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Blog 13

1. Develop a detailed income statement for your venture for two years (at six month intervals). Explicitly state the assumptions that underlie your financial model.
2. From the social enterprises we reviewed today, or others you have studied, identify ten extremely specific strategies that you can leverage for your project. The strategies can be about the technology, the business model, access to capital, customer education, messaging, thought leadership, etc. 

1.  The Ukweli venture relies very much on World Hope International. The venture should be more self-reliant
2.  Ukweli is for the women of Sierra Leone and should include their leadership
3.  Getting women of Sierra Leone involved in the marketing of the product.
4.  Acquiring other partners to fund the project.
5. Collaborating with ventures with similar background/work 
6.  Training CHWs to train other CHWs instead of just relying on Hassan to train CHWs
7.  Considering moving to whatsApp as a main mode of communication 
8. Change prices to reflect inflation
9.  Finding another source to fund the fuel prices hence cutting costs.
10.  Consider expanding to Liberia or other Sub-Saharan African countries

Blog 12

1. Create a first draft of your business model using the business model
2. Explain all of the major costs involved in your venture – what are they for, how much will they be, how did you determine those costs? Think about the Cost of Goods Sold…but also any – other primary costs that will be needed to run your venture.

• Fuel ~4.00 SLL
• DM salary ~163 SLL per month 
• Paying the manufacturer ~8,790.00 SLL
• Travel expenses for distribution purposes ~10.00 SLL

3. Choose one existing social enterprise that you feel aligns well with your venture – explain what it does, why you like it, and in what ways it is similar to your venture.

A social enterprise that aligns well with Ukweli is the company called Ayzh. They are based in the United States and India and deliver cost effective health products to women in rural India. Their products include clean birth kits, newborn kits, postpartum mother care kit, menstrual hygiene kit, and more. Like Ukweli, this company focuses on maternal health in a way that is accessible and simple. I enjoy this company as their goal is to aid women in areas where the healthcare system is not accessible to those of all economic standings. It plays into a bigger picture of making a difference in lower income communities by helping those get resources essential to life and maternal health.

Understanding the Business model of Ukweli

1. What are the technological, social, economic, and political trends that will impact (help or hurt) your ventures?

Technological: Anything that can be connected will be connected thanks to the growing interest and use of the internet in LICs. This will make collecting data for our team easier. We are currently trying to figure out how to efficiently get the data collected by our Distribution Managers as it is inconsistent and unreliable. 

Social: It is socially unacceptable for women of Sierra Leone to ride motorbikes, which is how we get our test strips to women of Sierra Leone. The spread of feminism in African Countries will hopefully make hiring women as Distribution Managers easy and convenient as they are more connected to the women.

Economics:Globalization, organizations will be operating on an international scale, this is good news for ukweli test strips because our partners such as WHI(which is already a global organization) can help us expand to other countries that might need to use our product

Political Trends: governments throughout sub-saharan Africa have or are trying to make healthcare free and/or accessible to their citizens. This will make distribution and accessibility of our test strips easy if we do plan to target other countries like Sierra leone.

 

 

2. What is the Total Available Market and Total Addressable Market for your product or service? What are your customer segments?

The Total Available Market and Total Addressable Market will target the following:

1. Sierra Leonean women in age range from teenagers to adults who are most likely married and pregnant. 
2. Women in rural countries who do not have direct access to the healthcare system or it is difficult to get treatment, if need be, due to geographic or economic barriers.
3. Community Health Workers at Peripheral Health Units in both rural and urban settings will purchase the test strips and sell them to the women.

Our customer segment is very similar to our market given that our product targets a diversified market; pregnant women in Sierra Leone who are subject to UTIs and preeclampsia. Our product is only beneficial to women in this target group and the community health workers/peripheral health units that purchase the test strips from the distribution managers to further sell to the women. Our product is currently used by the women of Sierra Leone but the test strips can be implemented in other countries as well such as Liberia and South Sudan(countries with high maternal mortality rates).

Because of the simplicity and affordability of our product, the Ukweli test strips, can also be used by clinics in rural areas in low-income countries as well as clinics in slums. Our product is a medical device that can be used in hospitals to diagnose for UTIs and Preeclampsia i.e. it has a diverse market  

 

3. What are your initial value propositions (using the format in the slides)?

• For women of Sierra Leone who are pregnant and in need of antenatal care, Ukweli Test Strips are two cent urinalysis test strips that will test for UTIs and preeclampsia for early intervention to decrease maternal mortality.
• We help the women of Sierra Leone reduce their risk of maternal mortality rate by selling urinalysis test strips to test for UTIs and preeclampsia at $0.02.

