GIMPA ONLINE

FORUM & HUB

BUSINESS PLAN






1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub is a student-to-student Internet platform that affords all
GIMPA students and partners with the opportunity to share and discuss information, buy, sell
and trade college textbooks, participate in discussions, post classified ads, and provide
teacher evaluations. The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub target market consists of over three
thousand (3,000) college students who each spend an average of two hundred Ghana Cedis
(GHC 200.00) on text books per session and spend have their time consuming online
information and communicating on social media platforms.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Day in day out students face countless of problems and have no one to ask or confide in and
most at times personnel that are to administer help to such students are usually busy with
other activities. These problems encompass course related, how to deal with work stress and
school life at the same time. How to access past questions and even source educational
materials are all a major problems for some students. Getting hold of text books, which ones
are available and beneficial to certain subjects other than one recommended by lecturers and
sometimes written by these same lecturers are difficult to come by. Students buy texts books
and only use them for a semester and probably never use them again. Some textbooks might
also be out of the system but a continuing student might have it available and will love to
release it for some little reparation or even lend it to a friend for free.
Students during their student life cycle purchase a whole lot of gadgets that might not be
useful to them anymore but are unable to give it out since no one shows interest. Others also
come from far and wont want to carry them as extra baggage.
Students vie for leadership positions and are only limited to the traditional forms of
advertisement on campus with most times limited reach which cannot also easily determined.
Posters are torn but rivals and some even go unnoticed.
There are some unsung heroes that impact the life of a student by the way they conduct their
lectures whiles their compatriots approach lectures in a lackadaisical manners. Some students
will always appreciate goods one and give them their due deservedly. Students are constantly
looking for less stressful ways to do this and acknowledge such people or faculty.
These and many more fragmented services exist in the daily life of the students accompanied
with other activities, which occur daily on the GIMPA campus. This is what the GIMPA
Online Forum and Hub seeks to address.

1.3 SOLUTION
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub is divided into two major platforms
1. The forum: This is a platform for the sharing and discussion of ideas, course related
work, campus activities and other issues bothering around the campus and student
life.
2. The hub: This is a platform for sharing of course materials; that is presentations,
sample assignments, projects, past questions and solutions etc and also the ability
to trade used textbooks directly to other students, by-passing the university
bookstores and other channels. Lecturers and faculty can also share their lesson notes
and other educational resources via this platform.

