Feasibility Studies and Business Planning Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Programme Managers, Business Development Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SP-049

Before you join: Participants should have workplace experience with projects, budgets, service improvements, investment proposals or business planning.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Feasibility studies are used to decide whether a proposed investment, programme, service, product or infrastructure project should proceed, change or stop. Decision-makers need more than an attractive idea: they need credible evidence on demand, technical practicality, operating requirements, costs, funding, risks, legal obligations and expected returns. Weak studies commonly rely on untested assumptions, incomplete cost estimates, optimistic demand forecasts or recommendations that do not show the trade-offs behind them.

This course teaches participants how to structure and conduct a feasibility study, then turn the findings into a decision-ready business plan. Participants assess market demand, operational options, stakeholder impacts, regulatory constraints and financial viability. They build cost, revenue, cash flow and investment-appraisal models; compare options using financial and non-financial criteria; test uncertainty through scenarios and sensitivities; and develop risk registers, implementation roadmaps and governance arrangements.

Instruction combines short practitioner briefings with case work, group analysis, financial-model simulations and structured review of realistic investment decisions. Cases can be adapted for public services, banking, development programmes, manufacturing, infrastructure, technology or commercial ventures. Participants leave with a practical feasibility-study and business-plan pack containing reusable templates, analysis structures and an application plan for a current or upcoming proposal.

The course is suited to managers and specialists who prepare, review, sponsor or approve investment proposals. It is particularly useful where projects require formal approval, external funding, board scrutiny, procurement decisions or cross-functional commitment before resources are released.

What you will be able to do

  • Frame a feasibility study using terms of reference, decision gates and evidence plans
  • Assess market demand using PESTLE, Five Forces, segmentation and triangulated market sizing
  • Compare technical and operating options using capacity, process and resource analysis
  • Build an integrated financial model covering costs, revenues, cash flow and funding needs
  • Evaluate investments using NPV, IRR, discounted payback, sensitivity and scenario analysis
  • Develop risk registers and treatment plans using probability-impact matrices and bow-tie analysis
  • Write a decision-ready business plan with implementation, governance and performance measures
  • Present a justified recommendation supported by traceable evidence, assumptions and option comparisons

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce better-supported recommendations for investment, expansion or service-change decisions
  • Challenge optimistic assumptions using structured evidence, scenarios and sensitivity analysis
  • Build financial cases that explain affordability, returns and funding requirements clearly
  • Present options and trade-offs confidently to sponsors, committees and senior leaders
  • Create a reusable approach for future feasibility studies and business plans

For your organisation

  • Improves the quality and consistency of investment proposals submitted for approval
  • Identifies unviable options before significant funding and delivery effort are committed
  • Produces clearer cost, cash flow, funding and contingency estimates
  • Makes risks, dependencies and regulatory obligations visible earlier in project development
  • Strengthens governance through traceable assumptions, option comparisons and decision records

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define a feasibility study that answers a clear investment decision.

  • Feasibility study purpose, decision gates and distinction from business cases
  • Problem statements, opportunity hypotheses and sponsor expectations clarified early
  • Terms of reference defining scope, assumptions, exclusions and approval authority
  • Stage-gate governance, steering committees and escalation routes for investment decisions
  • Stakeholder mapping using power-interest grids and engagement priorities
  • Evidence plans matching questions, sources, owners and decision deadlines
  • Feasibility dimensions: market, technical, operational, financial, legal and environmental

Participants can assess demand and competitive conditions using structured market-analysis methods.

  • PESTLE analysis separating material drivers from background conditions
  • Porter's Five Forces assessing industry attractiveness and competitive pressure
  • Market sizing through top-down, bottom-up and demand-side triangulation
  • Customer segmentation, needs analysis and willingness-to-pay evidence collection
  • Competitor benchmarking covering offer, price, channels, capacity and positioning
  • Demand forecasts using adoption curves, scenarios and sensitivity ranges
  • Primary research design: sampling, interview guides, survey bias and consent

Participants can compare operating options against capacity, quality, cost and service requirements.

  • Options appraisal comparing process design, technology, location and delivery models
  • Capacity calculations based on throughput, utilisation, service levels and bottlenecks
  • Process mapping with SIPOC and swimlane diagrams to expose handoffs
  • Supply-chain feasibility: supplier qualification, lead times, logistics and contingencies
  • Resource plans covering skills, headcount, facilities, equipment and implementation timing
  • Quality requirements translated into specifications, acceptance criteria and controls
  • Operating model choices tested against demand, cost and service assumptions

Participants can identify stakeholder, regulatory and impact issues affecting feasibility.

  • Stakeholder impact assessment identifying beneficiaries, affected groups and opposition
  • Regulatory due diligence mapping licences, permits, standards and reporting duties
  • Environmental and social screening using material impacts and mitigation measures
  • Data protection, procurement and competition-law constraints examined early
  • Social licence considerations for public infrastructure and community-facing projects
  • Assumption registers recording evidence strength, ownership and review dates
  • Ethical risk tests covering conflicts, accessibility, safeguarding and equity

Participants can develop financial forecasts that show viability, affordability and funding needs.

  • Cost estimates structured through capital expenditure, operating expenditure and contingencies
  • Revenue models linking price, volume, collection rates and timing
  • Unit economics calculating contribution margin, break-even volume and payback
  • Integrated financial model connecting assumptions, profit and loss, cash flow
  • Working-capital schedules for inventory, receivables, payables and cash requirements
  • Funding options assessed: debt, equity, grants, retained earnings and partnerships
  • Model audit checks covering formulas, signs, units and version control

Participants can evaluate options using financial and non-financial decision criteria.

