Recycling fish by-product in Alaska and processing into fish oil health supplement in China.

The Proposal

It is currently estimated that there are billions of pounds of fish caught annually in Alaska. The majority of these fish go through fillet manufacturing from which millions of pounds of fish byproducts are produced annually. Conventionally, these byproducts have been simply thrown into the ocean and left to decomposition. However, recently with increased environmental awareness, many major fish manufacturers are now required to further manufacture these byproducts before dumping them into the ocean. However, these factories are often operating at a loss and merely manufacturing due to governmental regulation. We propose a solution that will not only get rid of these byproducts for fish manufacturers but also prevent environmental damage caused by these byproducts. We propose to start FishCycle, a company that will take these byproducts and further manufacture them into useful oils, protein powder, and additional supplements.

There is undoubtedly a large amount of fish caught annually in Alaska. These fish vary from salmon to tuna to many others. Depending on the type of fish, these are processed differently and eventually manufactured into different products. However, one common type of processing for the majority of fish types is filleting of the fish. This process removes unwanted material such as the internal organs and bones. These then become byproducts, which need to be taken care of. Traditionally, these byproducts have been dumped into the ocean without further processing and this has led to serious environmental issues. A serious problem is when fish byproduct is dumped into the ocean, the oxygen content in it can then cause more oxygen to form, which will lead to life clogging algae. Recently, the government has recognized this problem and required the 5 major fish processing companies to collectively form a factory for fish byproduct processing. However, this factory is currently operating at a loss of hundreds of thousands per year and the many other smaller fish processing companies are still simply dumping fish byproduct into the ocean. The disposal of fish byproducts has been and still currently is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed and if left unattended can have serious environmental consequences. What many do not currently realize is the true value of these so-called waste. There is valuable fish oil that can be extracted from this byproduct and the remainder can be made into fish mill, which at high qualities can be sold for human consumption and at lower qualities can be used as animal fed. It contains higher nutritional content than the average animal fed and is made from wild Alaskan fish, which is among some of the best in the world.

Our proposed solution is a company that will take fish byproducts and make valuable use of it. By doing this, we are not only recycling fish byproducts and protecting the environment, but we are also in turn reducing costs for both fish processing plants and vitamin and supplement producing companies and animal fed producing companies. FishCycle will first go to Alaska and collect fish byproduct from all fish processing companies. After collecting the fish byproduct, we will first dry it so that it is both easier to transport and preserve. We will then use cooling containers to ship all this byproduct to China where our processing plant will be. Our plant will be relatively simple. Oil will be extracted from the byproduct and everything left will be processed into simple fish mill. Our products can then be sold to vitamin and supplement producing companies and animal fed companies as raw materials. We recognize that our fish oil and mill will be of the most basic quality. However, after further expansion, we plan on expanding our production into finer quality products. We would like to eventually be able to produce multiple grades of fish oil and fish mill, which can be used for everything from animal fed to human consumption. During the initial phases of our start up, the primary purpose of our fish mill will be for animal fed. Our fish oil and some of our fish mill can be used as raw materials for vitamin or supplement production.

Currently, raw materials for fish related vitamins and supplements are relatively expensive in China. Animal fed is also relatively basic in quality. Most important of all, high quality raw material is difficult to come by and will be very expensive. We will be able to not only provide the higher quality fish mill and oil made from wild Alaskan fish but we will also be able to provide this at a relatively low price as we will have cheaper costs than our competitors. It is without a doubt that Alaska produces some of the world’s best fish. Therefore, the fish oil and mill will naturally be of higher quality. True Alaskan fish products are extremely rare in China and we will introduce these products into the Chinese market at a low market.

We will be exporting fish byproducts from America to China and this will involve many importing and exporting regulations. We have all the necessary documentations necessary for exporting and importing and our team members have the necessary knowledge and connections in port cities. What we are doing is also in no way a violation of any regulation.

There is a great deal of opportunity in this particular industry. As mentioned before, many on-shore fisheries and their on-sea counterparts have little incentive right now, to become involved in recycling fish byproducts. However, as also mentioned above, there is a growing demand in the world for such byproducts within various industries – animal feed and nutrition supplement being the most common. Both of these industries, especially the nutrition supplement industry – are growing, with demand increasing for various products offered. However, not many fish processing plants see much financial incentive when it comes to processing fish byproducts or waste.

We will initially start with collecting fish byproducts from the five major fish processing companies in Alaska and we are aiming for 2 million pounds of fish byproduct in the first year, which will allow us to cover variable costs and some fixed costs. We expect to break even after the third year and start generating profit. We plan to set up a second processing plant in China after 10 years and in 20 years hope to accept all fish byproducts generated by fish processing companies in Alaska. Due to costs of factory build up and maintenance, we plan on renting a factory for the first three years of manufacture. Our projected annual revenue is $300,000 for the first year and we expect this number to steadily increase as we acquire more technology and as our company further expands. By 2020, we project FishCycle to be worth 5 million dollars and we project an exit price of 10 million for exit in 2020.