Stakeholders and understanding their needs

1. Identify three different primary stakeholders on your project, and come up with a list of 10 distinct questions you would ask each of them. Remember the Aspirational / Emotional / Functional categories of needs and desires and try to find a balance of questions that might give you the information in each of those areas.

 

1. World Hope International
   1. What is your name?
   2. How long have you been working for WHI?
   3. Why did you decide to work for WHI?
   4. What inspires you to go to work each morning?
   5. What makes WHI stand out from other NGOs?
   6. How many lives do you think WHI has impacted in Sierra Leone?
   7. Do you feel that there is more to be done?
   8. Why do you feel so?
   9. What would you change about WHI?
   10. Why do you think this change is necessary?
2. Women in targeting communities
   1. What is your name?
   2. Have you heard of Ukweli test strips?
   3. Have you ever been screened using the test strips?
   4. How many times have you been screened?
   5. Where were you screened?
   6. Were you comfortable during the process?
   7. Why did you feel comfortable/uncomfortable?
   8.  Do you think you will be more comfortable being screened from your house?
   9. After screening, were you referred to the hospital?
   10. Did you seek treatment after referral?

 

1. Community Health Workers
   1. How are you doing today?
   2. What is your name?
   3. How long have you been a CHW?
   4. Why did you choose to be a CHW?
   5. Apart from being a CHW, what else do you do?
   6. Why do you do what you do?
   7. What inspires you each morning before work?
   8. Why does it inspire you?
   9. Do you feel that the women in your community understand what you tell them about UTIs and Preeclampsia?
   10. What is your biggest dream, and have you achieved it yet?

1. Identify all of the key customers for your product/service/creation/solution (your “animal,” if you will). Name some specific ways that you will ensure that your project’s “animal” will meet all of their Aspirational, Emotional, and Functional needs and desires.
   1. Women in the community-Ensure that CHWs are sufficiently trained to educate them about UTIs and Preeclampsia before screening. Make screening more comfortable and accessible to them.
   2. Community Health Workers-Ensure that they are well trained to serve their community to  the best of their ability.
   3. PHUs-Give them an incentive(a few free boxes so they can make a profit) to recommend Ukweli test strips to Sierra Leonean women.

Midterm Presentation

• Identify FIVE specific things in your slides that you could have done differently.

1. Have less words on the slides
2. Offer a slide on specifically how the Ukweli technology works
3. Define a few key terms to make the presentation more clear
4. Explain the current system, prevalence, conditions further
5. Provide a more visual timeline for greater effect and visual pleasure

 

• Identify FIVE specific ways in which you could have delivered your presentation better.

1. Be more specific and confident while speaking
2. Do not stare at screen as much
3. Distributed questions amongst team more evenly
4. Do not rely on “memorizing” what we are going to say 
5. Do not speak over another group member while answering questions

 

• Identify FIVE specific ways you could have built your credibility further.

1. Provide more specific data, using the data dashboard so it is easy for the audience to follow along
2. Talk about science behind the test strips, why it works
3. Discuss how the strips are integrated into the Sierra Leone healthcare system and how Ukweli is a well-oiled machine
4. Discuss in greater detail what we have done this semester to excel the venture: specifically pointing out flaws and addressing them
5. When answering the question, have a concise conclusion that you are confident in. The judges will know if you don’t know what you are talking about and it will take away the credibility of the venture. 

 

• Identify FIVE specific questions that you could have answered better. What was the question, how did you respond, how should you have responded?

1. How do the test trips work? -We generally talked about how to use it, but the judges wanted to know the science behind the test strips. We all need to know more about what each parameters means if it shows up positive
2.  How do we diagnose women?We told the judges that we do not diagnose for UTIs and Preeclampsia, UHWs  screen them and then refer them to hospitals where they are properly diagnosed. We need to know the science behind screening for preeclampsia and UTIs
3.  How long do the test strips last?We provided an estimate which was not very convincing because we sounded unsure. We should have clear knowledge of what the expiration date on the test strips box really signifies, it falls under knowing how the test strips work.
4.  What has the team achieved so far? We talked about the papers that the members of Ukweli are currently working on to publish.We should have  highlighted the achievements of the past members as well as what we are currently working on.
5. How many women have you screened so far and are they treated after screening? We said that we do not know whether the women are treated after screening but we use the screening results as a referral to hospitals where they are diagnosed for UTIs and Preeclampsia. We should have provided the correct number of women screened and then let Noah talk about what we did not know.

