PROJECT OUTCOMES
Community Needs
Accessibility to Developmental Opportunities
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The government mainly provides financial assistance, with no holistic initiatives like training programmes in place
Traps women with low income within the poverty cycle, as they form a reliance on financial assistance
Women with low income are unsure of where to find support as there is insufficient outreach to them
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Community Gaps
Problem Statement
With gender disparities and the lack of accessibility to developmental opportunities, women with low income are unable to gain financial independence which traps them in a poverty cycle.
Community Assets
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Passion in craftswork, hands-on training
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Interest in improving themselves
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Interest in creating social impact in their community
Enterprise Solution
Our handmade soap bars and liquid soaps are made with all-natural oils and ingredients to help assist people with sensitive skin troubles such as acne or eczema.
To fulfil the identified needs of women with low income, we are partnered with Project SMILE, a volunteer-run non-profit organisation in Singapore.
Market
Community
We adopted the plough-back profit social enterprise model whereby 25% of all business proceeds goes to our community partner to fulfil their objectives in providing upskilling opportunities for women with low income in Singapore.
GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Social
25% of soap sales and workshop proceeds to be donated to Project SMILE (equivalent to $900), to assist 25 women with low income to access skills-training programmes
Provide 1 soap-making training session for 8 women (6 beneficiaries, 2 volunteers) from Project SMILE
Taking into account our material cost for creation of soaps and packaging, we calculated that this percentage of donations would be most optimal for generating profit while allowing us to create impact.
Looking at our enterprise expenses, we only had the capacity to provide the materials for one session.
Rationale
Business
Sell 85 units of soaps and facilitate 4 workshops with 15 participants each to generate $2000 in profit by the end of February 2023
Considering our profit margin from our products and services (soap units, workshop slots), we decided that $2000 was an acquirable target
Rationale
We aimed to have one workshop per month to allow ample time for marketing and preparation efforts. Considering the price per pax and participants' goal, 4 workshops would have provided us with the funds necessary to help us reach our financial goals of $900 donations and $2000 in profit.
We had a total profit goal of $2000 which included both workshops and soap units sold. Aside from the money we would make from the 4 workshops, the minimum quantity of soap units to be sold had to be 85. This was calculated by using the Breakeven Quantity Formula.
Price per unit - Variable costs per unit
Profit Target - Workshop Profit
BEQ =
85 =
2000 - 1193
12 - 2.5
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Reached
We were able to sell 141 units of soap, surpassing our target of 85 units. It was done via
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Extensive booth efforts both in Ngee Ann Polytechnic and externally
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Online sales from our website and webstore
Target #1
Sell 85 units of soap
We held the soap-making training with 8 of Project SMILE’s women on the 28th of November. This was done at Project SMILE’s venue which allowed us to lower our overall costs as the venue was free of charge.
Target #2
Complete 1 soap training session with Project SMILE
We were able to give the $900 in donations to Project SMILE as promised. This was achievable through our surpass and achievement of our profit goals.
Target #3
Raise and donate $900 for Project SMILE
Reached $2000 in profit by surpassing our target of unit soaps sold.
Although we were not able to fulfil our workshop targets, we compensated the loss with sale of soaps. This was also achieved by cutting down our expenses on unnecessary items.
Target #4
Generate $2000 in profit
Not Reached
Outcome
Reason
Target #5
Conduct 4 workshops
Target #6
Receive 15 participants per workshop
We were not able to conduct 4 workshops due to a lack of sign-ups, having done only 3.
In the first two workshops, we received 13 and 11 participants respectively, and 6 participants in the third workshop.
Venue
Although it was free, the venue of the workshops played a part in this outcome as the venue was inaccessible for potential participants.
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Lack of planning
The dates for the last two proposed workshops were also not ideal due to a lack of planning on our part. This resulted in poor workshop marketing and advertising as well.