Due to high costs of factory maintenance and machinery supply, we will first rent a factory in China, which we will use for our processing. We have previously negotiated the deal and the rental fee (including machinery) would be $25,000. The remainder will be distributed towards transportation of fish byproducts ($15,000) and fish byproduct collection ($5,000-10,000). We expect the fish byproduct to cost close to nothing because according to our research, the byproducts are a burden for fish processing companies and on YueFeng Du’s trip to Alaska, many companies had agreed, after negotiation, to allow us to have the fish byproducts at a low price.

The Team

Our team consists of YueFeng (Mike) Du, Albert Hu, and Gang (William) Li. YueFeng (Mike) Du is a current sophomore studying biomedical engineering and economics who has had a great deal of experience working in start-ups. He recently worked for Ivy Revolution Insiders and started his own branch and he is also the co founder of FrutyYooty, a frozen yogurt start-up company. In particular, he is has expertise in marketing and finance. His family is also in the vitamin and supplements industry and he has learned a great deal regarding the industry growing up. He recently took a trip to Alaska to explore the market and saw for himself the current situation. He is very familiar with the fish processing plants and their operations and is able to find a processing plant in China that we can rent. Albert Hu is another sophomore studying biomedical engineering. He is Duke Venture Forward member, incoming president of the Duke Smart Home and he has also had experience working in start-up companies, in addition to family connection in Port Authority Export/Import Goods and Food Inspection Bureau of Qinhuangdao, China, the 2nd largest port in Northern China. Gang (William) Li is a sophomore studying economics. He also co-founded Duke Business Network, a common business platform featuring interviews and news updates. He is familiar with company development as well as and is also very familiar with Chinese importing and port regulations.

The Proposal

On the list of America’s favorite drinks, some are most notorious for the health. Coffee is addicting, raises blood cholesterol level and releases a lot of greenhouse gases during its manufacturing processes. Soda is high in sugar and sodium and contributes significantly to the most popular American health problems: obesity and heart conditions. The need for healthy and natural drinks that also tastes good is urgent.

Possibly one of the first things that comes into people’s minds when they speak of healthy drink is usually some sort of milk. Let’s be honest, whole milk has quite some fat content and skimmed milk taste worse than water. Yet the biggest problem is lactose intolerant in the population today. According to NIH, there are approximately 30 to 50 million people in the USA alone that are lactose intolerant, which includes 95% of Asians, 60% of African Americans and 80% American Indians. Consuming dairy products will cause much discomfort in the digestive system in these populations.

The solution we came up with is to introduce corn milk to the North American market by establishing a company called Cornmilk USA. Corn milk is a traditional Thai drink and is also extremely popular in other nearby countries like Vietnam. It is made of natural raw corn; it is healthy and most importantly, it tastes amazing. It is the drink that lines the streets in most cities in Thailand, the country where the founder of Cornmilk USA is from. Corn milk can be made by filtering raw corn blend with natural spring water. It looks a little more yellow than milk, and it carries the unique wonderful smell of corn. Sugar, sweetener, Cinnamon and/or honey can be added for flavoring. It is the ultimate drink of healthy lifestyles while preserving great tastes, with no chance of complication with lactose intolerant conditions.

The target customer would be, well, everyone and anyone who enjoys a nice drink, especially people who are known to be lactose intolerant and cannot enjoy a regular dairy drink. Women are particularly in love with drinks that are healthy and low in calories. The advertisement will be put with an emphasize on young female customers. The potential health benefits will also be stressed. Cornmilk USA is a franchise and its corn milk products will take several forms. You can find them packaged in supermarkets for moms and working age women; you can also find Cornmilk USA retail stores by the cute name of “Cornmiko”, targeted towards teenage students and young adults, around school areas and college campuses. The stores will also serve corn milk drinks and deserts and will aim to create a relaxing environment for student to hang out in, all to help make corn milk a national phenomenon. When these students grow up, they will continue to buy corn milk products for their families.

We plan to make fresh corn milk from fresh corns at our stores. Equipment needed include not much more than a corn scraper, a blender, a filter and a fridge. As for the packaged corn milk for sale at supermarkets, we plan to import straight from Thailand at the initial stages, to avoid the high costs of setting up a factory. We can buy fresh corn milk or corn milk concentrate at obscenely low costs from Thailand due to currency conversion rate (about 38 cents per small bottle of 1.5 servings). We would then repackage and rebrand the bottles and distribute to major supermarkets, and pay our way to get our product to the most visible sections in supermarkets. Once operations are in place and revenues are steady, we will move toward opening a factory in USA to utilize the vast corn farming resource available here in the United States.

This opportunity opens up a new horizon in recreational drinks industry and desert retailing. You should be expecting to be able to enjoy a cornmilk drink in Durham before the end of the next semester.

The Team

Jomkuan (Lynn) Theprungsirikul is a student from Bangkok, Thailand, where corn milk is the number one popular drink on the streets. She was frustrated when she found out there corn milk did not exist commercially in USA and decided to make her own. After numerous compliments form her American friends, she decided to make this wonderfully tasting healthy drink available for all. She is a sophomore majoring in biology.

