1.Refine the detailed income statement for your venture for two years (at six month intervals) or a more appropriate time scale. Explicitly state the assumptions that underlie your financial model. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-WIxZ3CC9vYgOMTpigO463_WqpJ4y-VNHmjukTpSUmM/edit#gid=576516736)

2.

Partner network

• Shipping/Transportation services

      PCA

• UPD

Key Activities

Processing Copra to create value added products

• Coconut Milk, Flour, Oil, Vinegar, Wine

• etc.

Offer

Increase the income of smallholder filipino coconut farmers by providing them with faster, efficient, and value-added drying systems for their copra.

Key Resources

• Engineers and employees to operate the machinery

• Machinery required to process coconuts

• Money to fund R&D

Customer Relationship

• Personal Assistance with technology use and finances 
• User Communities

Distribution Channels

• Local processing plants

• Farmers

Customer Segments

• Filipino Entrepreneurs

• Low Income Coconut Farmers

Cost structure

• Fixed Costs: Communications, Utilities, Transportation, Marketing/Managing Staff
• Variable Costs: Raw Materials for machinery / value-added product, Shipping, Production costs of product
• Economies of Scale: Reduce average cost/unit with increased sales due to lower fixed costs.
• Economies of Scope:  Leverage resources for more operations, Ex. Make more profits by using same machinery for two different value added products, instead of two different machines 

Revenue Streams

• Asset sales from selling the machine to entrepreneurs in the Philippines (2 Options: $23,999.95 upfront or payback option of $2000  every 2 months over 24 months)  
• Maintenance Contract (entrepreneurs only), $2799.95 for an annual subscription

3. Develop an M&E plan for your venture.

• Clearly list all assumptions.

+Assume that our venture will be launched in 2 years from now

+Assume that the cost of production is $17,000 per machine 

+Assume that we will be able to sell our product at a price of ~$24,000

+Assume that we will be able to scale production

+Assume that 1 machine can impact 100 coconut farmers (entrepreneurs will be able to network to this amount of farmers)

+Assume the copra farmers will want to use our technology

+As of right now we are assuming exponential growth of overhead costs

• Identify short-term and long-term success metrics.

Short-term

• Total number of machines sold
• Efficiency of the machine (ie. Quality of copra, value-added products produced, robustness)
• Net profit after one year (*MOST IMPORTANT)

Long-term

• Percent increase in average income of copra farmers (*MOST IMPORTANT)
• Total number of coconut farmers that use the machine
• Steady growth in number of machines manufactured and sold

• Identify specific methods to measure the metrics.

• Track additional income generated for smallholder farmers (method to be determined)
• Track additional income generated for local entrepreneurs (method to be determined)
• Track number of machines sold annually
• Consumer input (from both the entrepreneur and customers of the entrepreneur)
• Measure volume of products produced

1. Blog Post 2 Blog Post

2. 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.

Design Phase:

USAID: $35 Million Water and Energy for Food Challenge (WE4F)

This initiative aims to increase sustainable agricultural and food value-chains, food security, and climate resilience in developing countries and emerging markets – with a focus on the poor and women by investing in small enterprises that work in combinations of food, water, and energy. This grant seems like a good fit to our project because our coconut processing in the Philippines lies in the perfect intersection of energy, water, and technology.

Source: https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/oct-23-2019-usaid-announces-35-million-water-and-energy-food-challenge  

The Global Innovation Fund supports the development of social impact ventures by investing in innovations that aim to improve the lives and opportunities of millions of people in the developing world. This investment is an appropriate fit for our project because our goal is to improve the lives of coconut farmers in the Philippines by generating additional income through the innovation of a new technology that processes value-added coconut products. 

https://www.globalinnovation.fund/

Dissemination Phase:

SOW Asia is a charitable foundation based in Hong Kong that supports early-stage social enterprises working to scale their social impact. They have an accelerator program that supports social enterprises by providing investments through opening networks to help build connections and find funds. Their goal and vision is to help local social enterprises attract external funding and become self-sustaining. Due to the fact that SOW Asia is looking to increase impact, we believe that they could be a perfect match for our project when we reach the point where we are ready for dissemination and scaling.

http://www.sowasia.org/about-sowsaia

DBS supports over 100 social enterprises in Asia since 2012. They support social enterprises that are looking to scale their business to increase social impact by improving operational capacity, innovation capabilities, and geographical reach. Specifically, they look to support social enterprises that not only have a market validated business product/solution with clear plans to scale up business, but are also committed towards scaling social impact. We believe that once our venture is up and running, financial support from DBS will prove very helpful as we try to scale up.

https://www.dbs.com/foundation/our-support/grant-programme

3. Identify five specific partnerships that you need to forge to advance your project forward with the ultimate goal of positively impacting at least one million people. Describe exactly how that partnership might help you achieve scale and why that entity might be willing to work with you.

