A Day Off, and Finishing Strong

by Dave Wilusz

Sunday was our pre-determined day off. We were blessed with a very sunny day (as opposed to most other days here, which were overcast with the occasional downpour, despite being the "dry season" - I'd hate to see the wet season!). We piled into a van and headed down the coast to Galle, where we walked around the old fort, orignially built by the Portuguese, and subsequently taken over by the Dutch and British. There was a nice view of the town and harbor from the fort.

From there, we went to Unawatuna, a pretty little beach near Galle, where we had a great leisurely lunch on the beach - fish wraps with ginger, shark steaks, and best of all, American-sized portions of ice cream for dessert! Some folks went shopping, some swimming, and some just lounging on the beach, which resulted in a few sunburns. Still sunburned this morning, we had a good chuckle that Boston.com is showing 12 degrees Farenheit right now.

Today (Monday) is a scramble to get color printouts of our reports and brochures made at the Internet Cafe, which is no small task. We'll officially present our reports this afternoon. Suzanne and I are having dinner at Gamini's house (brush factory manager). There will surely be some emotional goodbyes later today.

At 6am tomorrow, we're all heading to Colombo.

See you in Dubai!

Cheers,
-Dave

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Photos, take 3!

by Dave Wilusz



The vegatable market, Hikkaduwa junction.



Many of us are taking advantage of cheap custom clothing here. I went native yesterday with traditional shirt & sarong. I think the look might catch on in Boston.



Rich's birthday surprise turned out to be a bowl of bananas, with birthday wishes written in... ketchup!



Have we mentioned that the kids love getting their photos taken?!



The fish market in Hikkaduwa.



Nimasha (right), with friend (see previous blog).

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Coir Brush and the Big Picture

by Dave Wilusz


The Coir Brush factory project is coming along nicely. Suzanne and I have both made good progress, and are now writing up our analysis and recommendations. To summarize, we believe they need (1) a reward/penalty program, based on some combination of attendance and production, (2) their breakeven point is around 52,000 brush blocks per month, which they just barely met in December. They need to ramp up production significantly – 70,000 per month would give them a nice profit; obviously ramping up production is closely tied to employee attendance; (3) They make 14 different kinds of brush blocks, and it turns out they are losing money on 3 of them. Either the price must be raised, or these 3 should be discontinued; (4) the process flow is not as smooth as it could be. A new planing machine (US $850) would help streamline the process and accelerate production.

Our recommendations will hopefully take the company to the next level. A solid foundation is already in place. Mr. Gamini has done a remarkable job in getting the company profitable in just four months. He is honoring us with dinner at his home on Monday night, just before we leave on Tuesday.

In other news… between Polaroids, digital photos, and candy/gum with the kids, leaving the village in the evening is often a 1 hr+ affair. Somehow, though, I don’t mind. Yesterday I met Nimasha Piyumali, who is 9, and one heck of a good English student. She was incredibly polite and curious about all things American. She was very proud of her English letters and showed me her notebook full of neatly written English translations. Everything was perfect, and she would easily score A’s in an American school. She was also very humble. Her uncle later told me she is first in her class. It got me thinking about something Kushil said earlier in the week: What human potential lies untapped in this village of 2,000? What human potential lies untapped in the world’s 4 billion poor?

Cheers,
-Dave

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Plan for tomorrow because today is yesterday's tomorrow

The quote above is the sign off from the daily public address anouncement that we here on Sri Lanken Radio every morning. The messages are common sense and quite hillarious and we enjoy making fun of both the messages and the sign off. As we all began writing up our final consulting reports today I came head to head with the harsh reality that we are leaving in a couple of days and only have one day left in the village. Although I am ready to go home to my wife and be able to talk to my friends and family, I am not quite ready to leave here. We have all made tremendous strides with our projects and can easily see the value that we have added to the village, but we have really just begun to scratch the surface. As one of the radio announcements says we must keep on scratching.

We could easilly continue working full time for at least 6 months on our specific projects. The challenge in planning for tomorrow is how can we help the village keep on scratching. I think all of us will do our best to keep in contact and continue working with the village. Rich and I have proposed the idea of sending in a lesson plan on a bi-weekly basis to continue teaching the grocery stores. Although we think this will be helpful, without the proper leadership here on the ground, I am afraid the stores could possibly drift back to their old ways. We are not just teaching them business skills we are trying to change their culture. It is quite evident that our efforts have not gone to waste. In the beginning of the week the store owners were comming because the hoped we could help them financially and at the end of the meeting they would go there seperate ways. By the end of the week they were comming to learn how they can help themselves and eachother. Following our meeting on Friday we saw many of them hanging out talking to each other about how they can work together. Kushil told me he has never seen anything like that before in the village and was touched by our progress.

