Entrepreneurial Business Plan: Part 2

RUNNING HEAD: ENTREPRENEURIAL BUSINESS PLAN 2

ENTREPRENEURIAL BUSINESS PLAN 2

Entrepreneurial Business Plan: Part 1

Overview of the business opportunity

An entrepreneurial opportunity in healthcare that can have a profound impact on society is a diabetic care center. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, approximately 9.4 percent of the United States population has diabetes, or it is prediabetic (CDC, 2017). This statistic shows that the demand for diabetic services is high, and thus establishing a diabetic care center targeting this population group can help people living with diabetes to be able to manage their conditions.

Why is the opportunity viable?

Starting a diabetic care center is a viable business opportunity given the increasing demand for diabetic services. Furthermore, diabetes is a lifelong disease. The 9.4 percent of the total population will need diabetic care services for the rest of their lives unless a medication that can cure diabetes completely is invented.

Service

Establishing a diabetic care center can help people with diabetes improve their quality of life by providing counseling, medical services, and dialysis. In addition, the diabetic center can also focus on offering preventive care such as teaching and creating awareness on healthy eating habits.

Assessment of target market needs

To assess whether the opportunity meets the target market's needs, it would need to conduct market research on the demand for diabetic care services. This can be done through surveys and questionnaires to gather information regarding the health care needs of diabetic people. The target market for the entrepreneurial opportunity is people living with diabetes and people who would learn the preventive measures for diabetes, such as living a healthy lifestyle by exercising good eating habits and doing physical exercises. Therefore, the business would target people with diabetes and those without, especially adults, because they are at increased risk for diabetes than children.

Profitability of the business opportunity

The business would be profitable because of various reasons. First, there is a high number of people with diabetes, not including those who would need preventative services (Alva et al., 2017). Also, the cost of running a diabetic care center is not high considering that some of the services do not require any medication, but counseling and educating the patient on how to lead a healthy lifestyle in order to improve quality of life.

Positioning Strategy

In an era where diabetes care need has increased and “Type 2 diabetes approaches an epidemic level in our country” (Hill et al., 2013), our strategy is to use education as a way of enticing our patients. Though medicine will be used, an essential aspect of the clinic will be teaching new eating habits and making life changes. An example would be teaching the patients about the glycemic index in food items and what is acceptable to consume. Also, teach them how to incorporate exercise into their daily lives. New medications in the market, like Ozempic, help with the loss of appetite and slow down the breakdown of foods in the stomach. Doctors do not often use these new treatments for lack of knowledge or resistance to change. These medications will also be part of the strategy that will set the clinic apart from the rest.

Societal needs for the service

With many diabetic people, there is an increased need for diabetic care services to help these people improve their quality of life. “In 2010, Type 2 diabetes accounted for more than 95% of the 25 million patients with diabetes in the US, and an additional 79 million individuals were estimated to be prediabetic.” (Hill et al., 2013) The majority of people with diabetes only know medication as the only way to manage their condition. Creating societal awareness regarding healthy eating habits and other non-medication interventions such as regular physical exercise can help society prevent and manage diabetes. “Diabetes also takes a toll on the health care system, as 1 in 10 health care dollars is attributed to it. Average medical expenses for patients with diabetes are nearly twice as high as those for patients who do not have diabetes.” (Hill et al., 2013)

References

Alva, M. L., Samuel-Hodge, C. D., Porterfield, D., Thomas, T., & Leeman, J. (2017). Peer-Reviewed: A Feasibility Study of Supply and Demand for Diabetes Prevention Programs in North Carolina. Preventing chronic disease, 14.

CDC. (2017). New CDC report: More than 100 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p0718-diabetes-report.html

Hill, J., Nielsen, M., & Fox, M. H. (2013). Understanding the social factors that contribute to diabetes: A means to informing health care and social policies for the chronically ill. The Permanente journal. Retrieved October 11, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662286/.