Tag Archive for: Empowerment

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Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub

Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub

Overview

Category: Human Capital Empowerement

Event: Global Social Business Competition 2013

Rank: Finalist

Team: Rasmus Greis, Benoit Decreton, Svenja Schroeder, Adithya Kumar, Matej Urban, Paula Canga

Project Status

Problem

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. With 80% of the population living under the poverty line, the earthquake in 2010 has hit the country hard. Much of Port-au-Prince and neighboring areas were destroyed and the earthquake caused the country’s GDP to contract 5.4% in 2010. The emergency aid that has flown into the country after the earthquake has enabled Haiti to rebuilt basic infrastructure in Port-au-Prince. However, many have lost their livelihood to the earthquake and have not been able to rebuild their businesses or find another source of income. Haiti is in need for new businesses and entrepreneurs to get their economy back on track and create jobs for the people at the bottom of the pyramid.

Solution

Initial research has identified that many entrepreneurial ventures in this region are more necessity driven rather than opportunity driven. This mindset would not be deemed beneficial for any country to progress economically in the long term The Haitian economy has a great need for new ideas and sources of income for the poor, but it also offers great potential. 56% of the population are under 24 and the country enjoys tariff free exports to the US for many products. Thus, The Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub encourages entrepreneurship and innovation through conferences, seminars, workshops with a main focus on MENTORING and availabilty of office spaces at a later stage. The main mission of HEH would be to shift the cultural mindset of people by inculcating the entrepreneurial drive from early stages.

Social Impact

The principal goal of HEH is to establish a long- term relationships with our stakeholders, especially with individual entrepreneurs, being able to provide them with support and advice at each development stage of their business. The success of this initiative will be clearly visible and traceable by the number of new businesses being started by the participants of the HEH. In addition to the mere rise in the number of new ventures created, we will consider the contribution of HEH as truly successful only once the business propositions of participating entrepreneurs turn into self- sustaining and stable business operations. This will be monitored across a longer period of time (e.g. 2- 5 years). In return, we expect the entrepreneurs to become more engaged with the Hub, having the opportunity to become mentors and role- models for next generations of entrepreneurs at Haiti.

The HEH will design its impact assessment around the number of people who are directly influenced by the project. However, the start-up of a business does not only affect the entrepreneur himself, but also his family. And he might even hire others that are then able to earn an income for their families. Afterwards, the money earned by the workers will be spent and indirectly sustain the economy.

According to the World Bank the average household size in Haiti is 4.6. Thus, we propose to count the number of jobs created through the HEH and then multiply this number by the factor 5 (4.6: impact on families + 0.4: indirect impact on economy). In this way we get an impression of how many livelihoods the project affects.

Business Model

As indicated above, the project aims to drive entrepreneurial spirit at Haiti and provide real business opportunities and access to support to all.

To secure the necessary financing of such a large- scale project, a crowfunding platform will be established allowing the individual participants in the Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub to contribute to the sustainable growth of the venture as part of a communal effort, leading to the success of the entrepreneur, the community, and this way driving a sustainable economic development of the country.

For large scale projects requiring substantial investments, crowdfunding platform can be open to external investors, specifically targeting the corporate partners of the Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub, consisting of established Haitian and foreign entrepreneurs as well as large global companies.

To illustrate this model on a simple example, let us look at the case of Emmanuel, a 24- year old Haitian boy. Emmanuel lives with his family, mother and two younger brothers in Port-au-Prince. It is his responsibility to provide for the family as he has lost his farther during the earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010. Emu, as people call him, is a fisher but he has an idea of how to make some additional profit for his family. He would like to start his own company, processing old car and truck tires into fashion accessories. However, currently Emu does not have the initial capital to purchase these tires. With Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub, he would be able to makes his idea come true.

