Marketing

Innovative requires funds to operate. The major cost will be equipment, salaries, offices, website, development improvements, licenses, expansion and indirect cost in wich we will invest funds of $200,000. Regular monthly expenses are estimated at $24,691 and miscellaneous costs relating to administration will also be covered by this capital injection and cash-flows from operations. Wages are budgeted to be $50,000 per year.

Innovative will generate $500,000 in its first year of operation, with an estimated gross profit of 30%, yielding approximately $25,000 to cover administrative expenses. Based on the assumptions contained in our plan.

When the SMEs, entrepreneurs, that receive loans from Innovative start to repaid their loans, we hope that the innovative project will become self-sustainable. We estimate that the business will break-even in its first year of operations.

It's evident that Innovative will invest money to the most innovative solution that could generate revenue and change living conditions of people. if private funding source leave the project, The revenue generate by Loan repayment can serve to ensure the sustainability of the project. It will be possible for Innovatibe to bay share in the innovation solution and SMEs that we will invest.

Yes, the most problems that could affected innovative project are the political and business climate in Congo. As you know, congo is post-conflict country with unstable political situation.
According to World Bank, Doing Business 2010 reports Congo is ranked 183

Innovative will be focused first to Congo market during the next 3-5 years and we will fund innovation in all sector from education, to environment, technology, Medical advancement,etc

Innovative will be focused on the innovative solutions presented by SMEs, entrepreneurs, innovators, women and youth that have the possibility to ameliorate living conditions of people and generate revenues.

• SME subsidies of Industries department,
• Ministry of food processing
• National horticulture board
• Equity of Farmer Organisations (out of profit generated by value addition in primary produce)
• CSR Support from corporate engaged in agri value chain/local resource based production like Tehri-Hydel Development Corporation.

Present Financing structure: -
• Subsidies from Govt. of Uttrakhand (Department of industries)
• Support from other agencies and farmer associations
• Project backstopping grant by SHGW/FFT INR
• Investment loan by SHGW (private investor).

The prospective plan 2009-12 aims to operate all the centers at 20% operating net profit, secure operating capital from banks and Govt. subsidies, essential equity/ investment support from SHGW/FFT and to enable farmers organizations and the apple service centers to operate at optimum capacity.

Apple service Project India (Plan for 2009) - Cost estimation:- As per the plan 2009 total investment requirement of the project is INR 150 million apart from the investment of INR 42 million (Approx.) already invested.

Long Term Goals – “To repay the loan within or before 10 operational years along with the capitalization of centers to operate the business on their own under the ownership of individual farmers, farmer’s groups and associations.”
The profits generated shall be used for local capital formation on one hand and leveraging the government support for agriculture sector to farmers from individual approach to collective investment.
At a policy level the Government can give support to such collective enterprises based on our model.

We are proposing the following solutions in that scenario where the external/private funding stops,
• Leveraging Government Support
o National Horticultural Board proposes to give 50 % subsidies for agriculture value addition (The government has declaration a policy for promotion of value addition on fruit and vegetable produce and therefore the policy has been brought in for the same)
o Encouraging contribution from producer/producer organizations (part of the remaining contribution from the project)
• Mobilisation of institutional finance like Banks etc.
• Introducing entrepreneurs as Joint Venture Partners. So far farmer organizations and private investors form a joint venture companies. We can introduce replacements of private investors.
• Corporate Social Responsibility Organisations interested in working towards agri-value chain development on basis of mutual benefits.

• Capacity Utilization/Building – How to capture 100 % capacities of the machines brought for the purpose. Also much more focused attention will have to be brought on the capacity building of the collection centres and their logistical planning.
• Quality – The produce has to meet up to the standards of the markets which already has a lot of players. Lesser price realization can lead to problems with the prices being offered to the farmers.
• Efficiency and Quantity– Most of the produce is brought in bulk and has to graded and sorted. Till now it used to be done manually but now we have introduced machines. Most of the machines have been efficient but the issues related to volume still exist which lead to higher operating costs. Lower the volume, higher the operating costs which lead to lesser margins.
• Market – There is a pressing need for exploring more paying markets that are willing to give higher prices for the produce. This would be possible when investments are made in branding and propaganda.
• Product Differentiation – Given the elementary level of grading and packaging being done in the apple value addition sector, the need of the hour is to bring higher degrees of product differentiation in the packaged or graded produce.
• Production planning – Farmers want to be assisted in better production capabilities.
• Storage Planning - Problems with the storage units can be in terms of capacity utilization of the installed capacity as well as involvement of more number of farmers from far flung areas.
• Capacity building - Also we need to broaden and strengthen our work on trainings, institution building and better communication setup so that more and more farmers could benefit from the project and that too in a better and more organized manner.

Encouraged by the positive outcomes of the apple service project we plan to explore possibilities and initiate similiar projects for other crops as well in the coming years. That would require extensive research about deriving benefits from different government schemes and understanding dynamic price fixing based on market fluctuations.

