Merry Poppins – App Based Child Minding Business Plan

Introduction to the app-based child minding plan

Discuss about the Micro simulation Model Projecting the Small Area.

The proposal in this document is about a business plan of app-based child minding which will provide a platform to the child minders, both individuals and crashes along with parents to use the benefit of advanced technology to negotiate child minding services between themselves, i.e. child minders and users of such services. The use of this app will help the parents, child minders and others to interact between themselves to negotiate child minding services (Maradoet al. 2017). Child minding is the process of taking care of children in their own homes in exchange of payment. The payment is generally decided mutually between the child minder and the parent.

The innovation and development of new and modern technology has changed the way business used to be conducted once. The innovation and development of information and technology has made it possible for the customers to place their orders for products and services online with just a click of mouse (Scholz 2016). In fact the information and technology has up-graded to such an extent that various applications have been developed for the mobiles. With the use of these apps the users and customers can avail the benefits of different products and services by just using their mobiles and data connection.

Considering the immense pressure of work load and busy schedule of today’s day and age it has become very difficult for the parents to give time to their children as a result of this the development of the children is very much at stake. Considering that 95% of the brain development is takes place before the age of 15 it is important to give due importance to the concept of child minding. Considering the importance and need of child minding it has been decided to develop a mobile application, i.e. an app, for allowing the individual and crash child minding service providers and users of child minding services to register for negotiating child minding services between themselves using the app(Sunget al. 2017).

The app will help the users of mobile to also book in advance by providing the time and date when they require child minding services. Thus, this will help the parents to accordingly, plan their schedules of work (Yoonget al. 2015). Thus, the app will be helpful not only for the business of child minding but will also be of great help for the parents as this will help them to set their schedules in advance. This will also help the parents to spend as much time with the children as possible and when required they can also use the services of the child minders by booking via the child minding app.

Considering the benefit of internet and network the business will have an application specifically developed in such a way to allow the mobile users to register and use the platform to contract child minding services with the registered service provider in the app. It is important to note that the app will only allow a perfect platform to the service providers and users of the service to negotiate the contract between themselves.The app will have all the necessary details such as the closest place where child minders are available to provide child minding services, the prices to be charged by the child minder for child minding services, the ratings of different child minders, the name and other important details of the child minders (Watsonet al. 2017).

Importance of child minding

The app will help the parents and other persons interested in using the services of child minding to check all necessary important matters in relations to the child minders and the different aspects of the child minding accordingly, they can decide about using the child minding services according to their needs. The child minding business app will be though based in Dublinbut will be available in all over the country thus, the service providers whether individual or crashes and the service receiver both can register by providing necessary details to use the platform. The company will be registered under the corporation’s act of the country with the name of Merry Poppins. All necessary formalities to register the company with the above name shall be completed before starting business operations of the organization (Sunget al. 2017).

The country provides a suitable political environment for the growth of business. There has been no incident of political disturbances and turbulence in the country for decades now hence, the business will be able to grow at a significant rate without any problem (Nutting 2016).

The economy of Ireland is growing at a rapid speed thus, the business, i.e. Merry Poppins will have a suitable economic condition within the country to expand its business in the future (Newinget al. 2015).

Ireland provides socially cohesive environment and thus, the business organization will have necessary resources in the forms of skilful and talented workforce to utilize them for the benefit of the company and the economy at large. The country is relatively a youth country hence, the company will have the energy of the youth which it can use to achieve greater heights in the future (Quinnet al. 2015). 

The country has large pool of information and technology graduates along with ever increasing push by the government to increase the number of science graduates. Thus, the technologically advanced society of the country will help the company to achieve its objectives by making effective use of technology in the day to day affairs of the company (Saleh and Masduki 2016). 

The idea of child minding app is relatively new in the country, i.e. Ireland.Thus, considering the benefit that the parents and child minding service providers will be able to extract from the use of the app the industry has the potential to grow and expand at a rapid pace. The Northern Ireland Child-minding Association (NICMA) in the country and the Early Childhood Ireland are quite popular with their child care and child minding servicesthus, their input shall be taken to develop the app and make it effective for those who will be registering in the app (Chaston 2015).

There are numerous commercial and non-commercial organizations which are involved in different parts of the country in providing child care and child minding services in the country. Thus, the industry is quite large and popular in the country.