Apart from education and mentorship, HEH aims to provide sustainable financing for the Haitian entrepreneurs. Emu would receive the opportunity to present his idea in the HEH both to the corporate partners of the Hub and to the participating entrepreneurs. Those entrepreneurs who would see the potential in this idea would then have the opportunity to contribute a small amount, $5-$10 to the initial investment requirements of the project, becoming small “investors” for Emu’s idea, enabling him to start the business. Consequently, Emu would have the moral obligation to repay his debt to the other entrepreneurs by supporting their ideas and project, this way kick- starting a sustainable, self-sufficient investment vehicle and entrepreneurship accelerator

Customers

As already mentioned, the Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub aims to drive entrepreneurial growth in Haiti. Thus, support will be given to all and everyone from the Haiti community with a genuine interest in starting their own business, whether this would be a social project, small venture or a large scale initiative.

From the entrepreneurs already present in Haiti, many have come to the decision of starting up a business driven by basic needs of food and shelter, securing the safety and survival of themselves and their families. HEH will focus on these individuals with existing entrepreneurial background, with the aim of translating their purely necessity driven ventures into sustainable businesses with long- term opportunities for growth and scalability. But the Hub will go beyond that, reaching out to the community as a whole, providing the opportunity of support and education to those with an entrepreneurial spark and willingness to learn.

As many people that work in the informal sector are already entrepreneurs in a way, the Hub will also offer courses on the growth opportunities for businesses that go from informal to formal thereby giving them strategic ideas to scale sustainably.

Unique Selling Proposition

Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub aims to be a one-stop place for potential entrepreneurs, right from the inception stage to the actual setup of their own company. The HEH will be a constant source of support throughout the entire process of setting up their own venture and our Unique Selling Proposition lies in the fact that we are an innovative venture ourselves and we strive to have a “local touch” by being the best network that has inter-linking capabilities between entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, government and other institutions that may encourage entrepreneurship thereby having a long- term impact on the economy of the country.

HEH also focuses its efforts on training, mentoring and supporting the entrepreneurs from the very start, both professionally and personally, with the principal purpose of creating a long- lasting relationships with these budding visionaries.

Last but not least, HEH will enable to build partnerships with VC firms from other countries like the USA, Canada and EU in order to attract more FDI and possibly expanding the level playing field for eager enterprises to spread their wings globally. Thus, HEH stands at a unique standpoint by being a cooperative, understanding and beneficial partner to every stakeholder identified.

Direct and Indirect Competition

Based on our research and analysis, we found out that there are very few of such start-up accelerators present in the country at the moment, with one being announced recently. The Inter-American Development Bank, along with cooperation of the Haiti government, has recently announced its ambition of starting one such enterprise promoting entrepreneurship within Haiti. Nevertheless, it has only been announced and there has been no concrete news on when the doors of this enterprise will be open to eager entrepreneurs.

In terms of indirect competition, we envision other research institutions, governmental agencies and educational establishments who also run similar initiatives, although very few in number. Investments from the US, Canada and other countries can also count to be an indirect competition to our enterprise. However, such risk can be easily managed by creating strategic partnerships with these investors, with a mutually cooperative and beneficial relationship. This will be the corner stone of our long- term strategy.

SWOT

Strengths:

- Opportunity for Haitians to develop a business

- HEH’s financing is self-contained through the use of community based crowdfunding platform, with the possibility of scalability to external sources of funding, e.g. corporate partners of the initiative.

- Mentoring network with global leaders and companies.

- Possible to scale and replicate the model to other countries.

- Sustainable business model.

Weaknesses:

- Starting up the HEH requires a large investment

- Communication difficulties

- Cultural difficulties

- No existing network

- Find funding

Opportunities:

- GDP continues to grow at a rate of 5%, as in 2011 and 2012

- Create jobs for Haitians.

- Existing inclination towards entrepreneurship.

- Governmental rise in education investment, will enlarge our target group.

Threats:

- The economic capital Port-Au-Prince lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and is subject to severe storms, occasional flooding and earthquakes.

