Blog post 10:

•  Identify two SPECIFIC funding sources for the design phase of your project and two SPECIFIC funding sources for the dissemination (implementation/distribution/commercialization) phase of your project. For each funding source, explain why this is a good fit for your project, and what SPECIFIC aspect of your project might the funding source support.

1. USA DIV. This is for USAIDs development innovation ventures funding. I think that this is a good source of funding for Ukweli because you can apply anytime, they have three different stages where they fund (proof of concept, testing and positioning to scale, and scaling), and what they are looking for (“we look for solutions that demonstrate rigorous evidence of impact, cost-effectiveness, and a viable pathway to scale and sustainability”) align well with our venture and the goals we have our test strip. We will request that their funding helps cover the cost of two on the ground employees.

2. We aim to get 6k from World Hope international. They had agreed to match the funding that we intend to get (6K). It is a good fit for our project because we have been working with them for so long. They are extremely familiar with what we are doing. I have presented to the CEO myself about our venture and he liked everything that we had plans for. This funding will ultimately go towards our overheads, specifically employing 2 people on the ground to keep it sustaining.

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

Assumptions: 

Overhead costs: We assume that we will be hiring a quality control employee and distribution employee. We will also have to cover some costs for running a training session, mobile service air time, appraisals and bike/fuel/transportation.

Capital Investment: We will have to make a capital investment on a bike, marketing license and cell phone.

COGs: Our COGs will be the production cost per box, shipping and pack of plastic cups.

Sales: We will have sales from both pregnant and non pregnant women.

Blog post 9:

Develop a detailed business model canvas for one of the following social enterprises: One Acre Fund, Acumen Fund, or Envirofit International. Integrate insights from at least five different valid sources for your chosen social enterprise and provide those citations in your blog.

I chose to focus on Envirofit

Key Partners:

• “We work with governments, businesses, and NGOs to making smarter cooking accessible to more people. “
• “We partner with last mile entrepreneurs, local businesses, and international distributors to scale access to clean cooking technology in both urban and rural markets.”
• Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
• President of Honduras & government
  • establishment of a clean cookstove industry
• Subcontract all production to China
• Shell Foundation and Bohemian Foundation
  • Funding and business support for R&D
• Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
  • raise awareness on household air pollution
• MFIs
• Amazon

Key Activities:

• “Our engineers work in our world-renowned cookstove lab side-by-side with our research team to design stoves that meet the cooking requirements of our customers across the globe.”
• “Each stove goes through rigorous consumer testing, where we focus, group test, and survey over 2,000 people in order to find and fix problems before the stoves reach our customers.”
• “To manufacture at scale, materials and products are inspected throughout the production and shipping process to ensure each product meets our stringent quality standards.”
• “We provide training and support to encourage clean cookstove awareness and adoption.”
• “We call customers to monitor and evaluate products in use and collect information on cooking habits. “
• “we empower women across the global cookstove value chain.”
• Infomercials and demonstrations educate people about the product and its importance

Key Resources:

• Access to partnerships
  • Grants
• Management and business knowledge

Value Proposition:

• Better for environment
  • “Cook faster while reducing fuel use, smoke, and toxic emissions.”
• Double fuel efficiency
  • “We design high-quality, low-cost cooking solutions that save money and cook faster“
• Healthier for women and children
• Generates more jobs

Customer Relationships:

• “Through our customer care center, we provide training and support to encourage clean cookstove awareness and adoption.”
• They claim to highly value customer feedback in order to help drive their product innovation.
• Make the users and the buyers feel the pain in order to get them to buy the product

Channels:

• They have three different channels in which they sell their product:
  • SMAAARTTM Businesses
    • We work with financing organizations, small businesses, small holder farmers, and women’s groups to develop sustainable local cookstove businesses.
  • SMAAARTTM Scale
    • We advise and custom build large-scale sustainable cookstove programs that make clean cookstoves adoptable, affordable, and accessible.
  • SMAAARTTM Response
    • We provide rapid production and supply of cookstoves for conflict, emergency, and relief situations anywhere around the globe.

