MANDADO

I´m Vanessa Jimenez, Mexican and Economist (IPN) with eleven years of experience, on Planning, Strategy and risk assessment, in Financial Industry at International financial groups. I started my career working as an Economist Research on Macroeconomic environment from Mexico. Then I moved to the Financial industry and Consulting services, starting at Monex on Planning and Strategy. I was team leader of the CCAR and Risk Department for Retail portfolios in Mexico at Citi Bank. As an Independent consultant I had worked on the creation of different business models, and from NGO. After that I started with full time MBA at IPADE. 

I came from a humble house but, education change my life, I believe that if you don’t have opportunities, you need to create them. That’s my reason to start MANDADO platform, to create opportunities for people who wants to  stand out for the quality of their work.  

I’m committed whit create a fair platform for the entrepreneurs in Mexico that allows us to capture the value for the producer and to promote fairness in the production process to generate companies with ethics.  

MANDADO is a subscription business model that uses an App to connect entrepreneurs, with the Conscious Consumer, looking for convenience to fulfill their houses monthly with high-quality groceries and home décor products that came from fair trade. MANDADO will be creating the demand, selecting the products, assembling the boxes, and delivered them, using the delivery by community approach.

This alternative channel gives opportunities for the Entrepreneur who live in little communities, or who live in humble metropolitan areas of Mexico, to capture the value of the market avoiding operated in the informality. With a transparent option to trade, avoiding hiding costs, having a presence in different locations, and creating data information for the decision-making process.

Open a business in Mexico is the solution for many Mexicans, who invest them saving to have better revenue or for having a job, which increases the pressure to succeed in the business at any cost. A similar situation is happening with the Nonprofit, which struggle with being self-sufficient. as an answer, many nonprofits, started to produce goods to increase the income and be sustainable, but the efforts are not enough. In both cases, the lack of experience and the unregulated market represent a risk to close in any day if they are not prepared with a Plan B to selling their products. The lack of frameworks that affected just in Mexico City more of 498 000 economic units, which represent 6,268 thousand jobs at risk if the informal sector collapse.   

In Mexico City, the context like corruption, lack of financial access, and excessive bureaucracy, incentive choose the informality to start a business. Additionally, the lack of technology infrastructure as a negative impact on business development. During the COVID 19, the pandemic emphasized the lack of technological investment and business sustainability, for the informal and formal business. 

MANDADO is a subscription business model that uses the platform to connect “associates” (Entrepreneur, Nonprofits, Producer) with the Conscience Consumer. 

For the Associates: In the platform, the associates can upload a set of products or products that they decide. MANDADO will be selecting the products to assure high quality and review the fair trade. 

For the User: we will be choosing new options of products currently available in the market and allowing having access to new trends, products with a cause in OnDemand services on groceries, and home décor products. 

MANDADO will be doing the packaging and delivering the boxes in Mexico City. Consumer Data development and bringing forecasted demand for the suppliers that can be used for the associates or other clients to make a business decision.

MANDADO will be using an APP, that can be easily downloaded in any smartphone. The associate can be requested to join the platform. The User can do the subscription. Using the application of MANDADO, they will be able to scan each box. The app can track at any point who has the box and a digital sign as delivery confirmation for the user.

The target population is the entrepreneur, nonprofit, and producer that are currently selling groceries and home decor products in Mexico City, in the farmers market, or using commercial intermediaries as a distribution channel. The number of economic units that are in this category is 498,000, which represent of 6,268 thousand jobs.  

The team has experience working as a consultant, volunteers for nonprofit organizations, and did interviews with owners, producers to understand the challenges. 

Service for the final user:  Will provide a convenient service to delivered new high quality, with cause for the conscious consumer on a monthly subscription basis.

Service company: Will be provide a technological platform that will be giving an option of selling avoiding the common retailers. Allow diminishing the inventory and uncertainty of demand, avoiding unfair contracts or hostiles negotiations. 

Delivering service: will be proving a new source of jobs for the women in Mexico City and embrace the trust in the community, which is practical for the employee, but also as a delivery strategy is quick and flexible.

One of the biggest challenges for the entrepreneur in Mexico City is the uncertainty of the demand and the untrusted environment selling their products. Decide to address the market using informal and unregulated channels, do not promote the growth of the business; therefore, the job creation is complicated. 

If we create an environment in which everybody operates with transparency and undo the same rules to start, the entrepreneur will be changing the perception of how to do business. Encouraging consumer loyalty for new products, having a positive impact on the little company, growing in other parts of Mexico.  