Future plans for expansion in the same area includes establishment of cooling facilities/CA storage located centrally as soon as possible before the next collection season so that shelf life of apples can be increased and more number of villages and clusters can be added.
Other Future plans of the project include to work on-
• Focus on capacity building for strengthening of farmer institutions.
• Exploring and initiating possibilities for more crops.
• Deriving benefits from different government schemes.
• Dynamic price fixing based on market fluctuations.

The prospective plan 2009-12 aims to operate all the centers at 20% operating net profit, secure operating capital from banks and Govt. subsidies, essential equity/ investment support from SHGW/FFT and to enable the apple service centers to operate at optimum capacity.
Long term goal is to repay the FFT (Loan from fresh food technologies India) within or before 10 operational years along with the capitalization of centers to operate the business on their own under the ownership of farmers’ trusts.

PROGRAM FUNDING SOURCE AMOUNT $
SME CapitalFund 1. Developmental Financial institutions 4 000 000.00
2. Private Equity Firms 1 000 000.00
3. Local Financial Institutions 1 000 000.00

Capacity Building 1. Developmental Institutions 500 000.00
2. Non-Governmental Organization 100 000.00
3. Private Organizations 50 000.00

WiSnet 1. Trade Bodies 50 000.00
2. Private Enterprise 100 000.00
3. Developmental Institutions 1000 000.00

Advocacy 1. Private Enterprises 10 000.00
2. Non-Governmental Organizations 15 000.00
3. Trade Bodies 10 000.00
4. Developmental Institutions 20 000.00

TOTAL FUNDINNG REQUIRED 7 845 000.00

NOTE
Funding requirements are for the Zimbabwe pilot project

The proposed solution will offer fee based services. For example, when web directory is launched, firms will be paying fees towards the administration and maintenance of the sight so as to maintain perpetuity of the platform. Public finance will only be required as initial capital to cover various expenses that will be incurred in the setting-up of the platform. Consultations on the setting-up of the platform will take the majority of time, estimated to be three to four months for the pilot project. The actual web designing domain registration and hosting will be expected to take one to two months. All in all, this platform will be expected to graduate from public expenditure after six months.

Capacity Building programs will also be fee based so as to cover overhead costs like venue hire, audio visual equipment and stationary as well as fees for the trainers and presenters. Public finance will be required only for technical assistance and the hosting of the first program. Thereafter, the programs will be expected to be self sustainable. Post training cd’s, books and other presentations will be sold to those who were not able to attend the program or those who simply require their own copies for archiving. This will be an income generator for future program expenses.

Consultations with legislators in terms of reforming the regulatory framework will be done on a conference or forum basis. This will be an opportunity for established and up-coming companies to market their services. In essence, the costs of hosting of such symposiums will through sponsorships. Companies that sponsor the events will have the opportunity to advertise and distribute their promotional materials. This platform will not require public finance.

The establishment of a secondary capital market for SME will require a substantial input of public finance to cover first-loss capital. Extensive consultations will be required as well as substantial technical assistance. Ideally, all paperwork, regulatory framework as well as infrastructure and institutional set up is expected to be completed after one and half years. Thereafter, the market will become self sustainable just like any stock market.

At the present moment, it is quite difficult to estimate with a high degree of accuracy the timeframe it will take to graduate WiSnet from the reliance on public finance. This is due to the interconnected nature of the platform with regards to the sectors that it will target as well as the stakeholders who will be involved in the implementation of the solution especially on a global platform. A lot of protocols will have to be followed in different countries. The graduation and success of the solution will largely depend on the input of international bodies in terms of coordinating and providing expert knowledge on the ideal implementation criteria of the solution.

Private funding will be required for the initial start-up funding. The solution essentially requires a hybrid of public and private financing in the proportions of 90% and 10% respectively. Any loss of private funding will be cushioned by the input of the beneficiaries of the proposed solution. As mentioned in the response to question 19, services offered by the solution will be fee based thus ensuring sustainability of programs once they have been launched.

The major factor that can potentially impede on the sustainability of the proposed solution is the politicization of developmental interventions especially in Zimbabwe. Over the past years Non Governmental Organizations’ and donor activities where hampered by interventions of the government. Prior to 2009 and the formation of the Inclusive Government, most NGO operations were almost non-existent. However, the Inclusive Government has brought some normalization to the operations of NGO’s. The solution implementers will endeavor to continuously engage the government and all interested parties in the implementation of proposed solutions.

Poor investor confidence is another disease that can hinder the sustainability of the proposed solution especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is exemplified by the poor flow of Foreign Direct Investment in the region. This can be partly attributed to the not so investor friendly regulatory framework. The Indigenization and Economic Empowerment law that is being enacted in Zimbabwe has impacted negatively on the flow of FDI at a time when the nation is prioritizing long term investment.

Legislators in Zimbabwe have also had the tendency to overlook innovative ideas in the name of ‘national interest’. The Finance Minister advocated for the granting of security of tenure for farmers reallocated so that they (farmers) can use the security to source financing from banks. Members of the opposition party heckled him without considering the impact of such an idea on the development of the economy.