Customer Segments:

• Men
• Women and children
• People that earn $2-$7 per day
• Low income people through MFIs

Cost Structure:

• “Envirofit applies a Business-to-Business sales model. It sells cookstoves to various distributors, including local private companies, non-profit organizations and government institutions. These retailers then use their respective distribution and sales networks to reach the customers. Envirofit trains its retail partners how to sell its products and how to use the cookstoves properly.”
• 0% tax rate
• Sell 5 million cookstoves
  • Range in different prices ($20-150 USD) depending on the add ons and model you want
• $20 million annual net sales
• 400,000 units sold between 2009-2014
• You can “purchase carbon credits” online. One stove is 30 credits

Revenue Streams:

• Selling cookstoves
• Stove design and development consulting services
• Selling carbon credits

Sources:

1. https://envirofit.org/
2. https://sites.duke.edu/iealexgottwald/files/2017/01/Envirofit-Case-Study.pdf
3. https://www.businesscalltoaction.org/sites/default/files/resources/BCtA_CaseStudy_Envirofit_Web.pdf
4. https://issuu.com/stoveplusgeres/docs/envirofit_india_case_study_summary
5. https://sites.duke.edu/iejuddhoward/files/2017/01/envirofit.pdf

Blog post 8:

List five take-aways from Guy Kawasaki’s talk and explain exactly how you will integrate that concept/construct/strategy into your project. Make it compelling. Don’t write generic forgettable text.

1. Guy Kawasaki said that for presentations, there is no need to make it a 12 point font. It needs to be 30 because you will “likely be pitching your design/product to old people.” He said that having it the bigger font also makes you not have so many word on your slide/text to rely on. This is actually better because it forces you to know your presentation. This is helpful for Ukweli because we will be presenting a lot more know that we need to fund our overhead costs. We need to sell the idea and make people believe in our vision.
2. Guy Kawasaki said that you need to “have infected people.” You need to have people that are working for you not to just be good on paper or on a resume. You need people that are “infected with love.” You need to surround yourself with people who are passionate in the design or product you are creating. This is important for when we are recruiting new members next year. Also for when we are looking for who we will employ on the ground in SL.
3. I liked how he talked about how great products polarize people. I never thought about successful products in this way but the more I started thinking about it, it rings true, like iphones and andriods for example. I am still trying to think about how our product will exactly polarize people. Im thinking it will be just doing nothing or getting screened, referred and treated. Or possibly using the 10 strip test strip that is used in many clinics vs using our in the field.
4. I liked how he repeated the phrase “make meaning, not money.” He stated how if you start out with meaning, you’ll eventually make money. However, if you start out with money, you’ll attract the wrong types of people. I think this is important for our venture on the ground. We want people that align themselves well or resonate with our vision (reducing maternal mortality rates). In the next couple of months, we need to pick point people on the ground, and this is something to keep in mind when we make our final decisions.
5. I liked his emphasis on milestones. He mentioned how important they are to make progress. These milestones need to occur often and should be something that you would want to tell everyone about, not just some small simple task you completed. I think this especially rings true for Ukweli, because it has been a venture for so long that has encountered a few stopping or stagnant points. We need to work hard for these milestones and continue to reach for them often, especially as we approach fieldwork.

In partnership with one or at most two team members, present a business model canvas for your venture.

Blog Post 7:

• List ten non-obvious assumptions about your target customers (or organizations) that you need to validate.

1. Pregnant women will pay for our test strips
2. CHWs will want to sell our strips to their community members
3. CHWs will charge women appropriately for strips
4. CHWs will effectively refer women to clinics to get treated
5. Pregnant women will understand and know what they are getting screened for with our test strips
6. CHWs will know/understand the difference of a condition and an infection (preeclampsia vs UTI) (aka our training will be successful)
7. Pregnant women will go to a CHW when they experience symptoms of either a UTI or preeclampsia
8. Someone at a clinic will buy our test strips to screen women (aka how our product will be sold to clinics)
9. People will listen to the radio and hear our program and seek out someone that sells our tests strips
10. CHWs will attend our training sessions without a major incentive

• List ten hypotheses about your project that you need to test during fieldwork.

1. If our team develops a well rounded and concise training manual, then CHWs will understand that our strip tests are testing for two different things. The first being a condition (preeclampsia) and the second being UTIs (an infection).
2. If our team writes an effective radio program, then people will be familiar with our brand and trust it.
3. If we send in our marketing license into the pharmacy board of SL then we will be able to have people use and pay for our products legally.
4. If Hasson train CHWs effectively, they will charge women an appropriate amount for test strips based off their economic status.
5. If we have cluster groups of CHWs with one peer supervisor, then we can successfully distribute our test strips with a point person for all the issues.
6. If we teach CHWs about the quality control issues related to humidity, temperature, etc. then we wont have any problems with false positive test results.
7. If we advertise it as a learning opportunity to help better your community, then CHWs won’t think they need to be compensated for their time.
8. If we create a very well written 3 pager and submit it to grants, then we can have World hope match our money which will help us fund our team members on the ground ($12k).
9. If women screen positive for preeclampsia, then they will get their blood pressure checked at a clinic (to double check test accuracy).
10. If we tell Hasson about our gas money being used only for venture related things, then he will write down his milage correctly and stay more on task.

