Malaptop is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, Charity Number SC043621

Business Plan

Malaptop

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Contents

Section 1: Executive Summary Section 2: The Project 2.1 Business Objectives 2.2 Business Description 2.3 Business Operations 2.4 Business Structure Overiew Section 3: The People

3.1 Key People 3.2 Training Needs Analysis 3.3 Business Strategy and Structure

Section 4: The Market

4.1 Market Research 4.2 Test Batch 2012 4.3 Customers

4.4 Competition Section 5: Strategy an Implementation Summary 5.1 Competitive Edge 5.2 Marketing Strategy 5.3 Strategic Alliances 5.4 Future Strategy and Growth Section 6: Financial Plan

6.1 Start Up Costs and Funding Package 6.2 Operational Forecast 6.3 Running Costs

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1. Executive Summary

Malaptop is an organisation aimed at improving educational opportunities available in

Malawian schools by providing I.T. equipment that will enable the students to undertake

Computing studies. Malaptop seeks to do this by collecting donated laptops in Scotland,

refurbishing them and sending them out to partner schools in Malawi.

Malawi is developing and has a great future ahead of it. Technology is beginning to play a

large part in the lives of Malawians and the introduction of mobile phones has already had a

visible impact in urban and rural Malawi. To make sure that the technological development of

Malawi is sustainable the IT skills of the population need to be raised so that Malawians can

get technology to work for them.

Currently in Malawi Computing Studies is part of the curriculum, but the main obstacle facing

schools is the lack of equipment. Many schools are eager to teach Computing but do not

have the resources available, in the way of computers and laptops. Pupils who have are

unable to learn basic IT skills in schools often find it difficult to obtain employment in any

position that requires computer literacy. In Scotland laptops tend to have a lifespan of 4 years

before they are upgraded, meaning the old laptop sits in a cupboard somewhere. Malaptop

aims to bridge this gap and put these laptops to good use.

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2. The Project

2.1 Business Objectives

Malaptop aims to improve the educational opportunities available in Malawian schools by

providing I.T. equipment that will enable the students to undertake Computing Studies.

Malaptop seeks to work closely with local communities in Scotland, as well as other

organisations in order to create and strengthen links between Scotland and Malawi.

2.3 Business Operations

Members of the public shall donate the I.T. equipment to Malaptop. Malaptop will refurbish

this equipment into a usable condition before sending it in batches to the recipient schools.

Equipment that is unable to be refurbished into a usable condition shall be recycled for parts.

The provision of I.T. education in Malawi will increase the opportunities available to the pupils

and encourage the economic development of the nation.

The operations of Malaptop shall be categorised under two broad categories: donation

logistics and equipment preparation.

Donation Logistics

Donation Logistics shall include:

- Co-ordination of all Drop-off Points to ensure that they have everything that is

needed to collect the laptops, are well known in their area and records are kept up to

date.

- Co-ordination of the schools programme to ensure that the schools who wish to

participate and set up a Malaptop group can do so. Also talking to schools to

discuss the importance of both global citizenship and I.T.

- Centralised storage of laptops prior to shipping.

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- Organisation of shipping either in collaboration with other charities sending

equipment to Malawi or on our own.

- Finding recipient schools, ensuring that they are suitable.

Equipment Preparation

The preparation of the laptops shall include:

- Securely wiping the data that is on the donated laptops. This will be done without the

need to boot the laptops with their original operating system.

- The installation of the Lubuntu Operating system and various programs chosen to

enable the pupils to learn a wide range of skills.

- Identifying laptops that are unable to be refurbished for hardware reasons and

deciding which parts of the laptop can be recycled internally and commercially.

2.4 Business Structure Overview

Our charity comprises of three Trustees who will be working on a part time basis, each of

them having full time jobs and devoting their spare time to the charity. Two of the trustees

will take on specific roles including chairman and marketing officer. The Charity will be

looking for volunteers to fill other specific roles as detailed in section 3.3.

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3. The People

3.1 Key People

Simon Cleary - Simon Cleary is a co-founder of Malaptop and shall be both a Trustee and

Member of the SCIO (see Business Management section)

Clare Ridler - Clare Ridler is a co-founder of Malaptop and shall be both a Trustee and

Member of the SCIO (see Business Management section)

John Cleary - John Cleary is a Trustee who will be providing organisational assistance and

bringing his experience as a Chartered Accountant working with charitable organisations for

over 20 years.