Albert Hu is a sophomore studying biomedical engineering. He is interested and experienced in international business model transfer. He is the co-founder of FrutyYooty Ltd, a frozen yogurt business in China.

The Proposal

Parking has become a major issue in many places around the world. Finding parking in busy outdoor parking lots in downtown and shopping centers filled with people is difficult enough, what is even more troublesome is not knowing where the nearest available parking space is or when a parking spot does open up somewhere. Drivers often spend a long time trying to find open spaces and this is both a waste of fuel and a danger to the general public as chances of accidents are significantly increased. We would like to solve this problem by creating a system that will allow people to both effectively and efficiently find open parking spaces in busy areas without the annoyance of circling down each row of cars and getting disappointed. Our proposed solution is a smartphone application and a camera image processing system that will allow people to see open parking spaces and directly get to them. This smartphone application will resolve the difficulty that almost every driver has of finding free spaces outdoor parking lots or roadside parking.

Finding parking spaces in busy parking lots is frustrating. Most of the time, people circle around parking lots and streets hoping their luck would find them a spot. However, many end up spending a long time wondering around only to see someone else get to the open space before they do. All this circling around is not only a waste of gasoline but it is also extremely dangerous. After multiple tries, many drivers often become impatient and decide to park illegally. Our target customers compose of a relatively large population. We are targeting anyone and everyone with both a car and a smartphone. It is currently estimated that there are 73.3 million smartphone users in the United States alone and it is also estimated that by 2013, there will be 1 billion smartphone users in the world. Also in the United States, there are almost as many cars as people which means that on average there is one car per person. Everyone fitting the description of owning both a car and a smartphone is part of our target customer population and this group had great future potential for further growth.

ParkingOwl attacks this problem head on by letting you know where the nearest legal parking space is in any given parking lot. The system is comprised of 3 components: detecting component, processing component and the end user’s smartphones. As part of the detection component, one Infrared capable IP camera is placed on a high pole to monitor each section of a parking lot. The sections are about the size of one sublot of Blue zone, which can park about 100 cars. The image capture by the camera is then sent to the server for analysis, which runs on an existing robust image processing algorism in Ruby and interpret the spaces as occupied or available. All historical data are stored for analysis and the software layer will allow mobile application to query for latest status of spots. The status of the space is then updated in real time and shown as a map on the end user’s smartphones, with a red spot meaning the space is occupied and green indicating the space is available for parking. The smarphone app is built on JQuery so that it can run on multiple popular platforms( iOS, Blackberry, Android, Symbian, WindowsMobile, WebOS etc.).

At night, or in low visibility environments, the camera will turn on its build in infrared emitter and radiate a low level of infrared rays (or in popular language, heat). The infrared capable camera will then be able to detect the small infrared reflective patch place on each parking space, if the space is available. If the space is not available, the reflected IR rays will not be concentrated enough to be detected by the software and the system will recognize as a vehicle has parked there, thus achieving the same capabilities as in well lighted environments. This technology is novel and is actually patent pending. The owners of ParkingOwl are the inventors on file with USPTO. As this invention happened and was filed before the Leahy Smith America Invents Act taking effect, the US system is still based on first-to-invent and we are the only and absolute owner of this invention.

The use of an Infrared IP camera for outdoor parking lots is a ultra-low cost alternative to many existing expensive indoor parking space monitoring system, which uses laser, pressure sensor, RFID tags etc. A good infrared IP camera for our purpose cost only $100 and in rare cases, if we need higher visibility, we can purchase a IR floodlight for $30. It was determined to be the best solution for our scenario after extensive research by some members of the Duke Smart Home.

States usually have different definition of distracted driving. Although cell phone and texting laws all roughly follow the same guideline, some local jurisdictions may have additional regulations. 35 states, D.C. and Guam ban text messaging for all drivers. 32 states, D.C., and Guam have primary enforcement. However, texting while driving is far more dangerous than app using, which requires less attention and fewer operations. In fact only 9 states, D.C. and the Virgin Islands prohibit all drivers from calling while driving. Furthermore, No state bans all cell phone use (handheld and hands-free) for all drivers, but many prohibit all cell phone use by novice drivers and school bus drivers. As smartphone’s voice recognition system and virtual assistance system evolve over time, drivers can locate parking spots using our app in one hands-free process. We believe the current state regulations pose little problem in ParkingOwl’s promotion and expansion process. As technology gradually matures and our app is incorporated into other devices (i.e. GPS), regulatory hurdles will become insignificant over time.

We expect to have ParkingOwl present at all Duke Parking lots and ParkingOwl application in App Store, App World and Android Market by the beginning of Fall 2012 semester. By 2013, we expect to have ParkingOwl present at large outdoor municipal/mall parking lots in several cities. By 2015, we will be expanding to places in China and Canada. In 2016, we’d like to expand our market to existing GPS units manufacturer and preintall our program on partner GPS units. This will make it even easier for driver to use and improve functionality of the GPS itself.