The idea started two years ago. I was born in a working-class family to have a job to obtain money; it is always part of my life. When I was a teenager, I used to sell in a tianguis, and I used to live near to Tepotzotlan, a Magic town in Mexico. 

Since I was a child, I notice how producers sell their products, honey, milk, or Rompope to the  tourist or intermediary. And then the Intermediary overprices the product in Mexico City changing the tag even argue the product ownership.

When I started my MBA, I noticed also that it is a common practice on the business buying cheap and change a couple of things to sell really expensive. Also used as bargaining power the connection that you have to win the negotiation. I’m not agree with that. 

When I moved to US I found the Subscription model in which I can buy products from a different producer at an affordable price, direct to my house. I started to build the idea with my husband. we notice that it could be a great solution to attack the lack of opportunity that many entrepreneurs had in the communities like Tepotzotlan.  

I have the passion of helping others to create jobs because have a secured income can change your life and the community. I’m the result of that. I am a graduate of the exclusive Mexican school of IPADE. But my mom only has an elementary school, and my father is a working line. Both used to work as sellers on TEPITO, so I understand how it is operated in the informality. 

I understand the lack of opportunity because I faced every day in my community, teenagers leaving the school due to the lack of money because they produce cheese and is not enough. Or watched the desperation of the producer for sale on a specific day because it is the only day of tourism.  

I am always thinking about how I can help to diminish the uncertainty of unemployment. That’s How MANDADO started. I decide to use my expertise and knowledge to find a solution to the problem.  Creating a platform to compete just for the quality of their product, avoiding unfair negotiation, and launching a product to many people in a healthy environment and incentivize the innovation of creating something new. Those are the reasons for my commitment.

I am an Economist from IPN and MBA graduate from IPADE, with 11 years of experience. Working in an international bank, developing analytical and statistical models to prevent losses, risk measures and econometric tools for Financial services. I also count with expertise developing commercial strategies to identify, new market trends and targeting new costumers. I was working on planning and strategy elaborating the financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting, compensations system and board of director relationship, I was in charge of the technological transformation for two projects in Citi Bank.  

I have 3 years of experience working as a consultant working in different projects, working in the financial inclusion of the little stores in Mexico City to Nonprofit organization looking for increase their income, with alternative business creation. 

Also I continue having courses that increase my knowledge about operations, and social entrepreneurship. 

The most challenging is not to give up on the idea. I have been working on the idea iteration for around one year and a half.I present on formal forums almost 10 times and It is complicated to listen to comments like “too complicated worked for that kind of people” or “that is a profit for the long term” it cannot be profitable.”

But I’m still working, I listen and change as many times necessary to improve the business model and bring more profitability to the analysis, without losing the idea of helping the entrepreneurs. So, I present the approach I listen to the feedback sometimes, I obtain useful advice, some other no.  

But I always listen, and I tried to show to the investor the significant market opportunity that is helping communities. Sometimes they listen, some other I bring interest conversation to the table about what can be doing in Mexico for the bottom of the pyramid. And I always hope they maybe they can change the perception of how to do business.

I’m the first on a family who obtain a BS and is a woman. These can sound normal, but for a family and community, who only finished high school is a significant achievement. 

Despite all the NO, finding my first job, I want to work as an Economist. Some companies hire for that position graduates from the private school. I’m from a public one. I started working in an Exclusive bank as an Economist. I was 21 years when I begin a compensation system and rentability models for Mexican brokers. At 25, I moved to plan and strategy in the same bank working whit the board of directors. It was hard to learn from them, from how to do the job to established honest conversations. 

At 26, I resign for become to an independent consultant and work for an International Bank, creating the Risk Model assessment for Mexico. The previous process was to do it in the US. I create a system to start building the model inside the company by a Mexican team. After I quit and began Full-time MBA at IPADE, even that I can afford it or that enrolls is complicated, I did it.

N.a

The subscription model in Mexico is an innovative channel that is not explored yet. After COVID19, competitors like Don Mandado, Mandadito, Frubana, and Central de abastos, appeared in the market, they only served by order, delivered near to the point of sale, works by web page. The catalogs between them are similar, the same brands and the user experience end after the payment.

MANDADO will be selling products as a subscription and allow us to create value for all the participants. The service for the user includes two type memberships, 3, 6 months, as part of the acquisition process, the user can choose one month to know the product. Also, if they decide to choose the long-term contract, the price will be competitive. This change on the purchase brings us: competitive prices, risk distribution, and long-term contracts to acquire more information about the quality of the products for the entrepreneurs.

