Pepita Verde

Pepita Verde Tree Planting Philippines, Southern Leyte, Hinunangan 74385

+65 9168 0866 pepitaverde@yahoo.com

Carly Ragsdale Gabrielle Ryan Malaki Dominic Singson

Legal Page Confidentiality Agreement

The undersigned reader acknowledges that the information provided by Pepita Verde in this business plan is confidential; therefore, reader agrees not to disclose it without the written permission of Pepita Verde. It is acknowledged by reader that information to be furnished in this business plan is in all respects confidential in nature, other than information which is in the public domain through other means and that any disclosure or use of same by reader, may cause serious harm or damage to Pepita Verde. Upon request, this document is to be immediately returned to Pepita Verde.

___________________ Signature

___________________ Name (typed or printed)

___________________ Date

This is a business plan. It does not imply an offering of securities.

Pepita Verde Table of Contents

1.0 Executive

1.1 Description 1.2 Mission 1.3 Keys to Success 1.4 Market 1.5 Financial Plan 1.6 Objectives 2.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary

2.1 Competitive Advantage 2.2 Marketing 2.3 Pricing 2.4 Products 2.5 Technology 2.6 Future Products 3.0 Start-up

3.1 Company Locations and Facilities

4.0 Market Analysis

4.1 How? 4.2 Why? 4.3 Delivery 4.4 Communication

5.0 Strategies and Implementation

6.0 Management

7.0 Financial Plan

7.1 Sales and Profit Graphs 7.2 Break Down Revenues 7.3 Break-Even 7.4 SWOT

1.0 Executive Summary

1.1 What is Pepita Verde? Pepita Verde is a non-profit company that provides a way for environmentally friendly people to work at neutralizing CO2 emissions that are damaging to our ozone layer. Pepita Verde plants and maintains tropical trees with a constant online update of the progression of the customer’s trees. Pepita Verde owns and maintains land and plantations dedicated to afforestation and reforestation in the Southern Leyte province of the Philippines.

1.2 Mission

Pepita Verde’s main objective is to help environmentalists take the first step to saving the world while also providing them with proof that their efforts and money is making a change.

Mission Statement

“Our business allows your tree to help towards a greener cause”

1.3 Keys to success A common concern for people donating money to a nonprofit organization is that there is no verification where their money actually ends up. The consumer does not acquire any tangible proof that their money is changing the world. One of the biggest keys to success for Pepita Verde is advertising and the use of technology. Pepita Verde has a website that lets buyers interact with each other and also lets them have a first-hand look at what they are doing to improve the world. Customers will be given a “green status bar” on their website which, as they purchase more trees, will help them gauge how much they are making a difference in the world. Not only do they have proof of where their money is going, they also have a chance to meet some people while saving the world at the same time. 1. Proof of where the customer’s money is going 2. Having a “warranty” system set up in case something happens to the customer’s product 3. Offering more than just a store-customer transaction. We also offer a website that customers can use to interact with each other. 1.4 Market

The main process through which we sell our product is through the Internet. The Internet is a vast please where buyers are able to purchase seeds for only ten dollars per seed, and our workers will plant them. The buyers’ name plaque will be posted on the tree(s) they purchased. Buyers can also choose to participate in special deal packages (ex. 100 trees/$800) for when they want to buy bundles of trees at a time. This opportunity especially attracts big businesses that are looking to expand their profits by going green. Pepita Verde also presents customers with monthly updates on how well their trees are doing in their PepitaVerde.com account. 1.5 Financial Plan Pepita Verde is seeking $64,1800 in both short-term and long-term loans to finance the purchase of Pepita Verde’s property, upgrade the facilities, and cover start-up expenses and first year losses. It is estimated that the company will begin to make a profit in month 4 of operations. The company does not expect to have any cash flow problems during the first three years of operations because this company will be a great success and as long as carbon tracts are being emitted into the environment, it is not suspected that customers will stop trying to eliminate them. 1.6 Objectives:

1) Set up a successful business that motivates people to work towards a greater cause

2) Help customers know that they’re making a difference and provide proof of where their money is going

3) Save the world from the downsides of deforestation

2.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary: 2.1 Competitive edge- Website: What sets Pepita Verde apart from other companies is that we offer a website that will work like “Facebook” but for environmentalists/customers. Users can interact with each other and have forums discussing the problems with today’s world and possible solutions. This website can also function like the official website where customers can purchase their trees and browse around to get more

info about the company and the cause itself. Other non- profit organizations also ask for donations but the biggest question for most people is “Where is my money going? And how do I know if it’s actually changing the world”. Pepita Verde will offer name plaques put next to the set of trees you buy and there will be a “green bar status” which basically informs the customer of how many trees they have purchased and how much it is helping the world. There will be statistics of how much CO2 emission their trees are consuming. Not only do they get informative emails, but they also have a chance to visit their trees in Visayas, Philippines. Goals for the first year: 1. Set up the website 2. Buy the site/product/tools and hire employees 3. Have the business up and running in 6 months time Competitive edge: over Co2 tropical trees (competitor) 1. Interactive website where customers can have forums and could meet/ chat over desired topics 2. Proof of where the customer’s money is going 3. A name plaque of ownership of trees and knowledge of how much they are helping the world. 2.2 Marketing Strategy: Our Company will use our website/ the Internet to advertise our product. We will use ads in various websites and use our website to promote our cause. We will also team up with other companies that want to be more eco- friendly and have our product advertised along with theirs. One of the companies that we plan to market with is the military because the founder (Todd Malaki) is currently serving so we can have our products advertised faster all around the world. We will also team up with other corporations to further help our cause. 2.3 Pricing Strategy: Although our product is slightly more expensive than our competitors, we offer more services than them. Our product sells about 10 per seed but we also offer bundles and discounts. We also offer a website which is the other upside to our company whereas other companies don’t so there is no proof or service for the customers. 2.4 Products: The trees that Pepita Verde will be planting are the Narra Trees, Papaya Trees, and Banana Trees: The Narra tree is the national tree of the Philippines and is very