From the preamble raised above it is evident that a lot of the features that the GIMPA Online
Forum and Hub seeks to do already exist in their own unsolicited forms. However, these
services are fragmented and the idea behind the GIMPA Online Forum and Hub is that, it
seeks to coalesce all these fragmented services into one big portal. This will allow cross-
selling such that not only people interested in blogging or selling of books or students
wanting to participate in discussions will be reached. But all potential parties will be reached
and some form of information they will be privy to on the hub will trigger their interest to
explore other aspects of the GIMPA Online Forum and Hub.
In addition to the above, the GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will offer other services such
as classifieds that is, providing advertising space for business in and around campus to
exhibit their products and services to the vast majority of students who will be visiting the
site. It will also serve as a platform where the school can conduct teacher evaluations and
collate other such related information. It will provide an avenue for Blogs, where bloggers
can upload special pieces and articles to the consumption of students.
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will establish itself as the leading online student-to-
student social meeting place, marketplace for educational materials and platform to propagate
any information with regards to activities and happenings on the GIMPA campus and its
associated environs.
This it will achieve by combining extensive market-specific expertise with Internet
technologies to generate some revenue while creating a win-win solution for all students and
stakeholders in GIMPA.
1.4 METHODOLOGY
This business plan will focus and gather information from a survey employing the use of a
questionnaire that will target or source the required information from the two main parties
that are to benefit from the development of this solution.
Firstly a questionnaire targeting students, employees and staff directly related to the GIMPA
Institution, placing emphasis on the following:
How and what students use the internet for?
How often they access internet resource for educational purposes
What services are they interested in
How students gather and share information on campus
How many students own laptops or internet capable devices
The number of books they acquire and use on campus
Willingness to sell used book/willingness to pay for any such online services
Secondly, a questionnaire targeting industries and organizations seeking to gather
information on the following:
Advertising channels
Social media presence
Willingness to pay for online services/marketing
Reference A and B, provides a full brief on the questionnaire targeting students and
industries respectively.
1.5 MARKET
GIMPA presents a growing market that offers a steady flow of new students biannually.
Current trends show that the school is expanding gradually and projected intake of over five
thousand (5,000) students across its various faculties and departments.
Due to technological advancements, ninety percent (90%) of students admitted already have
email accounts and are quite conversant with online social platforms and online shops. From
a survey conducted, (details in Appendix B The use on internet on campus), shows that an
average of seventy eight percent (78%) actively use the internet for almost all school related
tasks and activities.
1.6 OPPORTUNITY
Students are eager to find ways to get "quick cash" at the end of every semester. One
method university students use is to sell their old textbooks at the end of every semester;
however the re-sell market is controlled by the local bookstore and the independent
consultant/sales representative for GIMPA. These channels have monopolized the market;
hence students receive only a fraction of the value paid for the book, typically 75% or less of
the purchase prices. The bookstores or consultant/sales representative then re-sells the books
back to other students, receiving over 125% profit. The current situation creates a lose -lose
situation for students and a win-win situation for bookstores and the independent
consultant/sales representative. Students are looking for convenient money saving ways
to purchase textbooks and to receive more value when re-selling textbooks at the end of each
semester.
Information dissemination on the GIMPA campus and its other associated campuses has
always been a problem. Students want to know everything thats happening within the
school, not only with their departments or knowledge areas but all others together. Students
desire a platform where they can easily assess course material, past questions, presentations,
etc and also post their problems, questions/assignments and concerns for possible
resolution and/or assistance from other students.
School authorities (GIMPA Faculty and Administration) are always in the look-out for
innovative ways to present information to students in a cost-effective manner and also easily
conduct lecturer evaluations and aggregate views from students on different topical issues on
campus.

1.7 FINANCIAL & CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS
According to the opportunities and requirements for GIMPA Online Forum and Hub
described in this business plan, the following summary financial projections were arrived at:
Generate considerable revenues by the end of year one through Ad slots and sales.

The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will require an initial seed investment as well as later
rounds of investment. The initial seed capital will be used for marketing and
customer/student related awareness programs, software and website development.

1.8 OBJECTIVES
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will strive to achieve the following objectives:
Become the leading repository of information on the GIMPA campus
Become the leading online student-to-student bookstore/marketplace on campus
Attract 5,000 registered users in the first year
Achieve 10,000 visits per month
Establish sustainable profitability within the first year