Philippines Coconut Authority (PCA)

PCA is an agency of the Philippine government under the Department of Agriculture mainly responsible for developing the coconut industry to “its full potential in line with the new vision of a united, globally competitive and efficient industry.” The PCA might be willing to work with us, because our goal aligns well with their mission – we aim to develop a novel value-added coconut processing that will improve the livelihood of coconut farmers. If our technology and products are approved and endorsed by the PCA, this will help increase our credibility and improve our product’s marketability. In addition, our partnership with PCA will give us the opportunity to reach out to a rigorous network of coconut companies and, of course, a community of 3.5 million coconut farmers.

UPD

Our partnership with UPD will allow us to leverage the proximity of the HEED students working on the project in the Philippines to the copra farmers. Their ability to access stakeholders who can be easily reached in the Philippines will help drive our project forward by allowing us to utilize important stakeholder information without physically being there. This partnership will also provide us with additional research from UPD students and will act as a resource for getting to know specific aspects of the Philippines that influence our project.

The Philippines Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture (PPSA)

PPSA brings together companies, government agencies, civil society organizations, farmer groups, and financial institutions to link smallholder farmers to the market. Their main goal is to improve farmers’ profitability and productivity while increasing environmental sustainability. As our project aims to improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers, partnering with this organization will give us more direct access to the smallholder farmers and allow us to have a larger impact on their lives.

Axelum Resources Corporation 

Axelum Resources Corporation is a Filipino company with a global mindset. They deliver premium products to the global market while maintaining a spirit of communal unity, work, and cooperation. A partnership with Axelum would prove beneficial for both sides. We would trade our processed goods to them, which would provide both sides with security. In addition, by partnering with us they would be able to continue to support local communities as that is part of our mission as well.

Innovation For Social Impact Partnership (isip)

This partnership aims to support innovative social enterprises in the Philippines to collectively contribute to the achievement, acceleration, and sustainability of sustainable development goals. They provide targeted assistance to SE’s in becoming scalable and sustainable ventures that create a positive social change through workshops and mentorship programs. This partnership would be willing to work with us because our goals align and we are also focused on creating a novel, sustainable, and social change for copra farmers in the Philippines.

1. Business Model:Partner network
   • Shipping/Transportation services
   • PCA
   • UPD

   Key Activities

   Processing Copra to create value-added products

   • Coconut Milk, Flour, Oil, Vinegar, Wine etc.

   Offer

   Increase the income of smallholder Filipino coconut farmers by providing them a faster, efficient, and value-added drying systems for their copra.

   Key Resources

   • Engineers and employees to operate the machinery
   • The machinery required to process coconuts
   • Money to fund R&D

   Cost structure

   • Fixed Costs: Staff Wages, Utilities

   • Variable Costs: Raw Materials for machinery / value-added product, Shipping, Production costs of product

   • Economics of Scales: Reduce the average cost/unit with increased sales due to lower fixed costs.

   • Economies of Scope:  Leverage resources for more operations, Ex. Make more profits by using the same machinery for two different value-added products, instead of two different machines

   Customer Relationship

   • Personal Assistance with technology use and finances

   • User Communities

   Distribution Channels

   • Local processing plants

   • Farmers

   Customer Segments

   • Filipino Entrepreneurs
   • Low-Income Coconut Farmers

   Revenue Streams

   • Asset sales from selling the machine to entrepreneurs in the Philippines (2 Options: $349 upfront or payback option of $29 every 2 months over 24 months)

   • Subscription for maintenance fees (entrepreneurs only), $99 for an annual subscription

2. Ten practical lessons from the business (revenue) models of ventures we reviewed today (or others you research) as they relate to your venture.
   1. 1. Reel Gardening made their product easy to use but made sure it was very effective.
      2. Reel Gardening had a different variety of items for both kids and adults allowing their merchandise to be used at all ages.
      3. Greyston’s bakery hired workers who need the work despite their backgrounds or qualifications.
      4. The barefoot college gives women of all ages a chance to learn new skills and then go on and teach other women in their village to do the same.
      5. The barefoot college said that they did not educate women to provide a paper, they did it to make sure they would be respected in their community.
      6. Barefoot College was successful because they also did not hire people who had Ph.D.’s or master’s degrees, they only hired people who were not qualified and this allowed for the women who attended the college to feel like they were equals and not students.
      7. Greyston’s bakery managed to created partnerships with ben and jerry’s ice cream to provide them with brownies and in turn provide the bakery with more sales and work.
      8. All three ventures focused on the empowerment of people, people at many different stages in their lives with different backgrounds an opportunity to excel and strive.
      9. The ventures were successful because they allow for people to work at their own pace and not be controlled by others, they become independent.
      10. Reel Gardening’s packaging is biodegradable and this makes customers feel the want to get their product because they will receive a sense of helping the environment by using their product and growing their own garden.

