Blog Post #7/8

1

Our target customer varies depending on which business model my team uses. One being selling the MPS and mushroom growing knowledge to entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone and the other being starting our own venture and employing those looking for employment, not necessarily to start their own venture. At the beginning at least. my team agrees that it would be easiest to start the venture ourselves, and expand from there. This would mean that our original target customers would be local markets and super markets. We would also be looking to appeal to people looking for a steady source of income.  We should take into account that we will be hiring and selling. This introduces two sort of markets that we will need to tap. I think the main assumptions that we should make are not to stereotype. To have as few expectations of this going into the project as we can. I believe that we will be pleasantly surprised by work ethic and eagerness to accomplish goals, however take this with a grain of salt because I am an optimist.

2

The most important hypotheses that will be tested upon arriving is that mushrooms will more or less sell themselves if they are made available. Another is that the mushroom house that was built last summer will be easy to repair, and more importantly that it is what we want. I have some concerns about the ventilation of the hut and the dark color will only make things worse. The drying of the grains has been done by hand up until this point and it is possible that the humidity in Sierra Leone will make this more or less impossible. We will also need to test a few materials. I think it would be interesting to run a water test and see what type of fungus lives in water. Using water to wash things may be an ineffective way of doing things. This may or may not lead to the need for isopropal alcohol and I do not know how abundant this product is in Sierra Leone.

3. What do you think you bring to your team? How has your perception of your own strengths and weaknesses changed over the course of the class? Please be specific.

I seem to have taken on the role of “organizer” or “secretary” in my team. This plays to my strengths of liking things organized and clear. If you don’t have a real purpose than you can’t really accomplish anything. I also have a fresh set of eyes and enjoy learning by doing so I think I have a fresh take on our work which can be helpful while we are determining where to go with our procedure. I am aware of my weaknesses also. “Don’t let perfect get in the way of good enough” is a phrase that I need to be aware of. I am also optimistic to a fault occationally so I will need to learn that it is okay to pivot.

Leave a Reply