Philosophy of engagement

Ten things that make me Human

1. The ability to admit when I am wrong
2. When I take a deep breathe in the morning before climbing out of my bed
3. Tears make me human
4. Shame, the feeling of shame makes me human
5. Each time I talk to someone, and there is understanding, I feel human
6. When I understand emotions of someone
7. When I am happy or sad, emotions are the core definition of human
8. When I show compassion to a fellow human being
9. My ability to care for animals like my pet cat.
10. When I can think and come up with solutions.

 

My philosophy of engagement as it pertains to my work with GSIF

I believe I should engage fully in the Ukweli project because I am from a low-income country, and I would like to make a difference in my community and communities that are like mine. I am currently affiliated with Ukweli test strips. With the aim to reduce maternal mortality rates in Sierra Leone by increasing the number of women screened for UTIs and preeclampsia, I believe it is a great course that I should give as much as I can. When you agree to be apart of something, especially as amazing as Ukweli, you come in with the mentality that you will engage to a certain point.

To engage, I should be able to attend the meetings, and contribute to ideas that would most likely better the venture. To be fully engage in Ukweli, I must ensure that I am good team member. Being able to do the duties I am assigned by my team members. Improving this project is the main goal of joining Ukweli and to this, I must do more than just turn up for meetings. My team is trying to figure out concepts of operation and potential sources of funding. I can write opinion pieces on this to market Ukweli test strips, this will attract more funding.

My engagement should not be limited to just with my team members but with varies stakeholders of Ukweli test strips. These stakeholders make Ukweli what it is. Most of this engagement with the stakeholders will occur during fieldwork because the primary stakeholders are based in Sierra Leone. When you are fully invested in something such as a project, everyone is on your team including your professors and friends.

There are various challenges and opportunities that will be present throughout this project. The challenges will help us change our design process to make it more efficient. We are currently having inconsistent data because of how flawed our data reporting system is. This challenge is also an opportunity to refine the Ukweli project.

I am seeking my purpose in life and Ukweli project is one of the ways I am pursuing purpose. When I die, I want my epitaph to read, ‘She gave it her all.’ I try my best even if it might not be the best result. That is my life philosophy, give it your all or nothing at all.

Credibility and IRB

Blog #5 prompts (TEAM): Samara, Grace and Athiel

1. Does your work require IRB approvals…right now? At a later stage? If Yes, articulate your detailed IRB strategy. If No, explain why you don’t need IRB approval and identify situations when you might need IRB approval.

Our work in Sierra Leone will require IRB approval because we are working with pregnant women, who are considered to be a vulnerable population. 

We may have to submit to Sierra Leone IRB (depending on some alternative avenues that may or may not work out), and we will have to resubmit for continuing review to the Lehigh IRB as this project was approved in the past. However, as we expand operations, we will have to outline further details for the IRB at Lehigh and the stakeholders in Sierra Leone (CMO and other officials). Within those details, we will have to outline specific methods/controls we will have in place during our data collection process and procedures to ensure the safety and well-being of our vulnerable participants.

 

1. Develop an outline for your mid-semester presentations. What supporting evidence will you provide for each point? How will you boost your credibility every step of the way?

Problem/opportunity being addressed from a macro perspective and the overall goal:

1. Sierra Leone has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world
2. Little-to-no access to easy to healthcare and preventive measures
3. Overall goal: Reduce maternal mortality by increasing the number of women screened for UTIs and preeclampsia using Ukweli test strips.

Problem/opportunity addressed on a micro perspective:

1. Pregnant women face travel challenges when looking to access healthcare
2. Difficulties and limitations with reliable shipping methods/oversight
3. The high maternal mortality rate is often a result of easily-preventable conditions that are worsened due to lack of early identification of the issue
   1. UTIs and preeclampsia can be identified early but lead to devastating health consequences if left unchecked
   2. Any cost of healthcare will take away from the opportunity for the individual to perform other work

Solution Outline:

1. Work with World Hope International (WHI) to train and sell Ukweli UTI test strips to certified UHWs in order to increase accessibility and affordability to Sierra Leoneans to preventive healthcare measures relevant to the maternal mortality rate
2. Test our population for markers indicative of UTIs and preeclampsia to provide them with information necessary to determine whether or not they are at risk for common contributors of the maternal mortality rate
   1. These test strips cost 2 cents per strip
3. Collect data relevant to the number of people tested for UTIs and preeclampsia and follow each participant’s health outcomes to the extent possible (e.g. if testing positive, did they follow up with a provider?)

