Forming an Opportunity Belief- Assignment 4

●      Belief:

Due to the COVID-19 new problems due to restrictions implemented by the Guatemalan government many peoples' day-to-day lives have been altered significantly. One of the biggest restrictions being that senior citizens cannot leave their houses unless it is for a medical reason. This regulation has limited most of this group's activities like going to run errands.

●      Behind the belief:

○      What is the unmet need?

Senior Citizens cannot leave their house to run their usual errands, like grocery shopping, going to the convenience store or other businesses. They have to rely on family members or many different delivery services that offer a limited selection. Those delivery services also take a long time and sometimes are so saturated that the service is not available for same day delivery. Most of the delivery services only have online ordering platforms that most senior citizens do not know how to use.

○      Who has the need?

Senior citizens that are restricted by law from leaving their households.

○      Where did the need come from (is it new, or has it always existed)?

The need has appeared recently due to coronavirus disease restrictions

○      What are people doing to meet this need now? (These four elements are important -- we'll come back to these.)

Currently senior citizens depend mostly on their families to do their errands and shopping. Some rely on multiple delivery services that take a very long time due to saturation.

○      At this point, how sure are you (say, in percent terms) that this opportunity exists?

I am fairly confident that this opportunity exists as I have seen this need within my family as well as in the families of people I know.

●      The prototypical Costumer:

○      Patricia E.

○      Kim G.

○      Lilian W.

●      Interviews:

○       What is the exact nature of the need?

○      When do they become aware of the need -- that is, do they experience their need all the time or only sometimes?

○      How long have they had the need?

○      When did they first become aware of their need? Why?

○      How are they currently addressing their need? How satisfied are they with this solution?

■      Patricia E.

●      During this time it is especially hard for me to get products in the instant I need them. I have to plan out everything I need to get bought one or two weeks in anticipation. I also have to coordinate with many people to get all of my errands done for me. I rely on people (my family) to coordinate many errands for me. Ideally there would be a service that I can coordinate to do all of my errands each week.

●      I have had this need for about 2 months when I started self quarantining because I have several health issues, including breathing trouble and diabetes. When the president implemented the restriction for us elders over 60 years old I felt a greater sense of need and reliance. It became very evident after the restriction because delivery services, like “Hugo” and “Glovo” became something I could not count on because my family was not able to coordinate deliveries with too much time in advance and the services are frequently saturated meaning some days you cannot place an order. This could be an everyday need but could also be an intermittent need, depending on the services available. It is mostly a few times a week when I want to get something but I cannot go out and have to ask my son.

●      I became aware of this need before the regulation because I self-quarantined and started relying on my son to do groceries for me. I felt it more when he had me make lists of what I needed 2 weeks out because of curfews sometimes he could not get into the stores. He would try delivery services but they became saturated quickly.

●      I am thankful because I have a son that helps me out with many of my errands but he does have to work so we have to coordinate with time. I cannot ask for immediate “wants”. I make my grocery list so that it will last me 2 weeks, so that my son doesn’t have to go too frequently. It is definitely not the best solution but it is the only option available right now.

■      Kim G.

●      During the changing regulations as a response to the pandemic, coordinating errands for my household and my parents household has become especially difficult. As my parents are elders and my father has some health issues I asked them to not leave their house. I have been able to work from home so I have been able to manage my work life and running errands for my parents a little better. Although, some errands like grocery shopping, convenience store shopping,etc are time consuming because I have to wait in line to be able to get into stores and check out. I have used some delivery services but lately they are not working out for me because they take so long and sometimes I cannot place an order due to the high demand.

