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Title: Green Machine
Location:
, Maharashtra,
Categories: Education
Environment
Status:
In Planning
Timeline:
October 27 10 to October 27 10
Description:
Project ‘Green Machine’ is Decimal Foundation’s second large-scale project, based on the principle of
creating an awareness, passion and opportunity for taking small steps to protect the environment.It is
an opportunity to match intelligence and talent along with the sheer power of small scale industries and entrepreneurship.
Green Machine aims to inspire students pursuing engineering or vocational courses in Mumbai to use
their skills and knowledge to create innovative utility products that have the potential to provide a low cost and resource-optimizing replacement for an everyday activity/inefficient product. These products will then be patented and mass-produced by Decimal Foundation, in partnership with local businesses in
Dharavi, Mumbai’s economic hub for small-scale industries.We believe that this project will span from
inspiring young minds to be conscious about environmental sustainability, to providing tangible products
to the general public to actually be able to contribute in their own small way to reduce environmental harm.
Overall, the project will increase awareness among all stakeholders about environmental sustainability, and provide them tools and ideas to contribute to this cause in the long run. It will make people do those small changes, habits and efforts to live in an environment which uses less
energy in turn saving large outputs.
Project Green Machine will be implemented in the following manner:
Phase1:Project Green Machine will be introduced to allow students engaged in
vocational or engineering courses (bachelors and masters degrees) in universities across Mumbai.Students
will be reached by the following methods:
- Direct marketing in college campuses, and through college student groups interested in
environmental sustainability, as well as practical application of engineering skills (likeIEEE).
- Marketing through online social networking channels (Facebook, student portalsand forums
dedicated to engineering students).
- Through professorswho teach courses which include practical experience/ internship experience
as part of their core curriculum.We hope to be able to provide students the opportunity to take up
Green Machine for course credit.
Phase2: Once introduced, Green Machine will invite students to apply with an idea, in teams of 3-4
students.We will allow students to apply with other students from their own college, or even different colleges. About 5 teams will be selected from each college, upto a maximum of 50 teams in total. Each team will then submit a write up, picture and project plan, which will be posted on the official Green Machine website. In the next 2 months, all college students, professors as well as the general public will
be invited to log on to the website and rate the projects. Five of the most popular projects will be selected as finalists. A separate panel of judges will be selected by Decimal Foundation to select up to 5 teams based on relevance, competitiveness and novelty of the idea. A maximum of these 10 projects will then be awarded $1000 to build, prototype and test their products. On successful completion, these prototypes will be moved
to phase3. Student teams will also receive a 500$ stipend after successful completion.
Phase3: The Commercialization of the product will happen via the student team that conceptualizes the project.
Successful student teams will be teamed with a production unit in Dharavi, Mumbai1( Dharavi
is primarily informal settlements that bustle with economic activities. It is located in the heart of Mumbai, India’s commercial capital. It might be low on its hygiene levels. But every household here is a manufacturing unit. They manufacture everything right from Banana chips to Micro chips) and
together they will be expected to figure out the most cost efficient method possible to produce their
product. This product will be marketed and retailed by Decimal. The teams will get an award to be able to accomplish this step, as well as retain some stake in their product, and will receive in the form of royalty
from the sale of their product, after Decimal Foundation files for a patent. Decimal Foundation hopes to commercialize and retail this product, by making it available for general consumption through various retail channels. These channels may include, but not be limited to:
- Large retail stores that sell consumer electronics and other consumer products.
- Website based sales, driven through web advertisements and blogs.
- Social network based advertising campaigns, as well as product fairs in various engineering
colleges across the city.
- Promoting these products as innovative gifts for employees, in addition to their festival bonuses
during important occasions. This channel may appeal to corporate consciousness of various
organizations. The largest difference though,
will be the way small industries can get involved.We will share stake with these small scale
manufacturers to motivate and inspire their interest in the product and its commercialization.
Summary of stakeholders:
Core Team:
Decimal Foundation:
-Natasha Sahijwala
- Project Manager
-Student Head
-Marketing head
-Business head
-Operations Manager
-Public Relations
-Team of Experts to judge the best final products.
Organizers-
-Student groups
--College Faculty
-Team of experts and general public who will rate the project online.
Marketing-
-Team of marketing students.
-Social networking like Face book, You tube, students forums etc.
Manufacturers:
-Small scale industries and manufacturing units at Dharavi.
Retailers and Suppliers:
-Decimal Foundation,
-Large retail stores,
-Corporate organizations,
-Website based sales,
-Local vendors.
Background:
When the world says energy efficient it meant innovation. And when the Decinam
foundation a selfsustaining NGO looked at the same we found green machine.
We said “why do we need authorities to do their bit when eventually it’s us who has
to pay” Would a few thousand rupee innovation in energy efficient TV be affordable?
Would people be able to adopt all changes and how far will it percolate?
