BarEl to reduce negative impacts of rare diseases

Rare diseases meanwhile affect at any point in time 3.5% – 5.9% of the global population, equivalent to 320 million people globally (4% of an estimated world population of 8 billion).The estimated number of people with rare diseases in Malawi is 800,000 (4% of an estimated  population of Malawi of about 20 million).

Roughly 85% of biomedical research funding is wasted due to inefficiencies from strategic planning, design, execution, reporting, and publication; and they represent a financial loss greater than US$200 billion globally per year that interferes with evidence-based medicine, and has a significant carbon footprint of the healthcare industry that impacts negatively on planetary health.  Biomedical research has an ecological impact that causes wastage in terms of money, time, and resources. Biomedical research environment is overwhelmed with data, non-reproducible findings; and lacks capacity in human resource.

There is an enormous environmental impact of the rare disease health care space and burdens for rare disease families. Like any disease, rare diseases  are associated with costs like:

• Direct costs:- prescription drugs, medical products, hospitalization, home healthcare, professional services, nurse visits and administration

• Indirect costs: productivity cost, patient and caregiver, work loss, home changes, cost of secondary treatments, travelling and accommodation.
• Mortality costs.

Any death, arising from a rare disease or not, results in environmental impact through:

a.  generation of huge kilograms of carbon dioxide through burial or cremation.

b. chemicals of the embalming fluid that are buried in the ground; and gradually, work their way into the soil and underground waterways.

c. release of harmful gases like mercury and dioxin. 

d. enormous amount of energy needed for cremation.

e. wood needed to produce a coffin, to incinerate a corpse and the resultant carbon emissions.

Causes of research waste and  of irreproducibility research findings are as follows:

a. Questions or data collection on outcomes that are not relevant or necessary to clinicians and patients by researchers. 

b. new studies  not informed by systematic reviews of the existing evidence.

c. Failure to take adequate steps to reduce sources of bias. 

d. Failure to fully publish study results, poor reporting, and the inability to re-use data.

f. Sample size calculation are  seldom reported.

• Poor or no weak experimental design.

• Lack of standardisation, randomisation and automation.

• No open and reusable data. Researchers may refuse to disclose full results, including  raw data.

•  Statistical errors, data abuses, deliberate fabrication or falsification of data, inadequate training, understanding of statistics and inappropriate statistical analysis can lead to underpowered studies with sample sizes that are too small, ill- or un-defined end-points, and inappropriate handling and interpretation of data.
• Flexible study designs: the greater the flexibility in study design, the less likely the research findings are to be true.

•  Data dredging also known as p-hacking: 
  • HARKing, i.e. hypothesising after the results are known.
  • Overstating a research finding, and cherry-picking data or analyses.
• Omitting null results.
• Technical errors may exist within a study, such as computational errors.

• False discovery rate. 
• Exploratory analyses

My team and I believe in positive social change through sustainable solutions.  Our solution uses BarEl software, which we developed.

Our solution decreases the environmental impact of the rare disease health care space and alleviate burdens for rare disease families. 

It reduces costs associated with rare diseases by reducing suffering and  number of deaths caused by rare diseases through effective medicines or treatments due to proper conduct of research through effective statistical analysis and data analysis 

It reduces carbon dioxide emissions associated with travel as researchers will not be travelling much but send the questionnaire electronically to respondents; and also that vital data will be collected instantly into the software when  a patient with rare disease visit a healthy facility.

Clinicians will be using BarEl software when collecting data as opposed to use of paper, which has an adverse effect on environment.

Our solution counters irreproducibility of research findings and biomedical research waste by:

• Enhancing efficiencies in clinical trials and research, including data collection and sharing.

• Promoting data transparency.

• Optimizing transportation of supplies and treatments by addressing shipping inefficiencies and last mile delivery through  effective transport management,  inventory management of drugs and effective locational decisions.

• Employing good research practices, data stewardship and open science. Data stewardship also means data minimisation, that is, only data that are necessary for the research purpose should be collected. Less data means less computing power is needed for storage and analyses. 

• Protecting personal data through proactive anonymisation and passwords.

• Helping collaboration to improve the interoperability.

•  Reducing the carbon footprint of  biomedical research .

