Difference between revisions of "Team:AUC-EGYPT/Entrepreneurship"

Line 2: Line 2:
  
 
<html>
 
<html>
 +
  
  
Line 11: Line 12:
 
     <li> <a id="ESback" href="#ES">Executive Summary</a></li>
 
     <li> <a id="ESback" href="#ES">Executive Summary</a></li>
 
   <li> <a id="Tback" href="#T">Team</a></li>
 
   <li> <a id="Tback" href="#T">Team</a></li>
   <li>Market
+
   <li><a id="Mback" href="#M">Market</a>
 
     <br></br>
 
     <br></br>
 
     <ul>
 
     <ul>
Line 22: Line 23:
 
         </ul>
 
         </ul>
 
         <ul>
 
         <ul>
             <li>Segmentation
+
             <li><a id="Segback" href="#Seg">Segmentation</a>
 
             </li>
 
             </li>
 
     </ul>
 
     </ul>
Line 61: Line 62:
 
<p>We are adopting a B2B business model targeting physicians in military hospitals and directly distributing to them. Our target market strategy: concentrated marketing. Our unique value proposition: Our therapy is specifically designed & tailored for the treatment of COVID-19; It is not a repurposed drug similar to indirect competitors available in the market. </p>
 
<p>We are adopting a B2B business model targeting physicians in military hospitals and directly distributing to them. Our target market strategy: concentrated marketing. Our unique value proposition: Our therapy is specifically designed & tailored for the treatment of COVID-19; It is not a repurposed drug similar to indirect competitors available in the market. </p>
  
<h3><a id="PI" href="#PIback">Problem Identification</a></h3>
+
<h2><a id="M" href="#Mback">Market</a></h2>
<p>We are adopting a B2B business model targeting physicians in military hospitals and directly distributing to them. Our target market strategy: concentrated marketing. Our unique value proposition: Our therapy is specifically designed & tailored for the treatment of COVID-19; It is not a repurposed drug similar to indirect competitors available in the market. </p>
+
  
 
<h3><a id="EA" href="#EAback">Environmental Analysis</a></h3>
 
<h3><a id="EA" href="#EAback">Environmental Analysis</a></h3>
Line 89: Line 89:
 
      
 
      
 
</p>
 
</p>
 +
 +
 +
<h3><a id="PI" href="#PIback">Problem Identification</a></h3>
 +
<p>The lack of a specific and efficient treatment option for SARS-CoV-2. Over 37 M cases have been diagnosed worldwide and over 1 M deaths have occured as of October 12th 2020. Generally, the current treatment protocol is conservative and non-specific and even using non-specific treatments, there are no effective therapies currently in the market approved by the FDA. Further, there is no evidence that scientific R&D for a COVID therapeutic is even taking place in the African region. </p>
 +
 +
<h3><a id="Seg" href="#Segback">Segmentation</a></h3>
 +
<p><b>i. Market Segmentation:</b><br></br>
 +
Following a brief analysis of the surrounding environment and the identification of a problem, we wanted to develop a solution that would address the issue. We wanted to develop a therapeutic that could help solve the problem of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we first needed to conduct a market segmentation to identify the needs of the various segments and accordingly identify our target market. Our product follows a B2B model, so we started by segmenting the market into governmental and non-governmental entities as a first step (diagram below).
 +
<br></br>
 +
<p><b>ii. Segmentation of hospitals in Egypt:</b><br></br>
 +
We chose to distribute to hospitals since we value equity and fairness and we hope that our product will eventually become available and accessible to everyone regardless of socioeconomic class. So, now we knew that we wanted to target Egyptian hospitals, but we had to narrow this down to a more specific segment. Based on this, we segmented Egyptian hospitals in order to narrow down to the most suitable target market for our product.
 +
</p>
 +
  
  

Revision as of 15:01, 25 October 2020

ENTREPRENEURSHIP



Executive Summary

We are adopting a B2B business model targeting physicians in military hospitals and directly distributing to them. Our target market strategy: concentrated marketing. Our unique value proposition: Our therapy is specifically designed & tailored for the treatment of COVID-19; It is not a repurposed drug similar to indirect competitors available in the market.