  • Discounted cash flow valuation using NPV, IRR and discounted payback
  • Weighted average cost of capital matched to project risk
  • Scenario analysis comparing base, upside, downside and stress cases
  • Sensitivity tables isolating drivers of value and affordability
  • Cost-benefit analysis quantifying monetised costs, benefits and externalities
  • Multi-criteria decision analysis scoring non-financial options transparently
  • Affordability tests distinguishing viable projects from fundable projects

Participants can identify, assess and treat risks that could change the recommendation.

  • Risk workshops identifying strategic, delivery, financial, legal and reputational threats
  • Risk registers recording causes, events, consequences, owners and controls
  • Probability-impact matrices prioritising treatment before residual-risk review sessions
  • Bow-tie analysis linking preventive controls, recovery measures and escalation triggers
  • Quantitative risk allowances based on ranges, correlations and contingency logic
  • Assumption stress-testing exposing dependencies, thresholds and early-warning indicators
  • Risk appetite statements aligned with sponsor tolerances and decision rights

Participants can convert feasibility findings into an actionable and coherent business plan.

  • Business plan architecture connecting proposition, strategy, operations, finance and governance
  • Executive summaries presenting recommendation, investment ask, returns and key risks
  • Value propositions articulated through customer problem, solution and differentiators
  • Strategic objectives translated into milestones, KPIs, owners and review cycles
  • Go-to-market plans covering channels, sales funnel, partnerships and communications
  • Implementation roadmaps sequencing mobilisation, procurement, launch and stabilisation
  • Governance plans assigning accountability through RACI and reporting calendars

Participants can communicate feasibility findings clearly for executive and board decisions.

  • Feasibility report structure separating evidence, analysis, judgement and recommendation
  • Options comparison tables making trade-offs explicit for decision-makers
  • Traceability matrices linking conclusions to sources, assumptions and calculations
  • Charts selected for demand, costs, cash flow, risks and milestones
  • Recommendation wording distinguishing approval, deferral, redesign or rejection
  • Board papers built around decisions required, implications and proposed resolutions
  • Quality assurance reviews checking internal consistency, completeness and readability

Participants can plan the first steps for applying the course methods to a live proposal.

  • Project selection criteria identifying an appropriate live feasibility question
  • Stakeholder conversations planned to validate assumptions and secure evidence
  • First-90-day action plans sequencing research, modelling, reviews and approvals
  • Decision calendars aligning governance meetings, funding windows and procurement lead times
  • Personal application plans naming outputs, sponsors, dependencies and dates
  • Peer review protocols for challenging conclusions without reopening settled decisions
  • Lessons-learned capture improving future estimates, assumptions and stage-gate decisions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Feasibility study terms-of-reference template
  2. Market and stakeholder evidence plan
  3. Integrated financial-model structure
  4. Investment appraisal and sensitivity-analysis template
  5. Risk register and assumption-log template
  6. Business plan and board-paper outline

Who should attend

  • Programme Managers — need evidence to secure approval before committing delivery resources
  • Business Development Managers — need to test commercial opportunities before pursuing bids or investments
  • Project Managers — need to define viable scope, costs, risks and implementation requirements
  • Financial Analysts — need to evaluate business cases and challenge investment assumptions
  • Public Sector Managers — need defensible options appraisals for services, programmes and capital projects
  • NGO and Development Managers — need fundable plans supported by demand, cost and impact evidence

Skills and tools covered

Feasibility study designMarket demand analysisFinancial modellingInvestment appraisalRisk assessmentBusiness plan writing

Tools and standards

PESTLE analysis, Porter's Five Forces, SWOT analysis, Net Present Value

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by case analysis, group exercises, financial-model simulations and structured peer review. Participants work through the sequence of framing a study, gathering evidence, assessing options, modelling finances, testing risk and preparing recommendations. Cases reflect common decisions such as launching a service, expanding capacity, funding a development programme or investing in new technology. Application planning helps participants transfer the methods, templates and review questions to a live workplace proposal.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have workplace experience with projects, budgets, service improvements, investment proposals or business planning. They should be comfortable reading basic financial information such as revenue, costs, profit and cash flow, although advanced finance knowledge is not assumed. Familiarity with spreadsheets is helpful because financial-model logic and sensitivity testing are discussed. Participants do not need prior feasibility-study experience, accounting qualifications, statistical training, specialist software or a completed business idea. Those bringing an active proposal will gain the most immediate application value.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have experience of projects, budgets, service delivery or business planning. Basic familiarity with revenue, costs and cash flow is useful, but advanced finance, accounting or feasibility-study experience is not required.

Bring a current or anticipated proposal if you have one, such as a new service, investment, expansion plan or funding application. You can use it as a reference point during application planning, but it is not essential.

It suits managers, analysts, project professionals, business development staff and programme leads who prepare, review or approve proposals. It is relevant to public, private and non-profit sector participants.

The course connects market, operational, financial, legal and risk evidence into a single investment decision. Finance and project management are included where needed, but the focus is on deciding whether an option should proceed and on what terms.

Participants can use the terms of reference, evidence plan, financial-model structure, risk register and business-plan outline on a live proposal. The methods also help reviewers challenge unsupported assumptions before approving funding.

The course runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing about 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group exercises, modelling simulations, report review and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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