KENYA · GUIDE 0640 · EDITION 4.2
Educational board game making in Kenya: Startup Costs and Budget
Build a budget around the first deliverable
Define the board game by learner age, player count, learning objective, session format, and the decisions players should practise through original rules and components.
This scope determines what you need before the first order. A national average or a supplier's bundle cannot establish your opening budget. The main cost drivers for this business are:
- Component production
- Artwork
- Packaging
Separate setup, operating cost and working cash
| Budget line | What to establish before spending |
|---|---|
| Original board artwork | Specify the pilot quantity, purchase/hire option, delivered quote and payment date. |
| Prototype pieces | Specify the pilot quantity, purchase/hire option, delivered quote and payment date. |
| Rules sheet | Specify the pilot quantity, purchase/hire option, delivered quote and payment date. |
| Playtest notes | Specify the pilot quantity, purchase/hire option, delivered quote and payment date. |
Equipment that remains useful after the pilot belongs in a separate setup schedule. Consumables used in accepted work belong in operating cost. Refundable deposits use cash but are not automatically an expense. Do not count the same equipment purchase in full both as setup spending and again as one period's operating expense.
Include costs that are easily missed
Include illustration, rulebook editing, prototype printing, component cutting, packaging, assembly labour, playtest changes, and rejected pieces rather than costing the printed board in isolation.
Prepare the cash schedule in date order. Supplier payments can fall due before the customer pays; a positive paper margin does not fill that gap. Record transport, rejected inputs, corrections and your own working time against the actual trial rather than assuming them to be free.
Set a spending decision
Use this pilot as the smallest meaningful commitment: Build a paper prototype and observe a small supervised playtest before manufacturing.
Before buying, obtain comparable written quotations with the same item specification, quantity, delivery destination and relevant support terms. Keep uncertain lines marked unknown until you have evidence. If the cash requirement exceeds your available funds, reduce the trial scope, negotiate transparent payment stages or defer the purchase. Do not silently replace missing costs with zero.
The game fails when the designer must repeatedly explain rules or when winning depends on guessing instructions instead of practising the intended educational skill through play.
Use the pricing and cash-flow chapter to test whether accepted sales can cover recurring costs after setup. This page supplies a budgeting method, not a verified opening-cost estimate.
Build the first spending decision from actual specifications
| Resource in this guide | Evidence needed before payment |
|---|---|
| Print service | Obtain artwork-specific quote, stock/GSM/sidedness/tax and proof sign-off. |
| Envelope | 450 listing is 25-pack; do not assume one envelope available for 18 cash. |
| Pencils/paper | Four fresh score pages require four more A4 impressions next game. |
| Optional lamination | A4 sheet lamination quote does not establish cut-card sealed borders or toy safety. |
The listed cost exercise below is a narrow scenario, not a complete startup budget. Do not buy this entire list automatically: first decide whether the trial requires purchase, suitable hire or a competent service provider. Record one-time resources separately from repeat inputs, and enter the actual supplier due dates.
A cash-timing exercise using the same example
Assume solely for arithmetic practice that opening cash is zero and the entire listed input bill of KSh 1,378.00 must be paid before handover. With no advance, that amount must be funded before any sale is collected. This deliberately simplified case does not establish when your actual suppliers need payment.
If a buyer hypothetically pays a 30% advance on the example revenue of KSh 1,800.00, cash received would be KSh 540.00. Paying the listed bill then leaves KSh -838.00. The additional cash needed to avoid a negative balance at that point is KSh 838.00. The unpaid remainder is KSh 1,260.00; it is a receivable, not cash already in the business.
The 30% figure is an invented teaching assumption, not a recommended or agreed customer term. Check whether deposits are refundable and which commitments they can actually fund. Do not count the advance again when entering the final collection. Add equipment payments, tax, owner drawings and unlisted operating bills to the dated cash plan as appropriate. The 13-week planner in file 10 shows week-end funding gaps; inspect intra-week dates for a large payment.
Close these budget uncertainties
- No physical prototype, field playtest, name clearance, demand evidence, curriculum approval or compliance certification is claimed.
- Exact printer artwork/stock quotation and product classification remain open; production thresholds in commercial templates are proposed, not measured.