• Facilitating random sampling. 

• Facilitating quality control.

   • Discouraging flexibility of data analysis with the help of the audit trail feature that tracks activities of users.

 •  Reducing the opportunity for human error by using BarEl software.

 • Helping  biomedical researchers to continually update their knowledge of statistics and quantitative skills. Seamless collaboration between biomedical researchers and statisticians is only possible if researchers have sufficient knowledge of statistics.

Statistics or Biostatistics and health informatics  play critical analytical role in biomedical research.   

Our solution through BarEl software is rich with features, some of which are: health indicators,  power analysis, priori and posteriori analyses, sampling random numbers, covariance,  variances, standard deviations, range, interquartile range, quartiles, modes, kurtosis, skewness, minimum, maximum, frequency, sample mean, sample proportion, confidence level, population mean, population proportion, central limit theorem, Sample size calculation using Cochran formula, Sample Size Calculation Using Slovin Formula,  probabilities, normal distribution, binomial distribution,  histograms, univariate analysis , multivariate analysis, parametric, non-parametric, descriptive and inferential statistics, risk ratio, confounding factors and odd ratio,  Hypothesis testing, Z tests, F tests, Chi-square test, student t tests,  spearman rank correlation, pearson’s correlation,  forecasting methods, means, proportions, complementary events,  Jarque Bera Test, Frequency Polygon, Regression Analysis, Analysis of Variance, Two-Way Anova, One-Way Anova and Covarince. 

The target population whose lives we are working to directly and meaningfully improve include:

• Researchers
• Biomedical researchers
• Research community
• Statisticians
• Clinicians
• Health workers
• Rare disease patients and families
• Academicians
• Funders
• Women.
• Children.
• Girls.
• Youths.
• Everyone.
• Ethnic minorities.
• People with disabilities
• The marginalised.

We are constantly engaging our target population in development of our solution through one to one discussion or through virtual meetings . During such meetings, our target population  suggests to us what  improvements to make to our solutions. For example, we took the suggestion of the Assistant Researcher of the University of Livingstonia in developing a tool for collecting data. We also trained the  Assistant Researcher of the University of Livingstonia on how to do statistical analysis using BarEl Software.

The solution will address their needs by:

• decreasing the environmental impact of the rare disease health care space and alleviate burdens for rare disease families.
• reducing the harmful environmental impact, which is beneficial to everyone.
• alleviating the cost burden associated with rare diseases.
• conducting statistical analysis that enhances the conduct of research . 
• enabling researchers to conduct animal studies (vitro or vivo) that are carried out to the highest standards of best practice, with right sample size that has optimal costs and effect size.
• improving reproducibility that will ensure that biomedical research conducted by researchers is as efficient and productive as possible. 
• minimising transport costs, fuel costs, and costs associated with cost location.

• providing better healthy care and healthy life for all people and reducing death rate, resulting in economic prosperity. 
• preventing illness or death, curing diseases, promoting wellness and improving quality of health care services.
• reducing or eliminating redundant studies that translate into people and animals being unnecessarily exposed to risk and experimental procedures.
• helping funders to have their objectives realised.
• enabling researchers to enjoy benefits of good data stewardship, which include increased research transparency and ease of replication, and accelerated discovery and innovation as data sharing is possible and feasible.  Data transparency  promotes innovation and enhances scientific knowledge that would translate into better practice of medicine and benefits for public health. Open access to data facilitates independent re-analysis and increases knowledge about medicines; thereby, minimising duplicating efforts and repeating mistakes.
• helping to generate quality information and make it accessible to all intended users for evidence-based decision-making.
• reducing in the number of retractions and corrigenda by the biomedical research community.
• helping researchers to reduce costs and save time as they conduct research.
• enabling large-scale collaborations, which allow researchers to capitalise on the statistical and technical skills of colleagues.

All in all, reduction of rare diseases will result in socio-economic development and prosperity.

Problems our people face, are the problems we have faced ourselves, and are still facing. 

We have an empathy for the trap they are caught in. 

We have a meaningful relationship with groups whose identity or experience are systemically stereotyped, feared, dismissed, or marginalized. 

We have the experience, relationships, data, and knowledge that are essential for developing  measurable, sustainable, high-impact strategies and solutions.