As far as the competitors are concerned there are number of competitors in all across the country while it comes to child minding however, since the company is not going to provide child minding services itself rather will help the users and provider of such services by allowing them the opportunity to use the platform to negotiate such services. The top competitors of the business are the child care project in the country by the Northern Ireland Child-minding Association (NICMA) and the Early Childhood Ireland Association as both these organizations have their registered offices in the capital of Ireland, i.e. Dublin. Hence, the organization needs to input from these two organizations to develop an effective app (Tucker et al. 2017). Apart from that there are many other commercial and non-commercial organizations in the country and especially in Dublinwhich are involved in providing child minding services. However, Merry Poppins needs to use the input ofNorthern Ireland Child-minding Association (NICMA) and the Early Childhood Ireland Association while developing the app to make it efficient and effective.

Features of the Merry Poppins App

Strengths: The business has decided to attract the attention of the parents by providing large platform to the service provider and receiver of child minding services to negotiate contract between themselves for child minding services at relatively low prices. Use of penetration pricing model will help the new business to penetrate the market. Parents are mainly concerned with the safety and security of the children and their care (Castellano and Rocca 2014). Thus, the child minding app of Merry Poppins must concentrate on providing easy and hassle free interaction between the child minders and those who are desired of using their services to avail the services of individuals and crashes as required.

Weaknesses:The weaknesses include the following:

1. Lack of knowledge about the importance of child minding in the country.
2. The cost involved in conducting the business.

• And the risk associated with the business is quite high.

Opportunities:In order to compete with the existing competitors and to even edge ahead of the competition it is important to have a clear strategy to utilize the opportunities. The pricing of registration for the individual and crashes will obviously attract the attention of the users of the app however, considering the safety and security of children along withier orderly mental and physical development is of top priority all necessary efforts should be made to provide all relevant details of the service providers. Once the organization will be able to establish that the child minding services of highest quality are provided by the registered individuals in the child minding app of Merry Poppins it will be significantly easier to deal with the tough competition in the market (Dimkaet al. 2014).

Threats: Threats include the existing competition from the market and the high cost of business operations. If the organization can deal with these two aspects of threats then the business will have the potential to maximize the shareholders’ wealth and profit. 

The market size is quite large with most of the parents looking to avail the services of child minding and the child minders are searching for opportunities to provide their services. It is important for any organization in the current business atmosphere to have an effective marketing plan to promote its products and services (Sundararajan 2016). In case of Merry Poppins also it is essential to have an effective marketing plan and strategy to compete with the existing players in the industry and the market.

In order to develop an effective marketing plan for Merry Poppins, it is important for the management to understand the existing market and industry. Thus, the management must conduct an effective study of the existing market to assess the current state of the industry. This will help us understand the requirements of the existing market (Kozovska 2014). On the basis of the findings the management will be in a better position to prepare an effective marketing plan for the organization. The market segment for the child minding app can be primarily divided into parents looking to avail child minding services and the child minders looking to provide child minding services.

The customer are mainly the working parents and child minders since both have the options register using the child minding app of the company to either place orders for child minding services or to look for opportunities to provide such services to the parents respectively. 

Market and its potential

The importance of marketing over the years have reached paramount proportion with the passage of time. Once considered unnecessary spending now it has become almost synonymous with business activities and operations. After appraising the current state of the industry the organization shall be in a better position to decide about the products and services to be offered to the parents for child minding (Stevenson 2015). On the basis of the products and services the management shall prepare an effective marketing strategy for the organization.

Taking into consideration the existing market condition and the state of the industry it has been decided by the company to provide highest quality of child minding services with significant importance to the care and affection while dealing with the children during the child minding services (Hickey 2016).

Since, the company has also decided to make effective use of penetration pricing strategy it is important to be remembered that excessive reliance shall not be placed on the marketing and promotional activities to attract the attention of the parents and others to the services of child minding (Marois and Bélanger 2014).

Thus, the company expects that the word of mouth promotion subsequent to the child minding services along with low prices of child minding services will help the company to compete with the existing organizations in the market (Krishnan 2016).However, still the company will need an effective marketing plan to promote its services and offerings to attract customers.

The company will use the following marketing strategy to promote its products and services in the future to attract the maximum number of parents and customers.

Use of online: Since the company has decided to develop an app to allow the parents to use the child minding services anytime anywhere with just touch of a button there is nothing better than to make effective use of internet and online infrastructure (Nnabue 2016). Advertisements in the online platforms will help the company to promote its child minding services at a large scale. Thus, the company should advertise about is products and services online to ensure that those who have significant amount of online activities are aware about the products and services of the company.

Social networking sites: The method of promotion and advertisements have changed 360 degrees over the last decade with the innovation of social networking sites such as Facebook, snap chat, twitter and other such social networking sites. The social networking sites provide a huge marketing platform to any organization to promote its products and services (Van Stelet al. 2014). The company, i.e. Merry Poppins will make effective use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Whatsapp, snap chat, twitter and other such social networking sites to promote its services and spread awareness about the child minding and its advantage to the parents and child. Thus, the use of social networking sites will not only help the company to promote its services and products in the country but will also play a major role in spreading the positive impacts of child minding to the parents. Thus, in short the overall market will be expanded subsequent to the effective use of social networking sites.

