Blog Post #10

1. Refine your Business Model Canvas

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. Envirofit uses large distributors but also smaller, local businesses in order to distribute their product to more rural areas.  We can look at this and see how we might scale up in the future in order to make the test strip widely available
   2. Envirofit heavily focuses on the impact they’re making on the people, not necessarily the product→ when reaching out for funding proposals or competitions, we can use Envirofit as an example of how we should market our product.
   3. Envirofit does impact reporting where they call their customers to evaluate their products and collect information on cooking habits and what it’s being used for. We could translate this into our project through the testing of the WhatsApp communication system.
   4. Envirofit’s Impact of 1 Million Stoves highlights the company’s real-time data that they are collecting on their website.  Being able to include something like this on our website in the future could be incredibly useful for displaying our impact.
   5. Reel Gardening really focused on simplifying the gardening process and making it easy for users to participate.  Our test strip is designed to make it easier and cheaper for medical staff and patients to use.
   6. Reel Gardening provided a simple step-by-step tutorial for their users to even further simplify the process.  Our group could look at doing informational videos or messaging for CHWs and the women in the communities on the symptoms and risks of UTI/Preeclampsia going undetected.  Offer a more visual option.
   7. Reel Gardening offers an “Our Blog” section on their website.  It provides customers with information pertaining to gardening.  From different recipes to how to collect rainwater, Reel Gardening provides its customers with all information that’s relevant to the product.  Through our WhatsApp communication system, we can look at different ways to engage UHWs with the test strips and ultimately encourage increased testing.
   8. Greystone Baker has an open-hiring policy and not only pays its employees but also goes above in beyond in providing benefits for them.  Ukweli may not be able to fund benefits/opportunities like Greystone, but we can look at providing some sort of reward or benefits for becoming a UHW.  Making certification to be a UHW something that is exciting and exclusive, while maintaining our accessibility, could encourage word-of-mouth marketing between CHWs.
   9. Barefoot College really looked at spreading their knowledge through already established social networks.  For example, they trained grandmothers in order to educate and spread the use of solar power. Similarly, we are using already established social connections through CHWs to distribute the product.  We could also potentially look into using and encouraging certified UHWs to spread the word about Ukweli and the test strips to increase interest and testing.
   10. Barefoot College works to empower women directly by giving them the tools to establish solar power in their rural communities.  We could potentially look at a way to work directly with women so we know they’re seeing an impact and feel empowered to seek medical care.

Blog #9

 

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

 

Value Propositions

For mothers in Sierra Leone, our Ukweli Test Strip is a simple, affordable testing strip for UTIs and preeclampsia that could save their lives and increase their quality of life by identifying potential health issues.

Customer Relationships

Co-Creation

User Communities

 

Channels

Community Health Workers

 

Customer Segments

Women in Sierra Leone 

Community Health Workers 

 

Revenue Streams

Funding from Organizations

Selling of the actual test strips to CHWs

 

Key Resources 

Test Strips (OEM)

CHWs

Intellectual→ Connections on the ground Hassan and his connections, data collection, 

Human→ Hassan, Allieu, Bockarie

Financial→ Funding from world hope and other organizations

Cost Structure 

Sell strips to UHWs/NICs to distribute to the catchment population–>bottle of strips cost 50,000 SL

 

Key Activities

*big idea 

For the Lehigh team, we need to continuously be 

• Communicating and directing on-site UHWs (Ukweli-certified Health Workers) 
• Collecting, storing, managing, and communicating data from fieldwork to necessary stakeholders
• WhatsApp communication with CHWs in order to maintain relationships 

 

Key Partners

World Hope

CHWs

Hassan, Allieu, Bockarie

 

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

 

1. Franchise system for eye care, same delivery and quality
2. Important to identify those who need help in the first place
3. Developing a system which integrates the communities
4. Hub-and-Spoke model: base hospitals, vision centers, managed hospitals
5. Use technology to increase accessibility
6. Fixed pricing which takes into account 
7. Focus on non-customer, grows market
8. Gave a lot away for free, had those who could pay cover the costs of the free treatments
9. Created competition by training other hospitals and cheaper consumables, result is beneficial to patients
10. Cost is not directly related to quality or efficiency of care
11. OWN THE PROBLEM – create compassion, encourage people to act

Post #8

List five compelling take-aways from the Art of the Start. 

1. Only ask people what you yourself would do.
2. Presentations must be short and concise in order to keep the audience’s attention.
3. Do not try to satisfy everyone or you’ll have a product which is too broad and does not satisfy anyone.
4. Money will follow truly revolutionary ideas which are executed well, should not be sole driving factor.
5. The idea you have must be novel or use a novel approach.

 

Articulate your value propositions for your diverse customer segments. 

For the mothers in Sierra Leone, who are susceptible to UTIs and Preeclampsia, our Ukweli Test Strip is a straight forward, affordable testing strip for UTIs and Preeclampsia that could save their lives and increase their quality of life.

Discuss your Total Available Market and Total Addressable Market. List all your assumptions and hypothesis.

Our Total Available Market right now is all the mothers in Sierra Leone.  That would be a catchment population of about 3 million women by next summer. Our Total Addressable Market is the women that are currently served in our catchment population, so women who have a Ukweli Certified Health Worker in their community who has test strips. So far we have reached about 250,000 women by training CHWs in their communities.