Some of us have parents who have rare diseases like Schizophrenia.

We are a part of our community; and we are meaningfully guided by our community’s input, ideas, needs, perspectives, agendas, and assets.

We ensure our communities participate in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation through surveys, suggestion boxes, focus groups, interviews, prototype and product review.

We motivate people in  our communities to be change-makers in their lives, families and communities.

We enhance collaborative processes with our communities through communication, coordination and  mutual support. We take advantage of local groups and free events that provide networking opportunities.

We are a team as well as friends who have supported each other in many ways. We come from the very community we are trying to help, enabling us to recognize both the challenges and assets our communities face.

We have the ability to recognize and leverage assets and expertise within our communities we seek to support, that are often overlooked or misunderstood when viewed through a dominant culture lens.

We will create social media groups to learn and capture trends, and for communities to see and understand their own journey. We will use  data to enable other stakeholders, including government and philanthropists to better understand how our communities move out of problems.

We practise Bricolage. We make with what we have and we make something unique and valued.

We nurture human potential.

We are asset-based in our view of those we wish to help. We view them as people filled with knowledge, skills, ideas, and solutions that if respected and supported, can advance sustainability, impact, and self-determination.

We have the following attributes:

Human Dignity:  we  recognise that all people have unique gifts and assets.

Connection :  intimate knowledge of our communities enable us to find  ways  that might not be as apparent to others who do not have their lived experience.

Community : we  recognize that we are part of a larger group walking together on the same path.  

Agency : we ensure that everyone feels  that they can shape their future, relationships, and environment. 

A Sense of Possibility: We believe that  nothing is impossible.

We  lead, not follow experts in creating solutions to our community’s challenges.

We are not only  supported in creating solutions,  but we are also provided with resources to scale up solutions that are working. 

We are not objects of charity, but drivers of change.

We support people and planet alongside profit. We are far from self-serving. 

We are brave  to create positive social change.  We are passionate and persistent. 

We are applying  because of the following reasons:

• We need financial help for operations. We need funding in the form of grants and investments, including through prizes and Solve Innovation Future.
• We want to join a class of impressive peers that act as a trusted support group, offering inspiration and guidance.
• We want to join a powerful network of impact-minded leaders across industries and sectors, with dedicated spaces to meet year-round and during Solve’s flagship events such as Solve at MIT.  

• We want to access leadership coaching and strategic advice from experts in the Solve and MIT networks. 
• We want to receive monitoring and evaluation support to build an impact measurement practice. 
• We want to gain exposure in the media and at conferences.
• We want to access relevant in-kind resources such as software licenses and legal services from Solve supporters. 

He is a citizen and a resident of Malawi. He also interacts with the community in which the project is based during meetings on how best to improve our solution.  

The following make our solution innovative:

• It is probably the only solution that addresses biomedical research waste and irreproducibility of research findings. 
• It is a positive improvement.  It is feature rich. It is beneficial to users and consumers. It is a more efficient way. It is a better product or  process. It brings improvement. It stands out from the rest and truly makes customers’ lives easier.
• It is something different and unique. It is original and authentic. It is a new method or technique that was not previously available. 
• It is multipurpose. It is a successful change.  
•  It is customizable. 
• It is sustainable: It is self-sustaining. It does not solely rely on donor aid and funding.
• It is socially inclusive.
• It  strives for inclusion in the workplace. 
• It is diversifiable: Different products are offered.  
• It can easily be replaced.
• It can be beneficial to a larger group of people. It can be highly scalable so that it can be cascaded to the entire market ecosystem. It is scalable owing to a huge potential market worldwide.
• With it, we can can satisfy needs of people globally.
• It is reactive. It responds actively to social needs and provides answers to problems within a community.
•  It is feasible.
• It saves time; thereby, improving productivity. 
• It solves a problem in a cheaper or better manner. It brings about cost reduction. Money is saved because less paper and less labour are used; thereby, enhancing profit margin or surplus.
•  It provides effective solutions to existing problems; thereby, eliminating a certain amount of stress and saving mental sanity. 
• It is a very easy application to use and learn.
• It provides clear cut jobs with authorization. 
• It enhances security and  internal control environment through segregation of duties as a result of multi-logins. 
• It helps to compare and analyse data across  an organization within a specific period and between two or more periods.  
•  It increases quality and accuracy of information.
•  It facilitates integration and collaboration across departments. 
• It achieves centralization of data as well as harmonisation and simplification of disparate information.
• It can be used both online and offline.
• It has a long list of features and functions. 
• There exists a market for our solution, locally and globally.
• The solution will be highly usable by consumers.
• The solution does not generate new problems that need to be solved before or after the solution is consumed.