1. List five compelling take away from the art of the start :
   1. 10, 20, 30 rule
   2. Specific business models work the best.
   3. identify who your customers are as people not just as a potential income.
   4. Improve your current products do not change your business models or goals.
   5. Your venture has to create an impact on someone somewhere.
2. Articulate your value propositions for your diverse customer segments:
   1. There are various copra farmers who may have different access to the materials they need to successfully dry their copra to the standards of the buyers. Our research on antioxidants can potentially level the playing field for those who do not have access to the entirety of the materials they need.
3. Discuss your total available market and your total addressable market. List all your assumptions and hypothesis:
   1. The various coconut farmers and copra producers in the Philippines who do not have an income large enough to support their families and their farms.
   2. The global coconut industry as a whole. The Philippines is only the second largest producer of coconuts, India is the first and their economy could also benefit from our research because if our venture is effective they could implement it into their own farms and processes.

1. Develop a business model for your venture using the Osterwalder Business Model Canvas:
   1. Our team plans to research and antioxidant which will prevent aflatoxins and the damaging of copra during the copra drying process. We choose to find an antioxidant because it can come from natural ingredients and components that would be safe to consume, cost-effective, and easily accessible to the copra farmers. Once we find an antioxidant that can effectively prevent aflatoxin we will find the best way for the farmers to have access to it, whether that be growing and producing their own antioxidants or simply buying it from the current producers. Finding an antioxidant that farmers can produce themselves for their copra will allow the farmers to sustain themselves and produce the best copra that they can provide for the consumers who currently buy their copra for a low price due to the quality. The farmers will pay for this system with their own income.  Better quality copra can be sold for more money therefore giving the farmers more income to return back to their copra crop to ensure quality products.
2. List ten lessons from the Business and operations model of the Aravind Eye Hospital:
   1. They built a “patient-centric” organization. This allowed their organization to thrive because patients would feel safe in the environment they were providing.
   2. Their goal was to produce the same products in the same manner in different parts of the world by training people to do the same thing, despite different backgrounds.
   3. They identified that the eyeball and blindness did not vary between different people but still the problem needed to be approached in a different way due to the lack of resources and money that both the doctors and patients would have in different locations.
   4. They created “ownership of the effective community” by engaging with them in a way that would benefit both their cause and the people who are affected by it. They were able to set up community vision checks and this allows for their organization to gauge how large the problem was and what resources they would need to effectively approach it.
   5. They acknowledged that while their community centered approach was effective in helping people and was playing part in their cause, they needed to do more in order for them to effectively provide for a larger community of people in need.
   6. They took different approaches to solve the same problem beginning with their community clinics and moving towards different location eye clinics which allowed them to reach a larger population of people.
   7. Their clinics took into account very different aspects of people’s lives in order to set a price for consultations, this allows for their clinics to actually be accessible to people and make them effective for helping the patients.
   8. They made sure their venture was able to reach those most in need of their service and this allowed them to create an effective organization.
   9. They acknowledged that they had very few ophthalmologists to work with the large number of patients that needed to be reached, so they needed to find a way to effectively use the little resources they had to use them to the best of their ability while still providing the care that patients needed.
   10. They financially struggled with their patients. They did a lot of work for free and those who did pay for their service would pay an average market rate. This led to an increase in expenditure but also an increase in revenue. An important lesson from this is that sometimes a venture will need to do things pro bono in order to financially strive in the long run.

