2. Underlying Problems:
4 Halves of the Have-Nots
2
Solution – implementation of:
• Grass-roots based food preservation solutions
• Utilization of appropriate technology
• Linkages to rural communities
• Orientating towards women
3. Mission
Why
• Increase food security, decrease hunger and
malnutrition, and create opportunity for poor families…
How
• through a distribution network of franchise stores that…
What
• provide training on food processing and preservation,
sell related supplies, and facilitate finance…
Who
• to entrepreneurial women and families involved in
agriculture.
3
4. Concept Summary
Solar-based food-drying is the oldest ‘processing’ technology
Benefits of drying include:
Ease of practice
Straightforward food safety solutions
Culturally familiar
Provides long-term storage with minimal packaging
Franchising and NGO partnership to allow rapid scaling of
project
Solution has substantial competitive advantages:
Creates new products like tomato flour
Solves related problems like malnutrition and lack of income
Brings opportunity to rural poor (especially women)
4
5. Approach
Mission: Preserve Food, Improve Nutrition, and Create
Entrepreneurial Income by:
1. Capacity building and technology transfer including training,
standards development/enforcement, and manuals
2. Distribution of implementing equipment and any required
supplies (through profit-driven models)
3. Arrangement for commercial microfinance for end-user
clientele when needed
5
6. Business Model
1. Franchise model distributing through existing local shops
(preferably woman owned)
2. Three tiered distribution through franchisees
3. All tiers of distribution profit from model, sustaining the
technology transfer
4. End user women sell to neighbors, central processor, and is able
to consume themselves
5. Reservoir facilitates markets and ensures a buyer
6
7. Food Drying Strategies
1. Locally manufacture high quality food dryers
2. Food dryers will be sold at price under $300 and process
most products in 1-2 days
3. Scale to many thousands of dryers in field and expand to
dozens of food products
4. Partner with NGOs for accelerated distribution
5. Partner with food drying experts (e.g. SUA) for improved
processes
6. Partner with processor for purchase of foods
7. Distribute needed packaging to end-users
7
8. Survey of Dryer Designs
Hi Quality Western
Designs
Low Price ‘Village’
Designs
Reservoir Dryer
Price $2,000-$8000 $500-$800 Under $300
Efficiency Dry a tomato in 1-2
days
Dry a tomato slice in 5-7
days
Dry a tomato slice in
1-2 days
Results High quality Tomatoes often rot High quality
Return on
Investment
High price means long
time to ROI
Dryer throughput is low
so difficult to achieve
ROI
Fast ROI (half year)
Price accessible to
villagers
Rarely Usually not Usually
Manufacturing Specialty sources
(solar generators)
Locally Locally
8
10. Product
New design allows mass market among rural poor
Low sales price (under $300 USD)
High efficiency (10+ kilos tomatoes in 1-2 days)
Contract manufactured locally from locally available materials
creating additional community economic development
Significant temperature differential from inside dryer to the
outside environment allows for operation in a wide variety of
conditions
Simple operation
Local maintenance is possible within the village – no complex
parts
Culturally acceptable process, limited sensitization
10
11. Foods Able to be Dried
Potatoes
Cassava
Bananas
Sweet Potatoes
Other Staples
Tomatoes
Mangos
Pineapples
Apples
Pears
Other Fruits
Pumpkins
Carrots
Onions
Garlic
Peppers
Other Vegetables
Spinach
Rosemary
Other Herbs and
Leaves
Hibiscus
Lemon Grass
Other Tea Leaves
Ground Nuts
Cocoa
Vanilla
And much more!
11
12. Distribution Value Chain
12
• (Contract manufacturer) and distributor of
goods
• Technical training on food technologies
• Link to finance
Reservoir
• Dealer of goods
• Coordinator and eventual trainer on
technologies
Franchise
Stores
• Sells to contract buyer OR
• Sells preserved foods locally
OR
• Consumes personally
Food Drying Micro
Businesses
• Purchases dried goodsConsumer
13. Partnerships
Contract
Manufacturer
• Local manufacturer that produces high
quality to specification
NGOs
• Leverage existing formed groups, possible
group finance and support of field costs
(interested partners include MUVI, fintrac,
Africare, Care, Concern, etc.)
Finance
• Provides finance of dryer purchase by
individuals or groups
SUA
• Provides technical advice on training manual
, food safety, etc.
Cheetah
• Provides mentoring, financial management,
and finance support to Reservoir
13
14. Key Partnership Details
MUVI: Organized and registered 5600 tomato farmers
with improved seeds and basic agronomy training
Fintrac: On the ground agronomists to continue and
improve agronomy training, provide finance and support
for Reservoir, and incorporate additional groups to do
drying in Arusha, Dar es Salaam and Morogoro
Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA): Operating a
major program in food drying, provide assistance with
government certifications, nutrition analysis, food safety,
and referrals to possible employees and partners
IOP: Ilula Orphans Project with organized tomato and
onion farmers
14
15. Staffing
CEO (Cheetah in Yr. 1)
Marketing (Volunteers
Managed by Cheetah Yr. 1)
Training and Testing
Field Training Assistant (To
be hired)
Product Management (+
Logistics, Sales) (To be
hired)
Food Scientist
(Future, fulfilled by SUA, a
local university, in first year)
Accounting (Outsourced to
Cheetah indefinitely)
15
*Cheetah holds
down initial costs by
outsourcing services
in early stage when
starting companies
16. Planned Milestones for Year 1
1. Complete launch including an operators manual, finalized
design, and contract for locally sourced manufacturing
2. Organize buyer finance
3. Pilot placement of dryers in up to 10 locations with up to
200 end-users and provide intensive start-up support in the
first 3-6 months
4. Improve design, training, manuals, etc. based on experience
and begin to scale sales with partners
5. By end of first year place 2000 in field
6. Develop assistance for marketing of dehydrated foods
7. By end of year 1, recruit CEO preferably with investment
16
17. Years 2-3 Plan Milestones
1. Expand Reservoir franchisee
locations and increase distribution
2. Partner with NGOs to offer
elsewhere
3. Find product processing facility to
contract purchase from raw
processors and provide; high quality
post processing, food safety,
marketing and distribution
17
18. Financial Summary (USD)
18
Revenue, 2,2
75,992
Gross
Margin, 933,
157
Net
Profit, 158,2
77
-500,000
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
19. …but hunger
persists.
Food as far as the
eye can see…
It’s time to get practical.
It’s time to address the root causes.
Editor's Notes
Through partners we are able to achieve rapid scale as a result of working with the farmers they have already organized
