The key to success is in the differences!

This week I have seen what happens when you mix different people with different backgrounds and expertise: you get too many good ideas! Somebody looking for business ideas? Come to us, we have plenty!

My work description with Design without Borders also involves teaching activities at Makerere University. I have decided to teach what I really believe in: that the key to successful products and successful businesses lays in combining knowledge and ideas from different people with different expertises.

Me as a teacher at Makerere University. From my lecture 14th of November.

Transforming the customers needs and dreams into a successful product requires many different skills.

A multi-disciplinary design project
I have initiated and started up a multi-disciplinary project at the university. The four graduate students in the project group have been hand picked with assistance from the university staff and are specializing in mechanical engineering, food science, agri business and advertising design. They are all doing this project as their graduation project.

A project team of experts in different fields is one of the keys to a successful project.

A food product for sale in the supermarket

This is the project objective the students have been given:
"Develop a food product (or a small range of products) for sale in the supermarket"
Tasks will include:

- market research to determine needs and opportunities in the market

- research for available raw materials and technology

- product development according to taste, nutrition, shelf life, food safety etc.

- design of production process and needed production equipment

- packaging development: functionality, materials, shape, recycling options

- business plan: cost analysis, marketing strategy etc

- design of brand, logo, graphic design for packaging, information/marketing material and campaigns

The 4 students will have to work closely together as many of the tasks needs a combination of expertise in different fields.

Lecture about the design process
Before I started up the multi-disciplinary project, I held a lecture at Makerere about the design process and user involvement. Some pictures:

The design process: user and customer involvement is an essential part.

About 100 students and staff came to the seminar.

Both staff and students asked questions and initiated discussions.

The lecture was followed by interesting discussions.

The research phase
The students have just started their design project and are in the research phase. After a very interesting creative process to identify product ideas, they are right now on the way to the supermarkets to see what is going on there and try to identify their customers and users.

First step in the design process: research!

So far, I am impressed by the students efforts, attitude and work. It will be very interesting to follow the project as it moves forward. Hope you also think so. I will keep you posted!

Stop production! - we are out of sugar...

... or out of mango... (they are not in season) .... or out of packaging material.... (it is too expensive, has to be ordered from China and it takes 4 months)...

It is not easy to run a manufacturing company based on natural raw materials. And it is not easy to run any business in a country that is landlocked and has to import almost everything, except from the natural raw materials. Welcome to Uganda!

The sugar crisis

The hot topic in the news in the last weeks has been the "sugar crisis". There is lack of sugar in the country and prices has doubled! And this despite Uganda being one of the most important sugar producers in Africa. And, I was wondering what's so important about that sugar?

What is all that fuzz about "sugar crisis" ?

That was until I realized that Reco, the company I work for, had to stop production because we had no sugar. All our products contains (a small amount of) sugar, and without it we can not produce anything. Orders are not being delivered, sales are going down, and we have a real crisis!

Fortunately last week, after being put on a waiting list for a few weeks, we were able to get sugar from one of the Ugandan sugar companies. Phu! Production could start again, and we are back in business!

Where things are not available all the time
But this gave me something to think about: I have almost never experienced that something is not available. In my home country, Norway, everything is available, - all the time! So, this is a new experience for me. It affects me in small scale in my daily life here in Uganda: if I see something in the shop that I like, I have to buy it there and then. Tomorrow it might not be there! One day there is cheese, another day there is no cheese. Thats life here. But, it is ok. It is good for me to learn to appreciate when the cheese is available ...

But, it really affects business here. And therefore also affects our project. The main raw materials needed for the products we are working with are fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are in season or out of season and they are depending on weather conditions. If the weather is not right, and the season is bad, there are no fruits and vegetables available until the next season.

We need mangoes NOW-NOW!
Like right now, we need mangoes for the development of the new products we are working on. But, there are no mangos in season until November, maybe December. Shame on you, mangoes! You are not not following the project time schedule!

Sarah Mundusu is a mango farmer, but she has no mango until November/December, only Guava. We need mangoes NOW to develop new products!

Peanut butter labels for the next 32 years
Other materials needed for our products are the packaging materials. Most packaging materials are not locally available in Uganda. They have to be ordered from China in big quantities, its expensive, delivery times are long and the transport cost to get them here are really high (even higher now, since the local currency it doing so badly). So, therefore it is "better to be safe than sorry". Let's make sure we have enough in stock, so we don't get a packaging material crisis.

Going through the stocks the other day shows that we have enough peanut butter labels for the next 32 years of production, if we continue our current production rate. And we want to redesign and launch the new labels this year. Means we have to destroy quite a lot of unused packaging material. Not good for environment. Not good for the company's economy. But, urgently necessary in order to "rescue" our product sales!

So, let the design of new packaging material begin! The design brief is ready. It is so exciting!


.... but the development of the new products has to wait for mango season...

About the project "Food packaging development"

The project I will be working on in Uganda is called "Food packaging development". Through this project Design without Borders wants to contribute in promoting Ugandan finished goods production.

Fruits and vegetables are “growing like weeds" and tastes great in Uganda! Nevertheless, the country produces few finished products based on these commodities. The country is exporting fruits and vegetables as raw materials with low profit and is buying expensive imported finished products back.

Design without Borders co-operats with Reco Industries Ltd, a local manufacturer of food products, in developing new products, packaging and brand strategy. The goal is to create products that are competitive at an international level and can show the potential of Ugandan food processing.

Some facts

- Uganda is a very rich agricultural country. There is a large supply of fruits and vegetables, including pineapple, mango, papaya, passion fruit, melon, tomatoes, avocado and more.

- 66% of the workforce belongs to the agricultural sector. Nevertheless, food processing accounts for only 8% of the country's manufacturings.

- Most of the fruits and vegetables consumed locally without processing or exported as they are, with low profit.

Reco Industries website: Reco Industries Ltd

PS: as my first assignment, I am now working on improving the Reco website. I will keep you posted when we launch the improved one!