My Experience
Over the summer, I worked on two key projects. The first was to evaluate different business ideas, from honey production to ambulance services to mobile phones for women in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. I conducted extensive research on the start-up costs of each business, the on-going costs, and the potential profitability for each business. I also investigated potential obstacles for the business and solutions for these problems. Of the major businesses, I decided which was most promising, and then created a presentation for donors that outlines the impact these businesses could have for women fistula sufferers in Ethiopia. This included the amount of funding needed, how many women would be helped, and how the business could grow over the years in order to help more women and expand the Healing Hands of Joy program.
I also created some base line assessment charts of the rates of at home, clinic and hospital deliveries across different regions in Tigray. This information can then be used and compared against current delivery rates in order to assess the positive impact HHOJ has had on the women in the region and to demonstrate that the organization is helping improve maternal health in Ethiopia.
During the summer, I was able to apply many skills I obtained during my time in business school. First, when assessing businesses, I had to think of start up costs and on going costs. This included the fixed and variable costs of running the business. I had to also determine if they were operating expenses, as to determine which portion would be subject to interest. I then had to determine potential revenues. I did this by studying potential selling price and potential quantities sold. Using price and quantity, I was able to figure out the revenues. Revenues minus costs gave me profits. In order to be profitable, I used a break-even analysis to determine the selling price to cover our costs over time. I also assessed if this was reasonable using comparables in the marketplace. I also calculated the interest expense on the loans given different scenarios. Last, I put these into a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, which I presented to my team. All of these are skills I developed at CBS.
One of the biggest challenges I faced was dealing with uncertainty. There was limited information on many different aspects of life in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. I found it difficult to find information the economy of the region, the transportation system in the specific villages we worked in, and support/subsidies for specific businesses. I had to do extensive research about the region and read many different articles, which still only provided limited information. Based on this limited information, I had to formulate assumptions in order to determine the feasibility of different business ideas, and such assumptions were often challenging to determine. Additionally, it was challenging to decide which businesses could help promote maternal health. We explored an ambulance transportation business, however given the limited information on the transportation system, it was difficult to determine if this could even work. I evaluated similar businesses in other regions as case studies to determine if this could be a potential option for women in the region. Additionally, we needed information on what other use an ambulance could have and how this could be profitable. A big challenge was to see how the transportation business could help out honey business, benefitting Healing Hands of Joy as an organization.
I had two key takeaways from my experience with Healing Hands of Joy. First, I learned how to successfully make a case to obtain funding for a social enterprise organization. Unlike a traditional for-profit business, many different aspects must be considered, such as long term sustainability for the women who benefit from donor funding. Not only do you need to model monetary returns, but also demonstrate the positive social impact the funding will enable. For Healing Hands of Joy, this was educating the women on the importance of maternal health and clinic or hospital delivery, instead of home delivery. We also wanted to reduce the cases of fistula during delivery for women in Tigray. Second, I learned the differences involved with conducting businesses in different parts of the world. The product delivery model in Ethiopia is vastly different from that of the US and by getting into the details of a honey business, I was exposed to many considerations that differ from a US business. The product delivery model in Ethiopia consists of small markets and direct to consumer selling, and if our business were to expand internationally, many steps would need to be taken. By building the business from scratch, I was able to learn about every small detail that must be addressed.
