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The Global Business Brigade of San Diego State University thanks you
graciously for taking the time to consider extending your financial
support to our charitable cause.
Best regards,
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Contents
Contents ..................................................................................................
...................................... 2
Why
Panama? .................................................................................................
............................ 3
Development
Challenges ..............................................................................................
......... 3
Our Role in
Panama....................................................................................................
.............. 4
Project
Details .....................................................................................................
....................... 5
Budget.....................................................................................................
........................................ 7
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Budget
Details......................................................................................................
........................ 7
Funding
Sources ...................................................................................................
..................... 8
Timeline...................................................................................................
...................................... 8
Anticipated
Sponsorship.............................................................................................
........... 8
Our
Team........................................................................................................
............................... 9
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Panama Key Facts
Panama is located in Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and
the North Pacific Ocean, between Colombia and Costa Rica.
Development Challenges
Panama’s skyscrapers, vibrant banking and finance sector, and major ports
give the impression of a country well able to meet the needs of its citizens.
However, serious underdevelopment and security issues threaten Panama’s
democratic institutions and political stability. With poverty levels high (37%)
and deep-rooted, the economic and social well-being of many Panamanians,
particularly those in the lower middle class, will worsen without sustained
economic growth, equitable economic and social opportunities, and
sustainable development.
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Our project focuses on moving the farm of the Santa Cruz community
from consumption to profit and to encourage a diversified nutrition within the
community. Today, the farm of 3.7 acres currently only feeds the farmers and
their families with corn, rice, oranges, plantains, coffee, and cassava. The
farm has tilapia pools, a pigsty, and a boilers coop. With infrastructure in
place, it is our job to use SWOT analysis to observe the opportunities
available and make their business profitable by correctly implementing a
dynamic business plan to foster a flourishing farm. Our goal is to transform
their business from a “community farm” to a business that produces and
transports thousands of tons of pounds of food for the entire Panamanian
population. We can make this possible with small steps in the right direction.
The following dictates our plan for our first brigade to the region:
We will start by analyzing microeconomics and look at their production
possibilities frontier to see which product they should specialize in to gain the
largest profit. This PPF will rely on our research of things such as:
competition, efficiency, and input costs (such as labor and capital). Once we
have finalized a commodity for the farm to specialize in, we will then look at
the different ways in which to promote the sale and production of such
good(s) through business techniques. We will spend time teaching them the
importance of book keeping and accounting to better understand how their
business works; such that they will be able to see trends in their data and be
able to diversify their farm based on those trends. After teaching them the
foundation of business, book keeping, we will focus our efforts on the
production of the goods and lowering input costs, such as labor costs. In
doing so, we will analyze ways the farm can become more efficient in
production and teach the community to foster this knowledge to their
advantage using cost-analysis equations (i.e. If the majority of the time is
spent husking corn, it may be more profitable in the long run to invest in a
mechanical corn-husker to decrease labor costs and increase efficiency).
After our focus on the production of goods, we will then focus on the sale of
goods, mainly marketing. We will observe marketing attempts of the region
to view what has not worked and more importantly, what has worked for
similar businesses. We see this as important to increase the sale of goods to
create a brand, or product identity.
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Objectives
Our main objective is to conceive and implement a sustainable farm industry
at Santa Cruz by empowering farmers to manage businesses through
education and collaboration, establishing connections to other farm industries
and mentoring the farmers to setup the infrastructure required to promote
farming. We hope to return to the same area for a period of 2 – 3 years, to
complete our short term and long term goals for the project.
Timeline
February- May 20th
Prior to the brigade, we will:
i. Finalize trip logistics
ii. Fundraise for trip and program costs
iii. Develop an initial Marketing Plan
iv. Research the farming industry in Panama and select possible partners
v. Develop a model for financial sustainability based on existing farms
Summer Term
During the brigade, we will:
i. Survey the community and surrounding areas for partners in the farm
industry
ii. Finalize and implement the local aspect of our marketing plan
iii. Develop a system to monitor progress
iv. Establish stakeholder commitments and expectations
v. Reinforce the operations, finance, and marketing concepts covered in the
workshops
vi. Determine if there is a need for another visit
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vii. Finalize a plan of action for the next phase of the project
Sustainability
Project Sustainability
● Develop a system to monitor progress and collect feedback remotely:
This will provide us with a framework for evaluation and allow us to
keep a check on the timeline, foresee and mitigate problems facing the
project and plan future trips efficiently.
● Implement bi – weekly visits by a representative of our partner
organization in Panama to get first – hand reports
● Visit the same region at least once a year for the next 2 – 4 years (or
as required)
● Document all project processes, research, deliverables and lessons
learned
Brigade Sustainability
● Recruit and mentor underclassmen to develop future leadership
● Roll – over funds left over for future projects
● Collect and archive all project materials and documentation to ensure
institutional memory
Budget
Global Business Brigades has a base in Panama, with the infrastructure in
place to support all program logistics. We will be investing $1,000 to progress
the groundwork for development. Future trips may require more capital to be
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raised in order to support the project activities in Panama and expedite
development.
Budget Details
Cost per
Expense Person Total Expense
Airfare $550 $5,500
Lodging $400 $4,000
Food $140 $1,400
Transportation $10 $100
Program Fee $200 $2,000
Venture Capital $100 $1,000
Incidentals $50 $500
Total $1,450 $14,500
Funding Sources
As this will be our premier year going to Panama, we aim to raise most of our
funds through sponsorship from local businesses and large corporations. We
shall also seek funds on-campus from our separate colleges and through fund
raising activities.
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Timeline
● February 23 – March 23rd : Contact all external sponsors
● March 1st – May 11th : All school sources contacted and solicited
● February 19th – May 11th : Major campus fund raising activities
● May 11th – May 22nd : Follow up with external sponsors, secure
donations
● May 22nd : Deadline for fund raising, personal contributions to fulfill
remainder
Anticipated Sponsorship
Source Funding
School Resources $500
Fundraisers $3,500
Businesses/ External Sponsors $7,000
Family/ Friends $3,000
Personal Contributions $500
Our Team
Brian Leininger: Junior, International Business
Grant Gallagher: Cal Poly, SLO Alumni, Physics and Business Administration