This brings me back to the title quote of this post. We have accomplished what we have to date because essentially we planned for today. Now that today is here we are planning for tomorrow. When we arived we were nervous about what we could do in such a short period of time. Now we have a new sense of nervousness of what we can do from our homes in the States. The one thing I do know is that I came here with the attitude that we will find away to do it. As I leave you all now I pledge the same, we will find away to do it.

Jason Dombar

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Semi-final Report from Seenigama

“Your coming here has given us a huge boost. We all started grocery stores because it was easy, and we needed something to do; now we have learned something about how to run a business. We have met as a group for the first time, and we have some great ideas for making our businesses work. That would never happen without you coming here. This cannot be measured in rupees, or in cents and dollars”. – one of the grocery store owners

After a class (taught by two of the Babson students) to introduce writing business plans, Kushil, the founder of the Foundation of Goodness, met with the grocery store owners to talk about the future. He loved our idea of differentiating their businesses, and he wanted to encourage them. The meeting became a sort of testimonial to the success of this week’s work; the quotation above was the most notable. It’s hard to know exactly how to measure the success of our efforts in Seenigama; in some ways it has become clear that the work of developing sustainable livelihoods here is really an ongoing task that will need someone to maintain the connections we have made, encourage new ideas, and develop relationships with microlenders who can supply the capital the villagers require in a responsible way.

In brief, each of our four groups learned a ton, and will offer some great suggestions and ideas in our final reports. The brush factory team, for example, did a cost analysis on the different size brush handles the factory is making, and discovered that two of the three main sizes the factory produces are losing money, even though the factory is newly profitable (we hope this will help them negotiate better pricing). They have also proposed a plan to combat absenteeism, based in part on interviews with all the workers. The grocery store team, after convincing the twenty or so store owners that we were not, actually, going to give them money, has taught classes every day on differentiation, pricing, incremental fixed costs, and writing business plans. The handicraft center team redesigned the store display using found materials from the woods – they will tell you “jungle” – around the village (best quotation of the week, “There are no words in our language to describe how beautiful you have made this center look!” from the manager of the handicraft center), held classes, designed a logo and a sign for the main road, and wrote a brochure for distribution to local hotels and stores. The sewing/reed weaving initiative team developed two business plans: one for a made-to-order sewing business and the other for a reed bag weaving business marketed to US and UK colleges, teams, and clubs. In addition we have brainstormed (and started to research) a list of forty employment opportunities for the thirty-plus unemployed young men of the village, and held preliminary discussions with the Foundation about switching from a grant model to a loan model of assistance.

Kushil, the founder, near the end of the meeting, said that our visit had been a kind of miracle for the village, because we have started to enable the switch to the sort of help the village really needs. “Aid for houses, and children, has been easy to get,” he said (although this is not necessarily true nationwide, or even throughout this region), “but what our people need now is sustainable livelihoods so that they can rebuild their lives.” I think in that sense we can think of our visit as a success, although it is clear that we have only begun this work here.

Thank you, as always, for your support and good wishes. We have been very proud to represent Babson here and, although we are all eager to come home, we are also already finding it hard to imagine leaving Seenigama. Perhaps we can come back, with more “friends from Babson”, to continue this good work.

Tom Sullivan

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hello, money?

Well, well, well. For Jason and I, it looks as if our message finally came across to the umpteen grocery store owners in Seenigama. When our translator turned the simple sentence, "They need to think about selling new things that the customer wants" into a 15-minute fable about a pig and a buffalo and the need to hit them with a stick on occasion, we were worried. We had no idea if our daily lessons had any impact. During class they looked attentive and wobbled their heads in agreement but rarely, if ever, asked questions.
But we should have known better than to question Dharma Sena's skills. In fact, his eloquent, often elaborate, recitation of our simple lessons probably helped bridge any cultural gaps. He understood our message and agreed firmly that the shop owners had to be weened from donations and become self-sufficient.
Last night, for the first time, the shop owners seemed to agree that they couldn't continue working as is. Jason and I had spent the week going from store to store and asking about their products and profit margins on each item. (Of course, we didn't use the term "profit margins"). After some rudimentary analysis and estimations we learned that two of the stores made less than 50 cents a month. And even in Sri Lanka, that doesn't get you far (unless you are Ms. Amisha Patel, but that's a story for another time).
Last night's lesson was on things to consider before starting a business or buying a new piece of equipment. In short, we gave taught them how to compose a basic, basic business plan. To business school students - well, make that to most everyone I know - it seems a bit obvious to say, "Think about how much you can make by selling an item and who you will sell it too" may be more than obvious. And to some degree, it is to the shop owners in Seenigama. But when a tiny village has more than 20 shops selling the same items, it needs to be said. As Jason and I learned, many people wanted the shops because their neighbor had one. They hadn't thought about the larger, economic implications of what that would mean for their profits.
Jason and I received reinforcement and confirmation that the shop owners had listened to our message and begun to consider it. In English, the son of a store owner said everyone had needed to hear our message for quite some time and that they had to change and diversify.
We have started to see some, but certainly not all of the shop owners propose new business ideas such as a hardware store, a footwear shop, and a dvd rental business. (After the tsunami many villagers received donations of tvs and dvd players. Go figure.)
When we told the group that a basic business plan might help them receive "precious capital" they seemed receptive to doing it. They have come to learn that they will not receive future donations but must borrow money in the future. The next step is to make the connections between the village and microlending institutions. Given this momentum, we will need to do it in short order.