2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
Online forums and hubs are very distinct and diverse in nature, that is, online forums appear very
independent, quite separated from online hubs. These are two separate platforms but the GIMPA
online forum and hub intends to merge these two platforms in one unified environment
presenting more value and diverse services than what an online forum or hub offers.
The purpose of this review is to assess the features and functionalities of other educational
platforms with similar product features as the GIMPA online forum and hub. Assess what has
been done, their strengths and weaknesses/shortcomings. Below is an evaluation of some of
similar platforms that already exist and are somewhat doing the same thing that the GIMPA
online forum and hub seeks to achieve:
1. Blackboard.com: Blackboard Learning Management System
This is a virtual learning environment and course management system developed by
Blackboard Inc. It is a Web-based server software which features course management,
customizable open architecture, and scalable design that allows integration with student
information systems and authentication protocols. Its main purposes are to add online
elements to courses traditionally delivered face-to-face and to develop completely online
courses with few or no face-to-face meetings. There has been a lot of good testimonials
from universities across the globe that have adapted this platform to aid in creating a
delightful educational experience.
The Blackboard Learning System provides users with a platform for communication and
sharing content with numerous functionalities such as:
Announcements: Professors and teachers may post announcements for students to
read. These can be found under the announcement tab, or can be made to pop-up
when a student accesses Blackboard.
Chat: This function allows those students who are online to chat in real time with
other students in their class section.
Discussions: This feature allows students and professors to create a discussion
thread and reply to ones already created.
Mail: Blackboard mail allows students and teachers to send mail to one another.
This feature supports mass emailing to students in a course.
Course content: This feature allows teachers to post articles, assignments, videos
etc.
Calendar: Teachers can use this function to post due dates for assignments and
tests.
Learning modules: This feature is often used for strictly online classes. It allows
professors to post different lessons for students to access.
Assessments: This tab allows teachers to post quizzes and exams and allows
students to access them via the internet
Assignments: This features allows assignments to be posted and students to
submit assignments online
Grade Book: Teachers and professors may post grades on Blackboard for
students to view.
Media Library: Videos and other media may be posted under this function.
The Blackboard Learning System has however been challenged with the following
through the course of its operation:
Maintaining the appropriate scalability for the increased level of usage by its
customers.
Providing seamless and uninterrupted migration paths from one version of the
software to the other
Supporting the tens of thousands of transaction enrollments and add/drop
capabilities that may happen during the first two weeks of class
Also, it is to be noticed that the Blackboard learning system has no online bookstore
platform although there were plans to incorporate this into the existing architecture; this
has not been achieved yet. The platform is very dynamic and has a lot of other
functionalities and hence has to be customized to suit the structure of each and every
university that intends to adapt the platform.
2. Moodle.com
Moodle, An acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment is a
free software e-learning platform with a user base of over 84,000 registered and verified
sites, serving over 70,000,000 users in more than 7.5 million courses with over a million
lecturers. Originally developed by Martin Dougiamas to help educators create online
courses with a focus on interaction and collaborative construction of content, and is in
continual evolution. The first version of Moodle was released on 20 August 2002.

Moodle is a learning management system that can be used in many types of environments
such as in education, training and development, and business settings. Some typical
features of Moodle are:
Personalized Dashboard: This helps you to organize and display courses the way
you want it and view at a glance current task and messages
Discussion forum
Data Repository for files upload and download/Convenient File Management:
Integrate with cloud storage services such as MS Skydrive, Dropbox, Google
drive
Grading system/Track Progress: Educators and learners can track learning
progress, view grades and use an array of options for tracking individual activities
or resources
Moodle Instant chat system: This enables users to receive automatic alerts on new
assignments and deadlines, forum post and also send private messages to one
another.
All in one Calender: This tool helps learners to keep track of the academic
calendar, course deadlines, group meetings and any other personal events
Online news and announcement board
Online quiz platform
Wiki platform
Although Moodle presents features and functionalities similar to GIMPA Online Forum
and Hub, the architecture of MOODLE showcases it as a system that rather provides an
enabling environment/technology for the GIMPA online forum to be developed with.
Adapting to this platform requires extensive modification and customization in order to
make it suitable for any university or school. However it is to be noticed that the platform
is totally open source and free to acquire but customization and medication will be borne
by any institution that decides to make use of the platform. This platform also has no
online bookstore for the sale of used books as in the case of GIMPA Online forum and
hub.
3. Cavenetworks.com
Cavenetworks is a web based online platform that was developed for students of the
University Of Cape Coast (UCC). The platform is connected to social media platforms
and allows students and other visitors to have access to information and happenings in
and around the UCC campus. The aim of this platform is to provide information for
students and to create an avenue where students can share information and interact with
one another on educational and social related issues.

