Our project plan explains what we intend to do if we have a certain budget available to us. This section explains what we intend to do if we do not have the budget available to us during our stay in Kenya. We want to emphasize that we don’t set any internal pressure on us to start the production quickly, we want to avoid failures and we would be happy with either scenario. We have decided as a group that it is reasonable to recruit former street youths from NGOs and buy machines for production if we have the budget available. We have also decided that we will solely focus on market and societal and production research if we only have a limited budget available. Our priority will therefore be to set up an ideal production plan and business strategy so that if we have the budget available things can be set into motion.
Our four biggest challenges are listed below. They also represent a big threat to the core values of our business plan, which you can learn about in more detail under risk analysis. These two values are creating an environment with more equal opportunities and creating a sustainable business.
1. What if we don't find someone to manage the company in Kenya?
It is very likely to happen that we won't find someone appropriate qualified and trustworthy to manage the company in Kenya, In this case we have to take things slow. There is no point in us managing the company there as we are not suited for the job in such a different cultural setting and we also would like to avoid managing a company abroad and making them dependent on us as managers. It could be the case that we employ someone temporarily, nevertheless this is unsustainable. Therefore, we would have to wait with starting our production in this case until we have fund someone appropriate.
2. What happens if we don't receive enough funds?
In this case we will have to postpone starting up of the production of the belts. If we have limited funds we have to create a perfect business plan and prepare everything that doesn't require funds and do everything we can to increase our budget.
Trust Issues and how to overcome them
In her academic work Caroline Nevejan discusses issues of trust. In our project we have to be extremely careful with the effects of our ideas and the way we try to implement them. To win the youths trust and cooperate with them effectively throughout our time in Kenya we have to actively engage them and encourage them to build a community amongst themselves. Engaging them and creating a community will increase their interest in the project and give them a sense of responsibility. We want to avoid them to have the feeling that this is a project initiated by foreigners for foreigners. Through discussion rounds, suggestion boxes and dinners we will try to create a close partnership.