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Mosaics

Happy Birthday Rich.....

As all Babson students know the team is the make or break of the opportunity. More likely than not we’ve all experienced horrendous team member who care more about their grades, Friday night plans, or episode of nip/tuck than the task as hand. The keys to success are cohesion, inspiration, and dedication; add in Sri Lanka Team ’06 as I call it and you’ve got a recipe for success. We’ve got Jews and Christians, Jamaicans, Indians, Polish too, as well as every other heritage you can think of; although, on the surface we are vastly different our goal is not. We are anchored in comPASSION; our team is composed of passionate people who care a great deal and who have the abilities as well as opportunities to make a change. No one could have predicted or asked for a better synergy amongst the group. Each member brings distinctive qualities and experience necessary for the task to be done thoroughly. Today the handycraft group which I am a member of got the draft of the brochure printed, started the weaving cost analysis, and Amisha and I held a mosaic tile workshop. Without having all the necessary materials we improvised like professionals. I was nervous walking into the room with 35 women giggling and whispering—I had grout and sponges in one hand, a bowl on my head, a backpack full of tile, and stomach full of butterflies. I came up with the idea of mosaics because on my many walks on the beach there are hundreds of tiles from the hotels and restaurants that were washed out by the tsunami. Now the shoreline is spotted with cobalt blue, hunter green, and terra cotta tiles—reminding us that not all things are set in stone. After discussion with the group we thought it might be a nice craft we could teach and capitalize on the free tile and significance. The women however didn’t seem to care about the significance and were captivated by breaking tiles with a hammer and getting their hands in the cement. They had a great time the interpreter said and by how much they were laughing it seemed to be true. A similar pattern which Rich and Jason had told us about was lack of imagination. The first group made a fish and once everyone saw their design the other three groups followed. So we explained that they could all make different designs so a daring group made a boat! Then of course another group followed. So we ended up with 2 fish and 2 boats. It was interesting though to see them excited to do typically male activities. They loved using the hammer and breaking things as well as playing with the cement. When watching them strike the tile it was like they were venting their anger. I’m glad Amisha and I held the class and hope they had a wonderful time experiencing something new.

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Report From The Front Lines The Grocery World

The grocery project has been especially challenging and heartbreaking. Are project has turned into changing the business culture of the village. We are finally breaking through, the owners are beginning to realize that we are not here to give them capital althoug Rich was greeted the other day with the expression Hello, Money. Our daily classes are going well and yesterday we had the first confirmation that they are understanding what we are teaching them and appreciate our help. We don't always know because sometimes we say 4 words that result in our translater telling a story about a Pig and a Buffalo(True Story). By speaking individually with each store owner(almost 20), we have heard many sad stories of loss and despair. Many have lost multiple children and money earners for there families. It is obvious that they need our help, we have been doing financial statements for each store, and found 2 that are making a profit of under $.50 per month. Rich and I have turned to humor to get us through the difficult times, which has been therapeutic for both of us. By the way, I don't have time to upload it, but I have a picture of a villager that looks exactly like Jimmy Carter. If you are interested I will e-mail it out when I get home.

I hope everyone is well and is enjoying our blogs.

Jason Dombar

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Some Challenges and Breakthroughs

I wanted to apologize to our readers (I assume there are a few left) for not posting in a few days. Things tend to get hectic around here especially mid-project. I wanted to dedicate this post to describing an interesting event from three days ago as well as telling you some of the challenges we found yesterday in trying to help the people of Seenigama.

Two days ago, we gathered the whole group including our contacts at the Foundation of Goodness (I would rather refer to them as my friends but some business habits are hard to break) for a meeting about what we plan on doing over our trip here. I won’t go into details about the meeting, but rather describe something interesting that happened. The quietest person in the group, Rangi, after listening to our posts said that one of our ideas had flaws. She actually said “no” and followed up with some concerns. I am not sure whether any of the other posts address this but culturally the people of Seenigama pretty much always agree (even if they don’t). It showed the type of relationship that we have built that she was able to say no. Also, her reasons were excellent which proved that some the business logic they need, they actually already have.

