing this assistance to disabled individuals and makes grocery shopping fun, interactive and engaging.

The software has also identified four distinct market segments that it will be targeting to sell the software. These segments include; centers for independent living, school districts, proactive parents and also agencies, which act as brokers to connect service providers with individuals who are living with developmental disabilities.

1.1 Mission Statement

The company's mission is to develop functional Software for non-readers with developmental disabilities. The software will provide life skills training to help them become more independent in the society.

1.2 Objectives

The primary objectives of the business are to increase sales by about 20% and assist more than 10,000 different individuals with developmental disabilities.

1.3 Keys to Success

Through the development of constructive and fun educational software, the business will employ a marketing campaign that creates awareness and benefits individuals in training centers, school districts, brokers and also among parents. Besides, the software seeks to design strict financial control in these institutions.

2.0 Business Description

2.1 Features

The name of the business is FoodFun Life skills Instructional Software Organization. The business was developed with an aim to make grocery shopping and socialization easier for people with developmental disabilities. The software industry has grown over the last couple of years with applications being developed almost all the time. According to Apple, at the beginning of 2015, there were around 1.4 million applications available for smartphones and computer devices. These staggering numbers are evidence of the astronomical opportunities available for software developers and in general IT consultants. Apps such as Trello will assist people with difficulties in organizing their work to carry out their activities with ease.

The people with disabilities resulting from neuromuscular disease or brain injury can acquire jobs make a living out of it. Be it in medical administration, accounting, pharmacy, marketing or vocational counseling. People with mobility disabilities can now create their own money and therefore become independent. Besides, individuals with intellectual disabilities can earn a living by getting employment in, hospitality, broadcasting or photography industry.

2.1.1 Products

FoodFun LIS flagship product is meant for nonreaders and also for individuals who have developmental disabilities. People with autism are targeted more by this software as they generally fall under this category. The majority of Life skills training products that are available in the market focus on the following areas; nutrition, cooking, food and money management, or safety and finally social interaction/leisure. FoodFun majorly focuses on food and cooking as well as social interaction/leisure.

Majority of reader rely on text as a means of communication while the majority of the people who cannot read due to one reason or the other rely on visual images like pictures as a form of communication. The software incorporates these visual images in its digital cookbook of recipes which contains various pictures of the ingredients required during cooking. After this, the individual can print the pictures and take them to the grocery store where they will compare the product in the picture to the ones displayed in the grocery store shelves to facilitate purchasing. The recipes have also included pictures of different utensils that the individual will require to promote cooking.

The first thing that the individual using the software sees is pictures of different dishes with names below the dishes. After selecting the desired dish, pictures of ingredients appear on the screen together with the utensils that they are going to need to complete the cooking process. The software is majorly picture based with few texts incorporated, but this should not worry anybody who cannot read seeing that the pictures are enough in allowing the individual to purchase the products in a grocery store.

The second module incorporated in the software is a social occasion/party planning module which is majorly the fun part of the software. The software is packed with pictures of different social occasions such as pool party, birthday party, and holiday event or movie night. When the user selects a specific event, they are provided with music for about 30 seconds, and the music theme is matched with the event that they have chosen. After selecting an event, the software now takes over and provides the user with various food options that they can prepare to match the selected event. The food options are matched perfectly with the event, and their ingredients are provided. In the case where a picnic is chosen, the software provides the user with a wide range of food options and drinks with the majority of them are seeing that there is no way of heating the food in the park. All through this process of selecting the food options, the background music is playing. Hence the user is continuously being entertained.

This component is critical in the development of individuals with developmental disabilities as they are now able to make their own choices and decisions making them independent members of the society. People with disabilities find themselves being isolated in society since the majority of them lack socializing skills. This software aims at equipping users with socializing skills since the users can hold parties and also cook food that is specially designed for the parties.

FoodFun software product can combine two of the essential life skills which are food preparation and social leisure. People with developmental disabilities find themselves relying more on other people for their daily activities like cooking. With this software, people with developmental disabilities are now able to perform the task of cooking with a lot of ease and without any complications. The social planning module in the software leverages the existing food module and assists the users to plan for a wide range of social occasions which are centered on food. The primary objective of the software is to make all these activities fun and to entertain for all the individuals who access it. The use of pictures and music is aimed at drawing in the user to the software and capture their imagination and interest hence creating the need to use the software multiple times. This, in turn, improves sales for the business.

2.1.2 Potential of the Business Venture

FoodFun has been able to identify a large market for the software, and they are divided into four groups: school districts, proactive parents, centers for independent living and the agencies that work with the special education administration. All the four markets identified are distinct and different marketing strategies will be implemented to ensure maximum advertising of the FoodFun LIS. The reason why these four segments were chosen is the fact that they are the primary purchasers of products for individuals who have developmental disabilities.

The software industry for individuals with developmental disabilities is still relatively a young industry. The previous years have seen the number of computers with special software found in classrooms rise as more people are interested in using various techniques to make day to day activities easier. Competing with these software companies is print media that incorporates the use of visual aids like printed pictures and laminated cards. These tools are not effective anymore, and more people are looking for better and easier ways of doing daily activities. Alth...