•  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 feel that I am very open to new ideas. I also am very creative with coming up with new strategies, plans and solutions for problems that come up in our venture. I feel that I have become more vocal with my thoughts this semester, especially explaining things to the new team. I also feel that i bring a sense of positivity to the team, I make sure that we can always work through things we have issues with, and redirect people to the main goal we are trying to ultimately achieve.

Blog Post 6:

• Identify ten specific things you will do to strengthen your next presentation (and responses).

1. We had multiple comments about how we answered our questions. People wanted all of the team to contribute and answer them. So next time we present, we want to make sure that we are all contributing or at least divide it up into areas where one person takes questions about the financial model whereas another person takes on how we will go about community sensitization.
2. Being more aggressive for answering questions. Sage jumped to them before I got the chance to think them through.
3. Pass the test strips out earlier or display them on a table.
4. Figure out how to encompass more info in a shorter period of time.
5. Don’t let doubt shown in my facial expression, exude confidence.
6. Stronger graphics, less blurry images/redo the graphic.
7. Utilize our backup slides more in our explanations to questions (we never used them when we presented).
8. Limit text usage on our slides, would be really great to have just images with maybe like 1-2 bullet points.
9. Dealing with silence. For example in between questions, we had a lot of silence and it seems awkward at the time but in reality its really ok, people are just thinking.
10. Being comfortable in front of an audience. I still shake a little and stumble over words. I want to be able to speak with complete clarity.

• Does your work require IRB approvals?

Yes our project requires IRB approval, and we obtained it when we went to SL last summer. I am familiar with how it works due to our requirement to obtain it last summer. Gabi also helped us understand it a bit and how it fit into our project. This summer, I think we will do less of one on one interviews with CHWs, more with developing our business on a broader scale, like working with a radio station, distribution and import of our strips, etc.

• Develop a Logic Model for your venture.

Inputs: Lehigh students, Khanjan, World Hope staff, time, donor dollars, World Hope organization, knowledge of SL, knowledge of UTIs, OEM strips, CHW training modules, CHWs, PHUs, Pharmacies, NICs, CHOs, Hassan, Distribution routes, pregnant women, people with UTIs

Activities: Getting CHWs to use our UTI screening strips to screen pregnant women, educating CHWs, PHU staff, women/mother support groups about UTIs, getting World Hopes staff support and on the ground connections, employing Hassan, continuously reviewing business model, distributing strips across various PHUs and marketing our strips/ spreading the word about Ukweli.

Outputs: We are trying to reach pregnant women/ those who have high risks when contracting a UTI. We also aim to help anyone with a UTI, we just have a stronger emphasis on getting pregnant women screened. We are first starting in the Bombali district and then moving outward and into other districts.

Outcome: We overall would like to see a reduction of maternal mortality rates. This could be tracked by the amount of referral forms used. We also want to empower healthcare workers, and give them a greater ability/larger skill set to help their community.

Impact: Less women are dying due to a condition that could of been easily treated. Sierra Leone will no longer be the country with the highest maternal mortality rate.

Blog Post 5:

• Based on your life experience, skills and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like?
  • If I were to develop a design process, it would involve a lot of drawing and pictures. I am a very visual person/learner, so seeing/holding my device would allow me to gain the best insights to develop the best product. I would also like to involve others because I feel that having a fresh set of eyes helps tremendously when I am frustrated or stuck in a rut. I also like having multiple options of a design. This helps guide my thinking process and figure out what would be the most feasible, usable product.
• How will you validate your project concept, technology, usability, operational/business model?
  • I would validate it by inviting others to give their opinions and thoughts about my product. Their perspectives offer something different from my own, leading me into different directions I could go with my design. In Ukweli terms, I would use the amount of referral tickets used as a way to validate the system/business model we have created. That way, we know how many women went to go get screened and/or treated.
• Articulate your philosophy of engagement with communities, partners, and markets.
  • My philosophy of engagement is to really really really understand who I am engaging and delivering something to, whether it be a product, system or technology. You don’t want to come into someones world trying to solve their problems, when you don’t know the root of their problems, or fully understand what they even have a problem with.