After spending Tuesday working on a marketing brochure and redecorating the Handicrafts Center (it looks amazing, Amisha and Missy did a great job), yesterday we found out why consulting in Seenigama is difficult. First, the brochure was designed in Corel (from the 1980’s and early 1990’s) which is only on the designers computer (no printer). We redid it in a few other programs which each had problems with the formatting. We also planned to discuss building a sign for the road with the woodworker but the price tag of $20 proved too high (2000 rupees is just under the amount needed to sustain a family of 4 for a week). We decided that this sign was too important for their strategy and paid for it ourselves. Finally, we found out that there are a number of competing visions for the sewing project we are working on. Each person would like it a different way and we now need to evaluate the pros and cons for each method.

I guess this post turned out to be longer than expected. I will try to keep future ones down. As it turns out, Friday and Saturday are holidays. Friday is a religious holiday and Saturday is the full moon (which we will be celebrating at a festival in a neighboring village). Sunday will be our excursion to Galle, where there are a number of Dutch forts, and the Elephant Sanctuary. Stay tuned for more updates…

Michael Pearlmutter

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women's empowerment project progress

Things are barrelling right along, more or less on schedule. For the past couple of days, Missy and Amisha have been working with the women who run the Handicrafts Center (Rangi and Rashika), teaching them product presentation techniques. They've completely redesigned the inside of the store. We have before and after pictures that I'll post up when I get a chance, but believe me, it looks fantastic. Rangi and Rashika are ecstatic.
Meanwhile, Mike and I have been working with Amila on the branding. We've pretty much settled on the "two waves" logo I posted earlier in the Action Plan. It's evolved a little since the posted version, but is still basically the same. The brochure and road sign designs are mostly completed, although they still need approval from the foundation.
The team has also put together some cost and operational information for the bag weaving business. It's very rough right now, but we plan to refine it, show some scenarios (i.e. this is how it's being done now and here are the results, this is how it would work with division of tasks and 10 extra workers, and this is how it would work with 40 extra workers). The goal is to have an end product, in English and Sinhala, that will allow Rangi and Rashika --who will oversee the weaving business and the Handicrafts Center-- what to work towards operationally and what to expect as the business scales up.
Due to the intersection of our trip schedule and local holidays, we really only have two more working days before we leave. As a result, the next 48 hours will be jam-packed as we finish up what's left of the project. Over the weekend, we'll fine-tune our recommendations and create our report to the foundation. We're also planning to take a much-needed day off during the Sunday holiday to see some of the local sights. On Monday we'll present our recommendations, then Tuesday we start the long journey home. -Judd

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Getting To Know You...

This morning I awoke eager to begin my day in the village. After traveling to Galle with my teammate Dave and the Brush Factory manager Gamini, I felt as though I finally understood the company on a much broader scope. Today however, I was able to secure a block of time with Thushara the translator to begin employee interviews. When I arrived at the factory with Thushara at my side I was most surprised to find not only 9 out of 10 employees present, but an extra worker! My teammate Dave had donned one of the factory issued facemasks and was out on the main floor observing the workflow and later manned one of the molding machines.

I proceeded into Gamini's office and set up shop at his desk which consisted of Thushara at my side, a laptop and Dave's camera. Each worker (with the exception of Dave) was called into the office and asked a myriad of questions ranging from general likes/dislikes about the factory to thoughts/feelings about incentive bonuses and 'no show' penalties. The interviews concluded with many thank yous and a photograph to attach to each interview. Thushara quickly caught onto my accent which made the entire process wonderfully smooth. He later asked for my date of birth in addition to both mailing and email addresses so he might send a card along on my birthday. Great guy.

The afternoon continued with an invite from Gamini for lunch with his family in the village. Dave and I walked for a few moments and were picked up by one of those beloved Tuk Tuks and taken much deeper into the village. Once arriving at Gamini's home we were introduced to his family and sat down for lunch. Gamini was quite tuned in to western customs, and provided us with chairs and most fortunately, forks. His wife provided quite an elaborate lunch which Dave and I both found enjoyable (I was personally fond of the Sri Lankan ice cream and some type of gelatin that was served). Sadly I have an abnormal aversion to spicy foods, yet I managed to survive lunch contrary to popular belief. Dave had to rescue me from a piece of particularly intense tuna, yet I made it through OK otherwise.

After lunch was cleaned up Dave took pictures of Gamini and his family before saying goodbye. We took the long walk back to the brush factory and I was presented with the opportunity to view significantly more of the village than previously seen. Dave lingered behind taking photos of the scenery, and I had the opportunity to speak with Gamini about his children, their schooling in addition to my college experience in America. Despite all the rubble and hardship evident in the village, this is truly one of the most beautiful places I've yet to see. You never know what's in store for a day spent in Seenigama...

Suzanne Cover

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More Photos!

A procession of Buddhist monks passes the Foundation of Goodness headquarters in Seenigama.



Suzanne and I are working with the Coir Brush Block Factory, shown here. They transform wooden planks into shaped pieces of wood for brush heads, which later become industrial brushes and are shipped worldwide.