The following make our solution sustainable:

1.It has a Human sustainability aspect: It aims to maintain and improve the human capital in society. It invests in the health and education systems,  knowledge and skills. 

It has a social sustainability aspect. It preserves social capital by investing and creating services that constitute the framework of our society for social equality.    

It has the economic sustainability aspect to maintain the capital intact so as to improve the standard of living. 

 It has the  environmental sustainability aspect  to improve human welfare through the protection of natural capital (e.g. land, air, water, trees, forests etc.)

The following are the impact goals for the next year and the next five years; and how they will be achieved:

• Decrease by 95% the environmental impact of the rare disease health care space, within five years from the commencement of the project..
• Alleviate  by  95% burdens for rare disease families, within five years from the commencement of the project.

• Reduce by 20%  the environmental impact of rare diseases within a year from the commencement of the project.
• Reduce by 20% the burden costs of rare diseases within a y ear from the commencement of the project.
• Decrease by 20%, the environmental impact of the rare disease health care space within a year from the commencement of the project.
• Alleviate by 20%, burdens for rare disease families within a year from the commencement of the project.
• Within a year from the commencement of the project,  by 20% quality of health care services of those with rare diseases.
• Within a year from the commencement of the project, improve by 20% availability and quality of health infrastructure and medical equipment by strengthening transport system at all levels. 
• Within a year from the commencement of the project, generate  by 20% quality information and make accessible to all intended users for evidence-based decision-making, through health research.
•  Within a year from the commencement of the project, enhance by 50% local capacities to conduct research  and enhancing routine data and research reporting and utilization at all levels.
• Reduce by 20%  biomedical research waste and irreproducibility of research findings within a year from the commencement of the project. 
• Increase capacity of researchers in statistics and quantitative analysis by 20%  within a year from the commencement of the project.

We will measure our progress toward our impact goals by:

1. measuring number of people rare diseases.

2. Measuring the number of reproducibility of research findings. 

3. Measuring the total amount of financial loss of biomedical research waste.

4. Measuring number of biomedical reasrchers using statistical package including BarEl software.  

5. Below are some  examples of indicators we will be measuring among people with rare diseases :

mortality rate, incidence rate, prevalence rate, diagnosis rate, percentage of expenditure of biomedical waste, number of corrigenda and retractions of research reports, number of researchers with skills and knowledge in BarEl Software, and  within a year from the commencement of the project.

6. Below is the indicator we will be Measuring in relation to environment impact as a result of travel in relation to management of people with rare diseases:

a. Amount of fuel consumed.

The target population whose lives we are working to directly and meaningfully improve is bout 400 million worldwide.

Context

Health workers, transport officers, NGOs and governments are engaged in the project because they are agents of change.

Beneficiaries of the project are:

• Researchers
• Biomedical researchers
• Research community
• Statisticians
• Clinicians
• Health workers
• Patients with rare diseases
• Academicians
• Funders
• women.
• children.
• girls.
• youths.
• everyone.
• ethnic minorities.
• people with disabilities

  Expected impacts are:

• Alleviation of burdens for rare disease families
• Decrease in the environmental impact of the rare disease health care space.
• Better environment.
• Reduction in costs associated with rare diseases.
• More prevention of rare diseases, better curing of diseases and promotion of wellness and improvement of quality of health care services.
• Better healthy care and healthy life for all people with rare diseases and reduction in their death rate, resulting in economic prosperity. 
• Improved reproducibility that will ensure that biomedical research is as efficient and productive as possible. 
• Reduction in biomedical research waste
• Improved capacity of researchers in stastistcs, quantitative techniques, transport management and operations managements .
• Reduction or elimination of redundant studies that translate into people and animals being unnecessarily exposed to risks and experiments.

