Our Enterprising Girls. Phase 2. Planning and Selling.

Phase 2 of our Marketing began! It was Friday 18 November and we were heading out into the streets of Morogoro the following Monday, 21/11 to sell our t-shirts. Time was needed to help the girls with their Marketing strategy. Polly, Hugo (Fundacion Paraguaya) and Kennedy spent a whole morning going through the relevant details and enabling the girls to actively participate in setting goals,costing and profit ideals, logistics, role playing etc until the girls had a better understanding of what was expected and the challenges they might encounter.

 Polly

 Hugo

 Kennedy and Hugo sharing the power point presentation

 Intensity...concern.....intrigue....anticipation....excitement.....??

 absorbing the exciting ideas and knowledge...

 How much should we charge? What are our costs? Should we sell plain white shirts as well as the tie dyed ones? how will we get there? What challenges might we encounter and how could we handle them?

....etc etc...

 Each group was given their own scenario and questions to which they were to respond and later to share their conclusions with the whole class. Kennedy and Hugo gave support and challenged their thinking as their discussions progressed.

 Discussion was intense and productive as the girls started to get excited about the weeks ahead.

Group decisions were being made...discussed as a class then guidelines were drawn from these discussions.

 Practice through role play...such a powerful interactive medium.

The activity drew out many of the challenges which might be encountered and gave the girls a chance to discuss and decide how they might handle a similar situation if it actually occurred.

 Fun, laughter and banter as each character became more bold and perhaps realistic!

....Then along came a real challenge!

"Can we sell to a Mzungu? They always have money.....don't they??!"

 "Excuse me Madam, would you like to buy one of our t-shirtsl?"

  "Madam they are good quality and 100% cotton..."

"Yes....yes....very nice.....Girls I am very busy!"

"Madam, they come in your size and would look good"

...."Girls, thank you... but  I said that I am very busy!

 "Yes, I am sorry, but if you buy one of our t-shirts you would be supporting poor girls being educated at SEGA Secondary School."

 "mmmm....okay. Tell me more."

"Madam we have tie dye shirts and white shirts"

 "....and you tell me that I would be supporting impoverished girls' education......." 

"Yes Madam....perhaps you would like to buy 2 or more.....some for your family?......"

The girls were persistent and really wanted to get their sale
....there seemed to be no escape!

This is the shortened version as there were many things said and done during this encounter which provoked good productive discussion, both positive and negative! Very successful!
Focusing on helping support SEGA to become financially sustainable withing 5 years was agreed upon as it empowers them instead of diminishes their status in the market.   

 Monday 21 November arrived and Group 1 Marketing team journeyed to Morogoro town center where Kennedy, Hugo, and Joffrey Lubega assisted in supervising these very excited entrepreneurs!

Time for chai to gain energy for the big day of selling!

 Teams of two were decided then discussion and allocation followed of appropriate locations as well as return times for lunch and completion of the day.

And so the fun.... and reality..... began!