It's a tropical paradise here, if you only look towards the ocean.



The beach cleanup on Friday was a blast. The kids loved getting their photos taken (which slowed down the beach cleaning considerably). But a good time was had by all!



In the States, you're generally greeted at a client site with soda or water. Here, you get a fresh King Coconut chopped open for you! This is Suzanne and myself at Hayley's in Galle today (see previous blog).

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The View From the Front

Babson has long preached the virtues of entrepreneurship. C. K. Prahalad has said that “Large scale and widespread entrepreneurship is at the heart of the solution to poverty”. I can’t express how exciting it is to be here in Sri Lanka, at the front lines of the global war on poverty, and to witness firsthand the power of entrepreneurship.

Prior to the tsunami, many of the villagers in Seenigama were engaged in the dangerous and environmentally destructive practice of coral mining, where villagers would dive 10m under the sea, and hack off pieces of living coral, which would be sold to factories for burning down into lime dust, an ingredient with many industrial uses. The villagers’ views of this highly profitable but destructive business changed after the tsunami. Some viewed it as the sea taking revenge after so many years of abuse. A different path needed to be taken – a path which was environmentally sustainable and which affords the villagers the pride and self-esteem which can only be achieved by adding value to their village, while earning a living wage.

The Foundation of Goodness is attempting to establish sustainable businesses in the village, and we are here to consult with several of them – to help nurture them along, so that the village becomes self-sustaining. Specifically, Suzanne Cover and myself are working with the Coir Brush Handle Factory, a small wood shop that transforms wooden planks into industrial brush handles, which they send downstream, and in turn are made into floor scrubbers, brooms, etc. to be exported all over the world. The business employs 11 men, and has come a long way in just a few months, but is still struggling with several issues, including: employee absenteeism, quality control, and cost accounting. We are presently in the information-gathering stage, and will soon devise a series of recommendations for solving these problems.

Since some have expressed in interest in exactly what we are doing, here is my daily log for Monday, January 09, 2006:

6:30am – One hour sunrise run on the beach, along the Indian Ocean, partly in tandem with our good Professor. Highlights included helping local fishermen returning with their catch get their boat up onto the beach (an experience which our good Professor had warned me about!), and being blessed by a Buddhist who was praying on the beach. If only every day in the States started off like this…

8:00am – Met Suzanne in the lobby, took a tuktuk to Seenigama to catch Gamini, the local manager of the brush factory, before he left for Galle, which is about 18km south of where we are.

8:30 – 9:15am – Suzanne and I joined Gamini for a trip to Galle, where his upstream supplier, Hayley’s, is located. We took a rickety old bus which would never pass inspection in the US, and barreled down the Galle road at frightening speeds, with several near-death experiences. Everything shook on the bus, and it felt like it would break apart any minute. Amazingly, we somehow arrived safely in Galle.

9:45 – 11:30am – Suzanne and I met the manager of Hayley’s, who gave us a tour of his operations. Hayley’s receives lumber from local sawmills, which it sorts and cuts into various lengths. Some of these get shipped to Coir Brush, which is the company we’re consulting with. We wanted to investigate if any improvements in upstream linkages could help Coir. As it turns out, probably not. Hayley’s has a bunch of men manually sorting the lumber they get, so Coir is indirectly dependent on how good a job they do in weeding out bad lumber. (The processing of lumber which turns out to be bad is one of Coir’s problems right now – in some cases, they are charged for it). Also, Coir’s allotment of lumber is assigned more or less randomly. Being a low-power player in the value chain, it’s unlikely that Coir can press for changes here.

11:30 – 12:15 – Suzanne and I had a tour of Hayley’s doormat producing factory, which turns “coir”, which are fibers from coconut husks, into doormats, which are shipped worldwide. This is relevant to Coir Brush in Seenigama because another division of the company employs women to weave raw coir fibers into coir yarn. This yarn is then sent to factories like the one we saw today, for processing into doormats. It looked like something out of the Industrial Revolution, with huge mechanical looms clacking away loudly, churning out huge rolls of coir matting. The rolls are cut up, a rubber backing is applied, and voila, you have a doormat. We thought perhaps the women of the village could be taught to make doormats, to increase their value-add (and hence revenue), but it is a very capital-intensive business, and not appropriate for a small rural village.

So the trip to Galle didn’t expose anything that was obviously wrong with the system, but it was a good use of time nonetheless, as we have a much better idea of who the various players are in the value chain now.

12:15 – 1pm – Another (slightly less) harrowing bus ride back from Galle to Hikkaduwa.

1 – 2:15pm – Suzanne and I had lunch with Professor Sullivan across the street from the hotel. The place specializes in “rotis”, which are kind of like crepes; very thin pancakes with a variety of fillings. It was a nice break from rice & curry. I had three rotis – vegetable, cheese & tomato, and for dessert, one with banana, chocolate and honey. Delicious! And the whole meal cost about $1.50 (including a ginger beer to drink)!