As a child I remember staying in a row house at cochin with a huge backyard and
front garden. Luxury at the cost of govt money, as my dad was in defence. We all
in the neighbourhood has a huge grass mowing and leaf shedding problem. It
would choke our rainwater pipes every monsoon, our sewer pipes and be very
frightful with creepy crawlies. Strangely so we all knew the solution of mowing, and
brooming our lawns but no one did it like every other energy saving drive. Once I
and my sister picked a broom and broomed our complete lawn as our summer fun,
friends from the neighbourhood joined, then their families and finally our parents
mowed the lawn.
Lesson learned, when there isa social conscieousness and team task involved a lot of
people are motivated.
Lesson 2, when there is a task that someone in your family no matter how young
starts to accomplish everyone lends a helping hand to encourage. We had some
new sewer pipes replaced and the oldones made of mud and ceremaic were lying in
our garden stinking, waiting to be disposed. Dad filled all of them with the leaves,
and grass mowed and planted treed in them, erected them vertically as a periphery
boundary and they decomposed and formed manure in time.
You may wonder how this is energy efficient or part of any energy program. The
example is the smallest bit of our large initiative. It saved gallons of gasoline that
trucks would have burned to dispose the old sewer pipes to the nearest dumping ground, it saved loads of smoke that most would have generated burning the dried
leaves and inturn burning fresh trees, and pointless charring of degradable waste.
Green machine is an example to just do this. Make people do those small changes,habits and efforts to live in an environment which uses less energy in turn saving large outputs.
Then the biggest challenge most college student face is a onsite project. It is next
to impossible to have kids placed or find jobs onsite and be working hand’s on
with some company. We would design a program of projects and innovations from
writing a code for 2 sided economical printing, to a better size efficient DVD storage
code, to a fuel efficient auto rickshaw engine, to a simple switch and ligh system that
automates and alters intelligently with the requirement. It could be an efficient gas
burner design for minimum cooking time to a refrigerator with an energy efficient compressor. A steam egg boiler that reduces water to 1/20th and cooking time to 1/4th and so on.
Purpose:
To create an opportunity with the help of this platform to match talent and intelligence with the sheer power of small scale industries and entrepreneurship to create a permanent solution for everyday problems.
Mission:The mission of Green Machine is to facilitate the creation of environmental friendly products using local infrastructure (creating employment) and ideas (promoting creative solutions and social entrepreneurship)
Vision:
To create products that are environmental friendly for the masses, by the masses.
Objectives:
My SMART Goals are:
-Put up a team.
-Raise revenue for my project.
-To promote my project idea in all the engineering colleges within Mumbai.
- Increase awareness among all stakeholders about environmental sustainability.
- To ensure that each cycle of participation produces high quality projects.
-Identify manufacturers and tying them up to teams.
-Marketing manufactured products and establishing a supply chain utilizing the current local infrastructure.
Milestones:
Milestone 1:
Phase 1: In one month- To be recognized by atlest 20 engineering colleges, gather 20 representatives as marketing volunteers and to get at least 50 team registrations(each containing 3-4 members).
Milestone 2:
Phase 2:
By the 3rd month-interim submission of the product idea
By the 4th month- full submission of product idea.
In the next two months- 5 most popular projects will be selected online.Followed by the selection process of experts from Decimal Foundation.
By the 7th month: The student would have tested the product successfully.
Phase 3:
Milestone 3:
In the next two weeks: the student will be paired with the production team(Manufacturing unit and a marketing personnel).
By the 9th month: the product will be marketed.
By the 10th Month: the product will be ready for retail.
Budget:
Budget:Income:
Student Enrollment fee (per student)-Rs.200/$4.5
Expected number of student - 100
Total registration fee collected: Rs. 20000
Grants from corporates/private donors/Industries/in kind donations Rs.250000/$5628.09
Fund raisers:Rs.50000/$1126
Total Income:Rs.320000/$7203.96
Expenses:
Website Design and Hosting:Rs.15000/$337.68
Salaries:
Project Manager:Rs.42000/ 6 months or $945.52
Business Head:Rs.30000/ 6 months or $675.37
Student Head:Rs.18000/ 6 months or $405.22
Public Relations Head:Rs.30000/ 6 months or $675.37
Marketing Head:Rs.30000/ 6 months or $675.37
Product manufacturing and marketing costs: Vary with product, to be computed individually in phase 2 of the project.
Seeding fund=25000 per product/25000*5=Rs.125000
Marketing Phase 1: 10000/$225.12
Stationary/Transport- Rs.30000/ 6 months or $675.37
Total Expenses:Rs.330000/$7429.086
Balance- Rs. 10000/$225.12
Needs:
For a successful project we need:
- Motivated students to market the project in their respective colleges
- Creative and talented students to make each product idea unique.
-A website.
- A team of qualified experts to make the final selection of the products.
- A team of focused marketing students to promote the product idea well.
- Potential manufacturing units for each project.
- Revenue to build the project the way we intend to.
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