Michael Weatherston - Michael Weatherston has provided legal advice regarding the

registration of the charity and will be supporting Malaptop with regards to legal issues in the

future.

Fr Titus Bayani - Fr Titus Bayani is a Malawian priest and teacher. He is the main contact

for Malaptop in Malawi, and has overseen the installation of the test batch in St Paul the

Apostle School, Mangochi.

Alasdair Welsh - Alasdair Welsh has provided graphic design support for our website, logo

and has and will be consulted on technical issues.

3.2 Training Needs and Company Roles

We have highlighted roles within the charity that we will be looking for volunteers to fill. At

present the Trustees are undertaking these roles but as Malaptop expands we will be looking

for more people to come on board and take on the roles detailed in section 3.3.

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3.3 Business Strategy and Structure

Malaptop shall be registered as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. There shall

be two tiers to the organisation structure, with members and trustees. However it shall be

possible for individuals to be both a member and a trustee.

The day to day operations of Malaptop shall be carried out by a volunteer committee. This

committee shall be recruited by the Trustees to fulfill various roles including the following.

Role Description Key skills needed

Chairman

Simon Cleary

Responsible for the Malaptop’s

overall operations and

overseeing all aspects.

Treasurer

to be filled

Responsible for allocating every

action.event in budget, and

ensuring that these funds are

available, keeping close records

of accounts of Malaptop and

reporting the financial situation of

the charity at the start of each

committee meeting,

experience of managing finances, either

within another voluntary organisation,

professionally or at school. Knowledge

and confidence with spreadsheet

programs, such as excel, or a willingness

and ability to learn.

Schools Officer

to be filled

Responsible for ensuring that the

Malaptop program in Sottish

schools works smoothly. This

will involve ensuring that the

teachers responsible have the

necessary knowledge and tools

to run the groups, the laptops

are collected and dropped off for

data cleansing, and schools are

interested in getting involved.

Preferred experience of working in Malawi

or similar country, confident at public

speaking, calm under pressure, knowledge

of the Scottish education system.

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Role Description Key skills needed

Marketing Officer

Clare Ridler

to support the other committee

members in ensuring that as

many people as possible are

aware of the benefits their old

laptops can bring. Supporting

the fundraising officer in the

promotion of Malaptop's

fundraising activities. Also

responsible for coordinating and

implementing social media

strategy.

Distribution Officer

to be filled

ensuring that all the laptops are

moved form the Drop-off Points

to the place that they shall be

refurbished and form their to

Malawi. This role will be one of

the most challenging because it

will involve the importing of the

laptops to Malawi.

Excellent organisational skills, previous

experience with importing/exporting would

be preferable.

Fundraising Officer

to be filled

The Fundraising Officer aim to ensure that Malaptop has enough funds coming in to cover its operational costs. This will include organising fundraising events, writing to companies and trusts, commercial recycling of unsuitable laptops and the online solicitation of gifts.

Enthusiasm, good writing style, good

organizational sills

Technology Officer

to be filled

To ensure that the laptops are

sent out to Malawi in the best

possible condition and with the

best possible software. This will

involve collaborating with

Malawian teachers, using

feedback form the trial run to see

what additional support the

teachers need to successfully

teach IT.

Good knowledge of Open Source software

and Linux operating systems. a good

writing style for writing guides

The recruitment of these volunteers is currently being undertaken under the guidance of

Stirling Volunteering Enterprises (www.sventerprise.org.uk) to ensure that the Trustees are

able to recruit individuals that have the necessary skills and attitude to carry out what is

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expected of them. It is anticipated that the committee will be recruited before the end of

January 2013.

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4. The Market

4.1 Market Research

On-the-ground research by Simon Cleary was carried out in 2009 in rural schools in Malawi.

This found that the pupils were severely limited in their ability to compete for higher paying

office jobs. There was also a desire from the headteachers of the schools to improve the

facilities available to their school.

Subsequent telephone, email and face to face discussions with other headmasters have

highlighted the benefits that these laptops could bring to pupils. See Appendix for

correspondence from Lonely Magreta who works in the Malawian Ministry of Education,

highlighting their interest in the project and the need for laptops.

Further market research that will be to be carried out will be with the Malawian Ministry of

Education, to gauge the number of schools that could accommodate I.T facilities. There will

also need to be ongoing updates form recipient schools to see how the programme can be

refined.