2:30pm – Suzanne and I took a tuktuk back to Seenigama. Passed out some chewing gum to the kids and took some Polaroids, which we gave to them. They sure love getting their photo taken!

3 – 5:30 - Suzanne worked on preparing interview questions for the employees of Coir Brush. She is interviewing them through a translator Tuesday and Wednesday to get a sense of their attitudes, in an effort to solve the absenteeism problem. We need to understand what motivates them, in order to design appropriate incentives. Unlike in the US, it seems to not be all about the cash. Meanwhile, I worked with Gamini, the manager, importing his November and December production runs into an Excel spreadsheet, as well as separating out fixed and variable costs for the past few months. As their product is undifferentiated, cost leadership seems to be the only viable strategy in the long run. So he needs a detailed understanding of just how much it costs him to make each brush handle right now, something that is presently lacking. We don’t have exact figures yet, but the good news is that his unit cost has declined rapidly since September. He’s on the right track.

5:30 – 6pm – Another round of photos and chewing gum with the kids.

6:15pm – Tuktuk from Seenigama back to the hotel in Hikkaduwa.

6:30pm – Type up notes, put together this blog, etc.

8:20pm – Mosey over to the internet café across from the hotel to upload everything.

A quick snack later, and thus will end another exciting and highly educational day in Sri Lanka!

Hi to all,
-Dave Wilusz

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sri lankan groceries

So some people that are reading this blog (I have no idea who you might be) want more details about our projects here in Sri Lanky. Briefly put, Jason Dombar and I are trying to convince nearly 20 Sri Lankan grocers in the village of Seenigama that 20 grocery stores is too much for small village of 1400 people.
In one section of the village there is a store about every 100 feet. When we asked one store owner why people shop at his store as opposed to the store a few houses over, he answered incredulously, "Different locations. Different customers."
So why, you may ask, are there so many grocery stores. After the tsunami many villagers lost their jobs in Hikkaduwa - the largest neighboring town - or elsewhere. The went to the foundation asking for capital to start their own shops. Worried that the villagers might return to coral harvesting - which destroys the reef that could have helped mitigate the effect of the tsunami - the foundation provided the capital. The number of grocery stores in Seenigama approximately doubled. The foundation knows the stores must diversify and specialize. And after our meeting today, the store owners seem to understand this as well.
In order to get each shop ower to understand their business better, we are creating simple financial statements for each business. We will then teach them how to understand them. Once that occurs, hopefully they'll see that a 1 rupee (1 cent) profit margin on one kilo of rice isn't the best they can do. After that occurs, we hope to get them thinking about diversifying their businesses as well as working co-operatively to get better deals on staples such as rice and sugar. Our first meeting tonight went better than expected as some of our early suggestions were met with animated discussions among ther group members.
So far, Jason and I have spent our days visiting each store owner and going through their inventories, item by item, while asking how much they make on each item and how often they sell it.
On Friday, we asked each store owner which products sell the best. Several times we received the same answer - "We sell all grocery items."
We hope our work in the next few days will help them see that not all items have the same profit potential.
We have also been thinking of ways they can add value to some of the items and new markets they could try, such as selling to passengers on the train that stops in the village several times a day.
Ultimately some of them will have to convert to new businesses.
Jason and I emphasize that we are asking them to make small steps. Our lessons for the week include basic opportunity recognition, such as what do villagers buy in Hikkaduwa that you could sell here in Seenigama. Later we will address economies of scale and the ower of negotiating as a group and buying collectively to reduce costs. And throughout the week we are emphasizing that they do not need to carry the exact same products as the other stores.
Thanks for reading,
Richard Raeke

Just wanted to add, if you'd like to see the full text of our action plan for the grocery project, click "Permalink" below. -Jason


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Grocery Stores Action Plan

The basis for this action plan is to help the many grocery stores to better understand their businesses.

§ We will begin by visiting with the each store individually to do a comprehensive analysis of each business. We would like to gather information on exactly what items they sell, how much they pay for each item, how much they sell each item for, how much they sell and what other expenses they may have. We will use this information that we gather to create very basic financial statements and inventory sheets for each store that we will then teach the owners how to read and use. We will follow up by working with the store owners and the tools that we have provided to ensure that the understand how to use them.

§ Another part of our plan is to teach the stores holistic business practices such as refilling shampoo bottles rather than selling new bottles every time.

§ We will also focus on helping the owners identify other opportunities and help them understand the advantages of specialization, by having them come up with what other items they can sell, and slowly integrating that into there stores. We hope to be able to help them change their culture of wanting what others have and change that to wanting what others don’t have.

