Mushroom Flour Group

Our solution to this problem is producing Mushrooms for consumption on a large scale. Mushrooms are among the many foods thought to play an important role in keeping the immune system healthy. 

The results suggest that white button mushrooms may promote immune function by increasing production of antiviral and other proteins that are released by cells while seeking to protect and repair tissue.

By including mushrooms in products like flour that people consume on a daily basis, we improve their immune system to prevent infection from covid-19.   

 We address several problems. First, the lack of familiarity with exotic quisine. Second, we strengthen our consumer's immune system against covid-19 due to the antiviral properties in mushrooms. We also make it convenient for them in this perpetual lockdown through online shopping and home delivery.

Instead of only retailing fresh mushrooms, we incorporate theminto the usual food products that people occasionally consume such as maize flour. We are serving a new market in a new way using the same (or less) resources to do more. Our market is fairly simple with two wholesale clients. We also intend to employ social media as it's such a great way for getting this word out & tapping the power of online shopping & home delivery.

Our impact on society over the years is to address SDG3 & SDG2  as we are nourishing the population. We plan to impact the Kenyan population by improving their immune system in the fight against covid-19. Additionally, we plan to employ more than 100 employees in the cultivation, marketing & delivery of mushrooms to increase their livelihoods hence promoting SDG 1 and SDG 8. 

In comparison to the pharmaceutical industry, we impact health with zero detriments to human physiology.  Some of our competitors are other mushroom producers & mushroom value addition companies. Their competitive advantages are that they have the capital to produce mushrooms sustainably therefore, achieving a high entry barrier & monopoly. Their disadvantages are an inconsistent production of fresh mushrooms & a limited product array that people would consume on a daily basis. We achieve customer loyalty with an affordable variety of mushroom products, making sure our customers will always prefer us to regular food brands, particularly during this pandemic.

The main innovation in our products is realized through value addition. Our competitors either retail fresh mushrooms or as cooked meals in restaurants. Apart from the latter lucking feasibility due to perpetual lockdown & complicated preparation methods, the former isn’t scalable because of limited shelf lives of mushrooms. Our company iterates on these problems by setting the mushrooms & using them to prepare biscuits & cookies. These products are not only appealing to consumers but also have long shelf lives.

Mushroom biotechnology is concerned with application of molecular tools in the improvement of mushrooms and subsequently the use of mushroom in combating malnutrition, get rid of many diseases, biodegradation and bioconversion of lignocellulosic wastes into food, fodder and energy, bioremediation of xenobiotics and indirect antiviral effects as the result of the immuno-stimulating activity of polysaccharides or other coplex molecules.

Reference
Liu J, Yarng F, Ye LB, et al. Possible mode of action of anti-herpetic activities of a proteoglycan
isolated from the mycelia of Ganoderma lucidum in vitro. J Ethnopharmacol.

A bioactive fraction (GLPG) was extracted and purified from the mycelia of Ganoderma lucidum by EtOH precipitation and DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. GLPG was a proteoglycan and had a carbohydrate: protein ratio of 10.4:1. Its antiviral activities against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) were investigated by the cytopathic effect (CPE) inhibition assay in cell culture. This kind of polysaccharide inhibited the development of the cytopathic effect in dose-dependent manner in HSV-infected cells, moreover did not show any cytotoxic effects on cells even when a concentration was as high as 2000 microg/ml. In order to study the possible mode of action of the antiviral activity of GLPG, cells were treated with GLPG before, during and after infection, and the viral titers in the supernatant of cell culture 48 h post-infection were tested by TCID(50) assay. The antiviral effects in pre-treated and treated during virus infection with GLPG were more remarkable than the treatment of post-infection. Although the precise mechanism has yet to be defined, our work suggested that GLPG inhibits viral replication by interfering with the early events of viral adsorption and entry into target cells. Thus, this proteoglycan seems to be a potential candidate for anti-HSV agents.

Using mushrooms to strengthen the human immune system in the fight against covid-19 will in essence shield the population amidst such adversities; meaning longer healthier lifespans & as a result the ability to have meaningful impact seven generations into the future. Our intention is to make acquaintance with people from 24 different countries globally. These will be our partners working as product assemblers & packagers. They afterwards ship our products to the respective clients via the Glovo app delivery service. We will operate social media ads remotely to all 24 countries in order to drive traffic into our online store & convert them into loyal clients. On a monthly basis, we'll have to fund web hosting, internet bills, social media ads, zoom platform hosting for conducting virtual meetings, inventory & employee wages.

Current number is one fresh produce client at 500 kilos weekly
Expected number in a year is an additional wholesale client for mushroom baking flour at 500 kilos a week. This serves a school of 500+ students.
Expected number in 5 years is 30,000 subscribers to our monthly package deal globally.

Our intention is to have this enterprise run over 24 different countries globally. That means squaring individual output up to 500 times. This social enterprise will gross a minimum of $3000 monthly in each of the 24 countries it is based in. An annual income of about $1,728,000.

Financial barriers we face is enough runway to fund inventory costs, operational costs & employee remuneration.
Cultural barriers we phase are first of all language barriers as some countries we would like to operate in aren’t English speaking. Also getting acquainted to people who may want to work with us might prove problematic.
Legal barriers include employee loyalty when working for us with risk of intellectual property when the enterprise teaches them how to prepare our products.
Technical barriers might include us remotely purchasing the raw materials for product preparation & having them delivered to our employees' doorstep for product assembly.
Market barriers might include expensive licensing from appreciate government bodies in the food industry & reaching target audience.
 

How to overcome them
Financial problems can be settled once we secure funding from this program.
Cultural barriers such as language can be addressed by using apps that support language translation such as slack. Meeting potential employees might be achieved through social platforms as Instagram & Facebook
Legal barriers when it comes to intellectual property can be secured by contractual agreements when employees engage with this Enterprise.
Technical barriers such as inventory acquisition in a manner that limits theft & losses can be leveraged upon platforms like Amazon & Alibaba shopping that are global.
Market barriers such as reaching appropriate demographics can be dealt with social media advertising. Acquiring appropriate business licenses from appropriate authorities will also be beneficial.

Full time staff- 3

Part-time staff-6

Other workers-10

Myself as the director; I have a background in mushroom microbiology. 

The Data Center Accounts Officer is responsible for handling customer accounts from online shopping.

Transport & logistics officer is responsible for timely delivery of quality products.

Our current partners are the Glovo delivery app when it comes to timely delivery of our products & GoDaddy sites that allows us to host our brand online.

Our business model involves reaching our clients through social media and referrals. Clients place their orders & pay for them online & we in turn use the Glovo delivery app to send their order within 24hrs.

Our path to financial stability involves pitching for funding from the Solve network; using it as runway to keep the business afloat until it breaks even. Then have our revenue streams take care of the expenses as well as reinvest to sustain an even larger brand.

QWe are applying to solve mainly for financial support to gain enough runway to fund inventory costs, operational costs & employee remuneration in order to ultimately flatten the curve of the pandemic through our output.

Partners in solution technology will help us achieve the vision of drone technology.

We uplift those who elevating humanity by boosting their immune system with our mushroom products. Our team will use The Elevate Prize for Health Security to advance our objective of boasting this target group's immunity by reaching them, informing them via the Internet & finally delivering our mushroom products for their consumption.