- Other external shocks like political instability, corruption, etc.

- Change in trading agreements with USA etc.

- Low literacy rate compared to the region.

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MyTradeworks

27 Sep 2013/0 Comments/in Finalists 2013, Global Social Business Competition 2013, Projects, Trade and Market Access, Winner 2013

MyTradeworks

Overview

Category: Trade and Market Access

Event: Global Social Business Competition 2013

Rank: Winner

Team: Gabrielle Snijder, Manuela Hug, Estee Hak, Nadege Ruzicka

Project Status

Problem

Out of the 7 billion people on our planet, 1.4 billion still live in extreme poverty, meaning they have to survive on less than US$1.25 a day. Worldwide, 70% of those extreme poor live in rural areas (World Bank, 2012) – most of them in developing countries. Given the forecasts of a 50% increase in the population by 2050 (IFAD, 2011), of which the majority will be in developing countries, the fight against rural poverty can no longer be postponed. Poverty in rural areas has several causes. One of the most prevalent causes is the lack of infrastructure. Without proper transport and access to information systems like the Internet, markets cannot work well and thus business opportunities and subsequent jobs at the bottom of the pyramid are limited.

Imagine a farmer producing a good that he (or she) would like to sell. Due to the large distance to the market he not only has to solve the challenge of transportation but he also does not know if he can find a buyer or what price he can ask for his goods. To overcome his problem, he relies on a “middleman” who buys the goods from the farmer and resells it with a profit margin. This significantly reduces the potential profit for the farmer and also makes him dependent on the middleman. In a nutshell, the basic mechanism of efficient markets – the free exchange of goods and services – cannot work efficiently in rural areas as most of the people neither have direct market access nor transparent information. Without these efficient market structures, people are not only unable to fulfil their basic needs but also have no incentives to produce more if they believe they will not sell it. Under these conditions, businesses cannot advance and subsequent job creation is hindered. Without economic development, investments in improving infrastructure and living standards cannot be realized. Hence, finding a solution to improve this market situation is key in order to fight rural poverty and improve future perspectives for its people.

Solution

Limited access to infrastructure like Internet or efficient transportation prevents improvements in the way business is conducted and subsequently in the standards of living for rural people. Rather than building roads or installing broadband access which takes decades before benefits can be reaped by those in need, the immense infrastructural hurdles are bypassed by working with what the people already know and use; mobile phones. As a matter of fact, according to CNN (2012) more people in

Africa have access to a mobile phone than to electricity, with a mobile phone penetration rate close to 80% (Business Wire, 2012). Tapping into the unrealized potential of this widespread technology allows the efficient connection of people and their environment.

For this purpose, a platform that matches supply and demand through mobile phones in rural areas will be introduced. The goal is to create a transparent market that connects people through the direct trading of goods and services and build a strong network among the rural communities. This service allows direct market access and can replace the “middlemen”, resulting in a more efficient distribution of resources, which in turn enables economic development in rural areas.

From the user’s perspective, the mobile platform includes the following steps:

1. The user sends an SMS to the platform indicating the item he/she wishes to buy or sell, including information like price range and location.

2. The platform’s software processes the information and matches buyer and seller. In case there is no match, an SMS is sent to inform the user he/she will be contacted when a match is found.

3. In case of a match, the buyer receives an SMS with the three most relevant offers to his/her demand. The buyer also receives the phone numbers of the potential sellers in order to negotiate with them and close the deal.

4. The buyer and seller meet at a place and time that is convenient for both.

Once MYtradeworks has reached a critical user mass, a full marketplace and a network of traders will develop in the rural areas, resulting in efficient market conditions. This enables people to specialize, reach economies of scale, create businesses and jobs and finally improve their future perspectives.