We think this business has much potential to it. There are values that simply cannot be measurement using financial figures, especially environmental benefits, productivity as well as benefits to the well-being of people and society. The majority of our revenue will come from small advertisements at the bottom of the cell phone screen and charging users for maps of certain prenium parking lots. That being said, the app is free, and for a limited promotional period, the user is able to access all feature and maps of all parking lots for free. After the promotional period, which is typically 2 months after download, premium parking lots will be locked and user must pay to unlock the map of that specific parking lot. Charges will appear on phone bills or credit card bills. Therefore, the fact that there is no risk to try this app out will gain large member of curious users. We estimate that our annual revenue in 5 years will rise to a satisfying $450,000. However the impact ParkingOwl system has on people’s lives are far more valuable than what our revenue is indicative of. Our estimated campany exit is at least 50 million dollars.

The Team

Albert Hu is a sophomore studying biomedical engineering. He is a DVF member, University Scholar, president elect of the Duke Smart Home and a resident engineer in Smart Home. Albert used to work as VP Industry for Duke Robotics and is a member of Duke Venture Forward. Albert co-founded FrutyYooty Ltd., an idea that was semifinalist in the Duke Start-up Challenge in freshman year, with Mike Du in 2011.

YueFeng (Mike) Du is a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering and economics (finance) concentration. He has participated in many robotics competitions and has programming experience. He has also worked on start ups and is very familiar with the financial aspect of business. Just during the past summer, he worked for Ivy Revolution Prep and successfully started up his own international branch which generated more than 3000 dollars in profit. He is also co founder of FrutyYooty Ltd which successfully opened China. He is very interested in marketing and successfully completed this business aspect for both his international branch and FrutyYooty Ltd.

Gang (William) Li is a sophomore studying Mathematics & Economics. He co-founded Duke Business Network, a common business platform featuring interviews and news updates. He has participated in a number of consulting & LBO case competitions and gained valuable experience in terms of corporate evaluation. He is familiar with company development aspect of the business and enjoys taking entrepreneurial approaches to interesting ideas.

The Proposal

Pill non-compliance is one of the foremost problems that the future of our society faces. The World Health Organization estimates that 20 billion dollars and 125,000 lives are lost every year due to patients not taking their medicine. For many patients with life threatening diseases, a missed pill can result in serious health consequences or even death. Non-compliance is also ushering in new diseases that are resistant to our current medicine, causing us to develop new medicine all the time. In the battle of us versus new and evolving diseases, we are losing.

MedConnect proposes a system to effectively combat pill non-compliance. It starts with a small, cheap sensor that can be placed at the bottom of a pill container. This sensor weighs the pills above it and connects wirelessly to a cell phone or laptop. Using this information, the total number of pills can be calculated and used to increase patient safety and connect all aspects of patient care:

• Doctors – Gives doctors a 100% reliable measure of how well their patient is complying with the regimen. Allows doctors to intervene or change regimen if the patient misses too many dosages, saving lives.
• Health Insurance – Gives information that can be used to lower premiums on compliant patients. Fewer resistant diseases would take a large financial burden off of the health industry, again lowering the cost of health insurance in general.
• Research Institutions – Provides information that can be used to track general trends in pill compliance and emergence of new resistant diseases. Steps can be taken to dramatically lower the prevalence of these diseases.
• Patients – Reminds patients to take medicine at appropriate time. Most importantly, it gives every patient a back-up solution. Missing dosages will become much less frequent and if they do happen, instantaneous help can be provided.

The plan is to start small and simple. With funding, an affordable design could be created fairly quickly. The first group we will focus on would be high-risk patients such as those with Alzheimer’s disease, HIV/AIDS or cancer who are prone to non-compliance due to massive pill regimens and a tendency to forget to take the medication. These patients are flooded with dozens of pills every day and need all the help they can get.

Once this system has been tested and proven on high-risk populations, it will be cost-efficient enough to be applied to the general population. In the not-too-distant future, every antibiotic medicine you receive will come with the MedConnect system. With everyone taking their medicine on time and to completion, the rate of resistant diseases will be cut drastically. A huge burden will be lifted off of all aspects of the health care industry and overall health will be improved tremendously.

The MedConnect system will save billions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of lives and usher in a revolutionary new era of medicine and health. We have the ability to make this happen right now. What are we waiting for?

The Team

MedConnect is the idea of Matt Zabrowski, a sophomore Trinity pre-med student. He is planning on majoring in Biology with certificates in Global Health and Markets and Management Studies. Matt has experience working with early-stage medical technology start-ups and is familiar with the steps necessary to gain funding and bringing ideas to actualization. Previous projects he has worked on include minimally-invasive orthopedic surgical tools and portable drug infusion devices. Matt has also worked with a biotech contractor, who is willing to provide consulting. More team members are currently in consideration to be added to the MedConnect team.

The Proposal

Overview:

In 2010, over 500,000 malaria-related deaths were reported in South Africa.1 In recent years, use of preventative measures such as mosquito nets and indoor residual spray as well as an increased awareness of treatment options have drastically reduced the number of malaria cases in most southern African countries.2 Unfavorable economic and environmental factors, however, continue to slow malaria eradication efforts in rural South Africa. HaMakuya, located in the northern region of the Limpopo Province, was part of the isolated ex-homeland of the Venda during the Apartheid era, and has thus suffered from significant under-development. As a result of a pervasive history of neglect from the South African government, HaMakuya is classified as a national poverty node, with minimal resources for health care delivery and disease prevention initiatives.