●      I started mentalizing myself to start taking over my parents errands when the pandemic started becoming an issue here in Guatemala City. It became a big issue when the president asked all elders to stay in so the delivery services became even more saturated because everyone was having things delivered to their elderly relatives. I have my parents plan out their needs so that I can buy them groceries every 1.5-2 weeks and only immediate needs for emergencies. It is not an everyday need, it is a need that arises when my parents need me to get something for them and I do not have time that day to go get it for them,

●      I have had this need for about 3 weeks when running the errands for both households has become especially time consuming

●      Currently I am doing most of the errands and shopping for my parents. I have used some delivery services but some have taken a week to deliver and others take many hours just to deliver a meal and sometimes I cannot even place an order. Honestly, this is far from the perfect situation, going out and running errands myself take me about twice as long as it used to take me and the delivery services I cannot count on because of how unreliable they are due to the high volume they are handling at the moment.

■      Lillian W

●      My husband and I have been very affected by this COVID pandemic and the regulations and warnings that have surged in the past 2 months. As we both are elderly, it is important that we stay as isolated as possible to mitigate the risk of contracting the virus. Getting basic things done has become logistically hard. Going to the supermarket has become illegal  for me as it is unlawful for people above 60 yrs of age to leave their home unless it is for a medical reason.  I have had to rely on unreliable services to get things like the supermarket shopping done. For people like me it is of high importance to get a service that makes it easier for all the people that cannot leave to be able to easily program certain errands for a day to get done for me and brought to my home. I need a service that is provided through the phone and not a high tech app. I would also like a service where I can order everything I need rather than placing an order for each store.

●      I became aware of this when from one day to another the president announced that anyone above the age of 60 could not leave their homes. This came as a surprise to my husband and I because we usually go to the market once a week, with all the recommended safety precautions and at elderly hours, but all of the sudden we could not. This became a real big problem because our daughter lives outside of the country and could not help us get our errands done.  You could say that this problem is a very frequent occurrence, we cannot just go buy something when we need it. We have had to adjust and think further ahead of time when we ask for some deliveries. We have had to rely on a narrow scope of delivery options for food and other necessities and have to ask for deliveries with time because we have had to wait for many days to get our order delivered. 

●      I have had this need for about a month since the president said that people above 60 yrs old could not leave their home.

●      I first became aware of the need when the virus started spreading quickly and I did not want to go out as much to be extra safe, so I began investigating some alternatives. I Became especially aware of the need after the regulation was passed because my outings were completely out of the question.

●      I am using various delivery services but it is hard to use the apps to order and they take a long time to get back to me to tell me my order was being processed (sometime days) or take many days to get my orders delivered. I am not satisfied with these services because it is hard to get them set up and it is not a fast response/delivery.

●      Reflection:

After talking to the 3 people I interviewed, I realized that this is a high priority opportunity that needs to be addressed soon.  I learned that the current services offered are less than optimal for these people as their ordering platforms are not user friendly, highly unreliable and have long turnover times. It is clear that due to the new health warnings and restrictions that surged from the development of the pandemic it has become very hard and time consuming  for people like Patricia, Kim and Lillian to run, what used to be, simple errands. They have to rely on family members or delivery services that many people are not satisfied with the service they give.

●      Summary:

○      How much of your original opportunity is still there?

■      I think that after talking to the prototypical customers, the opportunity has a wider scope of solutions that can be offered to solve the current need. I also think that the opportunity could extend beyond the end of the pandemic as I had originally thought it would last. I also believe that the opportunity could be for more than just the elderly population.

○      Do you believe that your new opportunity is more accurate than when you started?

■      I do believe that the opportunity is more accurate as I was able to understand the origin of the need and the extent of the affected populations even more.

○      How much do you think entrepreneurs should 'adapt' their opportunities based on customer feedback? (In other words, is there a trade-off between adapting and staying firm?)

■      Entrepreneurs should adapt to gain a larger reach to broaden the scope of the opportunity, I believe that if you do not modify to satisfy feedback, you are limiting the reach that the opportunity could have. The greater the reach the greater the profit. I do think that they should not adapt further than what they can handle, as overextending capacities/ capabilities could have a negative effect on the opportunity and the reach.