§ Lastly we want to work with store owners on general marketing and presentation practices that will help them let their customers know what they offer, especially when introducing new products.

We will execute our plan through the use of group classes and individual meetings with each owner. After completing the series of classes we plan to give them an award of certification to recognize there efforts and remind them of what they have learned.

Following is a day to day initial plan for the following week.

Monday:

- Morning:

- Write detailed lesson plan for evening class

- Discuss with foundation our plans and there roles future to help back up

- During Day w/ translator:

-Begin creating financial statements for each store

(Go to each store and ask necessary questions)

- Cost of Sales

- Prices sold

- Inventory

- Daily Revenue

- Turnover (they understand this word differently).

- Create Inventory Sheets

- Have translated later

- Evening Class:

- Explain what we are doing with financial statements and tell them about class later in the week.

- Holistic practices ex. Shampoo smaller bottles

- Home work:

o Start thinking about what Different People buy in Hikkaduwa,

o What items do think they can sell

Tuesday:

- Morning:

- Lesson plan for evening class

- Begin Creating financial statements for stores

- During Day w/ translator

- Continue individual store interviews for financial Statements.

- Evening Class:

- Differentiation class

o Discuss home work

o Help them come up with store ideas

o Advantages of specialization

o Slow change from current items integrating new items.

o Work towards culture change of wanting what others have.

Wednesday Off

Thursday:

- Morning with translator:

- Finish store interviews for financials

- Talk with them more about differentiation.

- Afternoon:

- Finish individualized Financial statements.

- Bring Printouts of statements, Inventory sheets…..

- Evening Class:

- Financial statements

- Hand out individual Statements

- Explain what they say and how they are written how to use them to there advantage.

- Explain Inventory Sheets and how to use them give ample supply to each owner.

Friday:

- Morning:

- Create lesson plan for differentiation class

(If Kushil is in the village talk to him about this class see if he can come.)

- Afternoon:

Work with stores on using inventory sheets suggestions for presentation

- Evening class (Hopefully with Kushil)

- Differentiation Part 2

- Work with them about who may want to do what.

- Have different owners take ownership of different ideas

- Talk about identifying opportunities.

- Talk about cannibalization.

Saturday:

- Work with trash plan

- Work with 20-30 young people who need jobs:

Possible ideas:

- One or two people delivery service for stores.

- Temple Guide

- Tour Guide for village

- Marketing Coordinator for village

- Scrapping business (Old demolished materials)

- Recycling. (Old demolished materials)

- Push Cart Business

- Small Scale Hardware Store

- All Types of vocational training

o Electronics Repair

o Engine Repair

- Laundry Service in Hikkaduwa.

- Tour Business (Building Racks for hotels coordinate with tour companies)

- Glass Bottom Boats

- Net Making

- Fishing Gear

- Swim Teacher

- Swim Coach

- Volleyball Coach

Manufacturing business:

Push carts (Talk to Olin Engineering to Design)

Suggestion to complement Green space

Leverage Beautiful Beach

- Chairs

- Refreshments Etc.

Monday:

Last day at village:

- Morning:

- Write lesson plans

- Afternoon:

- Work with stores overflow of inventory shorts

- More stress on presentation and marketing ideas

- Evening Class:

- Presentation and Marketing Class\

- Let your neighbors know what you have

- Say good bye maybe cry.

General Big Ideas:

- Signage by train tracks

- Push cart selling to those on the train

- Vocational School

- Credit Union

Other Ideas for stores:

- Could foundation give incentives against being stores

- Roti Store

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So what are we doing here, anyway?

If you've been reading the blog, you know that we've been having lots of fun getting to know the people and culture of Sri Lanka. But we're also getting lots of work done, too. I promise! If you're interested in the current state of the project Missy, Mike, Amisha and I are working on, please take a look at our action plan and preliminary logo designs.
Including them makes for a very long post, so I've hidden them; if you're reading this from the main page, click the Permalink button, below, to see the full action plan and logo designs. ~Judd

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Women’s Empowerment Project Action Plan

Written by: Judd Rose, Amisha Patel, Missy Fine, and Michael Pearlmutter

Background

Our team is working on four major projects for the village: Handicrafts Center, Weaving, Sewing, and Branding. This section describes some of the critical aspects of the current states of each of the businesses.

Handicraft Center

Currently, the Handicrafts Center sells different items made by local families in the area, such as woven baskets, batik clothing, and small gift items. The average sales revenue generated by the center is approximately 30,000 rupees per month. Of the thirty thousand, 10 percent is received by the foundation and the rest is given to the families. Presently, the Handicrafts Center is having difficulty reaching tourists due to the location and lack of publicity. Furthermore, the center expressed interest in improving the appearance of their currently facility in order to appeal to their customers.

