The Acceleration of Innovation

katie said 2 years ago

I think that the work that the full belly project do is fantastic. It is both neccessary and visionary, focussing on the needs of the people it seeks to support whilst also always keeping an eye to the future expansion of its projects. This has miles of potential and is well thought out by people who obviously speak the same language as the people they seek to support. I can't wait to see where this idea goes.

jenngross said 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your idea. This is an inspiring project! I am impressed by the way you are assessing farmers' needs, responding to them, and incorporating local manufacturers in your project. I have a few questions for you. Can you elaborate on how you conduct your assessment? Do you implement surveys, facilitate focus group discussions, or interview farmers? I assume you sell your products but wonder if you subsidize them. How do you market them? That is probably an important part of your work. What are your current funding needs in Malawi? Can you specify? I am curious about the Universal Nut Sheller. How well did farmers accept this new technology? It sounds like you are working with Peace Corps to determine what farmers think of the water pump. Do you have a formal process for assessing how well farmers will accept your products?

fullbellyproject said 2 years ago

jenngross

Thanks for leaving your comments and questions.

We'll try to answer all your questions as best we can.

The assessment process has not yet taken place, nor has connecting our website to the world to help develop simple solutions.

This is after all, our Idea.

But we are taking measured steps towards realising this vision.

In the coming months, we will work with Total Land Care to implement a formal survey of their existing farmer network. They work with over 100,000 farmers throughout Malawi.

We will also hold focus groups of farming co-op's and interview individual farmers. We will post many of these interviews as videos on our website, to literally put a face to the problems expressed by farmers.

All of this of course requires funding, which you alluded to.

Our overall Budget is comparatively slim at $210,000 annually.
This would enable us to:

Perform research and develop new solutions.
Provide Training to our entrepreneurs (to mass produce new devices)
Perform the aforementioned survey's/interviews
Update our website to provide user access to the Design Challenges that are born out of the data we collect.

Our products are sold by local entrepreneurs to stimulate the local economy on multiple levels. To facilitate the sale of these products we are working on establishing linkages to micro-credit institutions.

Our field coordinator is currently working hand in hand with C to C Engineering to develop a marketing strategy.

The Full Belly Project is partners with the Malawi Peace Corps. They currently act as our marketers and field testers providing us with feedback on how farmers would improve our products.

Because the farmers are a part of the conversation, they typically accept our products quite exitedly.

We hope we've addressed your questions. Please don't hesitate to contact us should you have further questions.

Thanks for the endorsement!

As for a subsidized amount, Full Belly Project is currently under review for a foundation to potentially assist in the purchase/subsidization of Universal Nut Shellers in Malawi.

said 2 years ago

Hi,
Thanks for this wonderful idea. It sounds like an idea I have pasted on this site. However, yours seems to concerntrate more on manufacturing of less costly farming equipments. This is great! I will keep in touch to learn more about your activities.

emichaelhewett said 2 years ago

Who could possibly deserve this than THE Full Belly Project??? What's wierd is that I'm actually wearing (one of ) my Full Belly T-Shirt(s) right now (when I was informed about this)! GOOD LUCK and keep up the GREAT work!