 

System interfaces, external and internal:

1. Sierra Leone Healthcare System
   1. Very hierarchical system that requires us to go through a rather bureaucratic process when gaining required approvals for any aspects of our project
      1. This can make things a bit inefficient, but it is also necessary for us to maintain a good working relationship with the government of Sierra Leone and integrate our product seamlessly into the existing healthcare system.
   2. We mostly work with the Community Health Workers within the Sierra Leone Healthcare system.
   3. Creation of messaging system

 

Planned Work:

1. Establishing WhatsApp UHW communication groups/ drafting messaging–>demand creation
2. Messaging and marketing development: formulating opinion pieces for different American journals to establish external credibility

 

Establishing Credibility throughout our presentation:

To establish credibility throughout our presentation, we would n

1. Being confidence during the presentation
2. Being honest with the information we are giving
3. Gain the trust of the audience by giving factual information and being transparent.
4. Show competence with the information we present.e.g., clean and organized slides.
5. Provide accurate information and statistics when answering questions.

Basic Slide Setup:

1. Identifying the problem
2. Our solution
3. How the Sierra Leone Healthcare system works
4. What we inherited and our planned work
5. Operations Management/improvement: SLA, IRB, communication with Hassan, coordination of a central set of UHW bylaws
   1. Include visuals from Sage’s slides!
6. Show the data backbone snapshot by embedding it into the PowerPoint
   1. Show the process map
7. Show 2 visual examples with our demand creation using the centralized communication system through WhatsApp

Design processes and understanding the Ukweli Venture

 

1. Based on your life experience, skills and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like?https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FEvuwTbHyrZQtLDQSOaJiwdSzRc_PM4KD7JdegIraGg/edit

According to my personal experience, a problem always has a problem. When trying to find a solution to a problem, there are often problems to the said solutions. When I was volunteering  in Machakos Kenya, my team and I were trying to get people from the local villages to come to the medical camp. 

When we spread the word about the medical camp that is held annually in Ndalani(a small village an hour from Machakos), we were faced with another problem which was getting the elderly to this camp. We had to generate another solution for this problem. When we thought we had solved this problem, another problem came along. 90% of the elderly people did not know Swahili or English, they could only speak KiKamba and that required us to find enough translators for the volunteering doctors. A design process, based on this experience and my other past experiences, is a cycle. 

2. Identify your three most important stakeholders and list five UNIQUE attributes for each one of them.

• Women of Sierra Leone- they are the most important primary stakeholders of the Ukweli venture. The test strips won’t exist if they didn’t.

1. Primary stakeholders
2. They are directly  impacted by test strips
3. Rely on the knowledge of trained CWHs
4. They are facing a problem we are trying to solve
5. Without them Ukweli won’t exist

• CWHs/PHUs-Through them, we are able to get the test strips to the women.

1. The middle men between Ukweli test strips and the pregnant women.
2. They are trained by the Distribution Managers 
3. They market the test strips
4. Main source of our data
5. Record the number of test strips and number of women screened.

• World Hope International- they support the Ukweli venture by employing the distribution managers and providing motorbikes to the Distribution Managers

1. They fund Ukweli project
2. They have several projects such as clean water and sanitation that they are overseeing in Sierra Leone
3. Employe Distribution Managers for Ukweli project
4. Provide Distribution Managers with motorbikes
5. It is a christian relief and development organisation

 

3. Identify three ways in which you will validate your project concept, technology, usability, and business model.

• We won’t need to do a premarket validation, because Ukweli test strips are already in the market. We have to look at the number of test strips are sold, this can be determined by looking at the data collected by CHWs
• The other way we can validate our project is to look at the number of PHUs on board and the number of women tested for preeclampsia and UTIs. This data can be obtained from the PHUs and the Distributing Managers.
• The last way we can validate our project is by looking at the maternal mortality rate in Sierra Leone when they carry out their census.

 

4. Give three examples of something very interesting you learned from a friend that was a completely alien concept to you.

• Simplest reason why people are poor is because they do not have money.
• You can lie without lying if you get statistics to back you up.
• Holism(a philosophy theory)

Concept of Operations

List the top 20 questions your team needs to answer to advance the venture forward. Categorize the questions if necessary.

1. How do you incentivize UHWs to participate in the Ukweli screening program?
2. How do you plan on finding ways to sell/distribute more test strips?
3. Where do you plan to get more funding from?
4. How can we strategically collect data from the PHUs?
5. How do you establish trust with the communities you deserve? 
6. What kind of data are we collecting to convince other donors that this venture is successful?
7. How can we further understand the healthcare system in Sierra Leone in order to implement our product?
8. How can we make Ukweli self-sufficient?
9. How can we implement a marketing strategy that will be effective in Sierra Leone’s culture?
10. Is there any additional information that could be added into the CHWs training to make Ukweli more successful?
11. What are some of the risks of this venture and how can we avoid them?
12. What are some prominent marketing strategies in Sierra Leone?
13. What is the future of this venture?
14. How much additional funding will we require?
15. How can we efficiently utilize additional funds?
16. How will these test strips impact the healthcare system as a whole?
17. What can we do during our fieldwork to advance our venture?
18. What are other ways we can measure our success as a team, besides tangible numbers?
19. What is some additional data we can collect that would be beneficial to our project?
20. How can we spread our project into other regions of the country?

