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Executive Summary
Farmers in The Gambia, Africa face issues such as famines, droughts, and
floods throughout the year from an unreliable climate, causing it to be very difficult to
grow any crops. According to the Rural Poverty Portal, Over 60 per cent of all
Gambians and an even higher proportion among poor and extremely poor people
depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Our organization, LiveGreen Africa, has made
it a goal to help farmers in The Gambia find prosperity and success through their crops
and to show compassion and selflessness, while providing them with the resources they
need. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to achieve prosperity. That
is why we have provided Gambians with an affordable way out. `Our solution is to
provide Gambian families with greenhouses, information, and resources that will help
them grow their crops to the best of their abilities. Greenhouses will provide a
completely controlled climate for Gambians to grow their crops by circulating moisture
and sunlight to keep the plants alive. The goal of this is to help them grow enough crops
to feed their families and earn enough money every year.
Our solution is very unique because it is a system, rather than a hand-out. We
are the only organization that provides information, resources, and a greenhouse over
time to help solve the problems of hunger and poverty at the source.We designed our
solution so that it will grow over time, which grows the community of The Gambia as
well as growing individuals. Starting out, we will work with two or three families and by
the end of 5 years, we should be working with 20-30 families in The Gambia. We
believe that our organization has the potential to expand to other countries in Africa by
the end of 10 years, meaning that we will be working with 100-150 families.
Market Analysis
LiveGreen Africas main purpose is to help farmers in The Gambia create a
sustainable, reliable food source to improve their livelihood. We are still taking the first
steps to become sustainable, but our plans to further develop our organization include
expanding the area of our solution and increasing the amount of farmers in Africa that
are in use of our service. We plan to do this through workshops about farming that will
draw people into our services. We hope that this will bring in most of our customers. To
find our target market, we did some research. On The Rural Poverty Portal, we found
that, Underlying the high poverty rates is the country's relatively lack of economic
diversity, which makes The Gambia highly vulnerable to increasingly erratic rainfall, food
price volatility and financial crises. Based on this information we chose to target our
services towards poor farming families in The Gambia. We have chosen this group
because they struggle the most with the constantly changing climate and are very
manageable for our brand new organization.
The critical need of our target market is a way to adapt to constant climate
change. In an article talking about a project created in The Gambia by The Global
Environment Facility it states, The main problem facing the Gambia currently is a high
vulnerability to climate change, exacerbated by a low capacity to address and adapt.
These needs are not being met due to lack of resources needed to adapt to their
climate. As found on the The World Bank website, in The Gambia over half of the
population is under the poverty line. We believe that our solution will benefit the
population. Providing greenhouses to Gambian farmers will keep them from being
victims of crop loss due to climate change.
The annual purchases that are made for our solution include the price of the
glass and metal used for the greenhouse and any repairs needed. On average, recycled
glass costs from $70-90 per ton. We will also be using recycled metal which costs about
$280-300 per ton. If a greenhouse is in need of repairs we will provide resources as
needed until they can get back on their feet. What we hope will happen with the families
we help is that they will gain a sustainable food source and be able to be above the
poverty line by selling their crops. We expect to start off helping two or three families
and grow to at least 20-30 by the end of 5 years. Starting small allows us to take smaller
risks and to test how cooperating well with each family will work. After refining the
process we will be able to expand from there.
We supply our customers with the resources and information they need to grow
crops for sale and also for consumption. From this, we receive 15% of the money they
make from selling their crops. 10% will go towards the company to be able to expand
and have a sustainable flow of cash and the 5% will go to the expenses of the services.
The family keeps the other 85% as a regular flow of income for themselves. The
services of LiveGreen Africa will include allowing the family to purchase the seeds with
$120 we will give to them, a greenhouse, and other resources necessary. When the
family has enough money saved up, they can build a greenhouse.
Currently, we are the only organization using the system we have created.
Because we provide information and materials, our system is very unique. So far, there
have been no secondary competitors and we do not expect to encounter any. Some
barriers we might encounter are if a family does not want not want to invest the 5% and
instead have extra money or if a family does not wish to sell their crops, but our system
can be tailored to the needs of the families.
As a company, we have to enforce restrictions on some areas of our solution to
ensure that it is carried out properly. One of those restrictions is that our customers
have to use the money we provide for agriculture. However, there are no government
regulations that apply to our solution. Our goal is to better the lives of our customers
and in order to do that we must be willing to work with them and they must be willing to
work with us.
sticks as the metal. This model will give an idea of what the real greenhouses will look
like.
We do not have any patents right now and are not planning on getting any
patents in the future for our services. We, as an organization believe that this service
should be spread and we will not try to keep other individuals or groups from using it in
places where they see a need. However, we do hope that it will be used in the best
interest of other people.
Research and development is an area that is very important to our organization.
Our research plan in the future includes a study 5 years into the project. This study will
include looking at all of the families that have taken part in our solution and those who
have not. We will look at monthly income of farming from non greenhouse families, and
greenhouse families. From this, we will be able to measure how much of an impact we
are creating; if one at all. From the information we gain, we will try to refine our solution
to make it better.
Marketing Strategy:
We will be selling information, resources, and a greenhouse to the people of The
Gambia. The purpose of our product is to provide Gambian farmers with a reliable and
controlled setting in which to grow their crops. In order to achieve our goal of being able
to provide our greenhouses, we need our project to be known and recognised.