Social Impact

MYtradeworks will improve the standard of living for individuals in remote rural areas by empowering those at the BoP to engage in more trade. This will spur economic development in those regions. MYtradeworks will connect buyers and sellers directly, allowing them to buy and sell goods at efficient market prices and therewith providing them with more capital to invest in their production. This allows them to grow their businesses, become more specialized and eventually increase their living standards. The individual producers can bypass the middlemen who currently form their only link to the market.

As producers grow their businesses, (additional) jobs for individuals at the BoP will be created. Two different groups of producers are addressed: those who are currently self-sustaining with the desire to turn their activities into a business and those that have a business and want to expand their production. This creates jobs at two levels: at the individual level in the form of for example new farmers and secondly at the level of the community in the form of additional personnel needed to run the expanded business.

MYtradeworks’ social impact can be deemed even more important when taking into account the scalability of the business model. In essence, the business model has the potential to be implemented in all poor, rural areas in Africa, Asia and South America. This means that there is a potential reach of 1.3 billion people (Ifad, 2011) who could benefit from this solution.

In order to measure the social impact of MYtradeworks. Several key performance indicators will be used to measure short-term social impact, and other measures will be used to determine the long-term impact.

Business Model

MYtradeworks business model: low-cost, high-volume network.

The MYtradeworks business model is based on:
1. Enabling a low-cost connection between sellers and buyers in remote, rural areas via existing SMS technology

2. Relying on a large volume of SMSs sent over the network for revenues by charging a premium fee for the SMS

By allowing the sellers to connect with buyers at a minimal price, the benefit (revenue) of being able to sell perishable or excess goods will always be greater than the cost of finding a buyer. Likewise, the buyers’ risk of losing time and money by travelling to a market without information about the goods traded there is reduced significantly. Thus, relative distance is decreased and new markets are created.

Within this model, sellers and buyers are provided with a simple and non-costly way of finding each other via their mobile phone. As sellers do not have to give half their profit margin to the middleman, it is expected that they would be willing to pay the premium for the SMS.

After the initial investment in the MYtradeworks hardware and software systems has been returned, the revenue can be used to maintain and further develop the system. Eventually, an Internet platform that provides a stronger interface for MYtradeworks can be set up. In the long-run there is room for several business extensions such as a transportation service and information provision.

The MYtradeworks business model is not restricted to a single product category, which makes it appealing for a broad range of customers. The value of the network is enhanced with every new user, so there is a great scale potential to be exploited. As the model is not specific to Kenya, since partners can feasibly be found in other similar countries, it is replicable across borders.

Customers

The main demographic characteristics of our customers include low-income (up to $2.50day) and living in rural, remote areas, e.g. farmers, herders, craftsmen, skilled and semi-skilled workers. Furthermore, the target group has mobile phone access. Kenya is a very suitable geographical target for our service, due to its widespread mobile phone penetration (77% – Communications Commission of Kenya, 2012), and relatively low Internet penetration (28% – Internet World Stats, 2012): a context in which the focus on mobile technology makes most sense. During the start-up phase, MYtradeworks will focus on North Kenya, where the poorest communities of Kenya are found. The sparsely populated and arid zones create a difficult environment for its inhabitants, and the lack of infrastructure and long distances between villages increase the need for improved market mechanisms. MYtradeworks will offer the inhabitants several benefits:

Increased efficiency and saved time for buyer/seller: a higher success rate of travelling to the marketplace, as people gain knowledge on potential demand/supply of products before heading to a local market and they have the possibility of arranging exchanges without the physical market.

Knowledge on production and availability: improved management and a reduction in waste and losses of perishable goods.

Decreased information asymmetry: knowledge of offers for similar goods allows buyers/sellers to make optimal, informed decisions based on price transparency. Moreover, as the user base increases, prices will converge to market prices.

Independence from the “middleman”: the platform reduces the need of the “middleman” as it directly connects buyers and sellers, and increased transparency reduces potential exploitation.

Meeting new people and exchanging ideas: can enhance a community feeling. A connected and informed network empowers people to collaborate and improve their future perspectives.