Team

We are adopting a B2B business model targeting physicians in military hospitals and directly distributing to them. Our target market strategy: concentrated marketing. Our unique value proposition: Our therapy is specifically designed & tailored for the treatment of COVID-19; It is not a repurposed drug similar to indirect competitors available in the market.

Market

Environmental Analysis

Macroeconomic:


Political & Legal:

Recently, the relevant Egyptian Health authorities backed by the government pushed for a clinical research management bill that legalizes and controls the implementation of clinical trials in the country (Gomaa, 2020). This shows an increasing interest on the government’s end in supporting the research and development of novel therapeutics created within the country. The country’s interest in COVID-19 therapeutics is also evident in the promptness of action in securing a production license of Remdesivir in June just weeks after the drug received its Emergency Usage Authorization from the FDA (Al Tawy, 2020). However, support for genetic engineering endeavors is not yet available as a bill for the regulation of GE research remains in parliament debate (Badr, 2015).

Economic:

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a growing investment in therapeutic and diagnostic R&D by Egyptian funding bodies (ex: Academy of Scientific Research and Technology- ASRT Call 2020). Recently, we witnessed the launch of the largest research project in Egyptian history aiming to fully sequence the Egyptian genome with a whopping budget of 1 billion Egyptian pounds led by the Egyptian center for Research and Regenerative Medicine and guided by the ASRT (ياسين, 2020). This we believe will strongly support our cause as the first Egyptian developer and manufacturer of a SynBio-based therapy for such a heavy health burden.

Technological:

There is not an already existing infrastructure for a product like ours. Research facilities are mostly purely academic, while production facilities mainly focus on producing drugs and compounds under license without R&D. There is a strong focus related to teaching biotechnology and related techniques in universities, but with little real-world implementation. An unseized opportunity exists in connecting the dots by calling for collaborations between academia and industry. Further, as a startup, we do not have an already supported and fully functioning infrastructure (biological factory, bioreactor machine etc.).

Socio-cultural:

The expectation is that the social environment in Egypt will not be receptive to GMO products upon release. We may face some resistance. In 2013 for instance, protests were held in front of the Ministry of Agriculture to oppose the use of GMO crops as there was a perception that they cause cancer (Sadek, 2014). There is clearly a certain associated stigma with the public’s perception regarding GMOs resulting from a lack of awareness about what the term actually means and negative connotations associated with DNA manipulation.

Microeconomic:


Consumers:

Our consumers are B2B markets, specifically Egyptian hospitals. We plan to expand to international markets in the future.

Marketing Intermediaries:

No marketing intermediaries as we will be directly distributing to the hospitals.

Competitors:

There is no evidence of any direct competition in the Egyptian market, which is an advantage. This is viewed as an opportunity for our business as this environment perfectly sets the scene for the release of our product.

Problem Identification

The lack of a specific and efficient treatment option for SARS-CoV-2. Over 37 M cases have been diagnosed worldwide and over 1 M deaths have occured as of October 12th 2020. Generally, the current treatment protocol is conservative and non-specific and even using non-specific treatments, there are no effective therapies currently in the market approved by the FDA. Further, there is no evidence that scientific R&D for a COVID therapeutic is even taking place in the African region.

Segmentation

i. Market Segmentation:

Following a brief analysis of the surrounding environment and the identification of a problem, we wanted to develop a solution that would address the issue. We wanted to develop a therapeutic that could help solve the problem of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we first needed to conduct a market segmentation to identify the needs of the various segments and accordingly identify our target market. Our product follows a B2B model, so we started by segmenting the market into governmental and non-governmental entities as a first step (diagram below).

ii. Segmentation of hospitals in Egypt:

We chose to distribute to hospitals since we value equity and fairness and we hope that our product will eventually become available and accessible to everyone regardless of socioeconomic class. So, now we knew that we wanted to target Egyptian hospitals, but we had to narrow this down to a more specific segment. Based on this, we segmented Egyptian hospitals in order to narrow down to the most suitable target market for our product.