1. Alex Maragakis
Project Report
1. Acknowledgements
Working on this project has been a truly excellent experience. I would like to
thank AIESEC Mauritius, in particular Mushood Badulla, for facilitating and
creating this project. The NWEC for their collaboration with Start UP
Mauritius. Our assigned women entrepreneurs for being an absolute pleasure
to work with. And last but not least, my team for working hard to help achieve
our goals.
2. Team Members
Team Leader/Websites - Alex Maragakis
Head of Events - Davide Bergamini
Head of Marketting - Lina Dannfors
Web Master/Graphics - Angela Gao
Head Client Communicator - Clement Gasc
Events Team - Faisal Rauf
- Omer Humayun
Marketting Team - Prekshaa Uppin
- Carl Hui
Logistics/Sourcing Team - Yuki Maruoka
- Yusuf Rafique
- Jessica Feeley
Photography/Media - Nefertari Thomas
- Varsha Dahiya
3. ProjectSummary
Our team operated as a non-profit consultancy for the duration of the project.
We were assigned 3 women entrepreneurs through mutual matching process
administered by AIESEC Mauritius and the NWEC. The main aim of our
project was to provide development to the women entrepreneurs that would
extend past the duration of the project; namely ways in which further
development could be achieved by themselves independently of us.

2. Alex Maragakis
4. Introduction to the Women Entrepreneurs
Saveena Seeburn is a women’s fashion designer. She operates on contract
with the NWEC in one of their private incubators. Her main problems were
marketing related. She also wanted be able to sell to local countries such as
S. Africa online and aspired to open her own shop.
Prescila Favory is a women’s bag designer. Her business is run from within
her own house. She sells through a middle man and wanted to be able to sell
independently. Prescila can only speak French and is, for all intents and
purposes, illiterate.
Varsha Naran-Beekharry is starting her own NGO called ‘You Are Beautiful
Femme’. The NGO aims to restore the self-confidence of women undergoing
chemotherapy by offering free makeup application sessions and lessons to
these women.
4.1. SaveenaSeeburn
Saveena had particularly high aspirations considering her situation at the start
of the project. She had relatively little business experience and seemed to rely
heavily on word of mouth. Her main problems and requests made to our team
are outlined below.
Main Problems/Requests for our team:
 Saveena wanted to be able to sell her products online within Mauritius
and potentially to local countries including South Africa, La Reunion
and Rodrigues.
 She requested that our team could organise some sort of networking
opportunity for her as she had few contacts in the industry.
 Saveena was interested in participating in a trade fair in which she
could sell her clothes and find new customers.
 She required help with personal accounting and financing.
 She needed to find a supplier of cheaper raw materials in order to
reduce her costs and boost her currently low profit.
 Wanted to market her clothes to tourists.
 Wanted a Logo/rebrand.
 Wanted to set up her own shop to sell her clothes.
Actions Taken
Website/Online Store:
Website development consisted of a series of product photoshoots followed
by user interface design and paypal integration. A premium domain was not
purchased for Saveena as she was not sure that she would be able to afford
to maintain it considering her low profit margin.

3. Alex Maragakis
The photoshoots mostly took place in the NWEC. These were simple,
mannequin product photographs for placement in the online shop section of
the website. The website was created using Wix.
Networking Opportunity/Trade Fair:
(See ‘5.2. La Femme Entrepreneur Exposition’). Our team collaborated with 2
other teams in organising the event. The majority of the event’s logistics and
media exposure was realised by our team. Tommy’s team invited local
business owners to the event and Sacha’s team invited representatives from
local resorts to attend. Each of our women entrepreneurs had a stall through
which to sell and discuss their products. Harshet’s team also brought their
women entrepreneurs to the event.
In preparation for the event we created business cards for our women such
that they could be distributed to potential customers and local business
owners.
Lessons in Marketing, Personal Accounting and Financing:
Clement provided training in accounting and financing to both Saveena and
Prescila. We felt that he would be best to carry out these lessons due to his
academic experience in corporate finance and his ability to speak French. We
also had Saveena attend the marketing workshop that was created by
Harshet’s team in the NWEC.
Source for Low Cost Raw Materials:
The supplier that Saveena had been using was a Mauritian manufacturer
charging 100MUR for 2 yards of cloth. We researched cheaper raw material
suppliers within Mauritius and from relatively nearby countries. We
recommended these manufacturers to Saveena and also had one of these
companies attend our networking event (with the help of Tommy’s team).
Marketing Clothes to Tourists:
In order to increase Saveena’s sales with tourists we had to carry out market
research into the styles and price ranges that were selling with popularity to
tourists.
We found that there were two main categories for popularly selling clothes in
Mauritian tourist shopping areas (including markets and shopping centres).
When it came to western tourists, the most popularly selling clothes where
either cheaply made, souvenir/locally-inspired styles and expensive, high-
quality western style clothes. This finding was problematic for Saveena as her
clothes were not produced cheaply enough to be priced at such a low range
as the Chinese produced clothes and she did not have the expertise, market
presence nor funds to produce at the same quality level as the western
brands.
As a result, our marketing team set about researching into the upcoming
popularity of east-west fusion clothes. This seemed like a viable alternative for
Saveena and so we recommended the style to Saveena. Saveena has now
started producing products that are of this style.