Direct access to a larger marketplace: the potential customer base is no longer limited to local people. The total amount of business activities increases which sets the basis for higher incomes.

Unique Selling Proposition

MYtradeworks provides direct market access to poor individuals in remote, rural areas. It establishes direct contact between potential buyers and sellers, which reduces transaction costs, as less time and money, is wasted to search for potential trading partners. In this manner, any travels to the marketplace become more effective as chances for successful trades are higher. Furthermore, MYtradeworks eliminates the middleman’s profit margin, therewith increasing the sellers’ profits and lowering the buyers’ prices.

MYtradeworks is significantly different from other players in the market as it connects people at the BoP in rural areas to empower them to trade independently and provides them with market information. Individual producers are addressed, not only large bulk producers. It is therefore possible for individuals to trade on a small scale and for personal use only. Furthermore, in line with the concept of network externalities, the larger the user mass grows, the more beneficial MYtradeworks becomes for the individual user as market transparency increases. In addition, MYtradeworks contributes to the development of a network of traders in specific regions, which strengthens the community feeling. Being part of a strong network of people in similar situations and experiencing many different business activities in one’s environment can contribute to a more positive future outlook of individuals.

Direct and Indirect Competition

When examining the competitive environment in which MYtradeworks will operate, we can identify direct (similar target market, similar solution), potential (different target market) and indirect competitors (substitutes). As MYtradeworks will enter a new market, very few direct competitors exist and therefore potential and indirect competitors are of higher relevance. We have combined the direct and potential competitors in our analysis to find the following firms:

M-Farm is a mobile and web start-up which uses a basic SMS-interface to help farmers by providing access to current market prices, aggregating their needs to get favourable prices from suppliers, and giving them direct, collective access to both regional and export markets for their products. (kimoquaintance.com, 2013)

CellBazaar is a mobile-based electronic marketplace in Bangladesh. The service allows individuals to buy and sell any type of goods (mainly electronics) in his region in a simple way using mobile phone or Internet. The company targets high-end BoP customers. (cellbazaar.com, 2013)

eBay is the largest online (US-based) marketplace with an enormous global reach. A community of private customers -and some small companies- can access the service via any connected electronic device to buy and sell anything they like. (ebay.com, 2013)

Of these competitors, only M-Farm is active in the Kenyan market. Nevertheless, all competitors have strengths and weaknesses in their similarities and differences with MYtradeworks. The following table provides an overview of these differences and consequently the degree to which the competitors form a challenge for MYtradeworks.

The indirect competitors are more important in this case as they are alternatives to the MYtradeworks solution since the exact same solution does not yet exist. The table below describes how middlemen, self-sufficiency of villages and improved infrastructure can be substitutes and can therefore form a challenge to MYtradeworks.

In short, challenges can be found in MYtradeworks’ competitive environment. However, we do not deem these challenges insurmountable as we clearly see the distinction in MYtradeworks’ value proposition.

SWOT

The SWOT analysis is based on the launch of the MYtradeworks solution in Kenya.

Strengths

- Low capital requirement due to the straightforward technological nature of the MYtradeworks platform, and similar technology existing in the market.

- The MYtradeworks solution is very scalable and can be expanded into many different countries facing similar conditions.

- When Internet penetration increases, the online platform can complement the SMS service, further extending the reach of the solution.

- High social impact.

Weaknesses

- Dependence on supplier is high during the time in which the technology used is SMS rather than the Internet. To prevent the partner from obtaining a high bargaining power, a partnership will be formed.

- Need for a critical user mass in order to have a wide product offering and thus meet demand and satisfy sellers.

- Difficult to access market knowledge.

Opportunities

- Large market with a need for trade.

- High mobile phone penetration (72%).

- Technologically advanced country with individuals that have a strong affinity with mobile technology and are used to using their mobile phones for more than calls and SMSes, using mobile phones for mobile payment services such as M-Pesa.

- First-mover advantage which leads to the possibility of generating the required critical user mass.