Blog Post 4:

• Give three examples of how you can use nature as a model / mentor / measure for your own designs (and life).
  1. The invention of Velcro was modeled after nature. The founder was walking their dog one day and noticed a burr stuck in the dogs fur. The ability of the burr to bind so tightly to the fur fascinated the man, which lead him to create velcro. It is now one of the most frequently used materials in clothes, shoes and other items.
  2. Change. The seasons change four times a year. Not being resistant to change is required to lead a successful life.  If trees don’t change when the season changes, they will die. Their leaves will be covered in snow, causing branches to be too heavy and fall off and crash to the ground. Therefore the tree must shed its lives in order to survive. It must change. We must constantly change and adapt to our surroundings.
  3. Evolution. Our project must evolve overtime in order to give the consumer what they wish/need.

• Pick one of Life’s Principles. Explain how you might apply it to your work and life (could be unrelated to your GSIF projects).

I resonated with the resilient paragraph. High school was a hard time for me in my life: I switched schools, my family had financial problems, multiple family members passed away, etc. Looking back at that time in my life I contribute most of it to my resilience, and ability to move forward with my life and reach for every opportunity that came my way.

I liked how the article talked about “backup plans.”  I scare myself sometimes or put a lot of pressure on myself because I feel that I have my future worked out a little too much. However, another part of resilience is when something doesn’t go the way you wanted it to, and being able get past that rut and recover. This is something I can definitely work on in regards to after college plans.

• How do you envision integrating the Cradle to Cradle Design concept into your project (and life)? Give one compelling example.

Our product, a UTI test strip, is not able to be reusable/repurposed because it is biohazard waste and the reaction is irreversible. However, our manufacturing process is very eco friendly. Our handstamping method does not require electricity or water. We could design a paper cup that the urine is dipped in to be biodegradable or have seeds in it, to grow into a native plant. The information we are sharing/exchanging about UTIs and teaching World Hope members about distribution, exports and venture creation would also contribute to the cradle to cradle design.

• Give three examples of something very interesting you learned from a friend that was a completely alien concept to you.
  1. My best friend from home is hispanic and filipino, however most people think she looks African American. One day when we were shopping at boutiques in this trendy part of San Diego, she pointed out to me how much the store owners watch her when she’s shopping, as compared to me. I had no idea. I was completely oblivious to the fact that my whiteness in these stores gave me a “pass” or more “trustworthiness” to store owners that I would not steal. It made me realize my privilege as a white person living in the US.
  2. That coffee and tobacco act as a neuroprotection against neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkingsons. (Just learned that today! and was given the research paper to prove it.) So smoking cigarettes, which I’ve been told my whole life are awful, may have some benefit to them.
  3. How to adapt to the snow: deal with it, drive in it, which is the best for packing, snowballs and snowman. I was born and raised in San Diego, had no idea!

Blog Post 3:

• Describe the five major stakeholders for your project and their motivations.

1. World Hope International. They are a NGO that specializes in Sierra Leone. They have various projects that aim to improve peoples quality of life, such as: healthcare, nutrition, water, food, gender violence and education. Our project’s goals and desired impact goes right along with Wold Hope’s vision for Sierra Leone, therefore they want to be a part of our venture and assist in any way possible.
2. Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation. They are motivated to be a part of Ukweli because we have a product that has the potential to help pregnant women and avoid life threatening consequences.
3. Changchun Wancheng Bio-Electron Co., Ltd. They are motivated to be a part of Ukweli because we aim to purchase and use their product in large quantities.
4. Hassan. He is a crucial part of Ukweli because he has all of the on the ground connections. He is motivated to be a part of Ukweli because we are providing him with a salary and he also enjoys working in community engagement. He also is very passionate about helping others.
5. Allieu. He is our on the ground coordinator for the business related things in Ukweli, such as our marketing license. He is motivated to be a part of Ukweli because we are providing him with a salary and he is also a World Hope employee.

• Describe three ways in which you will validate your project and enhance your credibility over the course of the semester.