Typical features of the Cavenetworks platform are:
Hostel Finder: A tool that helps students to access affordable hostel and
accommodation facilities in and around campus.
Notice Board: A place where students access all updates on courses,
assignments and any issue relating to coursework.
Campus Filla: Here you can get the latest information on campus on events,
from halls, the SRC and general filla. If you're looking for the next party,
seminar or news on UCC campus.
Advertisement Platform: This is the complete online marketing hub that affords
the students the opportunity to advertise their items, hence any student willing
to buy or sell an item utilizes this platform to showcase their wares or get
information of interested items.
Hotspot: A platform that showcases product offerings and other related
information of small and medium scale enterprises in and around the UCC
campus
This platform shares some or most similarities to the GIMPA Online forum and hub and
it also exist in the same market environment as the online forum and hub. Information
from the online website averages an average of 500 visits during peak hours and over a
1,000 unique users.

From the review above, it can be seen that many schools and universities are adapting online
educational platforms to enrich the students educational experience. Students are also actively
engaging such platforms to further there learning experiences. Although most of these platforms
offer a wider range of services, they tend to be very generic in nature and often require other
modifications in some cases further learning by students before they can use or adapt to the
platforms. The GIMPA Online forum and hub offers services that are center to the activities of
GIMPA students in particular and these services are very specific to their needs.

2.0 STAKEHOLDER/COMPANY SUMMARY
2.1
****************
2.2 START-UP SUMMARY
Our start-up costs assumptions are shown in the following table and chart, and include Web
hosting, software, development and marketing expenses.
Table: Start-up
Start-up GHC

Requirements

Start-up Expenses
Domain Name Registration 50.00
Computers (2 @ 2000) 4,000.00
Programming & Site Development 20,000.00
Site Hosting (1st 3 months) 1,500.00
Miscellanea Expenses 1,000.00
Beta Launch Promotions 2,000.00
Total Start-up Expenses 28,550.00












3.0 PRODUCT SUMMARY
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will offer students a unique blend of products, services,
and content that is not offered by any single Ghanaian school/institution on the Internet. The
GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will aggregate participants, products, services and content to
create a unique student-to-student platform and marketplace. The below describe GIMPA
Online Forum and Hub's product specification and possible revenue channels or models:
3.1 FORUM
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will offer the functionality to allow students to post up
topics/questions/concerns and have this available to all visitors on the page. Forum threads or
topics will then be answered by visitors to the sites and/or administrators. This will be saved
or archived, hence other visitors can run searches to reveal or learn about already existing
topics and the responses that were provided.
The SRC or Students Affairs department can also use this functionality to solicit for views
and concerns of students on any related campus issue. E.g.: The state of car parks on the
GIMPA main campus or the use of GIMPA Assigned Stickers to access some routes to the
GIMPA main campus.
The forum page will accommodate all sorts of topics as long as it does not infringe on the
policies set by the institution. All topics will be managed by a centralized Administrator of
the overall platform.

3.2 NEWS COLUMN
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will offer a page that will allow Administrators of the
platform and school authorities to disseminate all activities, occurrences and any such related
information to students and visitors of the platform. News such as the change in the
institution exchange rate or the inauguration of a new Director or Registrar or any such
related news item will be shown on the platform for the consumption of users.
The News Column on the GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will also provide the functionality
to track the number of students who have read the news article and also allow administrators
to send out bulk email and SMS notifications on the news items for all users who have opted
to receive such via the email or SMS alert mediums.



3.3 Textbook Exchange
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will offer functionality to allow students to buy, sell and
trade their used textbooks with other students. Specifically, the Textbook Exchange
functionality allows students to post their textbooks online for sale or trade, upload images,
and indicate the condition of the book. Students looking for used textbooks will be able to
search for used textbooks for sale. A fee will be charged for boosting your post, that is a user
can decide to make his post very popular by showing all searches and pages on the
platform. The fee may vary based on the duration of the post boost which will be collected
on the GIMPA campus either through the Finance department or the committee/board setup
for the management of this platform. Sample textbook categories include:
Accounting
Business
Computer Science
Marketing
History
Economics
Law
Political Science