BarEl software is referred herein as BarEl. 

GOAL : Decrease the environmental impact of the rare disease health care space and alleviate burdens for rare disease families so as to improve health and quality of the population with rare diseases for sustainable socio-economic development.

The assumptions and risks are:

• Funding provided.
• No inflation.
• No electricity outages.

• Emergencies.

Enablers

• Quality of staff 
• Availability of vehicles.

Inputs: staff, funds,  fuel and training workshop equipment.

Strategy: Generating quality health information and make it accessible to users.

Outputs

• 5000 participants trained to use BarEl  in research for health; particularly, in statistical analysis and in collection and sharing of vital information.

 Activities

• Conduct training to use BarEl in research for health; particularly, in statistical analysis and in collection and sharing of vital information.

• Conduct training to use BarEl in e-Health

Strategy: Improving health campaign initiatives.

   Outputs

• 5000 participants trained to use BarEl in health campaigns

      Activities

• Conduct training to use BarEl in health campaigns

Outcome: Improved access and equitable health service delivery.

     Strategy:  Strengthening health care systems.

      Output

• 5000 participants trained to use BarEl  in transport management, inventory management and operations management.

 Activities       

• Conduct training to use BarEl in transport management, inventory management and operations management..

The core technology that powers our solution is software or app. It uses a software called BarEl, which we developed using database management and Microsoft Excel. Though BarEl software is based on Microsoft Access, it can be upgraded to Express Edition, which has a bigger capacity to store information. It can also be upgraded to SQL Microsoft Azure, which can enable it to reach many users worldwide through cloud services.

Four people work on the solution team. These are: Thumbiko Shumba, the CEO & Founder; Tiwonge Kuyokwa, the Data Analyst; Mwayi Mbewe, the Data Analyst; and Humphreys Mphatso Simfukwe, the IT Coordinator. He has a certificate in clinical medicine. Mr Thumbiko Shumba is the holder of the Bachelor of Business Administration Degree. He is a writer. He won Peer Gynt Literary Prize. He retired as Deputy Director of Finance in the Malawi Government. We are all full-time staff.

We have been working on our solution for four years.

Our approach to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusivity into our work is as follows:

1.  Employ people of different backgrounds. It is our policy to have the following as our employees: women, youths, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, people from different  racial or tribal backgrounds, people from different homes of origin, people of different religious and economic status. In fact, we have two women in our solution team; namely, Tiwonge Kuyokwa and Mwayi Mbewe. They are both Data Analysts.

2. Help employees to understand how individuals are impacted by unconscious bias, and what actions continue to reinforce biases. We encourage every employee to review, question, and analyze their own personal biases and assumptions.

3.  Respect and embrace other people's experiences and realities. Cultural humility is another way leaders and employees can manage bias and foster more inclusive environments.

4. Identify patterns or trends that may exist where certain groups of employees are underpaid within certain areas of the business; and observe equal pay for equal work.

5. Conduct diversity training that helps employees understand how cultural differences can impact how people work and interact at work. It can cover anything from concepts of time and communication styles to self-identity and dealing with conflict.

6. Promote awareness of, and acknowledge a variety of upcoming religious and cultural holidays. 

7. Make it easy for our colleagues at work to participate in employee resource groups.

8. Ensure that people of different gender, cultural background or age are working together. Diversity in teams positively impacts creativity and innovation.

9. Encourage our colleagues at work to share their feedback to get a better understanding of what is going on under the surface.

10.Assess areas of the business in which discrimination can exist. Determine whether policies promote discrimination in the workplace such as racism or sexism; and then take corrective measures to move towards a more equitable workplace. 

11. Believe in equity and justice.

12.Ensure that our leadership team is diverse by promoting women, people with disabilities, youths and ethnic minorities into leadership positions.

Key Partners  and stakeholders

Health workers, government,  NGOs,  biomedical researchers, statisticians and  transport officers.

Knowledge partners: 

Axel Angeli of Logos! Informatik GmbH (Germany) and Jasper Bhaumick of UMa Soft GmbH( Switzerland).

 Collaborative partners: University of Livingstonia (Malawi) and

Youth and Society (Malawi).