In order to successfully introduce our project to the public and into the business
market, we will use an extensive social media campaign. Social media will be a key
component in making our project known to both the public and to possible investors. We
will advertise our organization on facebook and instagram, explaining what our solution
is. We will also have a commercial that promotes our plan. With these, we will be using
the slogan, LiveGreen, grow green. This is how we plan to find people who are willing
to help us with start-up costs.
The problem we will be addressing is unreliable climate. Gambia has extreme
weather, including often droughts and floods, both of which can destroy a farmers
crops. Farmers in The Gambia do not have a controlled and safe place to grow their
crops, which is what we will provide them with. To start out, farmers in The Gambia will
be provided with training to breed and grow their crops most efficiently. We will ask for
15% of the money they make from their crops. 5% will go into their savings, and we will
receive the other 10% as profit. The 5% will be put towards resources and a
greenhouse.
By receiving 10% of the profits from the Gambian farmers, we will have a
continuous and constant profit. With the profits we make, we will hire and train more
people to work with the farmers. We will start with a very small number of employees,
each specially trained to educate the Gambian people. When we start to grow our
company, we will hire and train Gambians in order to produce a larger clientele, provide
jobs, and to reach more people.
As we expand to other areas, we will continue to provide the same services and
products. The glass and other materials needed will be bought from recycling plants in
and around The Gambia. We will build the greenhouses with our clients in The Gambia.
By purchasing the greenhouse, they will also receive training on how to maintain them.
Our employees at the LiveGreen Africa HQ in The Gambia will be able to reach our
customers on a daily basis, creating good relationships with them, as well as providing
advertisements through free workshops and lessons. These workshops will provide
information on farming techniques and greenhouse benefits and will double as
promotion for LiveGreen Africa.
Management Plan:
Organizational Structure:
Owners/Roles
Hope
Frihauf -25%
25%
Dana Stahl-
Skylar
Schultheis-25%
Annie
Wyrick-25%
President, CEO
President, CEO
President, CEO
President, CEO
Customer Support
Financial Sales
Business Architect
Service Manager
Ownership Information:
LiveGreen Africa consists of four owners and founders; Hope Frihauf, Dana
Stahl, Skylar Schultheis, and Annie Wyrick. Ownership is split up equally between all.
25% of the company belongs to each owner. Each one of our owners has a different
role within this business, these stated in the above chart. Our organization has a
partnership ownership. There are many factors that play into this kind of ownership. We
have more than two owners and our business doesnt have a separate legal entity from
the owners, but can represent itself in its own name.
Where our business is right now, we do not have any warrants, or convertible
debt.
Currently, our business doesnt have any common stockholders, because we do
not have a board of directors. Once our organization advances with employees, and we
have enough people to make up a board, we will have common stock. This will most
likely be 5-7 years in the future.
Ownership Profiles:
Hope Frihauf
Position: As the customer support representative, it is my job
to make sure that customers are pleased with our services
and to see if there is anything else that can improve their experience. I make sure that
the customers are using our service as efficiently and easily as they possibly can in
order to help our system run smoothly and ensure that the customers needs are being
met.
Skylar Schultheis
Position: As President, CEO and Business Architect, my main role
is to maintain capabilities of the company and relative to the
organization. As one of the Presidents, CEO I will have equal
authority with the other three.
Primary responsibilities:
Maintain capabilities of company
Organization
Annie Wyrick
Position - As the Service Manager, my job is to get the business
out the door,and work with the consumers to build, test, and come
up with the requirements for the product.
Primary Responsibilities and Authority:
Volunteer until 2 years into the program. In 2 years it will be $7 and will continue going
up as the profit for the company goes up.
Financials:
There are a few costs that we will have as a company while carrying out our
solution. For example, we will have to pay for recycled glass and metal for the
greenhouses. This will cost from $70-90 per ton for glass and from $280-300 per ton for
metal. Along with the initial cost for greenhouse materials, we will also pay for any
repairs that the family might need. After we have gotten materials for the greenhouse,
we also will have to provide the family with $120 for whatever seeds that they would like
to grow. Another cost that goes into all of this is how much we pay our employees. We
will start out with only the CEOs/Presidents of the company. We will be volunteers for
the first 2 years and then be paid $7 an hour, not including weekends. This number will
increase as our profits increase and we will gain more employees. The employees that
we hire will be from The Gambia and will be payed as much as we are.
Start-up costs will be the price of transporting recycled materials and the $120
we give to the families for seeds. Start up money will come from investors. The cost of
transporting the greenhouse materials ranges from $20-70 per ton, depending on the
materials. The overall price of this for ten years will be about $14,000-28,500. This startup cost will allow us, as an organization, bring the best materials and resources to the
families we are helping, which will also increase our profits.
Most families in The Gambia make from $456.25-1,095 U.S. dollars annually, so
our system might take a while. The family would have from $22.81-54.75 put in their
agriculture savings for the first two years. This amount should double with our services
within 2 years. Within 5 years it should expand to 15 times the amount, and by the end
of 10 years the amount the family makes should expand to 50 times the amount that
they were making to begin with. It will take a while for the family to have enough money
in their account to get a greenhouse, seeds, or fertilizer, but once the system is built up,
they will start making more money.
Based off of the money the family makes, our profit as a company should
increase over time. Within the first 2 years of starting the company, we will only be
making $45.63-109.50 annually. At the end of 5 years, assuming that we are helping 2030 families, our organization should be making $13,687.50-49,275. By the end of 10
years, assuming that we are helping 100-150 families, then we should be making
$228,125- 821,250. We should break even by the end of ten years, then we will start
making money. Our profit should increase as our company grows. Eventually, with our
companys help, Gambians could flourish.
Works Cited
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