Buyer persona: María is a 19 year old, Mexican university student. She has been studying for a year now and she always gets very nervous and stressed during her midterms, and because of this, she has intestine problems (like constipation and colitis).

Product price: The price for the frozen yoghurt will be of $8 MXN, because of the costs and the mean of the yoghurt industry, to maintain the company competitive in the market.

1. Customer Segment

Mexican university students

Age range: 18 to 25 years old

High and medium-high socioeconomic levels

2. Value Proposition

Development of a probiotic to reduce intestinal inflammation, thus causing a healthy digestive system, which in turn helps to treat stress and depression.

This is a probiotic that will be implemented in frozen yoghurt, including 3 different toppings: granola, chocolate cookies, and dried fruit, to provide an easy-to-go option for customers.

The added value for this product is that no other probiotic in the world blocks excess intestinal pro-inflammatory molecules, and it will be packaged in small cups made out of bioplastic (made from avocado pits), thus aiding the Mexican company that manufactures this bioplastic.

Future plans for the company: Once we recover the investment made at the beginning of the project (ROI, Return on Investment), we want to reach people from all backgrounds by selling our product for high and medium-high socioeconomic levels that suffer from depression, and by using our surplus to plan and execute activities for everyone to know about depression, and what it entails (treatment, symptoms, positive thinking, etc.).

3. Channels

High-class supermarkets in urban areas (Superama, Fresko, Chedraui Selecto)

Drugstores (Farmacias del Ahorro, Farmacias Guadalajara, YZA)

Online purchases in the company’s website (the company’s website includes a blog where people can make communities and foster positive publicity for the brand).

Hospitals

Little stores inside universities

4. Customer Relationships

Advertising inside universities adequate for college students

Stationary advertising in public zones near universities

Attractive advertisements on Spotify and Apple Music for the target market

Instagram and Facebook sponsored stories and advertisings regarding the product

Active social media accounts

Sponsored events inside universities, promoting the product.

5. Revenue Streams

Income will come from direct sales, from our website.

Sales from convenient stores

Sales from drugstores

Sales from supermarkets

Sales from hospitals and universities

We will also receive aid from sponsors

6. Key Resources

Mentors: Dra. Carolina Senés & Profesor Roberto Portillo

Integrated multidisciplinary team, composed of people with different majors like Computer Engineering, Design, Marketing, and Biotechnology Engineering.

Physical resources: Laboratory equipment and supplies

Adequate facilities for research and implementation of activities necessary for the project process.

Raw material and facilities for developing the probiotic and the yoghurt.

7. Key Activities

The team aims to develop a smart psychobiotic that detects an increase of stress and aids in the normalization of aberrant gut-brain signaling. The steps that must be followed are:

Get the strain

Transform the strain

Preserve DNA and strain

Have replicas

Cultivate the replicas

Make the product

Do the industrial process

8. Key Partners

Tecnológico de Monterrey: Mexican university where the team is currently doing their majors. The university provided facilities, laboratory materials, mentors and guidance, and paid for the registration to the competition.

T4OLIGO: Mexican company focused on nucleic acid synthesis. The company provided a synthesis sponsorship of X base pairs.

Promega: Global leader in genomics, protein analysis and expression and genetic identity. The team won the convocatory for the sponsorship of $2,000 USD in materials and products.

CONACYT: The National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT in Spanish) is a decentralized public body of the Mexican federal government that promotes and stimulates the development of technology and science in Mexico. IDT: American company that supplies custom nucleic acids. The company provided the team with DNA (sponsorship of X base pairs).

PiSA Farmacéutica: Mexican pharmaceutical company that develops products for human health. The company donated isotonic drinks in contribution to the project.

Biofase (possible partnership): Mexican company that manufactures biodegradable plastic, made of avocado pits. We plan to develop an agreement to manufacture yoghurt packages.

9. Cost Structure

Laboratory supplies and equipment are required to comply with the product realization process. These costs range from $21,000 MXN to $48,000 MXN, depending on the amount of supplies needed and the type of supplies. Please refer to Annex 2 to find costs and materials.

Cost for patent, which is approximately $7,577.39 MXN.

As for other costs, we have labeling and packaging. Which for a production of 1,000 cups of frozen yoghurts is approximately $2,000 MXN.

Type of Intervention

A product that is a supplement to treat depression. 65% of people treated can be cured, and we plan to be part of that 65% that can help people.

Surplus

Once we recover our principal investment, we plan to allocate part of our profits to plan and execute activities for people of all backgrounds and socioeconomic level can access to information regarding depression, its causes, and treatments. 45% of the margin, once the investment is recovered, would be allocated for the activities, and 55% for the production of the yoghurt.