4.2 Test Batch 2012

In order to test the market and to ensure we have the skills and resources for Malaptop to be

successful, we embarked on an initial test batch in the summer of 2012. After spreading the

world at our parish as well as family and friends, we were able to receive an initial donation of

8 laptops. Out of these initial 8, two were unable to be refurbished which left us with an initial

test batch of 6 laptops. Through our contacts within Malawi we were able to create links with

a secondary school, St Pauls and Apostle Seminary School, in Mangochi. After long

communications with the school we were able to send out our first batch of 6 computers.

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Initial feedback form the school has been fantastic, they are already integrating the laptops

into their lessons. We are seeing continual feedback form the school, as its extremely

important for us to know how the laptops are being used, f there have been any problems, in

order to ensure our future partner school receive the best experience possible. Please see

appendix for feedback from the first school.

Having done our first test batch, we are certain that we have the experience, skills and

connections to make Malaptop successful. We have proven their is a need for these laptops

in our market research and have taken steps to fulfill this need. Communication is the key

and ensuring we have strong links with the partner school both before and after the laptops

have been sent out is vital.

4.3 Customers

The Malawian Ministry of Education shall be the main recipient of the I.T. equipment.

However Malaptop will aim to liaise directly with the recipient school to ensure that the

equipment is suitable and that the school is suitable to enhance direct accountability.

Another advantage of direct communication with the schools is that it allows community

groups in Scotland to connect directly with school communities in Malawi.

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4.4 Competition

Malaptop is a charity organisation and therefore those other organisations that are working

between Scotland and Malawi are seen as potential partners rather than competitors. We

are aware of other charities that aim to increase the I.T. infrastructure in developing countries,

such as Malawi. The largest of these is Computer Aid, although there are smaller ones such

as IT Schools Africa that do a similar thing. However all of these organisations are primarily

based in England, particularly in London and the South East. Malaptop is the only

organisation that is based in Scotland and with Drop-off Points in each of the major

towns/cities, making our locality an asset, particularly or individuals who are reluctant to post

their laptop to the other end of the UK to be donated.

Malaptop will also aim to increase the connection between the donors and the end

recipients. This will be done by keeping track of each of the end points of the donations so

they can be traced on demand. The donors are required to give an email address when they

make a donation and they can sign up to e-newsletters. Within the schools program the

Scottish schools will know which schools they are going to be donating too, and the recipient

schools will be encouraged to send images and letters back to the donating school once

they have put the donations to use.

Direct Competition Indirect Competition

High - IT Schools Africa

Low Computer Aid -

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5. Strategy and Implementation Summary

5.1 Competitive Edge

As mentioned in the previous section, Malaptop has the advantage over other charities in

direct competition in that they are the sole charity to be based in Scotland. Both ‘Computer

Aid’ and ‘IT Schools Africa’ are based in England and do not offer the convenience of local

Drop-off Points that Malaptop does. This allows the donor to drop off the laptop free of

charge, rather than the hassle of packaging it up and posting it off. We believe this is one of

Malaptop’s key assets, being to integrated with the local community and getting local

business and schools involved in the project. Not only will this increase prove convenient for

the donor, but also increase word of mouth referrals from businesses who are involved.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

Initially Malaptop’s marketing will be to local organisations and other charities in order to

drum up support. More detail of the organisations we have already contacted are in section

5.3.

With regards to donations, Malaptop has identified three main market segments to target for

laptops donations.

- Local Individuals

- Schools

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- University students

This year there are 96,364 students are applying to go to university in Scotland. This has

been steady for the past few years and there are currently over 220,000 students in

Scotland’s 15 universities. Studies have shown that 80% of students have their own laptop

for university, while others use desktops and tablets. This would suggest that there are

176,000 laptops in Scotland owned by students. The average lifespan for a laptop is around

4 years so we could conservatively estimate that there are around 40,000 laptops are

replaced each year as they become too old. The thing is, the majority of these laptops will be

recoverable and could be used with Lubuntu, which is designed for slower machines!

If just 10% of Scottish students who replaced their laptops this year were to donate their old

one, we would have enough to provide each of the 77 state secondary schools in Malawi

with a 20 unit computer classroom.

In order to target these segments Malaptop will undertake various marketing activities across

various platforms.

The Marketing of Malaptop will be undertaken in two strategies,

1. Online Marketing

Malaptop currently has an online presence across multiple platforms which centre around the

website www.malaptop.org. The website was designed by Simon Clearly and shall be

managed internally. Following on from this was the creation of our Social Media Platforms on

which we now have a strong presence which is already being used to solicit donations of I.T.

equipment as well as support from other individuals and organisations.