Background:

During the Duke Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) Global Health Issues Program in 2011, I conducted community based participatory research focused on malaria and access to health care in the HaMakuya district.3 My interactions with members of this community including consultations with key community leaders sparked a strong desire to return to HaMakuya to assist in the creation of a sustainable solution to the community’s self-identified greatest health concern: malaria. This project, The Malaria Awareness Program (MAP), will use an education-based platform coupled with a bed net production and distribution system to increase malaria awareness and unite the community in discussion. MAP will address current barriers to health and malaria vector control in HaMakuya, empowering citizens with the means to control this devastating disease. MAP is currently working with the Makuya Clinic, the National Department of Health’s malaria research sector, a local non-profit Tshulu Trust, and other key mentors to ensure the successful development of this program.

Objectives:

Peer Education:
In conjunction with stakeholders in HaMakuya, global health professionals at Duke and University of Cape Town, and three undergraduate peers at other institutions, a sustainable curriculum has been created in which selected community leaders will be trained to teach their peers about malaria in an engaging manner. These peer leaders will be selected with the aid of Makuya Clinic and Tshulu Trust, a non-profit development organization in HaMakuya, through the newly established Malaria Centre of the Makuya Clinic. The curriculum will provide these peer leaders with direction in facilitating small-group discussions and engaging their community in the learning processes using existing frameworks from the World Health Organization and Dr. Fatemeh Rakhshani, who has a PhD in Health Education and is currently a professor at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in Iran.4,5 Community mobilization has proven to be an effective tool for motivating health initiatives, as well as establishing a sense of responsibility amongst the people.6 In my previous research, it was troubling to discover that there are considerable gaps in knowledge of the prevention and transmission mechanisms of malaria. The MAP program will specifically aim to close these gaps. In HaMakuya, community members lack access to education programs at the central clinic, so education will be implemented in each villages’ headman’s home to ensure a high level of accessibility. The key component of the Malaria Awareness Program is sustainability. Through a user-friendly, replicable curriculum combined with a strong partnerships with community centers, the Malaria Awareness Program will have the tools necessary for longstanding success.

Bed Net Production and Distribution:
Another central goal of the Malaria Awareness Program is to give the community the power of prevention through the production and distribution of bed nets. Through continued collaboration with Dr. Lara Allen, Director of Tshulu Trust, this project will train community members with experience in the sewing industry to create bed nets. These bed nets will have long-lasting insecticide treatment (LLIN), which will guarantee effectiveness for a minimum of five years. Provision of insecticide-treated bed nets (INTs) is universally accepted as an effective and essential public health service in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa where malaria is an endemic. In addition, the use of LLINs in sub-Saharan Africa has been shown to reduce all-cause mortality of children by 18%, meaning that 5.5 lives could be saved per year for every 1000 children protected under 5 years of age.5 Working with trained community members, under the approval of the Department of Health, to manufacture the bed nets will facilitate local job creation and future production without the presence of MAP, adding to the overall sustainability goals of the program.

This bed net production program will work with Makuya Clinic to implement a three-pronged distribution approach. First, peer educators will sell bed nets to community members who have attended education sessions for a nominal fee. Second, Makuya Clinic will sell bed nets to patients. This service will be of great value to women visiting the clinic for pregnancy and family planning needs because households with young children and pregnant women have the highest mortality rate once infected with malaria.1 Third, corner stores throughout HaMakuya will be equipped with bed nets to be sold as an inexpensive local good. To accompany all distributed nets, instructions and a pamphlet, written in both English and TshiVenda, complete with illustrations, will be included to provide vital knowledge for all community members, independent of language or literacy level.

Expected Outcomes and Future Impact:

The Malaria Awareness Program, through its curriculum, bed net production and distribution, and community support, intends to increase awareness and prevention of malaria and consequently decrease incidence in HaMakuya, South Africa. In order to measure success, surveys will be administered in homes pre- and post- implementation to further develop our understanding of malaria knowledge in the region, observe bed net use and proper adherence in households, and monitor the number of malaria cases presenting to the Clinic before and after MAP’s initiation.

Although malaria is both preventable and treatable, HaMakuya continues to be significantly burdened by this deadly disease. While many developed nations have successfully conquered the threat of malaria, it is inexcusable that HaMakuya’s families, health sector, and economy are all disproportionally affected. MAP is designed to allow the women, men, and children of HaMakuya to be empowered with knowledge, which will facilitate advances in the region’s health infrastructure and economic development, thus diminishing these growing disparities. The Malaria Awareness Program will contribute to a growing relationship of mutual trust, learning, understanding, and respect amongst members of the HaMakuya community. Ultimately, through MAP, HaMakuya will take it’s first steps forward in a fight to undermine health inequalities and disparities in access to care.

