Introduction
Freweini Mebrahtu was born in 1965 and she grew up in a small town in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Being the youngest daughter and seventh child from a family of eight, three boys and five girls. Her parents did not attain education but her father learnt how to read and write from church. He worked hard and moved to a small town near his village where he owned a small Montel which earned him respect in his community and he made sure all his children were educated. When Freweini was 13 years old, she had her first period which was a terrible experience. The Ethiopian culture regards periods as a taboo to be talked about or a curse or that the girl child is ready for marriage resulting in school dropouts with early marriage consequences. She suffered in silence resorting to using rags, yet other girls used dry grass to deal with menstruation according to a CNN and a St. Louis Today report (CNN, 2019).
Freweini studied chemical engineering in the US and got her degree from Prairie View A&M University in 1992, she is also an entrepreneur. She married Clifford B Warner in 1986 at the age of 23 in Texas. After attaining her degree she went back home due to the cultural stigma around the women's period she intended to end and founded Mariam Seba Sanitary Products Factory, named for her daughter. This happened because, when she accessed an American drugstore in 1983 she saw a variety of sanitary pads and she thought about the girls she left behind in Ethiopia. Sanitary products have been a facet around the globe yet not in most African countries, Ethiopia. In 2005 she designed a reusable menstrual pad for non profit but dignified period. In 2009, she acquired a loan of 150, 000 USD from the Development Bank of Ethiopia to build a factory with currently employed 43 local women. The factory produced 600, 000 sanitary pads and 300, 000 underwear but now produces 750, 000 reusable pads a year. From her works, nearly 800, 000 girls and women are beneficiaries and more than 80% of the pads manufactured are sold to the main customers, the nongovernmental organizations that distribute them for free (CNN, 2019).
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Furthermore, the Ethiopian Wonder Woman was named The 2019 CNN Hero of the Year and she received 100, 000 USD to expand her work. This is to recognize her dedication to keep girls in school discarding dropping out due to periods by designing reusable pads and trying to end the cultural stigma around women's periods. Freweini Mebrahtu is now 54, Diginty period has increased school attendance among girls by 24% now and her goal is slowly uplifting the girl child and saving her education besides dignity. Her background is sourced from CNN reports and interviews(CNN, 2019).
This assignment discusses the evaluation of the business idea mooted in the Freweini Mebrahtu story based on the essential elements of an opportunity, the business opportunity model, and assessing the opportunity to franchise/license. Lastly, the aspects of the business and intellectual property for the Zambian and probably Southern African context.
Essential elements of an opportunity
An opportunity has essential elements shortlisted as; it is attractive, timely, and durable and the opportunity product or service should create/add value to the end user. Before defining the elements in detail, Barriager and Ireland (2011, p.72) define an opportunity as a favorable set of circumstances that creates a need for a new product, service, or business. Furthermore, they say an entrepreneur recognizes a problem and hence creates a business to fill the opportunity gap.
Applications of essential elements of an opportunity on Freweini Mebrahtu's story
Freweini's business opportunity is attractive because it allures volumes of sales. According to statistics, more than 80% of 750, 000 pads manufactured are sold to nongovernmental organizations. Her business opportunity also bulldozed another special organization and Mekelle University which partnered with her to expand her work.
Mariam Seba Sanitary Products Factory is timely, it was established to the needs of Ethiopian women and girls. Most definitely the uptake is huge, according to statistics, nearly 800, 000 girls and women have benefited from her work. In the same accord, the business opportunity is durable, it is a going concern in other words. Sanitary products will remain relevant in the market and the foreseeable future. This highlights the business opportunity been profitable for a long time.
The initiative of producing reusable pads and underwear adds value to the buyer or end user. Therefore, the buyer values the product hence the uptake is all time high. According to the UNESCO research on Africa, of the 131 million girls who are currently out of school, 100 million of them are high school age and one of the major reasons for this is periods.
Opportunity business model(OBM)
The business opportunity model is a tested strategy analysis tool that effectively works when applied to an organization, industry, and market. To analyze entrepreneurial opportunities, the model uses dimensions and drives.
Dimensions
Dimensions are ways of expressing the different components of the business idea (Blundell et al, 2017). There are five opportunity business model(OBM) dimensions that facilitate analysis, allow comparison, and establish discussion on the key elements of the business idea. These are;
Proposition This is an organization's mission statement or plan or set objectives of the opportunity as perceived by the customers.
People This consists of management personnel to run the business, customers, suppliers, networking, and other stakeholders. It focuses on the managerial aspects and how networking and social capital can support the business opportunity.
People are Concerned with analyzing the market and industry to identify customers and competitors so that a business opportunity can fill up the gaps in the market and make various market segments.
