I had the opportunity to do market research for this venture as a grad student. My feeling from the ground, based on focus groups and interviews, was that this has the potential to be a very successful venture.
In regards to malaria and the selling of mosquito nets, I think it will take aggressive marketing/education to convince customers about the cost-savings of preventing malaria. Most women we talked to believed the nets currently available were too expensive. However, when you really looked at their finances, the amount of money they were spending treating malaria and the missed income due to absenteeism, the 'not affordable' claim did not appear logical. Of course part of the issue is that when a child is on their deathbed it is easier to raise money from family members but it's not easy to borrow money for a consumer good when nobody is sick. So to address that issue, I would couple a campaign about the cost-savings of preventative health with a payment installment plan, allowing costumers to 'rent-to-own' their mosquito net.
Comments
I had the opportunity to do market research for this venture as a grad student. My feeling from the ground, based on focus groups and interviews, was that this has the potential to be a very successful venture.
In regards to malaria and the selling of mosquito nets, I think it will take aggressive marketing/education to convince customers about the cost-savings of preventing malaria. Most women we talked to believed the nets currently available were too expensive. However, when you really looked at their finances, the amount of money they were spending treating malaria and the missed income due to absenteeism, the 'not affordable' claim did not appear logical. Of course part of the issue is that when a child is on their deathbed it is easier to raise money from family members but it's not easy to borrow money for a consumer good when nobody is sick. So to address that issue, I would couple a campaign about the cost-savings of preventative health with a payment installment plan, allowing costumers to 'rent-to-own' their mosquito net.