common. It is often used for its hard wood and is used for making furniture. It is often found in smaller areas in South East Asia. The tree is considered endangered in the Philippines so not only will customers be saving the environment by planting this tree, but it will also save the very specie itself. The Narra-Tree is a deciduous, relatively short-stemmed tree. In case of good growth-conditions it can reach a height of over thirty meters and a trunk-scope of two meters.

Papaya Tree: Not only does this tree produce Papayas but it can also grow very tall (16-33 ft). Leaves only grow at the very top so it is easy to get more carbon dioxide from the air. This tree can be used for food or for medicine so customers will also be doing a service by planting food and vegetables as well as for their own pleasure of helping the environment.

Banana Tree: The Banana Tree is meant for tropical weathers so there is no doubt that this tree will survive. It also produces Bananas (hence the name). It is a very common plant in the Philippines. It is very leafy, very tall

(24-27 ft) and very sturdy so customers cannot go wrong with buying this product since it will survive hard rain and other natural weathers.

2.5 Technology: Pepita Verde will be looking into a system where we try to measure how much CO2 the customer’s trees are absorbing. We will also be looking at how healthy the trees are and will send weekly notifications to our customers. We also have a Facebook-like website where customers can interact with each other and can see how their trees are doing and how much they are helping the world through the “green status bar.” The green status bar is an application that will be located on the customer’s main PepitaVerde page. The more trees you purchase, the more carbon tracts you are eliminating. Users will be able to observe just how much they are contributing, and there will be special rewards for the most generous customers who are eliminating the most carbon tracts. 2.6 Future Products: We are still looking for future products that are cheap and reliable. We try to limit the trees to which are native in the Philippines since those will most likely last the longest in that area but we are also finding other trees that can still survive in that type of environment and will appeal to our buyers.

3.0 Start-up Summary

Start-Up Costs Price

Land (3 acres) $50,000 Hoses, Pots, Planting Equipment $10,000 Website $80 Website Design $100

3.1 Company Locations and Facilities

The company headquarters for Pepita Verde, along with where all of the trees are planted is in Visayas, Philippines. Pepita Verde will utilize:

• A lot of wide open space for the trees with the personal plaques to be planted

• Filters, water treatment devices • Business office building

Start-­‐up  Costs  

Land  (3  acres)  

Supplies  

Website  

Website  Design  

4.0 Market Analysis Summary

Two Market Segments:

1. Environmentally friendly people who are looking to make the world a better place and decrease carbon tracts

2. Large companies that would like to “go green” and attract more customers.

4.1 How will Pepita Verde supply these market segments what they want?

Pepita Verde will be supplying these market segments what they want by providing a simple, trustworthy way to personally contribute to saving the Earth.

4.2 How will they use the service and why is the product important?

They have their own website providing them access to their trees, and the chance to do something about their carbon emissions. They can track the progress of their carbon emissions.

4.3 How will we deliver our service to them?

Our website will be updated regularly with photos of their trees to ensure that they are growing on track.

4.4 How will we reach out to our customers?

We will have advertisements and posters posted in places such as schools and education facilities to catch the attention of environmentally friendly clubs and service clubs at those schools. We will advertise to big businesses that are interested in giving back to the world and going green. We have a webpage on Facebook, a social networking site because of the ever-growing fascination with technology. Our greatest time of advertising will be Earth Week because people will be reaching out and finding ways to contribute to the earth.

5.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary

Earth Day: Pepita Verde’s big time for sales is Earth Week/ and more specifically Earth Day. Earth Week is April 17-23 and we

will get a special deal with earthweek.com offering Pepita Verde mass advertising across the world.

6.0 Management Summary

Management Team Pepita Verde will be led by father and son Todd and Gabe Malaki. Todd is an officer in the Navy while his son Gabriel Malaki attends Singapore American School. Both were born and raised in the site of the plantation Visayas, Philippines. Growing up, Todd Malaki became aware of his surroundings in Visayas and with the Gabe’s plan to help the world, they both came up with this tree planting business. Todd has the experience with business because of his participation in the stock market. Todd will be responsible for the operations in the actual site and Gabriel will help manage the website along with other employees.

Total Employee Salary per month- $18,000

7.0 Financial

The following pages are the financial information

CEO  &  Co-­‐CEO  Todd  and  Gabe  

Malaki  

Marketing  Executive  

Computer  Programmer  (Headcount:  2)  

Tree  Planting  Manager  

Workers  (Headcount:  10)