1. Summarize and report out on the results of the SKS exercise. 
   1. Start: Begin to communicate with each other better and with the engineering copra team. While the transition to another project has been difficult, if our team begins to collaborate more with the engineering team, this will help us not only with our research but with moving our project alongside with theirs. Having constant communication with their team can also help us to not have overlapping research on both ends. 
   2. Stop: Leaving things for the last minute has been a difficult challenge for our team to overcome. We tend to think we have more time than we do to meet deadlines or to perform our own research. A way for us to stop leaving things for the last minute could be to hold each other accountable for the work they are in charge of for the week, or even check in and make sure the workload they have for the week or reasonable for the time they have to dedicate to the project. 
   3. Keep: weekly meetings. Our weekly meetings are important because this is where we share the research that we have done for the week and we also have the chance to get feedback and ask each other clarifying questions if we do not understand something that is going on. Apart from research these weekly meetings allow us to build a relationship with the others on our team both socially and academic, which in the long run help move the project along because it is easier to work with people that you enjoy being around and trust. 
2. Develop a detailed Collaboration Plan for your team clearly articulating your goals (Small g and Big G), Roles, Procedures, and Relationships. 
   1. Small g: 
      1. Create an informative presentation that shows the importance of the work our team is attempting to and to effectively work alongside the engineering team in order to support the process they are taking to change the system that we are also attempting to change.  
   2. Big G: 
      1. Find a way to preserve the color and texture of the copra as well as prevent aflatoxin formation by the end of the fellowship and leave the necessary information for the next team to get started on either refining our process to preserve color and texture in a more efficient way or work on more methods that prevent aflatoxin. 
   3. Roles: 
      1. Michelle: As a biology major, I have found my role on the team as looking for a way to better preserve the copra. I have researched that the main reason why people don’t buy “bad” copra is due to the appearance of it. However the copra is perfect fine to use and eat.I have found that if we are able to find a way to stop the copra from turning “brown” copra farmers would be able to still make a profit on copra that people would not have previously bought. 
      2. Rozhin: As a Molecular Biology major, I want to research ways to stop the breakdown of the enzymes that create browning in the copra as well as methods to preserve its texture and prevent aflatoxins from forming, which are carcinogens found in molds that can be very dangerous to living organisms if consumed.
      3. Bri: 
      4. Larissa: As a cognitive science major I want to focus on how the current processing system is affecting the farmers that use it and then compare how much better or worse off they will be with the product that both the engineering team and our team will come up with. Apart from the effective the device will have, the device will require some new education on how to properly use it to its full potential and this is also a role I will play, finding the best ways to educate the farmers who will be using the device in a way that is easy for them to understand but also efficient as they may not have the time to take a long course to use the device.  
   4. Procedures: 
      1. Since everyone has different majors and focuses in this team, decision making will be depending on each person’s expertise and a final decision will be made by the person that the subject relates most to. If questions arise or a consensus is not determined then a majority vote or the involvement of the faculty will be made.
      2. In order to have effective meetings, we will be having status updates on each person’s focus and each person will be writing a brief summary of what their update is on the meeting notes section in OneNote before the meeting and can add more notes to it if any more research is needed, etc during or after the meeting.
      3. We will be meeting twice a week: once with the advisor and once with just the team members. Meeting times will be determined on a group decision every week since everyone has different schedules and we will be having meetings on Google Docs and Zoom/Facetime. 
   5. Relationships: 
      1. The Engineering Copra team is one of our relationships because we are working on different aspects of the same problem. 
      2. The University in the Philippines who will help us better when we are conducting research. They are more knowledgeable of the area and who we should speak to if we need certain data. They can also help us as our translators if that is necessary.

Does your work require IRB approvals?

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.

1. Our work with copra farmers does not require IRB approval. The only thing we need to perform our research and project will be a letter from officials in the Philippines which states what we are doing and that it is okay for us to do our project. A situation that would need IRB Approval could be a project where we are directly working with the farmers and doing research on their direct lives, collecting identifiable information from them. This would require IRB approval because we would collect this information and then have to make sure it won’t be accessible to others who could identify the people that we have surveyed.

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?

An outline of our mid-semester presentations will first start with an outline of what the copra project is. The project that Professor Jedlicka’s team is doing and how this will then impact our project. We can talk about how we are collaborating with the engineers on the team to see what the needs of the people are. We could also work alongside their team to learn about what vendors look for when buying the copra product. From our side of the project, we will be researching many articles regarding the best ways to design and what to include in the copra project creation as well as how the business process of copra in and outside of the Philippines, so that we can make the most efficient item for the farmers.

1. List ten things that make you feel human:
   1. Communication with others
   2. Ability to learn things
   3. Ability to quickly adapt to my surroundings
   4. Being able to care for others
   5. Being able to feel empathy
   6. Ability to make mistakes and learn from them
   7. Ability to affect things and people around me
   8. Ability to teach other people things
   9. Ability to create goals and perform the necessary steps to achieve that goal
   10. Ability to change the way that people view me or think of me based on certain aspects of my life.

1. Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the GSIF:
   1. I choose to engage in GSIF because the program stood out to me over any other one offered at Lehigh, despite the extra workload that it would entail. GSIF allows me to learn about the impact that can be made from the start of a single project and has also given examples of how to make that impact last further than our time with the project. My engagement with this project has to be hands-on just as much as I should be able to stand back and listen to both to the needs to the consumers and others who might have valuable input about our projects. My hands-on engagement would be going to clinics to interview women who are pregnant or have already given birth and asking them about their experience and if they choose to do any sort of cultural birthing practice and their reason for choosing to do so. I must also engage with doctors and other teams who will give me more information about the birthing practices that are common in this area of the Philippines.
      A challenge in this project can come from mothers and them not wanting to be vulnerable around our team and share their experience of birth or their plan for their birth. A way to overcome this challenge could be to become vulnerable around them ourselves, people are more open to sharing with someone who shares with them. Being able to get first-hand information from mothers would move the project along. Another challenge could be catering to the needs of these women while taking their safety into consideration. Being able to interview women would give us insight into what typically goes wrong during their births and as a team we could come up with ways our table can help prevent those things from going wrong once again. My epitaph would read the world was so much bigger than she was but still she strived for change. My goal in life is to change as many lives as possibles for the better and GSIF brings me one step closer to beginning this goal.

1. *Based on your life experience, skills and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like? 

A design process that is both uniquely ours and effective would look like first doing a thorough and deep research about the needs of the patients and making sure that they are culturally appropriate according to Philippine culture and then going to do fieldwork in the Philippines to do interviews of our stakeholders and making sure that we are fulfilling the appropriate needs and wants of the patients and healthcare staff that are involved in the process of birthing. Afterward, we will be coming back to create a business model for our product since the other birthing team in the Philippines will be creating the design for the birthing chairs this year. 

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

Mothers

• Region of Country
• Social Class
• Health
• Religion
• Income

Healthcare Network

• Money
• Region of Country
• Partnerships
• Need for new birthing chairs
• Amount/number of staff in the hospital (under/overstaffed)

Doctors/ Physicians 

• Education Level
• Region of Country
• Skill
• Understanding of different cultures
• Teamwork

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

Concept

• Help decrease maternal and infant mortality
• A durable and comfortable birthing table
• Affordable

Technology

• Technology/ product platform
• Technology is not usable in our product however infrastructure is
• Sizing ability (ability to change to different sizes for the mothers)

Usability

• Durability
• Comfortability
• Sizable (able to withhold mothers of different sizes and adjust accordingly)

Business Model

• Helps alleviate potential risks when women give birth
• The Philippines is a developing country so the birthing table will have to be an affordable cost
• A culturally appropriate birthing table design

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

• I did not know a lot about the school system in Mexico and how grading was different. In Mexico they use a scale of 1-10. 1 being the lowest grade and a 10 being the highest grade you can receive. Apart from the grading system, the way that the grade levels are structured is also different in Mexico. There is one less year of high school but still four years of college.
• Another concept I was exposed to was the weather in Arizona. I always thought that the weather was warm and dry year round, but I was told that it snows a lot during the winter months in some parts. This was foreign to me because I always assumed that it remained hot during the year in order for the cacti and desert animals to stay alive.
• People who are of low income tend to stay low income due to a cycle that they either create themselves or society around them creates. Those families who are considered low income do not tend to save their money because they either do not know how to save or live they check to check and know what they need to spend their next check on in order to survive until the next check.

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

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

3. Develop a M&E plan for your venture. – Clearly list all assumptions. – Identify short-term and long-term success metrics. – (Optional) identify specific methods to measure the metrics.

Long Term Metrics

• A decrease in complications while birthing
• Spreading our birthing chairs to other East Asian countries
• Our birthing chairs being available in most hospitals and health centers in the Philippines
• A decrease in infant and mother mortality

Short Term Metrics

• A deep understanding of current birthing methods / practices in different areas of the Philippines (ex: rural, suburban, urban) 
• Connections made to the people for the Philippines (doctors/ nurses/ physicians/ mothers)
• A better understanding of the religion such as is there any restrictions that do not allow people to do certain thing

We will measure our metrics by distributing surveys to mothers on how comfortable birthing chairs are and if their design align with their cultural beliefs. Additionally, we will ask hospitals and other health clinics on how many mothers preferred using our birthing chairs instead of the regular ones or other traditional and cultural birthing chairs (like the bamboo-made birthing chairs of the Austronesian people in the Philippines). Other forms of measurement would be gathering statistics on how much less birthing complications were able to occur because of more comfortability and easier access that our birthing chairs provide. Then we can gather data on how much birthing chairs we have sold as well as in how many hospitals and health centers they are provided.