- Low entry barriers.

Threats

- Perceived switching costs from the convenience of the middleman.

- Potential of new substitutes such as new technologies and development of infrastructure such as roads.

- Volatile political environment can have a significant influence on conducting business in the country.

- Health risks which can prevent individuals from growing their businesses.

- Natural resource related risks in the sense that if the soil becomes too arid and limits the production of goods on the soil, there will be fewer products to be traded.

MyTradeworks in the News

CEMS STUDENTS WIN SENSTATION GLOBAL SOCIAL BUSINESS COMPETITION 2013

CEMS students win SENStation Global Social Business Competition 2013

Kick off Your Idea

27 Sep 2013/0 Comments/in Education, Finalists 2013, Global Social Business Competition 2013, Projects

Kick off Your Idea

Overview

Category: Education

Event: Global Social Business Competition 2013

Rank: Finalist

Team: Marek Zamecnik, Milos Boska

Project Status

Problem

Annually, around 10,000 Slovak people with higher education degrees go abroad in order to find better opportunities. This is more than a quarter of those who every year obtain a diploma from universities in Slovakia. Also, according to Academic Ranking of World Universities 2012, Slovakia has no presence in the top 500 of world universities. Another issue is the lack of interaction between the private sector and academia in Slovakia. The research coming from academia is at an extremely low number compared to other EU countries.

We believe that there is a strong connection between these facts. Slovak talented students often take their ideas to places where they are able to capitalize them. We feel that Slovak education system does not sufficiently provide students with necessary resources for such ideas or projects.

We would like to stop this brain drain from Slovakia and offer the students a place and means through which they would be able to put their ideas and projects to reality. Also to create more interaction between private sector and academia along with motivating the private sector to fund projects from universities.

We also believe that there are other European countries that are struggling with the same problem. After piloting this project in Slovakia we would like to spread this project to countries such as Bulgaria, Latvia or Ukraine.

Solution

We would like to create a crowdfunding platform for students from universities and high schools in Slovakia. This platform would provide them with an ultimate place for presenting, funding or developing their interesting projects. We want to give them a chance to use their potential the best they can.

Moreover, this platform would connect schools with people that could be interested in funding projects such as students, alumni, parents and on the other side companies. The platform would also provide a solution for companies how to promote their brand name to the society as being socially responsible corporations by funding the projects.

Also, thanks to this platform students would be able to find financial resources for facilities (tools and items for educational purposes) that are needed for modern education of the 21^st century. Students and schools could find funds for anything related to education, innovation, creativity and social cause.

By improving the educational facilities in Slovakia and connecting the private sector with academia (hence, more possible research for universities), we believe that it could improve the overall standings as well.

Social Impact

We believe that our project would create social impact in the education system and would also create the opportunity for creating jobs. Namely, the social impact would be:

Improving educational environment
Connecting private sector with academia
Creating jobs for students and unemployed people
Letting the students to be ‘free’, giving them the opportunity to rely on their own skills and abilities.
A place for communication between public, academia, and private sector

How do we measure? – by the number of successfully accomplished projects, by the number of companies actively involved, positive/negative feedback from the society

Business Model

We aim to have two sources from which the finance will flow to the business model. The first source of finance is from school projects and the second source is from advertisements. Also, we need to identify our critical success factor (CSF) that will make it all possible.

CSF - high number of visitors on our website, good reputation, media coverage, general positive awareness of our project between people.

1. Inflow of finance from school projects

We divided our customers into 3 groups. Now we want to question what would make companies to fund projects and what would make students to create them.

Private sector group

For instance company X funds a project in a school for buying white boards. We then create an article about the project. We will show how company X contributed into this project and what are the tangible results (short video & pictures). Companies would have their profiles with information about the projects they funded. If we manage to satisfy our CSF, companies would be motivated to fund such projects as this is an effective way how to present themselves (CSR) to the society. Secondly, we believe that the private sector will have a generic business interest into supporting such projects as it is also in their interest to keep the talent in Slovakia.

