BANINI, the journey of a venture.

Like in any commercial sector, various degrees of unmet needs can be fulfilled. Some are truly innovative and groundbreaking innovations, but most ventures are basing their advantage on a price-value comparison.? The BANINI venture was based on an unmet need in the service sector.???

A common delusion: Entrepreneurs are obsessed with ideas to redeem ROI quickly. The intuition is, to get more return on investment, while investing as little as possible. To that end, many AI tools provide money-saving shortcuts. However, these practical advantages cannot be compared with what an idea that addresses an unmet need can achieve. If you want your venture to succeed, develop a product idea that fulfills unmet needs.? Once an insight has been identified, the proactive approach would take nothing for granted because exploration is likely to entail major system adjustments and, in some cases, a considerable investment. ?Starting by identifying a potential unmet need and following it up with the development of an applicable idea.???

Where do ideas come from? The biological answer is, from the cerebral cortex. The area of the cerebrum enables speech, judgment, thinking and reasoning, problem-solving, emotions, and learning. In practical terms, ideas emerge from re-configuration and reshaping of already existing situations. another part that contributes to new ideas comes from keen observation of external situations. To come up with an idea demands mental space and time. Cognitive space allows new combinations of thoughts deriving from intuitions and experiences. The cognizance of a situation differs greatly from moment to moment, causing new thoughts to emerge. Maverick innovators have the flexibility to correlate unrelated insights. The encouraging news is, that inspirations often come unexpectedly from only a vague association with a situation. We hardly make distinctions between a conscious and sub-conscious cognizance. Later we re-live that split-second decision that was based on a situation that no longer exists. It does however require alertness and the ability to correlate unlikely scenarios. Such was the case with BANINI, the wholesome snack. I stumbled on this idea by chance as I was visiting the large and complex kitchen of an airline that I was working for as a consultant. Having worked on developing ideas for clients I knew that a raw idea needs to be verified before being presented to a potential client.

Taking a step back. Imagine that you are working as a consultant for an airline. And one day you are being escorted to the airline’s kitchen. “Boy is that a huge, and busy place…” Soon you find out how important it is to provide food for onboard passengers, almost 24 hours day after day. In the process of collecting data about the aircraft's capacities, you find out that the aircraft takes on two flights a day. Considering the entire process of transporting passengers from terminal A to terminal B you identify a potential unmet need triggered by the ridged tasks of the stewardesses.??When passengers get on board, find their seats, and get their hand luggage tucked away in the overheads, stewardesses are under great stress. Then the stewardesses converge in the galley, (the kitchen) to prepare for the meals. But in the meantime, passengers get a small pack of snacks to chew on.

The verification of an idea. The "fuzzy front-end “of an idea. Taking the following considerations will ensure the economic feasibility of a new idea.? Market and consumer trends, including existing competitors. ?Your company's capacities and capabilities include the R&D department, the business employees, and affiliated organizations that you can rely on. ?Ethnographic discovery methods (searching for user patterns and habits) may also be used to get an insight into a potential unmet need.

Answering the following questions. Technical and legal implications of implementing this idea.?Investment issues such as production, maintenance, and logistic costs.?What changes in organization would be needed, to make this idea feasible? What benefits would this idea bring to the customers?? What would potential drawbacks would the implementing this idea have? How will consumers react to the product? How to implement this idea cost-effectively? When to expect the return on investment?

Idea screening. The objective is to eliminate unsound concepts before devoting resources to them. The screeners should ask several questions: Is the idea addressing the identified issue? What are the implications of implementing the idea? What are the potential drawbacks? Size and growth forecasts over time. What is the expected competitive reaction? What are the industry and market trends that this idea is addressing? Is it technically feasible to implement this idea? Will the brand benefit from implementing this idea??

Design Review: ? At the appropriate stages of design, formal documented reviews of the design results shall be planned and conducted. ? ?Participants at each design review shall include representatives of all functions concerned with the design stage being reviewed as well as other specialist personnel, as required. ? Records of such reviews shall be maintained.

? Design Output: ? ?Design output shall be documented and expressed in terms that can be verified and validated against design input requirements. ? Design output shall identify those crucial areas of safety and proper functioning of the product.

Producing an actual prototype batch. Initial production was accomplished by a contracted certified food processing company. The test batch was based on the specific product design specs. Subsequently, independent comparisons with competing products were conducted. ?Comparing taste preference, nutritional values, and for the airline, the weight preserving comparison. (Weight plays a role in the carrier's payload.)??Beta Testing with targeted customers, also testing the product and its packaging in a typical situation. Once the necessary adjustments were made, G&A presented a viable proposition to the airline’s purchasing department, which was subsequently forwarded to the CEO. This proposal includes the costs and ROI calculations.

In parallel, G&A was preparing a proposition for an investment group, seeking an investment fund for the creation of production facilities under the G&A company.? Once the requested budget has been approved and the first installment has been paid, Preparatory tasks include the following: (1). Recruiting key operation staff including Food experts familiar with the FDA needs.? (2.) Production flow with the agriculture and the construction company for the lab.? (3.) Preparation of quality control plan, IE: QC engineering table. (4.) Preparation of test equipment. (5.) Preparation of operation sheets. (6.) Procurement, installation, production, and testing.?? (7.) Training of personnel.

How to get from [A] a tested product to [B] a feasible production and delivery? Looking into the potential capacity, always ask yourself if your company is capable of delivering on the expectations, keeping in mind that taking too big of a step could become prohibitively expensive. Also, an unequal pace of expansion of your customer can turn out to be a stumbling block.? A kneejerk reaction. While the CEO liked the idea, the unexpected expansion of the airline called for a volume that G&A was unable to deliver right away. To enable the delivery of the required volume, a larger certified lab, and a larger packing facility were needed, but the loan from the investment group was not approved yet.

The saving grace. After a long journey, it became clear that returning to a previous situation is impossible, simply because all the constellations have since mutated and morphed. While the continent’s largest airline continues to grow, G&A offered its BANINI product to smaller, private airlines.? It turned out that the unmet need was as relevant for airlines that operated about 30-40 aircraft. Separately and unrelated, it was a stroke of luck that enabled the G&A company to purchase a plantation up north where its plans of expanded capacities are at work, along with the development of new unmet need ideas. ?

Acknowledging the indirect contribution of the following distinguished individuals. CEO Tewolde Gebremariam, Professor Martin Reeves, Dr. Geri Puleo, Prof Chris Brewin, Julia Dhar,? Bill James, Ernie Smith, Robert Louis Stevenson, Yuval Noah Harari,? Steven Strogatz mathematician, Richard Dawkin, Jeremy Rifkin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Naomi Klein, Chin-Ning Chu, Fiorina, Margaret Heffernan, John Byers, Noam Chomsky. Dr. Shaun M. Powell, Dr. Jaakko Aspara,? Dr. Victoria Pratt, Prof. Cathy O'Neil, Dr. Tiffany Watt-Smith, "The Secret Life of the Mind," neuroscientist, Thomas Piketty & Federico Pistono, Prof. Frank Dik?tter, Associate Prof. Frank Ching, Professor Mark L. Howe,??

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