Competitors in the industry

Thus, the objective of using social networking sites are dual. Firstly to promote the products and services of the company, i.e. child minding, child care and nanny services for the children to allow the parents to keep their busy working schedule. Secondly, to spread the positive impacts of using child minding services on the children as well as on the parents.

Television and radio as mediums for advertisements of services: The Company has decided to use both radio as well as television to air short promotional audios and videos with strong massage content to motivate the parents to use the child minding services of Merry Poppins (Vashro 2014). The television and radio are two strong mediums which have huge reach thus, the company should make an effective marketing plan to make use of the two mediums efficiently to achieve the desired objectives of successfully competing in the child minding industry in the country.

Marketing the app along with the services of the company: Since the company has decided to develop an app in the line of Uber it is equally important for the company to market its app to make sure that the people in the country are installing in their mobile devices (Webb 2014). As without installing the application in their mobiles people will not be able to use the app for availing service f Merry Poppins and its child minders for the purpose of child minding.

The company should in addition to the promotion of its services and app shall also made sure that the penetration pricing strategy of the company is in the market to attract the parents and customers. It is always yield effective results for an organization in case use of penetration pricing strategy. Thus, the company should promote its low price for child minding services to increase its market presence within a short duration of time (Picardet al. 2016). Thus, the overall marketing planning of the company will only yield fruitful results if the execution of above marketing plan is faultless and in accordance with the above plan. Thus, the management should take all necessary steps to ensure that the execution of the marketing plan is flawless.

Estimated revenue from registration of individuals, crashes and service receivers is provided below:

Merry Poppins  PLC Estimated Sales
All amounts are in €’ 000	2018	2019	2020
Revenue from registration	169	179	225

The registered head office of the company shall be located at Dublin however; the parents and child minders can register from any part of the country. The company has decided to take care of the children at the absence of the parents and provide child minding services in the country and specifically in Dublin at the initial stage of its business operations (Ilchikabir 2015).

Considering that the company is developing a mobile app to allow the parents to use the services of the child minders to accordingly make their work schedule. The app will not only allow the customers to place their orders for child minding services but will also allow child minding service providers, whether individuals or small organizations, to register with the company for provide child minding services on behalf of the company in exchange of money (Boland and Griffin 2015). Thus, the app will be helpful for both the services providers as well for the service receivers.

Political, economic and social aspects of the country

As already mentioned that initially the company plans to restrict its child minding, child care and child support services within the city of Dublin. However, as the company expects to expand its business soon after establishing its operations in the city it expects to extend its operations all across the country with inclusion of different cities in the operational regions and areas of the company (Nielsenet al. 2015). The company has decided to provide all possible flexibility to the parents to help them attend their work and other important events without worrying about the child. The company has decided to made available services of child minding even for an hour. Thus, whereas the competitors of the company are generally provides child minding and care services for minimum of 3 hours Merry Poppins has decided to provide flexibility by allowing the parents to book the services using the app of the company even for a solitary hour (Benedetto 2017).

The company has decided to conduct a detailed study on the child minding services currently provided by the competitors in the country as well as the prices that are charged by the competitors from the customers for the services provided. Taking into consideration the child mind services and prices charged by the competitors the company has decided to use penetration pricing strategy to penetrate the market (Scholz 2017). The following table will help us to understand the operational plan in respect of the services of the company better;

Services	Northern Ireland Child-minding Association (NICMA)	Early Childhood Ireland Association	Merry Poppins
Registration fees for individuals	€15 per month	€18 per month	€13.50 per month
Registration fees forindividuals	€40 per quarter	€50 per Quarter	€35 per quarter
Registration fees for individuals	€150 per year	€180per year	€120per year
Registration fees for individuals	€150 per year	€180per year	€120per year

The company will need IT professionals to deal with the development and operation of the app effectively. Considering that the majority of the revenue of the business are expected to be generated from the mobile application it is essential that the app functions in accordance with the expectation (Iannottaet al. 2014). There should be minimum down time to ensure minimum loss of revenue.

Apart from that the child minders should be qualified and capable of providing top quality child minding services to fulfil the requirements of the parents. The company will appoint a professionally qualified person to manage the business of the company effectively (García and Molina 2017). Apart from that a qualified accountant shall be appointed to record the financial transactions of the company on a regular basis to ensure that the financial records are properly maintained and readily available to the stakeholders of the company as and when necessary.  