4. Alex Maragakis
Rebrand and Logo Design:
Saveena’s brand name at the beginning of the project was ‘Akarshit Fashion’.
‘Akarshit’ is a hindi-inspired word meaning ‘to be completely dazzled’. We felt
that, considering that she wanted to market her clothes to western (mainly
French) tourists, she should use a French brand name. We agreed on the
brand name ‘La Perle’. The logo was designed by Angela.
Own Shop to Sell Cothes:
Saveena still has 8 months left on her contract with the NWEC so we
recommended that she does not start looking to move out until a time closer
to the end of her project. We suggested that instead of setting up her own
shop, a good alternative to selling out of the NWEC by word of mouth would
be to sell her clothes through other independent shops.
4.2. Prescila Favory
A considerable problem that we encountered when working with her was her
illiteracy. This made it difficult to realise some of our objectives. Her main
problems and requests made to our team are listed below.
Main Problems/Requests for our team:
 Needed a brand name and logo
 Wants to work independently without a middle man. When selling
independently she could only sell each bag for around 50MUR
whereas through her middle man she would make ~350MUR per bag.
 She wanted to be able to sell her products online within Mauritius.
 Needs to produce higher quality bags in order to separate her self from
the cheaply manufactured chines market.
Actions Taken
Brand Name and Logo:
The team decided on the brand name ‘Favori’. This is a play on the client’s
last name, Favory, and the French word for favourite, Favori. Prescila was
very happy with this brand name, hence we proceeded by designing the logo.
This task was completed by Angela, our team’s graphic designer. It is simply
the word ‘Favori’ stylised in a calligraphic font.
Independent Operation without Middle Man/Higher Quality Bags:
Prescila was working with a single middle-man that sold her products through
his shop. She wanted to sell completely independently of him. When selling
through her middle man, her bags would sell for around 350MUR (fluctuating
about this depending on the bag). When selling them using her own methods,
she would only sell them for ~60MUR (again, fluctuating about this depending
on the bag).
In order for Prescila to sell truly independently, she would require her own
shop to sell through. She is currently based in her own house and does not
have a business premises. Relocating Prescila such that she had her own

5. Alex Maragakis
shop was unfeasible due to her low profits. A better method would be to find
independent shops to sell through.
We approached shops with samples of her initial stock of bags. Some were
interested but not to the extent that we had a solid deal. After performing
some market research we deemed that Prescila’s bags were not of high
enough quality or in-fashion enough to appeal to fashion buyers, not
Mauritian-inspired enough to appeal tourists and not practical enough to
appeal to locals.
As a result we requested that Prescila make a new sample of bags. This
sample was to be made using higher quality, albeit more expensive, materials
and must have some ‘Mauritian’ styling to appeal to tourists (e.g. the a small
Mauritian flag printed on the tag. A week after we made the request Prescila
had made a new selection of bags, all of higher quality.
We approached shops with the new sample and they were more interested.
We have put Prescila and Saveena into contact with mall owners in
Cascavelle, Pheonix and Bagotel to include their designs in their next trade
exhibitions.
Online Selling:
We have created a website for Prescila following several product and fashion
photoshoots. One problem that we have been having is the fact that Prescila’s
illiteracy would make it difficult to update the website with new products and to
receive/process orders.
One way around this that we have found lies with Mauritius Post. They offer a
service that links orders through their website such that they can process
them with 10% commission. We are currently in contact with the Mauritius
post discussing using this method.
4.3. Varsha Naran-Beekharry
Varsha was definitely the easiest of our clients to work with due to her great
experience in business. She made it very clear what she wanted from us
during our collaboration (as listed below).
Main Problems/Requests for our team:
 Needs a website for publicity, donations and volunteer sign-up.
 A communication pack containing advice on public speaking and
carrying out meetings with various stakeholders including clinics,
makeup providers, patients etc.
 A source for a branded cosmetic bag displaying the YABF logo. The
source company should preferably sponsor the bags at a rate of 12
bags per month.
 (Optional) Find a sponsoring company for a branded cosmetic mirror
manufacturer

