Team:Calgary/Entrepreneurship



OVERVIEW



Our business model is simple

Build a robust network of people, provide locals with our idea, and support their vision of implementation.


OBJECTIVES

After all of the advice we’ve received from experts this far, we’ve begun to notice the core foundations of an effective humanitarian organization start to emerge. And it has become overwhelmingly obvious that at the center, lies a support network working together with a shared goal

This is why Oviita bases our business model around people and the community.

We believe this is reflected in our activities, ranging from developing social enterprises that enrich a community through support and forming numerous partnerships with organizations at all levels. We believe that by creating a rich network, we can maximize efficiency by coordinating on projects, reduce overhead costs by sharing resources, and gain a greater number of beneficial opportunities through general networking. We believe this is how we will develop a sustainable organization.

It’s not all warm feelings, though; in those conversations, we identified three key issues that cause humanitarian initiatives to fail but topics that we plan to address to avoid similar pitfalls.

1. Failing to address issues without proper knowledge:


Sometimes, the best intentions create the worst problems. While speaking with Dr. Warren Wilson, he strongly stressed how fallible our perceptions can be and how something that seems like such a good idea while we sit at our desks can be a really bad idea. He mentioned one example about a humanitarian group that decided to build a fish pond for a village along the Amazon river. They were unaware that the villagers used the river as a source of food, and worse, the stagnant water provided a breeding ground for mosquitoes, bringing malaria to the villagers. Sharing his experiences with humanitarian projects taught us that such operations, if done thoughtlessly, could cause far more harm than good.

Being prepared for addressing issues :


Every step of our process is in conjunction with data, especially at the local level. Before going to an area, we will first compile data from our partners and sources like The Demographic Health Survey Program. Also, with our Randle Cell Testing Device, we can then work alongside community health workers and policymakers to determine where Oviita can do the most good. Only when we have identified all of the facets affecting a community’s health can we begin work on implementation.


2. Unsustainable Aid:


A significant hurdle for providing aid to a large number of people is managing the logistics and incentives. As seen with the distribution of vitamin A supplements, if a supply chain experiences a break or funding becomes sporadic, a ripple effect travels until the end-user becomes affected. If the proposed solution requires more effort than the perceived value, there will be no motivation to maintain that solution.

Sustainable Aid:


Oviita’s entire model has sustainability in mind. Our network of partners alleviates the costs of operation and implementation, our yeast is recultureable, allowing continuous batches to be produced from the same source, the bioreactors are very basic and require little maintenance, and the use of self-sustainable microenterprises encourages locals to continue to consume and distribute our product.


3. To narrow a solution:


Often, a solution isn’t as straightforward as it seems. A group might solve one part of the problem and still fail because it was only one piece of the puzzle. For instance, nutrition deficiency isn’t just about nutrients; sometimes, parasites and other organisms can disrupt the gut microbiome to the point of ineffective micronutrient uptake.

A broad solution:


Oviita doesn’t just provide a source of vitamin A; it also produces a deworming compound. Also, by working with organizations that can provide clean drinking water, fermented food, solar panels, and workshops, we can ensure that we address all facets affecting a community. We can provide solutions tailored for the local’s best interests —everything from health to hygiene and resources to training.

To see our business model put into action, see the link ******************************* link to implimentation

EMPOWERMENT


figure 1. a social enterprise, Yogurt Mama's. An initutive by Western Heads East.


Through microenterprises

In many parts of the developing world, gender inequality pervades the environment to a harmful extent, and female oppression can have many detrimental effects on society. An initiative that we found inspiration comes from Western University called “Western Heads East.” Gregor Reid, one of their founders, had this to say:

“We hypothesized that Societal change could occur if women received training on the production of probiotic fermented food as a means to allow them to generate income and financial independence, and provide nutritious, health-promoting food to their family and community.” (Reid, 2020, 2)

By providing the training and resources, these women can use the monetary value of the yeast to start a self-sustainable microenterprise.

While creating positive societal change, and rather than developing a complex distribution network, these microenterprises can act as a means of distribution. Considering there is also monetary incentive to sell this yeast, it will also encourage populations to sustain the consumption of our project.


BIOREACTOR

Building a sustainable device

Since it is not economically feasible to provide the resources for a bioreactor to everyone individually and to ensure our product can reach as many people as possible, our bioreactor will have two implementation divisions.

The first division will be bioreactors that will be available for the women’s microenterprises.

The second division of bioreactors will be placed in schools and work alongside programs to feed children. The children can also act as a means of distribution by bringing it to their families.

We will present locals with design suggestions and requirements for the bioreactor and supply them with the capital to buy the resources. They will then be able to build it in a way they best see fit.