The employees including the management personnel will be paid salaries and wages in accordance with the market rate in the country. The employees and workers will be allowed incentives and bonus provided the financial performance of the company is in accordance or beyond the expectation of the management (Lawrence and Almas 2018).

Manager will be responsible for the overall management of the company and the proper functioning of the app throughout the year. The accountant will be responsible for maintenance of books of accounts of the company. The child minders will be responsible for providing top quality child minding services in the country (Darkoet al. 2015).

The staff shall be recruited and employed by the company by following a standard recruitment process. The applications shall be asked to be submitted by the job seekers along with their bio-data. After assessing the eligibility criterions of the applicants a short list shall be prepared to call them for interviews. On the basis of the interviews the desirable candidates shall be recruited for different posts and positions within the company.    

Financial viability will be determined at the end of the financial plan after considering all aspects of the financial strategy of the business. Initial funds required for the business is the non-current assets to be purchased for the business (Frost and Kalman 2016). Thus, the required capital is €52,000. Apart from that, initial marketing cost and other cost for the working capital requirement is €28,000. Thus, total initial capital required for the business is €80000. 

Cash flow statement
Particulars	Amount (€)	Amount (€)
Cash flow from operating activities
Cash received from registration fees	85
Cash collected from receivable	0
	85
Less: Taxed paid	4
Total Cash flow from operation		81
Cash flow from Investing activities
Equipment purchased	-75
Investment made	-38
Total cash Flow from investing Activity		-113
Cash flow from financing activities
Common share issued	50
Funds received from long term debt	15
Interest paid	-1
Total cash flow from Financing Activity		64
Net cash generated		32
Add: Opening cash	5
Closing cash and cash equivalents	37

The cash flow statement above shows the ability of the company to generate cash flows from business and other operations of the company in the future.

Merry Poppins  PLC INCOME STATEMENT
All amounts are in ?’ 000	2018	2019	2020
Revenue doe registration fees	169	179	225
Gross profit	169	179	225
Operating expenses
Maintenance of the app and promotional expenses	150	155	180
Total operating expenses	150	155	180
Operating income	19	24	45
Interest Expense	1	1	1
Other income (expense)	1	2	3
Income before taxes	19	25	47
Provision for income taxes	4	5	8
Net income from continuing operations	15	20	39

Thus, from the above projected profit and loss account of Merry Poppins it can be said that the company expects to increase its overall revenue and earnings with passage of each year. However, the above project profit and loss account is only an estimate and the management must use the resources of the company effectively to achieve the above financial performance in the coming years.

Merry Poppins Balance sheet
	2018	2019	2020
Assets
Current assets
Cash
Cash and cash equivalents	37	52	55
Receivables	51	59	79
Other current assets	6	9	9
Total current assets	94	120	143
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment
Gross property, plant and equipment	52	54	77
Accumulated Depreciation	-10	-12	-14
Net property, plant and equipment	42	42	63
Other long-term assets	25	33	27
Total assets	161	195	233
Liabilities and stockholders’ equity
Liabilities
Current liabilities
Short-term debt	26	38	46
Other current liabilities	57	67	83
Total current liabilities	83	105	129
Non-current liabilities
Long-term debt	18	24	28
Other long-term liabilities	10	9	16
Total non-current liabilities	28	33	44
Total liabilities	111	138	173
Stockholders’ equity
Common stock	50	50	48
Retained earnings	7	12
Total stockholders’ equity	50	57	60
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	161	195	233

The profitability ratios of the company will further help us to understand the financial performance of the company in the future.

Particulars	2018	2019	2020
Operating ratio
Revenue from registration fees	169	179	225
Operating income	19	24	45
Operating margin	11.2426	13.40782	20
Net profit ratio
Revenue	169	179	225
Net income from continuing operations	15	20	39
Net profit ratio	8.87574	11.17318	17.33333

As is clear from the above profitability ratios that both operating margin as well net profit margin of the company are expected to increase each year. The operating margin is expected to be at 11.25% in the year 2018 that is expected to increase to 20% by the end of 2020. Similarly, the net profit margin of the company is expected to increase to 17.33% by the end of year 2020 compare to the expected net profit margin of 8.88% in the year 2018.

The project Balance sheet of the company for the next three years has been provided below for the benefit of the readers to assess the expected financial position of the company.

All amounts in the following tables including the tables containing the profitability, liquidity and solvency ratios are in GBP’000 except per share data if any.

In order to assess the financial position of the company strategically liquidity and solvency ratios of the company have been calculated in the table below. 