The Team

The Malaria Awareness Program is an idea developed by Katie Guidera, sophomore with an intended Program II major at Duke. She has an intense desire to make the reduction of global health disparities a reality and first created the idea for the Malaria Awareness Program while in HaMakuya, South Africa last summer preforming research during the Duke OTS Global Health Issues Study Abroad program. Over the last six months, she has formed a deep connection with the community — working closely with leaders of non-profits, clinic managers, the tribal council, and a number of individual members of the HaMakuya community. She intends to seek funding through ChangeWorks for the major materials needed to make the Malaria Awareness Program a long-tern reality in HaMakuya and elsewhere.

The Proposal

Mission
Our mission is to impact lives in the developing world by accelerating open wound healing with an affordable negative pressure wound therapy system.

Problem
The prolonged or improper healing of an open wound can prevent individuals from ever returning to their daily activities, such as work. In Nicaragua, there are approximately 70,000 reported patients suffering from open wounds. The majority of wounds occur because of traumatic events, chronic ulcers, and surgeries. In addition, burn injuries have an extremely high prevalence in Nicaragua, much higher than other countries. Injuries from burns (36%) and firearms (31%) account for the highest rates of hospitalization. For the 28% of the population who work in agriculture, keeping any wounds clean is almost impossible and a speedy return to work is essential. Standard wound care can cost up to $500 per week in dressings and hospitalization time. For Nicaraguans, 80% of whom live in poverty surviving with under $2 per day, conventional wound care and prolonged hospitalization can be detrimental to their financial survival and lifelong well being.

Solution
The Turtle is a low-cost Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) device that mitigates this widespread problem by healing surgical, trauma, and chronic wounds quicker, safer, and at a lower cost than currently used methods. Commonly available commercial products are used to create the device, which consists of a vacuum pump connected to an airtight bandage via vinyl tubing. This device is simple to apply to a bandage, portable for use outside the hospital, and reusable for multiple patients. The Turtle applies negative pressure to a sealed wound environment to increase blood flow, remove infectious material and exudates, reduce the microorganismal load, promote granulation tissue formation, and encourage cell proliferation which collectively promote healthy healing. This therapy typically costs $10,000 in the US and Europe. By supplying this novel, $50 device that holds the same medical capabilities to the third world, we will promote these healing mechanisms, reduce pain and suffering for patients, and create savings for hospitals by reducing bandage and nursing expenditures for open wound care.

Promotion
Team Turtle will leverage a web-based initiative to accomplish a large component of its marketing strategy. The website would host both instructional videos about proper use and assembly of the device as well as adequate database systems to document patient results. More importantly, a website could help to generate brand awareness and encourage companies, students, and partners within the medical industry to get involved in our efforts. To manufacture this device, we will approach individual volunteers and volunteer organizations to organize events where volunteers will provide partial funding and the labor to build these life-enhancing devices. Because The Turtle uses low-cost parts for treatment of third world patients, we plan to reach out to manufacturers of our materials to determine if they might be willing to offer their parts at a subsidized rate. The incentive for these manufacturers would be participating in a socially conscious effort. In return, we would recognize them in our “Turtle +” partnership campaign section on the potential website.

Customers
The customers of The Turtle have a unique feature in that the purchasers are often different from the end-user of the product. The primary end-users that we are targeting are low-income patients who cannot afford advanced wound therapy. The purchasers of the The Turtle can be segmented into five groups: 1. TurtleBuild, a philanthropic group that pays for the kit and manufactures the Turtle in small scale, 2. Medical mission groups and NGOs who pay for the Turtle and distribute them to the developing world, 3. Foreign government institutions such as health ministries or military which purchase the device for the betterment of their nation, and 4. Patients/Hospitals at “second-tier” countries who seek cost-conscious medical care. By marketing our product to these specific groups, we hope to spread The Turtle to all nations that have insufficient open wound treatment. It will drastically improve the outcomes of dangerous wounds and encourage health and well being for people in developing countries.

The Team

Our team is comprised of four members. Ross Tucker, Benny Maimon, HeeSoo Yoo, and Nitish Basandra are currently undergraduates at Duke University with backgrounds in engineering, arts, and sciences. Our team’s multidimensional background will foster a collaborative and efficient effort to deliver a healthier healing of open wounds. This device has actually already been developed and obtained success in clinics in Nicaragua, Uganda, and Haiti. These localized regions have a deep need for more Turtle devices and many other nations have requested them too! With further funds, we hope to develop a sustainable business model to spread The Turtle successes all over the globe!

The Proposal

We envision a world where no individual or community is denied economic or educational opportunities due to rural isolation. Although there are many developed regions in Latin America, many under-developed, impoverished rural areas also exist that are isolated from surrounding communities and the outside world. Villages in rural El Salvador and Bolivia are such communities.

To address seclusion in rural Bolivia, we are designing a 58-meter pedestrian bridge to be built in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The municipalities Churo Bajo, Churo Alto, and Chaqui Cocha are separated by a 25-meter deep gorge that is impassible in the rainy season (from November to March) and is difficult to scale even in the dry season. Our bridge will connect these communities thus granting the 108 families that reside there safe, year-round access to schools, jobs, crops, markets, and emergency medical care. The bridge will consist of two concrete-block towers on either side of the gorge that will be connected by high-quality wood decking suspended from recycled crane-cable and will have a minimum lifetime of thirty years. A team of eight Duke students will travel to implement the bridge with community members during summer 2012.