6. Alex Maragakis
Actions Taken
Website:
Development of the website began with a photoshoot at ‘Pastel’ cosmetics,
Quatre Bornes. Pastel cosmetics are currently sponsoring Varsha’s project for
18 months of makeup and makeup artists to attend the sessions. The purpose
of the photoshoot was to create a stop-motion video of the makeup
‘transformation’ as applied on Varsha. The video can be viewed using the
following link: http://youtu.be/tUV_PI7oRgQ. We also took photographs of the
makeup artists and makeup kits for displaying on the website.
Following the photoshoot, me (Alex) and Angela began to develop user
interface of the website. To allow for the paypal donations we set up a paypal
account for Varsha linking to the YABF account. The volunteer sign-up is an
email based form that links to Varsha’s official email
youarebeautifulfemme@gmail.com under the subject ‘Volunteer Signup’.
The website will shortly be published with domain
www.youarebeautifulfemme.com. We decided that it would be worth investing
our funds in the premium domain name as Varsha said that would be able to
maintain the domain costs.
Communication Packs:
The communication packs were created by Thomas and Carl. They give
advice on addressing stakeholders and giving public speeches.
Source for branded cosmetic bags:
We are currently discussing the opportunity for sponsorship of the branded
cosmetic bags with the following companies: Phydra, Yulee Group, A R C
Bags, Glory Trading Limited and The Printer Store. We have been using the
2% CSR tax from profit making companies to NGOs as a key argument point
when discussing with these companies however we are currently considering
finding indirect bag sponsorship by finding a company to provided the funds
for us to buy the cosmetic bags for Varsha.
Source for branded cosmetic mirrors:
Again, we are currently in talks with J Kalachand and other mirror
manufacturers in seeking a sponsorship agreement.
5. Events and Fundraisers
Our team held two events related directly to our project, as well as a couple of
other events that were not directly related to it. Here I shall outline the projects
that were directly related to the project for the sake of coherence.
5.1. BlackoutParty – Fundraiser 20/06/2014

7. Alex Maragakis
The Blackout Party was our primary fundraiser and was successful enough to
provide funds for the duration of the project. The event was a club night for all
of the AIESEC Mauritius projects. It was held at the Sunset Garden, Flic En
Flac on the 20th June 2014 10pm – 4am. Funds were generated by charging a
200MUR entrance fee per person, 50MUR of which went directly to out
project, 50MUR to the Sunset Garden, and 100MUR on a pre-paid drink.
Total Costs: 0MUR
The venue was offered free of charge on the basis that 50MUR went directly
to the venue from each entry and 100MUR went to the bar in exchange for an
alcoholic/non-alcoholic drink.
Total Revenue: 24000MUR
24000MUR was generated in revenue from the entry fees paid by all
attendees. It was agreed prior to the event that we would split the generated
funds 60:40 with Tommy Karmanolev’s group on the agreement that his group
would collaborate with us on the final trade fair.
Revenue post-divide: 14400MUR
5.2. La Femme EntrepreneurExposition – Trade Fair 5/07/2014
‘La Femme Entrepreneur Exposition’ was a trade fair/networking event that
we organised in collaboration with Tommy Karmanolev’s, Sacha van den
Berg’s and Harshet Sharma’s groups. The purpose of the event was to allow
all our group’s assigned women entrepreneur’s the opportunity to expand their
customer base, network with local business owners and meet companies
offering subsidised delivery rates (MPL) and raw materials. The event was
again held at the Sunset Garden, Flic En Flac and had live music.
The event received largely positive reviews. The entrepreneur’s sold many
products and
Total Costs: 4000 + 2000 = 6000MUR
The total costs were divided equally between our and Tommy’s team as per
our original agreement. 4000MUR was spent on hiring a sound engineer and
audio equipment for the live music. 2000MUR was spent on food and
refreshments for the women entrepreneur’s (20 of them) and the organising
team members.
Total Revenue: 0MUR
No revenue was generated from the event.
6. Costs
As detailed in section 5, the total costs taken from our team’s personal funds
for the events was 6000/2 = 3000MUR:

8. Alex Maragakis
 La Femme Entrepreneur Exposition: 3000MUR.
For the event, we printed 100 business cards for each of our women.
Saveena’s and Prescila’s business cards were printed in black and white and
Varsha’s were printed in colour. We negotiated a price of 1180MUR with Pat’s
Printing, Bambous.
 Business Cards: 1180MUR
We bought single sided, branded clothing tags for Saveena and Prescila.
These cost 2000MUR for 100 tags each.
 Clothing Tags: 2000MUR
A year website domain for Varsha: www.youarebeautifulfemme.com. 29USD
= 880MUR.
 www.youarebeautifulfemme.com domain: 880MUR.
A year of premium account at 8.25USD per month = 3000MUR for Varsha so
that she connect her purchased domain name.
 Premium Wix account for Varsha: 3000MUR.
Total Costs = 10060MUR.
Remaining Funds = 4340MUR.
7. Remaining Tasks
The following tasks are to be carried out by members of our project that are
staying in Mauritius past the project’s official closing date (12/06/2014).
 Sign contracts between the Mauritius Post and Saveena/Prescila for
subsidised delivery costs so that online selling can be made cost
effective (Clement Gasc). Integrate the new delivery system into the
websites (Angela Gao).
 Arrange a meeting between Varsha and some cosmetic bag providers
(Alex Maragakis).
 Look into getting support from CanSupport to pay for the cosmetic
bags rather than seeking direct sponsorship from the bag-producing
companies.
 Teach Varsha how to update the blog on her website (Clement Gasc).
 Publish the 3 websites online (Alex Maragakis).