Africa has been riddled with a poor communications infrastructure which can also hinder the access and flow information from developed countries to developing countries.

The proposed solution intends expand immediately to other sectors as well as scaling up within each sector. Initial sectors are agriculture, tourism, agro-processing and manufacturing, services and finance. Generally, Africa has a comparative advantage in agriculture and mining therefore the solution intends to exploit this advantage by having a bias towards these sectors.

The solution intends to springboard from the advantages that have been exploited by Youth Business Forum so as to further expand the solution into other provinces. Once the local Zimbabwe market has been exploited, the solution will expand into the southern African region later on expanding into the Sub-Saharan Africa region ultimately growing to encompass the global SME market.

• Community/societies investments
• Government(s)
• International trade institutions
• grants (such as Oxfam, Care, USAID etc)
• Developmental assistance agencies (such as DFID, etc)
• Charitable investments
• Individual micro-investors
• cooperate private investor’s
• Intergovernmental organizations such World Bank,

• A small charge for all our operations and property through our system will be charged for sustainability.
• Within our niche, SME Score Card does not have any competitors, but rather has "prospective business partners." This is because the organisation will provide its clients with solutions as well as value creations. Its services will be sought out by microfinance institution and their beneficiaries.
• Through advertisement and consumer education a large number of clients are expected to turn-up for the service (this will increase revenue for our organisation) because dealing with small number of clients represents a challenge in terms of costs and sustainability.
• Set up a product distribution system that offers flexibility and reliability to both our shoppers and local business owners.
• Since the business is positioned to this opportunity because it’s a semi-profit with no direct competitor and with a corporate social responsibility of helping women access credit our business is sustainable because the community is ready for it.

• We will conducts research to make sure that our customers get what they need, by making sure that it is retaining the existing customers and recruiting new customers.
• Visiting potential customers and finding their needs.
• Giving continuous training of staffs and customers
• seeking external funding to support our business
• willing to adapt and adjust to changes accordingly
• using our strength to exploit network effects and positive feedback loops, locking consumers into our technology
• Using our strength to establish a significant brand loyalty which will be expensive for later entrants to break down.
• We will develop our brand first and establish key partnerships with key stakeholders.

• We will stay ahead on the learning curve – because challenge is to keep learning proprietary.

• Since we are clear about what kind of talent we need for business success, we have setup strategies on how we will attract, retain, and engage such talent, especially in the start up stage, when we have limited resources.

• Our management team will encourage employees to be able to handle pressure and challenges and turn them into positive energy for innovation, not negative energy for depression.

Non-financial issues that could threaten the sustainability of your proposed solution are:
• Lack of interest by stakeholders mostly the microcredit institution due to fear of competition in interest rates, beneficiaries’ reluctance in the adoption of the system and non provision of legal laws by the government.

 Our system will scale up because “SME Score Card” because it is cheap and cuts through traditional constraints – geographical, timeliness, language barrier, technology barrier and reach.

N/A

The Business plan / model is broken into two distinct parts: the first is our Business Partner membership. Businesses pay an annual due -- either in one lump sum or via monthly payment plan -- which increases along with the size of the business itself. While we do have a handful of "corporate partners" who pay the highest dues (roughly $3,000 a year), over 80 percent of our BPs have 5 or less employees. A few of these businesses have worked with us on a barter basis, but these instances are rare.

The second part -- our "bread and butter", so to speak -- is our individual discount co-op. Green Alliance individual members typically pay a $35 annual due for the Green Card, which gets them discounts at all of our Business Partners.

Taken together, these two funding sources have provided the backbone of the GA's financial stability, and will no doubt continue to do so going forward. As mentioned earlier, the two are mutually reinforcing: bringing on more and more BPs provided added incentive for individuals to join, allowing them to save at more and more green businesses. Business partners, meanwhile, are continually enticed to join by the growing number of green consumers who will be looking to use the Green Card at their business.

While our model has been honed to service the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and Southern Maine, our hope is to hone it enough to warrant franchising to as-yet undecided locations. Doing so will not only help expand the GA idea to broader and broader clienteles and communities, but will allow for increased financial viability as well.

The main source of the operations financing is through the personal equity of the directors specially the founder and chairman of the board, Dr. Carl E. Balita.

Aside from the earned revenue, the advocacy and the programs are also presented to business friends and associates of the pillars of Dream Inc. who, after knowing the beauty of the programs, become very much willing to give their support.

The initiatives also attracted support from local government units who have advocacy programs for poverty alleviation and people empowerment.

Tenemos dividida la estrategía en dos grandes temas, Comercialización y Talleres
En un presupuesto general de comercialización que incluye los siguientes gastos: Creación sitio web e ventas, actualización eimpresion de nuevos catálogos, asesoría en exportación y etiquetado, stock de ventas, muestrarios de ventas por regiones y promoción internacional con un total de $390,000.00
En la fase de talleres esperamos poedr actuar en temas como control e calidad y etiquetado así como renovación de piezas en los grupos que lo requieran, con un toal aproximado de $350,000.00