Questions We Could’ve Answered Better:

1. How are you planning on marketing the sweet potato muffins to mothers?
   1. Mentioned the stickers and posters and the director of nutrition, but should’ve specified we meant the country’s director of nutrition
   2. Also forgot to mention that we are relying heavily on word of mouth as means of advertising 
2. How is your research on food preservation technologies relevant to your venture?
   1. For this question we needed to have a set concrete system in place along with having the knowledge of which technology we are going to use in our venture. We need to be very specific with who are we distributing these technologies with, especially with its use with either farmers or the production of our food products
   2. Since our venture is working with locally sourced produce, we need to have a method of being able to preserve our products to reduce the amount of food waste that is present with limited resources such as electricity and refrigeration. By identifying a food preservation technology we can use, we can teach and distribute to other subsistence farmers that can benefit from having 
3. Pretty interesting that you guys are looking to use moringa…is it something you have been considering to use since last semester?… And curious, as to what the source will be for that.
   1. Could have answered in a more concise manner when identifying World Hope as an initial, temporary source for moringa, as well as local markets until we found a partner to purchase wholesale moringa or moringa powder from. Careful of generalizations with the use of terms such as“obviously” 
   2. Is it available as a commodity crop or something small farmers will have, or both?
      1. Should have been identified as a specialty crop. Undermined credibility by saying “I believe both”; Market availability may vary depending on if it is sold raw or processed into a product such as powder or oil. 

Top 20 FAQs:

1. What are the leading causes of malnutrition in Sierra Leone?
   1. In SL, malnutrition is caused by a micronutrient deficiency in Vitamin A, iron, zinc, and iodine.
2. How many kids are affected by malnutrition in SL?
   1. In 2013, a study in SL found that 38% of children did not fully grow or develop due to malnutrition.
3. How did you choose what ingredients to use in your foods?
   1. A programming code, AMPL, was used in the beginning of our venture to optimize what ingredients were best to use. This was especially helpful in the development of the sweet potato muffins and banana pudding. 
   2. During our 2019 fieldwork, we found common foods people in SL consume daily, and incorporated some of these nutrient dense foods into the new recipes we have developed
4. What products are a part of your venture? 
   1. Products that are 100% completed are the sweet potato muffins and the banana pudding. The business model for the sweet potato muffins is also completed, but not for the banana pudding because we still do not know the logistics of its distribution. We are in the process of finishing the recipes and business models for the Moringa-fortified Bouillon cubes, nut butter bites, mango muffins, porridge, and banana biscuits
5.  How are you going to distribute your products?
   1. As of right now, we plan on distributing our products through purchase at Betteh bakery, our kiosks, and through street vendors.
6.  Where are your products going to be made?
   1. Currently, we have a partnership with Betteh Bakery in Makeni, so we plan on having our operations run there in the beginning.
7. How much does it cost to make the sweet potato muffins? How much do you plan on selling the sweet potato muffins for?
   1. It costs ~$0.0662 to manufacture one muffin, and we will be selling them for ~$0.15. Our goal is to price them at an affordable rate so more people will purchase and consume our product.
8. How do your food products compare to your competitors?
   1. Our current competitors are plumpynut and Bennimix. They have both tried to immerse themselves into SL, but their products were too costly for families to afford. Our products are affordable enough for daily purchase. During fieldwork 2019, mothers were asked how much they typically spend on snacks for their children, and our price of ~$0.15 per muffin is within their budget.
9.  Who else is involved in the venture outside of your team members?
   1. We are partnered with World Hope International, which is well established in SL, Betteh Bakery in Makeni, and have government support through Sierra Leone’s Director of Nutrition.
10.  What motivated you to start this venture?
    1. The country’s Director of Nutrition, Aminata Shamit Koroma, requested for us to start this venture due to the high rates of malnutrition.
11. What is the reasoning behind using Moringa as a new ingredient in your food products?
    1. During the last research group’s fieldwork, moringa sparked interest after being identified as a “superfood” high in vitamin a and iron.
12. How do you plan on marketing your products?
    1. In SL, advertising is very simple. We plan on marketing our product with visuals such as stickers and posters, and will also be relying on word of mouth, as it is a predominant method of advertising in the country.
13. What is the source of Moringa for the bouillon cubes and how do you plan on distributing it?
    1. At the moment we are looking to temporarily source our moringa from World Hope and purchase it raw at the local market. We have identified potential partners for moringa powder such as from MorVigor and the Binkolo Growth Center and are in the process of evaluating who would be most viable based on our production needs and costs.
14.  How do you know people will purchase your product?
    1. During 2019 fieldwork, taste testing was conducted with mothers and their children. There were over 400 participants. The sweet potato muffins had a 98% success rate, and the banana pudding had a 97% success rate, with the success rate meaning that the mothers would purchase this for their child. We plan on conducting more taste testing with our new recipes once we are allowed to travel to SL.
15. How will you increase demand among people in SL for your food products?
    1. There is existing demand for nutritious food products in SL due to high childhood stunting rates, but we plan on increasing demand through increased marketing and exposure to our products as a substitute for snacks that mothers already purchase in the market
16. What kind of equipment is involved in the production of your food products?
    1. We minimize the equipment used to produce our food products to make them inexpensive. We only use an oven to bake some of our products, measuring tools, and bowls to mix the ingredients used in our products
17. What is the technology behind how the clay pot refrigerator works?
    1. The clay pot uses evaporative cooling to cool the foods or produce inside it. There are 2 pots used in the clay pot refrigerator, one smaller than the other one. The small pot inside will contain the produce or foods it is keeping cool. The heat from the small pot will evaporate away from it, which goes through the sand in the middle of both pots and the large pot giving away the heat from the small one
18. Why did you decide to research food preservation technologies?
    1. We has a meeting with 2 connections we have from World Hope, Musa and Allieu, and they expressed the need for food preservation techniques to extend the shelf life of nutrient dense foods
19. Do your food products use any preservatives and if so, what are they? 
    1. We are using ascorbic acid as the preservative for the bouillon cubes and the banana pudding, and sodium propionate as the preservative for the sweet potato muffins.
20. How does your venture plan to address food preservation when resources such as electricity and refrigeration are limited?
    1. With the use of food preservatives and low cost technologies such as pot in pot refrigeration, we will be extending the shelf life of our products and educating farmers about how they can reduce post harvest losses with their use of technology.