3.4 Classifieds
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will offer fee based, student targeted, classifieds
ads. Here many features such as image upload, Web links and nested categories will be
offered. A fee will be charged for posting a classified/advertisement. The amount charged
will be based on the length of time the classified will be posted and the location on the page
chosen for the Ad. This segment will be opened to all segments of businesses but will be
keenly monitored to ensure that school policies and regulations are followed. Businesses will
also be allowed to advertise Job openings and slots within their organizations. Sample
advertisement categories include:
Textbooks
Hostel/Accommodation
Educational Seminars
Tutorials
Cooperate Level advertisement (E.g: Telecommunications, beverage and food
adverts, etc)
3.5 Teacher Evaluations
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will enable students to post and review teacher
evaluations. The teacher evaluation functionality will be a value added service encouraging
students to visit the site each semester/session. A standard lecturer evaluation will be sort
from GIMPA Faculty or Academic, and they will in turn submit all lecturers and their related
courses to the editorial board or content management committee of the online forum and hub
for upload. Students will be encouraged by Lecturers and Faculty to visit the platform and
complete evaluation forms.
Revenue for teacher evaluations will be generated from the sale of banner ad space located
within the teacher evaluation pages. Banner ad sales will be targeted toward businesses on or
around the GIMPA campus. The fee for banner ad space will be determined by the length of
posting, number of users for teacher evaluations and demand. This will be administered
solely by the Students Affairs unit of GIMPA.
3.6 Bloggers
The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will offer the functionality for users to create blogs on
the site, writing about topics that will interest students and all other visitors to the platform.
Revenue for the blog will be also generated from the sale of banner ad space located within
the Blog pages. Depending on the Blog topic, banner ad sales will be targeted toward either
businesses in or around campus or national companies. The fees for banner ad space will be
determined by the duration of posting, number of users for the Blog and demand. Blog
topics will include:
Sports
Politics
Business/Finance
Entertainment
Technology
News
Education
Overall, we conclude that our current products, services, content provision and banner ad
strategy will ensure a strong presence and continued revenue growth. However as part of the
growth model, new services, products, categories and content will be continually examined
and added in order to support and sustain demand on the online platform.


4.0 MARKET ANALYSIS SUMMARY
The Ghanaian tertiary education market is a fast growing yet it is under-served niche
market. Statistics from the National Council for Tertiary Education shows that for the
2012/2013 academic year, 109,278 students were admitted into public universities, 47,294
students gained admission into polytechnics, 26, 159 were admitted into private universities,
27,580 admitted into Colleges of Education and 5,048 admitted into other public specialized
institutions such as GIMPA. The Ghana Educational sector performance report 2013 by the
Ministry of Education has shown that the intake into tertiary institutions such as Ghana is
expected to grow at about 15% each year.

4.1 MARKET SEGMENTATION
Our primary targets are students currently of the GIMPA campus, its associated campuses
and alumni of the institution. We also seek to focus on the GIMPA Alumni, Faculty,
Administrators and staff of the Registrar and Academic Office. At any point in time in the
lifetime of this product, it will be serving four (4) year groups for the undergraduate sector
and 2 year groups averagely for post graduate studies. Below is a table of some market
segmentation analysis:
Table: Market Segmentation Analysis
******(Awaiting required info from GIMPA)








4.1 MARKET GROWTH
The Ghana ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy in 2001 has bolstered the use
of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching, learning and
administering of information within tertiary institutions in Ghana. According to the Ministry
of Eduction Educational Sector Performance report, July 2013, section 6: about ninety
percent (90%) of students from diverse tertiary institutions are actively using the internet and
other communication technologies to improve their education experience. GIMPA has
further ensured that they are pioneering and advancing the use of ICT on their campus and in
the delivery of lessons to students.
Reports from the Ghana Educational sector performance report also estimates that the
average spending from tertiary students on educational materials ranges from five hundred
Ghana cedis (GHC 500.00) to two thousand Ghana cedis (GHC 2,000.00) for under graduate
students and an average of eight hundred Ghana cedis (GHC 800.00) to three thousand
Ghana cedis (GHC 3,000.00) for post graduate students.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) statistics in 2004 revealed very low
Internet penetration in Ghana, with172 Internet users per 10 000 inhabitants in 2004; it
however increased higher than the African average of 123.21. It has not increased since then
till now, below are some results from the statistics collated by the ITU.