1. I will enhance my credibility by volunteering to do more things, speaking out more and pushing myself to give more presentations. This Monday I was really doubting myself and thought I needed Sage and Naakesh to help me present. They told me no way, you’re doing this yourself. I did, and it ended up going so well and I was thankful for that extra push they gave me. However by the end of the semester, I want to be totally reliant on my own self confidence and not let large crowds intimidate me. I will accomplish this by volunteering for more things that push me out of my comfort zone. Especially in a places with great amounts of people.
2. We can validate our project by advertising the Ukweli brand more. This can be accomplished by a radio program, designing/ updating posters, volunteering to speak at more events and creating a new logo. I want people to recognize the word Ukweli and engage in discussions, even at Lehigh too.
3. Finishing the marketing license. I think that this is a huge step towards having our product in the hands of women that need it the most.

Blog Post 2:

• Give three compelling examples of how cultural issues affect your project

1. Peoples perception of privacy. In Sierra Leone this summer we visited a clinic and women were breast feeding everywhere in the open with no blanket to cover the baby. This was interesting for my team to experience because in the US breast feeding in the US is a very private thing and people sometimes get angry if they see women doing it in the open.
2. Motivation issues. Many people in Sierra Leone felt that they must be compensated for their time and attending educational events (ex: travel stipend, biscuts). Whereas in the US we pay huge amounts of money for our education.
3. Women only telling other women about their health issues. Our translator, Hasson, this summer had told us that many women will not tell men CHWs about their symptoms and health concerns, especially when it comes to UTIs. They typically will only tell their husband or female friends. This affects our project because most CHWs are men. They will be carrying our test strips and screening the women, but if no women want to tell them about their symptoms then our test strips won’t be used.

• Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? Describe at least three such situations.

1. Students at Lehigh will often only attend events at Lehigh if there is free food. Students sometimes get upset if there isn’t.
2. Getting paid for research studies (ex: psychology), people often don’t volunteer just out of the greater good for scientific research, they except to be paid and get something out of it.
3. Requesting a female doctor. Many women in the US are more comfortable with a female doctor assessing their health.

• Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to addressed community/market problems.

1. The muffins that the malnutrition team is making being sold as street food because eating street food is a very normal/cultural thing to do in Sierra Leone.
2. Mother support groups. Women in Sierra Leone socialize greatly with other women. These groups can be used as a way to sensitize the community to a certain issue.
3. Radio. A lot of people listen to radio for pleasure or for the news. The radio could be used to educate or inform people about a certain issue or pressing topic.

• In regard to your ventures, how does the African context present different challenges than the American context. Give at least 3 examples.

1. Time. The concept/sense of time is treated very differently than the African context. Time is the most valued thing by Americans. We want things moving fast and off the ground. In the African context, time is treated much more loosely (ex: eating dinner in Sierra Leone this summer. If you don’t plan ahead you will wait hours). This could affect our planning and the things we accomplish in country.
2. Patient privacy. There is no HIPPA in Sierra Leone. This summer, a nurse was just pointing at the women who had STIs in front of everyone. It is more of a challenge for us as a team, we just don’t know how to approach this difference because we’ve grown up knowing that sharing this information is not ok/legal.
3. The doctor to patient ratio. In Sierra Leone the ratio is about 1 doctor: 50,000 patients. Whereas in the US it is 1 doctor: 390 patients. The limited accessibility to medical care in the African context prevents many individuals from receiving the treatment(s) they may need.

• In regard to your ventures, how does the African context offer different resources than the American context. Give at least three examples.

1. The Community Health Worker program. Utilizing this program allows us to distribute our product to the women who need it the most.
2. The young workforce in Sierra Leone. The young population provides a great opportunity for growth and development.
3. Sierra Leone’s geography. The location is rich in natural resources and has a very different export industry than America. This will be something we take into account when we figure out how to manufacture our own test strips.

Why did you enroll in this course (motivation, prior interests)?

I enrolled in this course because I am very passionate about maternal health. I also want to apply what I have learned from my degree towards real world problems. This course in previous semesters has taught me a completely new way of thinking, and has showed me that life outside of college is not just an academic exercise. This course has taught me that I am very capable of making an impact and that I have the ability to create positive change in many peoples lives.

How do you envision this course making you a better (<your major>) student?

I think that this course is a good opportunity for me to develop better public speaking skills. I’ve had to speak at conferences and panels, and I already feel that it has given me more confidence. I also like how this course aims to push you out of your comfort zone. Assignments are constantly changing and I think that this will cause me to become more adaptive to unique situations and challenge my critical thinking skills. This course is helpful for my major because instead of just reading and writing about healthcare in a developing country, I actually get to witness it first hand.