In order to challenge isolation in rural El Salvador, we are designing a concrete slab pedestrian bridge that will provide a reliable crossing and access to schools, jobs, and crops for the 550 residents that make up 8 communities in Canton El Barillo. During the rainy season, the water level of the river rises significantly and is impassible for up to 30 days a year. Two pedestrian bridges built and designed by the community at the crossing have been washed away by floodwaters in the past 10 years. In addition to building a pedestrian bridge in Canton El Barillo, we intend to provide the municipality in the region with a basic design for a steel truss footbridge that is simple to build, cost efficient, and structurally reliable. This will allow other communities to build viable infrastructure of their own, and flourish economically in a similar manner. A team of ten Duke students will travel to implement the bridge with community members during summer 2012.

We expect both of our bridges to be cost effective and sustainable, providing a long-term solution to rural isolation in the Latin American communities in which we work. After pedestrian bridge construction, rural, isolated communities see an average 12 percent increase in school enrolment and an even greater increase in school attendance. Within two years, these communities also see an average 15 percent increase in per capita income, an average 24 percent increase in employment of women, and an average 15 percent increase in the number of local businesses. Our bridges will require little upkeep cost and effort for the communities and will provide Cochabamba and Canton El Barillo with a vital source of educational and economic empowerment. Families will be able to depend on our bridges to bring in a steady income and to attend school which will deter the pursuit of dangerous and destructive means to make a living.

The Team

Kathryn Latham (Pratt ’13) and Robin Farrell (P’13) are both Civil/Environmental Engineering majors on the structural track. Both are actively involved in Duke Engineers for International Development: Kathryn is Co-President and Project Leader for the Bolivia team and Robin is VP of Finance and Project Leader for the El Salvador Team. Duke Engineers for International Development (DEID) is an organization that supports high-impact engineering projects around the world by combining community-driven ideas with student design. DEID provides under-served communities with cost-efficient and sustainable projects aimed at improving the standard of living of numerous individuals. Students gain real-world experience working on projects in a wide range of engineering disciplines that promote a sense of international responsibility.

The Proposal

The status quo for informing people about social justice issues, environmental issues, etc is to make a documentary. But– who watches documentaries? People who are already interested in related issues; at least for the most part. Documentaries tend to preach to the choir. On the other hand, there is a world of people out there surfing the web looking for the next big funny thing. Many of these people are young, college-aged, and looking for a purpose. They get hooked on YouTube channels like CollegeHumor, Derrick Comedy, etc. Basically what Satire for Social Change would do is harness the power of the viral video and use it to affect change. We would make short satirical comedic videos with the intent of going viral and aimed at a certain social justice issue. Think CollegeHumor as a nonprofit basically. The way we would operate is by accepting requests from nonprofit groups to make videos for their causes. We write the scripts, and they handle expenses related to making the video. If it takes off, we can make money through advertising, and donate proceeds to the specific causes that commissioned the videos in the first place. The basic idea is that we will inform the world of issues and expose people to how they can help while creating a pleasurable viewing experience and hitting a much broader audience than most documentary films.

The Team

As of right now, the team consists of sophomore Jordan Imbrey, and junior Alpha Tessema. Jordan has been making short films for as long as he can remember, and he is connected to student filmmakers and actors at a few different universities. He has experience teaching filmmaking skills to other students through an initiative of the Connected Learning Program, and he also has acted a good deal. He is a minor in Writing for the Screen and Stage, so he has amassed a lot of writing experience. He is currently studying Oral History in the Center for Documentary Studies as well, as a way to tell important stories. He worked for a nonprofit organization this summer, working with prison reform in Appalachia, so he has experienced what that world is like.

Alpha has acted in several plays and films, on this campus and others, and he has always managed to impress and wow audiences. He has a philosophical mind and always has interesting ideas. He has experience with both improvised and scripted comedy. He also has spent time in the Center for Documentary Studies, learning how to represent issues and tell the stories of other people. He hopes to spend his summer honing that craft with CDS faculty.

The Proposal

Student groups and resources at Duke are decentralized both on the web and on campus. As a result, it is hard for us to connect with new people, ideas, and resources beyond our current bubbles. We need a resource that connects like-minded Duke students through discovering, sharing, and connecting over shared interests. This is where we come in. DukeSocial.com is a media-rich, user-interactive platform that is designed to empower Duke students by offering them one centralized community hub. With three portals–Discover, Share, and Connect–the objective of our web initiative is to aggregate resources and content for Duke students to increase their impact potential and overall awareness of campus life and opportunities. What we are creating is a localized social media site that hosts editorial and user-generated content. As a chartered student group, we also plan to employ an event-based outreach to better connect our user community in ways that are even more dynamic than interactions on the web. Food competitions, music festivals, open forums and fashion events are just a few of the event outreaches you should expect from us. We believe that DukeSocial.com has tremendous potential in the community track of the ChangeWorks competition. With this web and event-based outreach, DukeSocial’s initiative creates a unique social impact model that could introduce a paradigm shift for college campuses everywhere. But first, let’s start with Duke. We are currently in the process of recruiting students for our editorial division in both managing editor and staff writing positions. We plan to launch by the end of this semester or early next fall.