Weaving Project

The village has had an excellent sewing teacher, Susima, visiting to teach classes twice a week. There are currently about four weaving students. The village plans to set up a business creating bags woven from reeds; there is currently an expected large order from the University of Florida in team colors as soon as the business is running with a second order from Babson in the works. The business model is to target schools and other organizations for larger orders of bags in specific colors. The weaving process has a number of steps: Reed picking, dethorning, boiling, drying, dying, and drying again. The reeds are then shined and woven into a bag. The entire process is very labor-intensive and time-consuming, but for many steps, batch processing could be used. In addition, there are significant improvements in efficiency that can be gained with increased volume and more workers.

Sewing Project

Currently, villagers who have completed the sewing class with Volga comprise the bulk of sewing businesses within the village. There are approximately 100 of these businesses, which has oversaturated the marketplace. Additionally, the process, which is completed by a single person, is done using a six step method: Buy materials, cut material, design pattern on material, sew, iron, and package. Customers provide the material for each of the products when they request a dress. For this reason and others, the villagers would like to organize the garment manufacturing into a single business.

Branding Project

Currently, there are no marketing or branding initiatives for the Handicrafts Center. Current customers are supporters from Colombo and visitors who are going specifically to the Foundation of Goodness. There is little understanding of their target market and they do not have a consistent marketing message or brand for any of their products or future projects.

Action Plan Items

Handicraft Center

We have developed recommendations in order to help the Handicrafts Center generate more profit and exposure. First, we plan to create a marketing program consisting of different promotional methods, such as brochures and flyers. Additionally, we plan to produce labels and improve packaging in order to attract tourists and convey a sense of authenticity that will be necessary to create sustainability for the business. We will also work with the women running the handcrafts center to design new displays and signs to enhance the presentation of the goods and the outside of the store. Finally, Missy is going to teach a class on jewelry manufacturing that will focus on utilizing local materials such as moonstone to create authentic crafts.

Weaving Project

We’ve gathered detailed process and cost information. We intend to use this data to do a process and cost analysis. This will allow us to recommend minimum order quantities, breakeven points, and aggregate costs. This analysis may provide us with further recommendations regarding financials and process efficiency. We also plan to investigate alternate product ideas, such as placemats. For each product, we’d like to estimate the potential attractiveness relative to the bags, based on factors like buyer interest, selling price, and cost to produce. Finally, we will investigate the idea of creating certifications for weavers, in an effort to generate interest in the profession.

Sewing Project

Due to the lack of organization surrounding the sewing project, we intend to provide a “roadmap” for developing the business. We also plan on creating a generic version of this business plan for future business opportunities. Additionally, we are going to offer an organization for ready made dresses in which the village handicrafts center will sell fabric for dresses –currently purchased outside the village—and recommend seamstresses who could create the garments in the village. This would offer tourists authentic Sri Lankan created dresses while benefiting victims of the tsunami. We are also exploring feasibility and evaluating options for tourists to witness at least part of the garment creation.

Branding Project

In order to help the re-growth of the village and create sustainability, there are many tactics that can be used to help attract tourists from local and distant locations. The objective of this campaign is to bring awareness to the customers and create a brand that represents the villages’ customs and ability to overcome the tsunami. Therefore, we plan on emphasizing authenticity and women’s empowerment over tsunami relief in establishing a sustainable brand. We have three distinct initiatives for this campaign:

· Designing a logo to be used in products, signage, and marketing material

· Creating flyers to distribute to hotels initially and tourist centers, bus and train stations and tour agencies in the long run

· Creating a durable, two-sided road sign that will include the logo and directions to the Handicrafts Center

Timeline

Day	Holiday (Y/N)	Project	Required Meetings	Meeting Times	Notes
Monday	N	Branding Sewing	Amila, Rashika, Volga	Morning	Logo design, CVP, HC display convo.
Tuesday	N	HC Branding	Rashika, Amila	Morning	HC set up, Signage
Wednesday	Y	None	None		None
Thursday	N	Sewing	Tashara	Afternoon	Generic business plan (morning)
Friday	Y	Branding HC			Flyer mockups, Production info, labeling
Saturday	Y	Weaving			Cost analysis, Alt. product ideas
Sunday	N	Prep	None
Monday	N	Presentation	Everyone
Tuesday	N	Depart

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Current Logo Designs

As mentionedin the branding section of the action plan, we are working on creating a logo associated with the village's products. Our plan is to bring 3 or 4 options for Kushil to review when we meet with him again on Friday. At the moment, we have 2 working options, below.
The first one (in red) is a reproduction of the Foundation of Goodness' logo, which is based on a traditional Buddhist symbol.
The second one (in blue) came from Kushil's statement: "The waves of compassion are stronger than the waves of destruction". Jason came up with the idea of using two opposing waves as the logo, and Missy drew the original sketch. Both of the pictures you see below were created by Ameela, a villager who is very skilled in Corel Draw (self-taught, on the Foundation's computers).

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