Table 2: Population Growth and Internet Usage in Ghana

Year Users Population % Penetration.


2012 3,568,757 25,292,392 14.1%
2011 2,085,501 24,791,073 8.4 %
2010 1,297,000 24,339,838 5.3 %
2009 997,000 23,887,812 4.2 %
2008 880,000 23,382,848 3.8 %
2007 609 800 21 801 662 2.8 %
2006 401,300 21,501,842 1.8 %
2005 368,000 21,029,850 1.6 %
2001 40,500 19,101,878 0. 3 %
2000 30,000 18,881,600 0.2 %
1999 20,000 18,599,549 0.1 %

Also, the installation of Internet WIFI hotspots on the GIMPA campus has greatly improved
and encouraged the use of the internet by students for research and other educational and
social related matters.

4.2 MARKET TRENDS
The following statistics indicate that GIMPA students are and will be receptive to the internet
channel for the products, services and content that will be offered by the online forum and
hub. The following student statistics were based on a survey report conducted by the
TXTGroup | TXTGhana research team in relation to this plan.
99% of GIMPA students use the Internet
93% of GIMPA students use the Internet every month
72% of GIMPA students access the Internet at least daily
52% of GIMPA students own a laptop
13% of GIMPA students plan on buying a laptop in the next year
Students average 18 hours per week online
Students average 12 hours per week watching TV
Students average 10 hours per week listening to the radio
The above was gathered irrespective of whether students were undergraduates or
postgraduates. This data was gathered to depict the overall or general use of the various
information and communication channels on the GIMPA campus.
A study from the International Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information
Sciences shows that 45.6% of Ghanaian internet users use internet frequently for educational
purpose, 33.75% frequently use it for news; and only 6.35% frequently use the internet for
commerce. Below are the statistics from this study:
Table 3: Purpose of internet usage
Percentage
Purpose of Internet Usage Never Rarely Occasionally Frequently Always Total
Entertainment 12.5 24.4 51 9 3.1 100
Education 0.625 5 25 45.625 23.75 100
Work-related Research 10.63 13.12 36.25 31.25 8.75 100
Personal finance (banking, stock,
trading)
26.25 23.75 34.375 13.125 2.5 100
Current events (news, sports
andweather)
5.63 15 33.75 33.75 11.87 100
Travel-related (research,
reservations)
38.18 28.75 19.37 8.7 5 100
Product information gathering 18.75 21.25 40.625 14.375 5 100
Making purchase from online
merchants
52.4 17.5 18.75 6.35 5 100
Communicating with
others(chat/email)
4.38 7.5 30 25 33.12 100

This study further goes to prove the viability of the success of the online forum and hub
when initiated and implemented in GIMPA.

4.3 SWOC ANALYSIS: GIMPA ONLINE FORUM AND HUB
To fully assess the internal and external factors that will influence the operations and
development of this product a SWOC analysis was conducted with the below results.