Academia group

Once students will be aware that companies are interested in funding, this would motivate them to create the projects. Furthermore, we will create an internal social network on the platform for schools. This helps to connect people (students, parents, alumni) who could be interested in projects coming from a particular school. To foster creativity and a number of projects for the platform we will create a ‘creative thinking unit (CTU)’. This unit would work with schools and students. CTU would organise lectures and workshops. At the workshops students would create projects with our help.

After this, the two major groups (education, private sector) are satisfied and this already creates a relatively sustainable circle. However the CSF is crucial to this all. Further down, the business model is explained also numerically.

2. Flow of finance from advertising

Firstly, we want to have 2 AD panels on the website if CSF is satisfied, bearing in mind trying not to disturb the main focus of our web. Secondly, we want to have around 11 projects on the top of the website that could be promoted for a certain time by the creators in order to attract more funders.

In numbers

Student & teacher projects – we take a fee of 4.9% from a project if it succeeds to collect the amount, 7.9% if they do not. This is simply to motivate ‘creators’ to set a reasonable amount they want to collect.

Fundraising for school facilities & social cause– we charge 1.9% as a fee from the amount. We want to develop the educational facilities and this is one of our largest benefits. If they do not reach their goal the fee is to be at 2.9%.

Who can create

- students, schools (teachers, professors, and schools), anyone with a project related to the theme

Who can fund

- public (basically everybody), private sector

Unique Selling Proposition

Tab Content goes here

Customers

We decided to divide our potential customers into 3 groups – Academia (people related to universities and high schools), Private Sector, and Public. Our platform will connect all the 3 groups via Academia. Private sector is interested in presenting/marketing their companies to public and in finding talented students. Academia is interested in finding funds and job opportunities. Public is interested in better Slovakia.

Academia benefits

Funds for projects – from public and private sector

Job opportunities

Feedback (from the 3 groups) for projects

Support from KICK OFF your IDEA

Research opportunities from private sector

Private Sector benefits

Head hunting – platform will have a database of students

Possible crowdsourcing from students

Corporate Social Responsibility – by funding the projects companies can present themselves to the society as being socially responsible

Company marketing

Public benefits

Transparency – public will see how the projects are funded, where the money goes etc. This will be supported with short videos and reports about the projects

Non-gov influence

Mutual benefits

Communication – fostering communication between private sector, public, and academia

Inspiration – platform will be a source for further inspiration

Better Slovakia – all the 3 groups will contribute to better Slovakia

Direct and Indirect Competition

Direct

We believe that such platform (education sector oriented), as we present it, is not yet there on the market. Therefore we believe that there is not too much (possibly none) direct competition. However, we found several types of indirect competition which can indirectly impact our social business.

Indirect

- Other crowdfunding platforms such as dobrakrajina.sk, rozbehnito.sk or ludialudom.sk. (however they focus on other issues such as people in social need not education particularly and work as charities)

- Private funding organisations that offer their capital to fund projects. (however this on one-on-onebasis)

SWOT

Strengths – original project of its kind, trying to tackle a great national discontent with the education sector, relatively low initial investment, first mover advantage

Weaknesses – society’s wrong perception on the project,

Opportunities – job creation, limitless number of project ideas, further project development to other problematic sectors such as health care, opportunity to go to other countries with similar issues of education system, providing other related services on the platform such as offering the private sector to do crowdsourcing from the potential talent, startup accelerator, platform for investors,

Threats – really depended on the CSF, misunderstanding of the project by the society, private sector does not contribute to this project

Tag Archive for: Empowerment

Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub

Haiti Entrepreneurship Hub

Overview

Project Status

MyTradeworks

MyTradeworks

Overview

Project Status

MyTradeworks in the News

Sponsors

Kick off Your Idea

Kick off Your Idea

Overview

Project Status