Research Partners: Research Software and Systems Engineers  Africa.

Business and inclusive partners:

EMD Consulting Engineers, the water engineers (Malawi) and  BIZ-LOGIC SOLUTIONS LIMITED (Tanzania).

Member of 50 Experts Alliance 

1. https://www.50experts.com/ 2. https://50experts.com/50experts/shumba

Key Activities 

1. Train users of BarEl software .

2. Provide office services and routine activities for management of the project 

3. Set up monitoring mechanisms and conducting evaluation.

4. Achieve policy dialogue, coordination and knowledge management through advocacy.

5. Promote project results.

6. Customer service.

7. Support and participation activities.

Key Resources

• Human – employees, volunteers.
• Financial - cash.
• Physical - computers.
  • Cost-driven.
  • Fixed costs –  salary, rent.
  • Variable costs – fuel, allowances, training,  impact assessment costs.
  •  Economies of scale - facilitation allowance 
• Intellectual - copyright, knowledge, skills

 Cost Structure

Classes of business structures:

• Economies of scope –  computer costs, labour, utilities, stationery.

Characteristics of cost structures:

Cost of delivery

• marketing.
• logistics.

Social Innovation.

• Multipurpose 
• Employ separate or a combination of these models: One-for-one, Service subsidization, Awareness & Cause, Environmental, Entrepreneur support, organizational Support, Low-income client and Fee-for-service.
• Effective transport management
• New research tools and statistical analysis

 Format of the intervention

• Provision of BarEl software.
• Training workshops on how to use BarEl software

Value Proposition

• Long healthy life. 
• Price of BarEl software is reasonably low, 
• BarEl software is a quality , new, convenient, cost-effective, efficient and customizable brand. 
• Cost savings.

•  Time savings. 
•  Revenue increase. 
• Customer satisfaction.
• Vertical scaling.

Revenue streams

• Grants.
• Revenues due to training.
• Donations.
• Asset sales: Revenue from sales of BarEl software.
• Participation and support funding.
• Subscription fee.

Surplus

 This is how we intend to use the surplus:

• Make a donation to a social mission-aligned organization.
• Reach out to more customers, stakeholders and beneficiaries.
• Community reinvestment: reinvest our surplus into growing our social business.

Customer Relationships

• Personal assistance e.g. social media, newsletters, forums.
• Dedicated personal assistance.
• Self-service: user manuals.
• Personalized service, repeat custom, loyalty, long-term customers.

Consumer benefits

• Decrease in the environmental impact of the rare disease health care space 
• Alleviation of burdens for rare disease families
• Better health.
• Economic opportunity.
• Better environment.
• Reduction in costs associated with rare diseases.

Distribution channels

Types of channels

1. Owned channels: website, social media, newsletter, online advertising and store front.

2. Partner channels:  marketplaces, partner websites, retail, social media, global awareness raising events,  corporate cause marketing partnerships and referral marketing.

Customer segments

• Mass market: General public.
• Niche market: Reseachers, statisticians.
• Diversify: Health workers, government, Non-Governmental Organisations.
• Philanthropists, regulars, local businesses, ethical consumers.

Beneficiaries

Patients with rare diseases, researchers, biomedical researchers, research community, statisticians, clinicians, health workers, academicians, funders, women, children, girls, youths, everyone, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities

 Impact measure will be done through these Indicators: economic growth, average life span, mortality rates, prevalence and incidence of diseases

Our plans for becoming financially sustainable are :

·         selling our digital product BarEl software as a service sold per unit. Our customers can access our product through subscription. It is a licensed software. We offer freemiums to our potential customers. It is on Face Book marketplace.We aspire that it should be on other marketplaces like MIT Solve.

·         charging a small fee for installation, maintenance, consultancy and training. We are also looking forward for grants or donations from MIT Solve or philanthropists or investors so that we scale our activities.

·         charging different prices to different customers. Price discrimination will depend on size, location and type of customer.  Low income earners will be charged low prices. Government and corporate customers will be charged more than individual customers. Prices will also be charged on SaaS. The more features of BarEl software a customer acquires, the higher the price. We will  charge per year  $5 to individual customers with low income and $50 to corporate customers with no or low profits, and $1000 to governments or big corporate customers that are financially able. We will charge maintenance and installation fees.