TRAINING


Figure 2. A CAWST led workshop teaching good health practices

Dr. Gregor Ried and Robert Gough both emphasized the training required for a project like this. With the help of materials given from CAWST, we hope to develop training programs that can teach locals about:

☛Nutrition and Health
☛How to assemble the bioreactors
☛How to use the bioreactor
☛How to run a microenterprise


PARTNERSHIP


An essential part of our project

In this day and age, partnerships and outsourcing are critical for effective business models since it improves efficiency, reduces overhead costs, allows for better tailored and specialized service and more. Given our multifaceted approach to Vitamin A deficiency, providing our yeast, bioreactor designs, clean drinking water, fermented food, solar panels, and workshops, it would be easy for resources to be spread too thin and become ineffective.

Community Health Workers will be a vital part of our business model, as suggested by both Dr. Warren Wilson and Kelly James. They are the face of healthcare on the local level and invaluable in determining our bioreactor placement and bridging the gap between the locals and us. They also often have existing training workshops centred around health and nutrition, and our contacts have confirmed that we will likely be able to implement our training material into their current programs.

“There is robust evidence that [Community Health Workers] can undertake actions that lead to improved health outcomes, especially, but not exclusively, in the field of child health.” (World Health Organization, 2007)

When speaking with Kelly James from CAWST, she informed us that humanitarian projects often forget about disabled people. Therefore, we will also try to reach out to groups such as, The Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations, in addition to local self-help groups for constructing microenterprises.

We will also be creating partnerships with Universities. There is a strong need for research that covers many disciplines, such as bioreactor effectiveness, development of micro social enterprises, community impact, and general health. Thus, we believe it is only ethical to conduct this research in association with the locals in the areas we wish to bring implimentation.


Current Partners


CAWST: A global organization with a focus on Water, Sanitation and Health. Capable of bringing clean water to communities, introducing us to an extensive network of partners and clients and an immense amount of resources for training material, workshops, and general education.


Western Heads East: An established organization that closely resembles Oviita, who have provided 160 000 people with probiotic yogurt in an effort to empower locals through microenterprises.


West Nile Youth Empowerment Center: A youth-led, community level, non-profit in Uganda, willing to implement our training programs and bioreactor.


Potential Partners

Association of African Entrepreneurs: An African wide organization that supports the development and growth of local enterprises.

Little Sun: A global organization that provides solar panels to communities.


What can we gain from our partners?


☛Connections to a vast network of organizations and people
☛Expertise in all levels of implementation
☛Direct funding, coordinated application to grants
☛Distribution networks
☛Training material
☛On the ground support


Finances

A majority of our funding will come from sources such as:

☛The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
☛Vitamin Angels
☛Humanitarian Grand Challenge
☛Global Affairs Canada
☛Sponsorships from our partners

These sources will fund most salaries and other large ticket items. In between those capital injections, we will rely on our crowdfunding platform


An example of a common expenditure:



Crowdfunding


Figure 3. An example homepage for this platform


One common complaint with charities is that people don’t know where their money goes, causing people to be hesitant to donate. To combat this, we will be creating a platform that will allow for complete transparency of funding and allow for microtransactions and targeted donations. By giving people the choice of where their money goes, visually showing what their money is doing, accepting smaller donations, and allowing public recognition, we hope to improve upon an archaic system.

Anything that requires funding requirements can be added to our organization’s website—things like air pumps, wages, shipping, etc. Then people can then choose how they wish to spend their money. Given the small costs and the ease of donation, this platform is perfect for running social media campaigns; this is where we believe we will get the most traffic.

Some of our partners have offered to share our website through their social media to increase traffic in exchange for adding a product or service of theirs to our platform.

In the future, we would like to partner with a mobile game developer where the microtransaction built to enhance the gameplay is attached to the funding of these things.


Non-Profit/Charity

As we progressed through the summer, we slowly built up a pool of industry contacts to network and build partnerships with. These partnerships and the intentions they carried pushed forward the truth that if we were going to continue with this project, we would need to form an identity that would outlive our time with the iGEM team. Towards this end, we decided to incorporate Oviita as a non-profit organization. We have filled out the forms and sent them into the mail ether and are currently awaiting the government's reply. We will operate under the trade name Oviita Nutrition for all future business dealings. This will allow us to better stick to our promises, and help in our journey to liberate Oviita from the lab bench into the communities it can most help.

As we searched for different grants, funding opportunities, and partnerships, we found that being a recognized organization was a standard requirement. To legally accept money through fundraising, we had to become a charity.


References


Reid, G. (2020). J Glob Health. Empowering women through probiotic fermented food in East Africa, 10(1), 1-5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7242885/

World Health Organization. (2007, January 01). Community health workers: What do we know about them? WHO. https://www.who.int/hrh/documents/community_health_workers.pdf