1. Develop a Business Model for your venture using the Osterwalder Business Model Canvas.

Business Model for Venture:

Value Proposition:

• We help Filipino entrepreneurs earn a profit by providing them technology and a business model to be used to transform plastic waste into higher value products that can be sold to the community.

Customer Segments:

• Junk shop owners in Manila
• Entrepreneurs in the Philippines (Paradise Village specifically)

Channels:

• Plastic supplier from waste management facility
• Junk shops or other retail stores to sell the finished product 

Customer Relationships:

• Nanays in Paradise Village
• NGOs
• Junk shops & entrepreneurs

Revenue Streams:

• US: Selling the manufacturing technology and business model
• Entrepreneur/junk shop: Selling plastic bricks to people

Resources:

• Equipment for testing at Mountaintop
• Recycled plastics
• Junk shops and entrepreneurs
• Nanays
• UPD
• Lehigh University facilities and staff

Partners:

• Machinery manufacturing company
• Junk shop
• Entrepreneurs
• UPD

Activities:

• Oversee system of community-based recycling facilities
• Develop the technology (the machineries and molds) that entrepreneurs and junk shops will need in order to produce the recycled plastic products.
• Educate entrepreneurs/junk shop how to operate the machineries
• Help the entrepreneurs/junk shop in obtaining the machineries to produce plastic products
• Negotiate with manufacturers to produce the machineries and molds that will be sold to the entrepreneurs/junk shops

Costs:

• The tools and equipment necessary to develop the prototypes of the machine
• The material and testing facility to test the wall system made out of recycled plastics
• Prototyping the building blocks out 
• Machinery cost
• Cost of installation
• Training cost

Business Model for Junk Shops/Entrepreneurs:

Value Proposition:

• We reduce the amount of plastic entering landfills and oceans by turning recycled plastic into high-value products and selling them to the community

Customer Segments:

• NGOs
• Private citizens hoping to use bricks to build structures for their own use

Channels:

• People collecting waste plastic

Customer Relationships:

• Nanays in Paradise Village
• NGOs

Revenue Streams:

• Selling plastic bricks to people

Resources:

• Machinery
• Business model
• Plastic
• Nanays
• UPD
• Lehigh University facilities and staff

Partners:

• Machinery manufacturing company
• Nanays
• Lehigh University
• UPD

Activites:

• Oversee system of community-based recycling facilities
• Produce higher-value products from plastics
• Educate entrepreneurs/junk shop how to operate the machinery
• Help the entrepreneurs/junk shop in obtaining the machinery to produce plastic products

Costs:

• Machinery
• Operating costs (e.g. electricity)

2. List ten lessons from the Business and Operations model of the Aravind Eye Hospital

1. You must create ownership in the community of the problem and engage them as partners. There have been many cases where people identify a large scale issue and attempt to implement a solution without consulting or engaging the community involved. Community members may not appreciate this effort without being engaged. For instance (outside of the US), there was a case where the government decided to build houses to natives as an effort to provide housing. At the end of the construction, no native moved into the house since the housing structure was completely different from the values the natives held. All the efforts and materials were wasted from the lack of consultation to understand the needs of the native.
2. No matter how successful a business or operation appears to be, you must take a step back and evaluate the big picture. There was a point in Aravind Eye Care System where the group was providing examinations and glasses per person every 20 minutes. In addition if eye surgery was necessary, the service was provided the next day. From the perspective on the rate that services are provided to patients, it appears as if the company is doing great! However, after analyzing the efforts from a bigger perspective, the company found that they have only reached 7% of the people in need of eye care or service. This number pointed out that the company was not meeting their goal of adequately addressing the bigger problem and expanding their service to a larger population. 
3. You must work around the pre-conditioned situation and environment of the existing issue. When Aravind Eye Hospital first started out, their goal was to provide low-cost eye care to millions. As they expanded, the group faced the challenge in reaching out to people outside of their 5 hospitals. Many patients were unable to travel the long distance in order to receive the treatment they needed. Aravind Eye Hospital identified the travel barrier and developed the solution of sending out vans to provide the treatment patients needed in their hometown. 
4. You must be willing to expand outside of your expertise in order to achieve your goals. Aravind Eye Hospital failed their negotiation with a tech company in order to obtain the necessary tool to provide low-cost care to their patients at one point in time. The failed negotiation led the company to expand their service only company to the manufacturing industry. The company did so well in reducing the cost of production that they eventually managed to reduce the cost of the technology to 2% of its original cost.
5. They get glasses in the frames of their choice. Even when starting a social venture like this, it is still important to consider demand in the market. The company even stated that people were willing to pay more for frames they liked. This not only increased the surplus, but also provided those who needed glasses with a pair they felt confident in.
6. Using the producer surplus gained from market inefficiency allows them to provide services for free. This increases the portion of the market that the venture can reach, but does not exclude those in need because they cannot pay.
7. By taking advantage of economies of scale by producing a diagnosis device in-house, rather than purchasing them from another vendor, they were able to keep costs down. This allowed them to expand within India and eventually to other countries.
8. They focused on the value propositions of quality and timeliness; people were able to get high-quality spectacles in just about 20 minutes. Also, if a person needed repairs on their glasses, they were available to fix their glasses right there at the campsite. For people that needed surgeries, they had buses waiting to take them to the base hospital, they received surgery the following day, then they took a bus back to where they came from. Focusing on these two qualities, while also providing the services at a low cost, improved engagement within the community.
9. Logistical support may not always be readily available; Aravind ensures that there will be buses ready to take patients to the hospital right away. If it weren’t for this easy accessibility, many people would probably never get these services. Accessibility is important to consider when developing our own venture because even if people do want our product, there needs to be a clear plan on how they will receive it, and these resources may not always be readily available. 
10. The productivity of Aravind’s staff was significantly higher than anyone else’s – they had excellent quality assurance systems that significantly lowered the complications of their processes. This was one of the reasons why their costs were significantly lower when compared with the UK’s costs as well. PlasTech Ventures can look into developing a similar set of activities that determine the most effective procedures and standards to develop our products – more specifically, we can look into auditing the quality of our machines frequently and training people on how to use the machines properly.