• ensuring input efficiency by conducting trainings  en-masse and at once; hence,  reducing training cost per unit, resulting in  higher profit margins. 
• scaling through:

a. vertical scaling. We will create partnerships .We will improve our product for small customers before targeting larger customers. We want to build relationships with more global brands to enable larger sales orders. And we will agree on how to share profits .  BarEl software is  multipurpose.

b. horizontal scaling : we will expand our offering to customers in neighbouring countries, then the Sub-Saharan Africa; and then, the whole world.  African market is largely untapped,and BarEl software is currently one of the few players in the space.

In addition, our revenue models that we will or we employ separately or as a combination:

Hiring or Employment, One-for-one model also known as buy-one give-one, Service subsidization, Awareness & Cause, Environmental, Entrepreneur support, Organizational support, Low-income client  and Fee-for-service .

Transaction revenue: One-time sale of BarEl software or our services. 

Recurring revenue: Our customers will pay for access to a product or service in installments; usually, monthly or yearly.

Service revenue: Our customers will pay periodically, and for our expertise. 

Advertisements. We will sell ad space. 

Furthermore, our plans for becoming financially sustainable are through:

·         selling consultancy services to government and other customers.

·         service contracts to governments.

·         raising investment capital.

·         diversifying donor base and developing long-term partnerships with donors. We will continue to rely on donations and grants. 

·         effectively and efficiently managing financial and physical resources.

·         developing new partnerships, boost existing relations with donors, beneficiaries and stakeholders.

The Total Addressable Market in Malawi is $20 million. And for Africa, it is is $35 billion.

Some examples of how our plan to achieve financial sustainability has been successful so far are:

• Our organisation has a hybrid structure i.e. it has a traditional approach of generating income through sale of BarEl software and through receiving grants or donations; hence, reduction in reliance on the gen­eros­ity of donors.
• We increase rev­enue through sale of BarEl software or training provided to users of BarEl software. We  achieve this by increasing customer base through promotional activities. Scalability is done through use of internet and entering more markets; including national, regional and global markets. It is on YouTube as well as on Face Book marketplace. 
• We want to join  other platforms or marketplaces like MIT Solve.

·         The solution is scaled to affect lives of more people living in low and middle income countries; hence, more revenue.

• We have so far created partnerships, which are already bearing fruits. Sales revenues realised or that will be realised from such partnerships  will help to subsidise  costs of the project, and will also be used to fund social programs. We will also be advertising our software called BarEl on partner websites. 

·         Below are some of our partners:   

a)    BSL , an IT company of Tanzania with strong links to India, Serosoft,  an IT company of India with branches in USA and Europe, EMD Consulting Engineers of Malawi,  University of Livingstonia in Malawi and NBM Development Bank of Malawi.

b)  https://www.50experts.com/ 

c)  https://50experts.com/50experts/shumba

• We  also had some sales revenue through provision of consultancy services using BarEl software to clients of NBM Development Bank on how to prepare business plans so that they access credit: This business activity has the potential of generating $12.5 million annually in Malawi.
• We  also intensify appealing for more grants or donations to achieve double-digit rev­enue growth.
• We have raised $2000.00 through my monthly pension.
• We incre­men­tally improve our gross and oper­at­ing profit margins through cost minimization.
• We  man­age  work­ing capital through proper cash management and work­ing cap­i­tal account, which can cushion against short-term rev­enue downturns.
•  We effi­ciently invest cap­i­tal in growth projects, while taking into consideration investment appraisal techniques like (ROI, IRR, NPV) and also break-even analy­sis.
•  We steadily build our asset base, which is key to mov­ing for­ward with impact-driven activ­i­ties even when cur­rent dona­tions are down.
• We use low-cost debt in man­age­able amounts as a financ­ing tool.
• We engage with a com­mu­nity of investors who are inter­ested in invest­ing in the mis­sion of social busi­nesses and enter­prises rather than donat­ing.  They can invest with equity or debt, with low­ered expec­ta­tions for returns.  This is a valu­able source of funds for our organisation.

·         We appeal to all our stake­hold­ers why our organisation deserves their con­tin­ued finan­cial sup­port.