Develop and Visualize the Theory of Change (Logic Model) for your venture.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BDQJMfXE4NABMsz5lIZmn9t3ZIM9-Ot9VBU9Mzrf7P0/edit

The Ukweli Logic Model is in link above.

Develop a M&E plan for your venture.

Source: https://lu.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/e685f1c643c34e69b3a5985f29d22d0f

	Indicator	definition	Baseline	Target	Data source	Frequency	responsible	reporting
Goal	number of test strips sold	Number of boxes sold Number of PHUs onboard	500 boxes with 10 strips  56 PHUs	A consistent number	Distribution managers	Every six months	Distribution managers	Distribution managers
Outcomes	number of women screened	number women who get screened for UTIs and Preeclampsia	771	Becomes a part of prenatal checkups	PHUs and CWHs	Monthly	PHUs and CHWs	PHUs and CHWs
Outputs	maternal mortality rate	The amount of women who die during pregnancy or while giving live birth	Any sort of decrease	A decrease in maternal mortality rate	Census, hospitals, PHUS, CHWs	Annually	Government of Sierra Leone	Government of Sierra Leone

 

Clearly list all assumptions.

• All women screened for UTIs and Preeclampsia are treated
• Distribution managers will train all CHWs in Sierra Leone 
• Distribution managers will properly collect data
• Nurses in PHUs are implementing Ukweli test strips when treating women

Identify short-term and long-term success metrics.

Short term

• Number of PHUs onboard
• CHWs buy and sell the test strips
• Hassan is traveling to different PHUs to distribute test strips
• Women are motivated to get help as test strips are accessible
• Impacting word of mouth and spreading the knowledge

Long term

• Reduced maternal mortality rate
• Women take initiative of their healthcare
• Test strips are consistently sold and distributed
• Ukweli being self sufficient and self sustained by the Sierra Leonean government

(Optional) identify specific methods to measure the metrics.

To gauge our metrics of success, we rely on the number of test strips sold which can be traced using data collected from PHUs and CHWs by Hassan (Distribution Manager). Apart from our data sheets, the other method would be to rely on the national census. However, given this census is not always accurately updated, we do need to utilize other metrics that come specifically from the PHUs, CHWs, and hospitals where these women will get treated if they test positive. We can do so by having the CHWs fill out more required forms to collect data on how many women are coming to get tested and how many test positive. Additionally, we can get in contact with the hospitals and treatment centers and acquire how many women are coming in from a CHW referral. However, we will have to be more stern with the workers and stress the importance of correctly gathering the number of women getting tested and so forth.

Three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to address community / market problems.

 

As we previously discussed, women in the villages develop relationships with other women in their communities by performing their daily chores and walking to the river for water. Knowing that people are very social in Sierra Leone, we can leverage this style of communication as a marketing technique. If women are talking about Ukweli and how accessible and affordable it is to get tested for UTIs and preeclampsia, it would be likely that more women are screened. Women in the community trust each other so it is important that they suggest the test to other women in the community. Community Health Workers have a strong relationship with their communities and they can inform women that come into the clinics that they have Ukweli test strips. The women could be coming to the clinic for an alternative purpose and not pregnant, but the “word of mouth” marketing technique would greatly benefit Ukweli in Sierra Leone. 

 

Women in the targeted villages have many responsibilities including planting, harvesting, child care, and cooking. In addition, many villages do not have access to transportation at all times. With the responsibilities and the lack of accessibility to transportation, it makes it extremely difficult for women to travel to clinics to receive care. One strategy Ukweli wants to leverage is providing women with tests at home. Here, Community Healthcare Workers would come into a woman’s home and test them for preeclampsia and UTIs. Not only would this be helpful for a woman who does not have time and or ability to travel, it would also make other women in the village aware that Ukweli is accessible for them too in the future. 

 

The villages we are targeting are low income. Ukweli test strips are more affordable for patients than the original 9 parameter test strip. Ukweli aims to market the test strips and stress the affordability and accessibility. Many women do not have the money or access to care, and develop a “do nothing” mentality. Ukweli hopes to shift this mindset as they stress the importance of care and show women that they can easily receive this product and care at an affordable price.