STRENGTHS
Ease of Access in terms of availability
24-7 Operation
Requires less funds/investment to start up as compared to local bookshops
Less operational cost, little or no human interventions
Access to online help/assistance from other students
One stop repository to all student related information
Easy and fast access to information
Cheaper and competitive prices for books
Easy to aggregate information from students and track students interest**

WEAKNESSES
Cost of maintaining web portal and providing customer support
Cost of creating consumer awareness and marketing
Scalability and the ability to handle lots of online traffic
Inability to fully protect consumers from fraudulent activities
OPPORTUNITIES
Ability to easily disseminate information
Easy to aggregate information about student trends, online behaviors and interest
Provides an avenue to make extra revenue for the school through online Ads such
as google Adsense, Adversal, Clicksor, Amazon associates etc
Expansion of product to other partner schools
Global Exposure

CHALLENGES/THREATS
Harsh competition from existing channels such as the GIMPA communication
channels (noticeboard, handouts, banners etc) and EPP on campus bookshop
Approval from GIMPA authorities and the academic board
Length of the project and web development
Ability to lobby the resources from the IT Department and School of Technology
to ensure that product is successfully developed
Possibility that web portal might infringe with old or future policies of the school
Content management and security
Legal Implications of resale of books

4.4 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Competitors of the GIMPA Online forum and hub are diverse in nature. Theres no one
business that has the same product offering as the GIMPA online forum and hub, although
there are several businesses that are offering at least one of the product that the online forum
and hub seeks to provide. Below are a list of such businesses and a summary analysis of their
strengths and weaknesses in relation to the online forum and hub.
On campus and neighboring bookshops
o GIMPA EPP Bookshop
o Legon Balm Library
o Independent Book Salesperson (Paul)
Online Forums (Popular)
o Ask.com
o Yahoo answers
o Answers.com
Online Retail Sites
o Tonaton.com
o Ghanaweb.com
o Amazon.com
o Ebay.com
Online Blogs
o Blogcampghana.com
o Bloggingghana.com
Online hubs/repositories
o 4shared.com
o Mediafire.com

4.4.1 On campus and neighboring bookshops
Strengths
Proximity to students
Variety of stock (books and material)
New books in the best of shape
Existing brand awareness
Weaknesses
Books are expensive
Ability to run out of stock for long periods
Inability to negotiate prices of books
Lack of value added services that online hub offers

4.4.2 Online Forums
Strengths
Popular to students
Large consumer or subscriber base
Existing brand awareness
Weaknesses
Lapses in security and fraud
Content is largely out of scope
Diverse product offering, not centered to GIMPA students only
4.4.3 Online Blogs
Strengths
Popular to students
Large consumer or subscriber base
Existing brand awareness
Weaknesses
Diverse product offering, not centered to GIMPA students only
Content not related to education and to activities on campus

4.4.4 Online Hubs/Repositories
Strengths
Popular to students
Large consumer or subscriber base
Existing brand awareness
Weaknesses
Lapses in security and fraud
Content largely unsuitable for educational purposes
Diverse content offering











5.0 STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY
GIMPA online forum and hub consumers will be available to the over three thousand (3,000)
students on GIMPA campus and the numerous Alumni over the country and the world at
large. As well as serve potential students and curious people who what to know about whats
going on in GIMPA. A typical example could be, an article that will have been on the blog
about the chop chop in the SRC and on the discussion board/forum soliciting for the students
comments and views on the matter.
The main business model for The GIMPA online forum and hub relies heavily on students
and alumni actively using the platform to share educational materials, discuss topics, engage
faculties to solve educationally related problems or questions and also by providing or
posting used/new textbooks for sale and teacher/faculty evaluations available on the website.
Our focus will therefore be on a marketing strategy to increase student/alumni traffic and
usage, not overlooking other users such as faculty members and staff of GIMPA. The key to
success of the online forum and hub depends on an extensive promotion strategy to attract
users.
5.1 PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY
The overall advertising and promotional objectives are to:
Position the online forum and hub as the one stop repository for all GIMPA related
issues
Acquire customers and generate sustainable traffic on web platform.
Increase site awareness and brand name recognition among students and alumni.
Position the online forum and hub as the main advertising channel for cooperate
business for want to reach the educational segment of the market
Gather market research to help establish immediate and long-term marketing plans.
The Online forum and hub will attract customers by using a mixture of traditional and
online advertising/social media strategies. The following is a list of advertising and
promotional channels the online forum and hub will employ:
Posting and distributing banners, posters, leaflets, flyers in and around campus
Telemarketing : Bulk Emails and SMS notice to all students and alumni
Campus bulletin advertising and inserts
Indoor/outdoor banner advertisements at campus organized events
Banner ads on select related sites with a significant level of traffic
Web links on GIMPA main homepage and other related web sites
Registration with all the major search engines
Social media advertisement on main social media like facebook, twitter, linkedin,
Google +
Using online advertisement channels such as Google Adsense,