Process
Profit is Concerned with how long it will take for the business opportunity to break even, the real returns, the capital required to set up a business opportunity, and how to cover the costs.
Application
Proposition The first proposition of the business is(was) to manufacture reusable pads alongside underwear for dignity period and to keep girls in school regardless of periods. Attacking the cultural baggage to end the cultural stigma on periods and shifting society's custom connotations about periods is(was) also a mission statement. Menstruation is natural and not as taboo as customarily perceived, facts and Freweini's works continuously advocate. Beyond sanitary products, empowering women to be economically independent by providing them with employment, a premium wage, free training, and paid vacation for employees is also the organizational aim, CNN(2019).
People The factory is now in partnership with Mekelle University besides hiring managers from outside other than 43 local women. Their main customers are nongovernmental organizations and society at large which covers teenagers in schools and the local women, CNN(2019).
Place Ethiopia at large is a whole big market for sanitary products and the uptake of the population is huge. According to UNICEF, nearly 75% of Ethiopian women and girls have access to menstrual supply yet they have to deal with their periods (CNN, 2019). Deduced perfectly, Ethiopia is a good target market with women and girls as customers for the entrepreneurial opportunity undertaken by Mebrahtu.
Process
Profit Freweini started back in 2005 with struggles taking about two years to get financing for the project, that is how long her project took to breakeven. The 150, 000 loan received in 2009 from the Development Bank of Ethiopia facilitated more production and building up the factory. The percentage of sales revenue at more than 80% of pads manufactured are sold to nongovernmental organizations.
Drivers
Drivers are factors underpinning an entrepreneurial opportunity (Blundell et al, 2017).
Application
Personal Freweini was(is) passionate about the business opportunity because of her experience with periods. Being zealous, she worked on her own yet attracted Dr. Lewis and Dr. Will who helped her, also partnering with Mekelle University proved her great networking attributes. She believes 'people are medicine for people' from an Ethiopian saying henceforth, she is concerned that education is valued and with how women go on with their lives. She had market knowledge about offering sanitary because of exposure in the USA.
Societal Ethiopia is a Western African country with a conservative culture, it experienced cultural stigma around women's periods. The lifestyle of females and how they dealt with periods induced her entrepreneurial opportunity. She reached
Commercial Ethiopia is mostly rural and it is a poor country this made Freweini's project struggle with financing because the funding houses thought no one would buy her products due to the regional economy. She had to convince them that the sanitary premium kit is a basic necessity, it is cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and can last up to two years with proper care. The premium kit manufactured consists of four pads, two pairs of underwear, and two bars of soap and it costs $4.10 meaning under $5 a girl's life can change. This underpins the notion of 'menstrual equity'.
Legal Because of the Ethiopian regime and genocide from 1974 to 1991 Freweini had to check on the laws and regulations to see if anything had changed to establish her factory. She worked for 10 years in the US and only returned to Ethiopia after the Communist regime fell.
Technology
Opportunity to franchise/license
A feasibility assessment of Freweini's business idea in Zambia and the regional context.
Feasibility assessment is rooted in idea assessment. According to Scarborough, idea assignment is the process of examining a need in the market, developing a solution for the need, and determining the entrepreneur's ability to successfully turn the idea into a business, Scarborough Norman M. et al (2016, pp.151). A business idea should not be a locked-in single idea or overlook other ideas that can even have greater chances for success. This helps an entrepreneur be more effective and efficient when assessing multiple ideas to identify potential solutions. After identifying a business idea, an entrepreneur should transform the idea into a viable business by feasibility analysis.
Scarborough says, 'feasibility analysis is the process of determining whether an entrepreneur's idea is a viable foundation for creating a successful business. Feasibility analysis should consist of four interrelated components: an industry and market feasibility analysis, product/service feasibility analysis, financial feasibility analysis, and an entrepreneur feasibility analysis', Scarborough et al (2016.pp151).
Zambia is a Southern African country, Southern Africa as a region is generally poor, and most of the countries are still developing with a rationally lower economy. Freweini's business idea can primarily be a perfect fit for countries in the Southern African region. Hall and Roelich say, ' Both the national focus and the reliance on increasing unit sales affect the ability of new entrants to compete in or join the market (Hall and Roelich, 2015). The Southern African region and Western African region are similar, both are still fighting to keep the girl child in school and discard early marriages. Therefore, the cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and reusable pad can have a high sales volume in Zambia with the locals and other nongovernmental organizations as the customers for a huge uptake. Lastly, the southern African region's macro forces, even though rapidly changing, can support the business idea.
In conclusion, Freweini's work stipulates that she is a Kirznerian entrepreneur because she placed a product (sanitary wear) in a place of short supply to sustain the needs of the locals. This filled in the economic and humane gap and according to statistics, thousands of people access and are beneficiaries of Freweini's factory products.
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