MANDADO is using technology as an ally to make a continuous assessment of the service and capture the value of the three pillars, Entrepreneurs, Delivery, and User. The platform will be flexible to bring entrepreneurs, products and grow the number of users in real-time. Also, organize information and share the information with the entrepreneurs to make a better business decision and will be bringing data analysis to open the possibility of obtained side businesses.

MANDADO It is not only about connecting the supply with the demand is about to create an environment of trust and ethics through the supply chain.

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), the informal economy has a value of $760,000 MD. The Market value for Grocery and home and deco products is $42,860, MD. The principal market is Mexico City, in which many entrepreneurs and Nonprofits choose to launch their product in the unregulated framework due to the lack of experience. However, this decision implies additional risks like corruption and hiding costs. 

Papers like doing business.org 2020 mention that corruption, additional fees, and the lack of entrepreneurial ecosystem have a negative effect on business creation, today Mexico is the number 60. More than 498,000 businesses are facing these challenges every day. 

MANDADO is developing as a technological platform that sells products using the subscription business model given an additional channel for trade, for the entrepreneurs, Nonprofits, and Producers, that are currently selling in the informality or use commercial intermediaries to sell their products in Mexico City. We will be addressing the uncertainty of the demand and the lack of forums to launch a new product. 

MANDADO is allowing capturing the market on a big scale with one shot. The platform validates the quality of the products and the ethical production process, to finally connect with the Conscience Consumer. 

The system will be helping the entrepreneur to diminish the inventory problems, with a transparent process and fair price. Using the delivery by the community, we created additional jobs for the community, and the user can see the positive effect of acquires local products. 

As part of the Business Model, MANDADO can share feedback with the entrepreneurs to stimulate the production of new products or improve the currents one. 

MANDADO wants to diminish the number of unregulated businesses, given the opportunity to the entrepreneur to becoming a formal company and eventually increase legal jobs. As an organization, we want to and identify the critical business needs it at the local level to promote the investments in sectors that have the potential to grow. 

At the moment, we are in the development of the concept. However, as part of the marketing research, we create a forecast of impact for the following five years. 

 In Mexico, the informal economy represents 22.5% of national GDP, and the NGO represents 3% of GDP. According to INEGI in Mexico City, the number of Small business and NGO that exist are more of 498 000.  The amount of money that these economic units represent is 87,677 M of dollars.  

 We create a forecast of users with the available information of the National Institute of Statistics and Geographic (INEGI), considering the number of users that are currently making online purchases. For Year 1, we want to reach  3 Million users as base scenario, and for the worst, we are assuming  822 thousands of users. In the case of Year 5, the number of users in the base scenario is seven million users, assuming that for year 5, we can go national.  

For the entrepreneurs or “associate” Mandado create a forecast about how many entrepreneur or NGO we can acquire. During Y1, the number of“ associates” is 99,640  we are assuming a market penetration of 20% as base scenario, we are also considering an annual grow, the number of users each year and the average trend. For year 5, the number of entrepreneurs that we want to bring is more of 167,000. 

MANDADO wants to create trust in all the value chain.  In Mexico, the informal sector created 26% of jobs in smaller companies of 1 to 5 employees. As a Platform, we want to show to the Mexican entrepreneurial system the benefits of technology when it is applied with ethics to create more opportunities for the business creation that allowed to grow and secured the current jobs or create more. Our goal in 5 years is to acquire around 167,000 associates (Producer, entrepreneurs, and Nonprofits). The new business represents more jobs, and the effect goes beyond companies; it will change the lives of thousands of families.  We are planning to grow with the Horizontal Scaling, with one simple service, before moving to sides business. 

For Year 1. The goal is to acquire the number of 99,64 “associates” to use the platform. We are planning to capture 4 000 Millions of dollars of sells, in our base scenario.

Generate a Balance scorecard that allows us to measure the positive impact of being sold on the MERCADO platform. We are planning to be present in different forums to attract entrepreneurs, like public universities, visiting directly on their business.

During Y2 and Y4, we will be focused on Cybersecurity, data collections, Technological development to improve the User experience from both sides, the Final User, and the associates.

For year 5, we will be able to generate a robust data analysis to star to grow national or growing vertical with additional services for Mexico city.

As a new business channel, the challenge is to educate the community to use the platform and understand the value of selling using the platform. Unfortunately, the owner of small business in Mexico doesn’t trust on the institutionalization of the commerce. However, a new generation of entrepreneurs understands that being digital will be the next channel to grow.  

Grow the network. We need to create partnerships with different organizations to increase networking. Have the right Sponsor is vital to be recognize as a legitimate platform. 

Lack of investment. Unfortunately, many investors are not willing to take the risk due to the foundation of social company. The lack of knowledge about the benefits of invest in this kind of business is a barrier to attract capital. 