5.2 SOURCING
The content and value added service will be provided/managed by a committee or editorial
under the GIMPA SRC wing. Blogs and forum topics will be administered by executives of
the Editorial team and selected students.
Teacher evaluations and student specific news and notices will be managed or provided by
the academic board and GIMPA Registry or Secretariat.
Advertisement and other classifieds to be placed on the site will be co-managed by the IT
team and the SRC/Editorial board
Student volunteers from all classes will be sourced by the editorial board/SRC to help attend
to queries and concerns raised up on the discussion board on the forums.

5.3 TECHNOLOGY
The web platform will be designed with the needs of the GIMPA student and Alumni as the
central focus whiles accommodating other the needs of other visitors on the page such as
faculty and other university students in search of assistance and information.
The Forum and Hub will be developed using up to date web languages and technologies such
as HTML5 and PHP WordPress/JOOMLA. This will provide the flexibility to easily
expand products and service offerings in the future. The GIMPA Online Forum and Hub will
initially host the website with the existing web-hosting vendor for the main GIMPA as it has
proven as very reliable and thus reducing initial start-up cost. At traffic builds, test will be
conducted on the platform to ensure the stability of the hosting provider to support the
optimum functioning of the web platform. The current hosting provider for the main GIMPA
website: www.gimpa.edu.gh is New Dream Network, LLC, based in Brea, United States.
New Dream Network in addition to Web hosting, will provide site monitoring and statistical
performance metrics that include uptime, page views, unique users, banner impressions,
search keywords stats and link stats from other sites. This will help us to track marketing
efforts and also make informed financial decisions and projections
Furthermore, development plugins such as BBPress and WPe-Commerce will be acquired to
ensure speedy development by web developers. This will be captured in the budget for
development of the platform. It is to be noted that the acquisition of such software will also
enable the programmers to easily customize the software to support the future growing
business needs of the GIMPA Online Forum and Hub.

5.4 MILESTONES
The table below lists important milestones with dates, duration and stakeholders responsible
for ensuring that activities are completed within the set time.
Table: Milestones
Milestone Start Date End Date Duration Stakeholders
Business Concept & Planning 7/1/2014 7/11/2014 9 days Academic Registry,SRC, ICT
Department
Secure Funding for Development 7/7/2014 8/1/2014 19 days Academic Registry,SRC
Requirements Gathering 7/14/2014 7/24/2014 10 days Academic Registry,SRC, ICT
Department
System Design and Architecture 7/28/2014 7/1/2014 5 days ICT Department
Beta Site Development 8/4/2014 9/8/2014 25 days ICT Department
Beta Site Launch 9/10/2014 9/12/2014 3 days SRC, ICT Department
Beta Site Promotional Campaign 9/15/2014 9/24/2014 8 days SRC
Beta Site Analysis 10/1/2014 10/3/2014 3 days SRC, ICT Department
Secure Funding for Phase 1
Launch
10/9/2014 10/22/2014 10 days Academic Registry,SRC
Phase 1 - Site Development 10/23/2014 11/12/2014 15 days ICT Department
Phase 1 - Launch 11/14/2014 11/14/2014 1 days Academic Registry,SRC, ICT
Department
Phase 1 - Promotional Campaign 11/17/2014 11/27/2014 10 days SRC
Monitoring and Evaluation 12/1/2014 12/19/2014 15 days SRC, ICT Department