WEEK TWO

Hi guys!

First of all i would like to welcome Yunusa Bameyi from Nigeria to our team! There are now 5 of us on board, so lets get to work!

There are a few things we must organise straight away:

1. We need to arrange a time that we are all available to chat online.

I will be online every morning at 7am NZ time. That is around 8pm in Nigeria and around 2pm in Colombia. Does this work for everybody? If not, please let me know a time that would suit you better. Check the link for the personal world clock (below) to see if everybody is awake at the time that you want to chat.

2. We need to organise a way to communicate online - Snowflakes has suggested yahoo messenger, does this work for everybody?

Smowflakes has already given us his Yahoo messenger name. You can add me as jenna.mein@yahoo.com. If you don't already have Yahoo messenger, please sign up ASAP!! It is very easy and doesn't take long at all. Or, if you would rather use a different chatroom, please let us know.

3. By Wednesday, we must have decided on our business concept proposal.

I really like Snowflakes idea, and i think there are many ways that we could use the Cassava plant to create a profitable business. But I think we should all come up with several ideas of our own and discuss all our options before deciding which one to use for this assignment.

Could everybody spend some time this week and research some potential business ideas?

We must come up with a business proposal that is affordable for the worlds 4 billion people who earn less than US$2 a day. Our idea must benefit the lives of the people in this market, yet it must still generate a profit so that we can sustain our business over time, and continue to help those in need.

Below are a list of possible ideas to get you thinking in the right direction:

a. Education - "action learning" in schools. eg. projects such as building houses, water systems, organic farming etc that both benefit the community and teach basic skills such as maths, science and literacy.

b. Waste - Recycling systems etc

c. childcare systems that provide early education to children and give parents an opportunity to work

d. Energy from biofuels etc.

I will remind everybody again that the final date for this assignment is 22 May. That is in about a week and a half! I know that everybody is very busy - so am I! - but I really need your full commitment for the short time that we have left. This is a TEAM project - we must work together and help each other in order to complete the assignment successfully.

Please be in touch over the next few days with your business concept ideas.

And hopefully I will talk to you on Yahoo messenger very soon!

Best regards,

Jenna