Week 13

• Develop a detailed income statement for your venture for two years (at six month intervals). Explicitly state the assumptions that underlie your financial model.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wUvSU0qi0mLt_8fNX72y_NgITREsswppOs3sLsLIXgw/edit?usp=sharing

• • Device Pricing: 
    • There is currently no SCD diagnostic device used throughout Sierra Leone.  The SickleSCAN team is developing a device to solve a similar issue as ours. However, their device is not accessible in countries with low resources due to the requirement of performing a 200-fold blood dilution step and a costly charge of $4.50 per test. Another SCD diagnostic includes collecting dried blood spot (DBS) samples from newborns in high-risk areas and sending them to centralized laboratories for isoelectric focusing analysis. Two such programs were initiated in Angola and Uganda; however, these initiatives were time-consuming and expensive (with costs estimated to be $15.36 and $9.94 per test, respectively). The estimated lateral flow diagnostic device prototype and production bills of materials are currently $2.98; however, further optimization of the device will reduce the cost, ideally less than $1.00 (US). This contrast between the materials used and the selling price will be made up by buying in bulk and having manufacturing be outsourced.

• Manufacturing Pricing: 

• • • Production costs would be estimated at around $0.10 ~ $0.20 if we compare our device to the common pregnancy test (made with a similar lateral flow design), which can be manufactured in China for $0.02 each. Each unit will be priced according to cubic meters. Additional costs of ~$0.15 will be derived from shipping, handling, and packaging. We are looking to package each unit individually to prevent damage or contamination. Each package will consist of directions on how to use the device, which will be supplemented with the training we provide healthcare unit leaders. 

• Fixed Expenses:

• • • Hiring a Project Manager/Relationship Manager: Salary of $30,000
    • A Networking budget of $10,000 will encompass the traveling expenses that both will need to visit communities, partnerships, meetings, and conferences to network about promoting the significance of diagnosing SCD.
    • Operating Expenses of $10,000, which will encompass resources that both individuals will need including internet, insurance, laptop, and Top-Up (Phone service).

• Advertising Expenses:

• • • Broad-spectrum education/advertising can help educate people across the country and create widespread demand (posters & bulletin boards on highways, capital cost), health programs, and radio announcements. This would be done through posters, bulletin boards in high traffic areas, community health programs, and possibly radio announcements. This would be encompassed in the $10,000 networking budget.

• 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. Educating medical professionals on how to use the device: From the Reel gardening, we learned the usability and efficiency of the device are important for the success of a venture 
2. Education platform of Sickle Cell Anemia Disease (SCD) through the implementation of our device 
3. Employment for the manufacturing of our test strip: Through the manufacturing of our test strip, we are providing employment and jobs for individuals. This follows the business model of the Greyston bakery venture. The Greyston bakery venture focuses primarily on providing individuals with jobs regardless of their background. 
4. From the Aravind company, a definite strategy we should leverage is the concept of “delivery of eye care with the efficiency of McDonalds.” By first organizing community camps to create ownership in the community, people were able to see the value in Aravind’s venture on their own. Furthermore, people being tested for their eyesight were not waiting for results or left not knowing what to do next; they immediately received a pair of glasses or were sent to a hospital for consultation and treatment otherwise. This type of efficiency is what allowed the company to become such a success, as they were able to scale up and create primary eye care centers to reach a greater number of people. Our venture could adopt a similar routine; testing children for Sickle Cell Disease through community clinics and promptly sending children to hospitals if need be for follow-up care from healthcare professionals. 
5. From the Aravind company, we saw the importance of scaling up the venture and efficiency. They were extremely efficient in giving eye surgery to patients – even to the extent of just moving the machine from one patient to the next – which could be utilized in our training of healthcare workers with the device. We must make training efficient so that it is easy for them to reteach their employees how to use the device. This efficiency will help get the venture running quickly and efficiently, making scale-up much easier. 
6. Another take away from Aravind eye care is the utilization of current systems. They worked with local governments to get people all in one place and then brought in their specialized care to screen these groups. Without this collaboration, the company would have to do a lot more to get such large groups of people in one place at the same time. This is something that we could and plan to implement in our project. By using already established systems, we don’t have to do as much outreach to get people tested. The large number of children that are born in hospitals will also make this successful. 
7. From the Greyston Bakery Offers Employment at Risk Adults video, we should leverage the concept of rethinking our typical chain of thought to truly create change. Similar to how Greyston Bakery took a risk and redefined a societal norm, we should be thinking outside the box with the potential our product can have. We should be considering the variety of people who will and who will not have access to our test strips, and how we can expand to greater numbers of individuals. 
8. Additionally from the Reel Gardening advertisement, we should consider the ease of use aspect of our device. Reel Gardening is so simple to use, and that is a major part of its appeal. Our product should be very easy for healthcare workers to utilize, to ensure that tests can be done right and our product is used to its best potential. 
9. From the Envirofit-Smarter Living advertisement, we should leverage the messaging aspect; This advertisement was extremely motivating and captivating, with good visuals and mantras. It speaks to the idea that companies with these messages should have opportunities to grow in a competitive market; innovative organizations that are actively improving people’s lives should have a larger platform to advertise. Similarly, we should leverage the creative and more business side of our venture to eventually scale up our product’s usage. 
10. The Milking the Rhino trailer emphasized the importance of being cognizant of the cultural practices and ideologies that are present in a certain country before attempting to make any ‘beneficial’ changes. By creating national parks and reserves, the harmony that once existed between indigenous people and the wildlife in these areas is disrupted. Regarding our venture, we need to heavily consider how the beliefs in place in Sierra Leone will affect the implementation of our product.