Start with a clear business idea
Running a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise means making connected decisions: who to serve, what to sell, how to deliver it and whether the business can cover its costs.
The Business Model Canvas helps you put those decisions on one page. Use it when starting a business, improving an existing operation or considering a new product.
It is not a complete business plan. Detailed costing, cash-flow forecasts, responsibilities and implementation steps still need separate work. Think of the canvas as a map of your business, not proof that it will succeed.
Explore the official Business Model Canvas.
Understand the nine blocks
Use short, specific notes rather than long paragraphs:
Customer Segments: Identify your first customer group. “Neighbourhood grocery shops buying packaged raisins” is more useful than “everyone.”
Value Propositions: What problem does your offer solve? Examples include consistent pack sizes, easier ordering or dependable product information.
Channels: How will customers discover, order and receive your goods? Consider shop visits, telephone, digital messages or an agreed distributor.
Customer Relationships: Who answers questions, handles concerns and follows up after a sale?
Revenue Streams: What do customers pay for, in which unit and when? An order and money received are not always the same thing.
Key Resources: Which skills, equipment, workspace, materials and working capital are essential?
Key Activities: What must happen reliably? Consider sourcing, sorting, quality checks, packing, record keeping and delivery.
Key Partners: Which suppliers and service providers do you depend on? Identify alternatives for critical supplies.
Cost Structure: Include labour, materials, packaging, transport, utilities, maintenance and expected losses, not only the purchase price of goods.
Start with one business model. Selling small retail packs and exporting bulk consignments can involve different customers, documentation, delivery arrangements and costs. Separate canvases can make those differences clearer.
Create your first draft in 60 minutes
Try this WatanPlus starter exercise with a colleague or family member involved in the business:
Minutes 0–10: Choose one product and one customer group. Write the specific problem you want to solve.
Minutes 10–25: Complete the customer, value, channel and relationship blocks.
Minutes 25–40: Complete resources, activities and partners. Check what you have and what you must obtain.
Minutes 40–50: Add revenue and costs. Use recent records and supplier quotations where possible. Mark unknown amounts clearly.
Minutes 50–60: Identify your three biggest assumptions. Choose one small test, a responsible person and a review date.
Write the business name, date and version on your sheet. Mark notes as confirmed, estimated or untested. An honest question mark is better than an invented answer. This exercise produces a first draft, not a validated business.
An example: packaged Afghan dried fruit
Consider a hypothetical women-led MSME planning to pack Afghan raisins for local grocery shops. This example illustrates the method; it is not a market forecast or an account of a real business.
Its first customers could be shops seeking clearly described, consistently sized packs. The proposed value might be simpler stock handling and predictable pack weights. Direct shop visits and telephone reordering could be its channels, with one team member responsible for follow-up.
Resources could include trained workers, an appropriate work area, weighing equipment, suitable packaging and working capital. Activities would include checking incoming goods, sorting, packing, recording batches and preparing agreed deliveries. Partners might include raisin suppliers, packaging providers and transporters.
Revenue would come from pack sales. Costs would include fruit, sorting losses, packaging, labour, equipment upkeep and delivery.
Before buying machinery or producing a large batch, ask actual shopkeepers about preferred pack sizes, quantities, acceptance criteria and payment terms. Food-quality, storage and labelling requirements must be checked separately. A completed canvas does not establish compliance or export readiness.
Test assumptions, not only opinions
“Shops will reorder this pack size” is an assumption. Ask buyers about their current purchasing experience, show a small sample and record what they actually do.
Decide your test criteria beforehand: what result would justify continuing, changing the offer or stopping? Compliments alone do not establish demand. A small trial order provides different evidence from someone saying they like an idea. Read Strategyzer’s guidance on testing critical assumptions.
Check the money before expanding
Use actual quantities and quotations to estimate costs. Check when suppliers must be paid and when customers are likely to pay you. A sale may appear profitable while delayed payment leaves too little cash for the next batch.
Prepare a separate cash-flow plan and update it alongside the canvas. The ILO’s Start and Improve Your Business programme covers practical skills such as costing, stock control, record keeping and planning.
Download your worksheet and start
The printable WatanPlus worksheet below includes a blank guided canvas and an illustrative worked example. Complete one draft, speak with potential customers and revise your weakest assumptions. Review it when customers, suppliers, prices or delivery arrangements change.
The goal is not a beautiful sheet. It is a clearer, better-tested business.
The Business Model Canvas framework is associated with Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur and Strategyzer. WatanPlus prepared this explanation and hypothetical MSME example independently. The adapted worksheet is shared under CC BY-SA 3.0; its source and adaptation credit appear in the PDF. No endorsement by Strategyzer or the ILO is implied.
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Supporting publications and documents shared by WatanPlus.