Liquidity ratios
Current ratio
All amounts are in GBP’000 except per share data.	2018	2019	2020
Total current assets	94	120	143
Total current liabilities	83	105	129
Current ratio	1.13253	1.142857	1.108527
Acid test ratio
All amounts are in GBP’000 except per share data.	2018	2019	2020
Total current assets less inventories	94	120	143
Total current liabilities	83	105	129
Acid test ratio	1.13253	1.142857	1.108527
Solvency ratios
Capital gearing ratio
	2018	2019	2020
Equity shareholders’ funds	50	57	60
Long-term debt fund	28	33	44
Capital gearing ratio	1.785714	1.727273	1.363636
Debt to equity ratio
All amounts are in GBP’000 except per share data.	2018	2019	2020
Long-term debt fund	28	33	44
Equity shareholders’ funds	50	64	72
Debt to equity ratio	0.56	0.515625	0.611111

Both the current ratio as well as acid test ratio of the company are expected to be decline in the future which is not a good sign for the liquidity position of the company. similarly the long term solvency position of the company is also expected to be deteriorated with both capital gearing ratio as well as debt to equity ratio are expected to worsen un the coming future.

Break-even sales will help us to understand the minimum required sales that the company must achieve in the future to reach the no loss no profit position in the business.

Break even sales
All amounts are in 000	2018	2019	2020
Revenue	169	179	225
Less: Variable cost	120	125	138
Contribution	49	54	87
PV ratio	28.99408	30.1676	38.66667
Fixed costs	34	34	48
Break even sales
(Fixed cost / PV ratio)	113.3333	112.6947	124.1272

The sensitivity analysis is conducted by ascertaining the effect on profit by increasing and decreasing revenue by 10%.

Increase in revenue by 10%
All amounts are in GBP’ 000	2018	2019	2020
Revenue	185.9	196.9	247.5
Gross profit	185.9	196.9	247.5
Operating expenses
Other operating expenses	165	170.5	198
Total operating expenses	165	170.5	198
Operating income	20.9	26.4	49.5
Interest Expense	1	1	1
Other income (expense)	1	2	3
Income before taxes	20.9	27.4	51.5
Provision for income taxes	4	5	8
Net income from continuing operations	16.9	22.4	43.5

Decrease in revenue by 10%
All amounts are in GBP’ 000	2018	2019	2020
Revenue	152.1	161.1	202.5
Gross profit	152.1	161.1	202.5
Operating expenses
Other operating expenses	135	139.5	162
Total operating expenses	135	139.5	162
Operating income	17.1	21.6	40.5
Interest Expense	1	1	1
Other income (expense)	1	2	3
Income before taxes	17.1	22.6	42.5
Provision for income taxes	4	5	8
Net income from continuing operations	13.1	17.6	34.5

The key risks associated with the business are as following:

1. The existing market is full of competition and there are huge players in the market who are operating in the industry thus, the risk of competition is huge.
2. However, there is no restriction to enter the market however, the huge cost of business operations and the initial requirement of funds work as entry barriers to the industry. Thus, the amount of investment is huge and this is a huge risk for any business.

• The rules and regulations governing the child minding business are very strict thus, there is always risk involved in conducting this types of business in the country.

The business shall use effective penetration pricing strategy along with quality services in the industry to deal with huge competition in the market. Issue of common shares in the market will help the company to raise required amount of funds for the business (Perello 2017). All necessary rules and regulations shall be followed thus, a professional shall be appointed to ensure that the rules and regulations have been followed to the tee.   

The company has a contingency plan in case of early setbacks in the business, it is to allow the individuals, and other organizations registered with it to use the company franchise by taking a small monthly membership from the individuals and the organizations. This will help the company to receiver its initial investment at-least in case of any setbacks in the business (ABERA 2016).

The company is expected to start its business operations from 1^st of April, 2018 provided all the necessary formalities required for registration of the company and development of the app along with all necessary promotional activities are completed within the time frame.

The following table contains the event which are to take place in order to start the business on schedule.

Project	Start	End	Duration
Registration of company	1st of March, 2018	5th of March, 2018	6 days
Development of Merry Poppins App	1st of March, 2018	20th of March, 2018	21 days
Recruitment of employees and staffs	4th of March, 2018	20th of March, 2018	17 days
Promotional activities and marketing	6th of March, 2018	31st of March, 2018	26 days

In case of any delay in the above operations and projects there is significant provision for some additional time to be allocated for these events and projects thus, the start of the business will not be delayed as long as the delay in the above events are mostly of 2 to 3 days. However, in case of major delay in any of the events then the start of operations of the company will have to be delayed accordingly (Stoker and Evans 2016).

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