The Team

Our team leader, Ross Tucker, is a Visual and Media studies major who has a strong interest in web-based start-ups. His goal is to promote brand awareness around DukeSocial.com using multimedia marketing materials and to create an innovative user experience on the site. Julia Huang is leading a talented team of staff writers and managing editors as editor-in-chief of DukeSocial’s publication division. Her goal is to promote a consistent stream of staff-curated and user-generated content for the site. Also on the editorial team is executive editor Michael Moritz, who brings to the team his discerning eye for detail. Aaron Rales is spearheading front-end graphic design as well as our creative marketing campaigns. Marketing lead Gideon Rosenthal is a expert on new media and is designing a sleek campaign utilizing both traditional and alternative marketing methods. Currently, we are in the process of recruiting a team of managing editors, site developers, writers, and marketing experts.

The Proposal

Problem
The problem of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) poses a substantial burden for Ugandan society. According to the 2010 OVC Situation Analysis conducted by the national government, 2.43 million of the 17.1 million children in Uganda are orphaned, and 8.1 million are vulnerable to “significant physical, emotional or mental harm.”[1] OVC are of particular concern to the Naama community, a parish within Mityana District, in Central Uganda.

In 2011, at the request of the community, four Duke students conducted a pilot study to better understand the problem of OVC in the Naama community. Using survey instruments developed for the Duke Center for Health Policy’s Positive Outcomes for Orphans Study (POFO), they assessed the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health of OVC. The findings showed that the psychosocial needs of OVC, especially those living with guardians, were neglected. Teachers at Naama Millennium Preparatory School described OVC as “demoralized” and “miserable” and stated that they tended to perform poorly in school and act more violently than their non-OVC peers. Many OVC interviewed exhibited signs of depression, violent behavior, and/or the inability to express or control emotions. These neglected issues have significant consequences, especially as children approach adulthood.

Orphans at a primary school in Naama

[1] “”National Strategic Programme Plan of Interventions for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children 2011/12—2015/16 (NSPPI-2).”" Kampala: Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development, 2011. Print.

Solution:

Based on the initial findings from Summer 2011, the local leaders and the Naama community at-large decided to make OVC a priority. Thus, the Duke students collaborated with Salem Children’s Center, a local orphanage, and Childline Uganda, an organization that supports vulnerable groups in the community, to form the Naama Psychosocial Counseling Program (NPCP). This initiative currently trains local teachers and village health team workers to identify and provide basic guidance for OVC who come to them with problems. For issues outside their scope of knowledge, the counselors refer the children for professional weekly counseling at the Salem Children’s Center. These sessions are facilitated by Childline Uganda counselors and cover topics such as life skills, grief counseling, self-confidence building, and individual counseling for children with more severe psychosocial stress.

Teachers and Village Health Workers receiving counseling training

Since Summer 2011, NPCP has provided essential counseling and support to OVC in the Naama Community. However, over 600 OVC still lack needed support and care. In collaboration with Salem Children’s Center and Childline Uganda, COPE plans to expand the current psychosocial counseling program this summer in the following ways:

1) Increase the number of participating OVC from 60 to 120 children.
2) Develop a new component to include older OVC ages 13 – 18. A pilot program inducting 30 adolescents will offer psychosocial counseling for older children, reproductive and sexual health education, and vocational training in order to meet the specific needs of this population.
3) Train an additional 28 OVC psychosocial counselors, representing 2 counselors for each of the 14 villages in Naama. Recruitment will primarily focus on village health workers as well as primary and secondary school teachers given their close relationships with their communities.
4) Incorporate a health education module into the curriculum. As OVC face a number of health challenges, these periodic sessions will address relevant topics such as water and sanitation, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and nutrition.

If we win ChangeWorks, COPE can facilitate the expansion of NPCP and offer hundreds of OVC the opportunity to access counseling and support. We want to make sure that Childline Uganda’s motto stays true for these OVC so that “Hope never runs dry.”

The Team

Our team is advised by Duke Physician, Dr. Christopher Kigongo, and Duke Professor, Dr. Sumi Ariely. Dr. Kigongo, a native Ugandan, founded the Naama Health Collaboration and the Naama Millennium Prepartory School. Dr. Ariely is a faculty member in the Duke Global Health Institute.

The team has been led by junior Grace Zhou, a Public Policy Major and Global Health Certificate Student. She has been supported by seniors Audrey Hu, a Psychology major and Chemistry minor, Alexander Kluge, a Cultural Anthroplogy and Psychology double major and Global Health Certificate student, Lisa Deng, a Biology major, and Nancy Yang, a Biology and Public Policy double major. All team members have spent at least 8 weeks working on community-based projects in Naama.

This summer Genny Olson will continue to work on the project. Genny is also majoring in Public Policy with a Global Health Certificate and Chemistry Minor and has already worked in Uganda for 8 weeks.