2. Print Marketing

Print marketing will be used to target individuals in local press, as well as within schools and

universities. These channels shall be used with the aim of increasing awareness of the

charity to drive donations, as well as support from other organisations wishing to get

involved.

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5.3 Strategic Alliances

As a charitable organisation, the key to our success will be in the collaborations with local

individuals and organisations. We have already highlighted and contacted various

organisations who have pledged their support to Malaptop, and who we hope to work

closely with in the future.

Stirling Volunteering Enterprises

Stirling Volunteering Enterprises assisted with Malaptop in the sending out of the initial test

batch by providing contacts and advice. Stirling Volunteering Enterprises are continuing to

assist Malaptop by giving guidance regarding recruitment and management of volunteers and

providing a platform for promoting opportunities to people in the local area.

2e-volve

2e-volve are a Stirling based IT company that provide B2B services. 2e-volve are providing

technical support for the preparation of the laptops and are also supporting Malaptop

through the use of equipment and meeting space.

5.4 Future Strategy and Growth

We hope to expand at a steady rate over the next three years. As detailed below we aim to

partner with another 3 schools in year 2, then continued support whilst adding 5 schools per

year thereafter.

Year 2 - 2013 - Sending 5 batches out and create alliance with 5 schools in Malawi

Year 3 - 2014 - Continue supporting out existing schools and reach out for potential 10 more

schools.

Year 4 - 2015 - Again 10 more schools

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6. Financial Plan

6.1 Start up Costs and Funding Package

Due to the nature of Malaptop relying solely on donations there are no initial costs. Word of

Mouth has provided us with the initial laptops required for the test batch and by focusing on

local press and schools we hope to keep out initial marketing costs to a minimum.

6.2 Operational Forecast

- Income

Commercial Recycling - Laptops that are unable to be refurbished due to hardware problems

shall be commercially recycled. In the trial run approximately 30% of the laptops received

were unable to be refurbished and we anticipate that this proportion will continue.

Commercial recyclers of I.T. equipment pay approximately £50 - £100 per laptops with 1

hardware problem. This would result in approximately £30 available for every laptop that is

sent off.

Charitable Fundraising - A committee position of Fundraising officer will be created. The

position holder will be responsible for organising fundraising events and soliciting fundraising

donations from other organisations. The fundraising will be done through Virginmoney

Giving, which has a £100 set up charge and is free thereafter.

6.3 Running Costs

The laptops shall be provided to the schools in Malawi free of charge and all costs shall be covered by Malaptop in Scotland. Malaptop will not aim to make a profit, however it will aim to comfortably cover costs to mitigate any unseen future costs.

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We will target local press in order to keep costs down, as well as schools individually so mar-keting costs will not me massive.

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Appendix

Email Correspondences

--------- Forwarded message ----------

From: davie mambo <dvmambo@gmail.com>

Date: Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 10:38 AM

Subject: Re: Laptops

To: Simon Cleary <simon@malaptop.org>

Dear Simon,

Despite the difficiculties of our network to down load pictures, be

informed that computer lessons had started and a good progress is

being made. The teachers were finding the operating system(ubuntu)

hard but with time they are getting used. I have asked Fr. Titus again

to try sending you the pictures, maybe he will be successful. I will

also try in this mail. If I fail to be successful, please accept this

mail though without the attachment. Thanks for your efforts, we are

very happy to have computers and the students too are excited about it

and they are making a good progress. I will be giving you up to date

info as we go along.

Fr. Davie

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_______________________________________ From: Lonely Magreta [magretalv@yahoo.co.uk]

Sent: 06 December 2011 15:12

To: Cleary, Simon

Subject: Re: Fwd: LAPTOPS FOR SCHOOLS - Failed Message

Simon Cleary,

Sorry for that. I was sayimg most of the schools having electricity offer Computer Studies as

a subject. Unfortunately, most of them do not have adequate supply of computers to allow

students acquire enough hands-on experience before sitting for the national examinations.

For the start we could identify a school within Monkey Bay area (either Nankhwali Community

Day or Lisumbwi secondary schools, but l'll need to verify on availability of electricity at

Nankhwali).

How many computers would you provide in the start-up, and how would the

shipping/transportation be done? It would be necessary for the donation to go through the

Ministry to enable it do the monitoring on usage and care. Could you also spell out what

would be expected of the beneficiaries other than what you already mentioned?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Zikomo kwambiri.

Lonely Magreta