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Developing bankable business plans

A learning guide for forest producers and their organizations












Boscolo, M., Lehtonen, P. and Pra, A. 2021. Developing bankable business plans – A learning guide for forest producers and their organizations. Forestry Working Paper No. 24. Rome, FAO. 




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    Forest business incubation is a support process that accelerates the successful development of sustainable businesses in forest landscapes. There is much to develop. The aggregate gross annual value from smallholder producers within forest landscapes may be as much as US$1.3 trillion. Forest business incubation should be a key mechanism to implement the Paris Agreement on climate and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It can strengthen economic inclusion of forest and farm producer organisation (FFPO) businesses, increase rural incomes to reduce poverty, diversify those incomes to improve climate resilience, and incentivise forest restoration and sustainable management to mitigate climate change. It can also help improve product availability for established businesses and customers, pool lower-risk investment opportunities for financiers, and help inform policymakers on how best to deliver a win-win-win for the economy, society and the environment. It is that important! Business incubation practice generally has expanded rapidly in recent years. Since the first recorded business incubator was founded in 1959, establishment has risen sharply to more than 7,000 today – primarily in urban centres. They are variably financed through client fees, other business income, public and private grants, and loans. Over time the concept has evolved from primarily one of shared space (first generation) to shared space and mentoring (second generation) to shared space, mentoring and networking (third generation). Business incubators respond to needs that especially occur in newer business such as the lack of premises, facilities, market information, technological knowledge, business-management experience, procedures, finance and legitimacy. Remote forest landscapes present challenges for business incubation. Beyond exacerbating basic business support needs, such landscapes offer low densities of educated entrepreneurs, high logistical costs, scarce infrastructure to differentiate products, and few capable business mentors. These challenges may explain the limited penetration of business incubation thinking into forest landscapes. Forest landscapes also require a different type of service delivery model, because shared space is not often practical, requiring much more attention to on-site client visits, virtual services and field exchanges. The content of this book seeks to show how such challenges can be overcome. Chapter 1 begins by defining and introducing ‘business incubation’ and explaining why forest business incubation might be so important. It also specifies why forest business incubation is so challengingly different from models of urban business incubation. In the subsequent Chapters 2–12, detailed case studies are presented of attempts to deliver business incubation services in forest landscapes. Each case study introduces the incubator and its context, describes its institutional design, details the services it offers, outlines how the incubator-client engagement process is managed, comments on how impact is measured, and concludes with some thoughts and tips on best practice.
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    A guide to multiple-use forest management planning for small and medium forest enterprises 2023
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    This publication discusses the concept, evolution, and requirements of forest management planning, focusing on multiple-use forest management and small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs). Forest management planning is a document that translates forest policies into a coordinated programme for managing forests over a set period of time, integrating environmental, economic, and social dimensions. It serves various purposes, such as legal documents, concession agreements, and tools for sustainable forest management. Multiple-use forest management recognizes the diverse values and benefits that forests provide beyond timber, such as water regulation, climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and cultural values. Despite its challenges, forest management planning can contribute to sustainability and optimize the value derived from forests. SMFEs play a crucial role in supporting livelihoods and forest-based economies. However, barriers such as policy environments, lack of support tools, and management challenges need to be addressed. Forest management planning can help overcome these barriers by ensuring legal compliance, mitigating risks, promoting sustainability, and supporting marketing and value chain development. It is also a valuable tool for empowering local forest users, involving stakeholders, and negotiating benefit-sharing arrangements. The process of forest management planning involves gathering information, defining objectives, developing silvicultural and ecosystem services plans, creating a business plan, planning for unusual events, and establishing a monitoring system. It is an adaptive learning process that continuously evaluates and adapts plans based on the results of forest management activities. Stakeholder engagement is key to developing a socially acceptable forest management plan, starting with identifying stakeholders, creating awareness, informed discussions, and monitoring to keep stakeholders accountable for their agreed responsibilities. Negotiating expectations and building consensus helps identify conflicts and integrate qualitative data to improve decision-making in multiple-use forest management. In conclusion, forest management planning is essential for sustainable forest management, contributing to the well-being of communities, the environment, and the economy. This guide provides a framework for forest management planning, guiding forest managers through the planning process stepwise and providing advice on information sources needed during the planning process. The framework can be adapted to national and local contexts in line with relevant regulatory requirements.
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    Developing bankable business plans for sustainable forest-based enterprises 2023
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    This course is designed for a range of stakeholders with an interest in forest and landscape restoration. The course has been developed to improve the capacity of small-scale producers, their organizations, and small and medium-sized enterprises to access investment and other forms of finance. Facilitating this allows these stakeholders to derive socioeconomic benefits from their participation in forest value chains, and also complements the resources of official channels in contributing to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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