List ten specific ways in which your teaming approach has changed/ evolved since you started, teamwork skills you have developed, and lessons you have learned
- Asgar and I have expanded our knowledge on mushroom cultivation and can make more informed decisions on our research without needing to Belle for something trivial.
- We all have our own lines of inquiry that we are becoming individual experts in and trust each other’s work.
- We are able to take on other team member’s research to speed up our progress.
- We proofread each other’s papers and have gained a much better knowledge of how to convey our ideas through writing.
- We have learned about what it takes to grow mushrooms from non-ideal environments like our homes.
- We are open with our communication and very supportive of one another.
- We are able to split up questions a lot more conveniently during presentations as we all have specialized knowledge.
- We are more aware of how many mushrooms we can produce given certain inputs compared to last semester when we had no data.
- We have given serious thought into possible ways to pivot our venture if we do not meet our deadlines.
- I specifically have seen myself learn so much about mycology and horticulture when I never thought it would mean something to me, all because of my passion for the project and my love for my team
During spring 2020/ week 7, your team developed a Collaboration plan for your team clearly articulating your goals (Small g and Big G), Roles, Procedures and Relationships. Provide an updated collaboration plan
Personal Goal:
To make a visible impact on communities in Makeni through providing our mushrooms and reducing malnutrition. I also want to use this experience to gain more knowledge about writing papers, conducting research, and giving presentations to make my next venture that much more successful.
Project Goal:
Our goal is to reach a steady state production level in Makeni that is able to provide mushrooms to markets across the city and be in enough supply to have everyone who wants to purchase them be able to do so. These mushrooms will be low cost and supplied year round to markets.
Roles:
Belle: leader/expert – relays information to new members and facilitates overall progress of the project, helps wherever is needed
David and Asgar: analyst/recorder – determine experiments needed to maximize the production process and progress the venture (David works with substrate, Asgar works with mycelium)
Jawara: implementer – turns our plans and ideas into tangible products that can be sold in the market
Khanjan: facilitator – monitors the team’s progress and provides guidance to the project team
Procedures:
Decision making: Our team is small so we consult each other about all of our decisions. As the expert, Belle usually provides the most information on our decisions but David and Asgar have learned much more over the year and can contribute much more to decisions.
Effective meetings: We meet once a week to discuss our weekly progression and plans for the coming week. Each of us take turns describing our progress and lessons learned to keep on the same page about the project.
Communication: We use GroupMe almost daily to talk to one another and communicate any successes or failures and support each other. Our response times are very fast and we are always able to help one another.
Relationships: Our team only consists of three members so it is very easy to work together and have team meetings. We are all like-minded and share a passion for our project, making our work together that much more enjoyable.
Identify a real potential funding source for your project. Seek sign-off from faculty mentor and develop a detailed outline for the proposal with specific insights, arguments, and accomplishments (outline)
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- World Global Grand Challenges Grant– from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This is a good funding source because the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a known philanthropic organization that funds ventures that aims to solve issues like world hunger and growth stunting. This source might support our operations because it involves creating valuable products that can significantly reduce malnutrition levels in Sierra Leone.
- Development Innovation Ventures grant- from the United States Agency for International Development. This is a good fit for our project because this source funds any valid venture that can bring original solutions to the critical challenges affecting millions of people around the world. This organization provides funding to research that is American based and also for countries around the world that it already supports. This source might fund us to scale up our ventures because it currently has an application that provides a good sum of money for scaling as long as we can provide proof of evidence that our venture is valid. Source:https://www.usaid.gov/div
- Stage 1: Proof of Concept (Up to $200,000)
- Stage 2: Testing and Positioning for Scale (Up to $1,500,000)
- Stage 3: Scaling (Up to $5,000,000)
- Evidence Grants (Up to $1,500,000)