The legal regulations. As part of the challenges, we want to protect the intellectual property of new protocols, develop inside the platform. Also, understand the possible legal implication of contracts with the producer, cybersecurity, and protect the user, the associated, and the delivery team, with the legal framework.

Implementation of the delivery protocol.  Since it is a new process, we will be exposing to the insecurity of Mexico City. Because MANDADO decides used delivery by community, our worst scenario is that organized crime could use the network for criminal purposes. 

Educate the user. As part of our strategy, we will be taking advantage of the new generation of entrepreneurs. We are planning to start with small businesses, universities, and nonprofits that are currently selling, on the farmer's markets, or any other informality format. In this case, the resistance to change is lower and will be quickly adapt the product and demand.

Grow the network. We are planning to create a partnership with recognized institutions to bring new Associate (Entrepreneurs, producer, Nonprofit). We need a big name as MIT to generate recognition of the business model. Also, we are planning to invite public and private universities to start testing the market using the platform. 

Lack of investment. Since its a new business model, we will be asking for and opportunity in other forums like Contest, Foundations, and prizes. 

Implementation of the delivery protocol. We are currently creating a digital protocol, that will be tracking the person who delivers the box, the route, the number of boxes, and all the connection in between to minimize the risk of losses caused by crime. 

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MANDADO is a subscription business model that uses an App to connect “associates” (Entrepreneur, Nonprofits & Producer) with the Conscious Consumer, looking for convenience to fulfill their houses monthly with high-quality groceries and home décor products, that came from fair trade. 

MANDADO will be creating the demand, selecting the products to validate that is ethical, assembling the boxes, and delivered them, using the delivery by community approach.

The entrepreneur uploads the request to join the Platform. MANDADO team will be validating the quality of the product, review the ethical production process, and if the product meets the requirements, we will be using the product on the box as “New launch.” 

In the App, the consumer can give feedback for the products, and these observations will be shared with the entrepreneur to improve the user's experiences for their costumer. If the product obtains a high rating for the consumers, we will be inviting him to be part of our regular box for the next 3 months. 

As part of the business model, we are considering two revenue sources. 

·      3% fee for every launch do it by the Platform. 

·      2% fee per every regular purchase doing by the Platform. 

MANDADO is an alternative channel non explore in Mexico City and gives the entrepreneur a transparent option to trade, avoiding hiding costs, having a presence in different locations, and creating data information for the decision-making process.

As part of our preliminary plan, we are considering use donations and prizes to actually build the Demo of the application and hire people. The expectation from the firsts three years is growth horizontally with a simple service. As part of the model, we are considering two revenue sources. During the forecasting analysis, we used three different scenarios, and in all of them, the source of revenues cover the expenses strategy. The financial plan based on variable costs reduced fixed cost.

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In this phase of the business plan, we are considering donation and prizes has a source of founds. However, we are open to offers.

The estimation of expenses for the five years in the base case scenario is around 2 million dollars. The most significant impact on costs will be during the first three years; we are expecting decrease the Fix Cost after developing the platform. This forecast was creating considering, the following assumption:

·      CPI 

·      Unemployment rate

·      Fx between pesos and Dollar 

·      Macroeconomic variables (GDP) Also, as part of the microeconomic assumptions, we consider the number of users that we want to bring to the network by year, and in the worst-case scenario, the expenses increase to 3 Millions of dollars.

We are currently looking for partners that:

·      Mentorship, to grow to make the change between the Business Plan to Prototype. Also, it helps us to define the operating process delivery. 

·      Sponsor, we are looking for partnerships that help us to obtain recognition for the project and help us to attract investors on the project.  

·      Partnership with institutions, universities, accelerators, and NGOs that want to use the platform as a new channel of selling.

·      Legal Mentor. That helps us to create the legal framework to operate in transparency with all the clients. 

We want to obtain help on mentorship for MIT. It will be an honor that MIT can help us with the Venture Mentoring Service (VMS), which is only available for the MIT community and only works locally. But it will be relay great have online access to mentorship or online resources. Solve a platform to connect with partners that can provide us with feedback to improve the business model.

Also, it will be an honor to have access to the resources on the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) because it will help us to improve the concept and validate the market. Most importantly, we want to know how to attract investors to the project. We want to bring to life the platform from the paper and research to the real world. 

Of course, we want to know the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Mexico. As Graduates of IPN and IPADE, we understand how the business environment in Mexico works, and also the innovation. Embracing the values that we acquire in these institutions, we want to meet organizations that are really interested in the economic development of the base of the pyramid.