Idea Napkin No. 1


You
My name is Orlantha Heethawakage. I am a post bachelor’s student in Business Administration at the University of Florida. My first undergraduate degree was in Industrial Engineering. I pursued this career and decided I wanted to go back to school to switch from a technical role in New Product Development upstream to a feasibility or marketing role. My goal is to start at a consulting company determining whether a new product is worth making. In order to do this, I will need more of a business background. I believe this is an underlying issue that will need to be addressed. This business concept is something I don’t believe I will pursue due to knowledge constraints (not a civil engineer) but I would not be surprised if a management system does not appear within the next few years.
What are you offering to customers? 
 The services offered are a monitoring system for levies around the Missouri River. This would act as an early detection system to help manage and detect cracks and dangerous erosion and also highlight damage due to flooding. This will help flooding in the Midwest and save farm land so they can continue planting crops at the correct time.
Who are you offering it to? 
 I am offering this solution to local and state governments as well as the Army Corps of Engineers. They will not have specific psychographic characteristics because they will be public servants or elected officials.
Why do they care? 
 The Governments rely on the revenue of farmers for taxes as well as to employ people in those smaller Midwest towns. The Army Corps of Engineers can use this product to help already strained resources and focus on mending levies that are in poor status first.
What are your core competencies? 
As a private company, I am able to locate “unlimited resources” meaning the ability to locate and acquire information from Subject Matter Experts, who will be more knowledgeable than the workers already in Government. They will be able to solely research this issue and how to develop this monitoring system where as government workers also have many projects and have a range of knowledge without having a focus on one particular subject.
I believe these elements fit well together, there are a few week points such as my knowledge of monitoring systems and would need more research to fully attempt to create a monitoring system. Government contracts can be difficult to acquire and usually come down to the lowest bidder. It might be difficult to profit from the first monitoring system, but if done right, can be a “household name” for the same issue.

Comments

  1. Shivani DaveFebruary 21, 2020 at 2:11 PM

    Hi Orlantha! I believe that this is an awesome business concept because the need for levies and monitoring systems around the Missouri River are something needed immediately. Without a proper detection system, flooding and other hazards that may lead to crop destruction or even human death may result. This very real need means that governments and businesses will be looking to purchase a detection system in the near future.

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