Business Activity Contest|| My innovative idea in solving one of major everyday problem in my locality.

Hi entrepreneur, it my pleasure to welcome you another amazing contest form business activity community where users are task to develop an innovative idea for a tech startup. While thinking an idea stroke and it a serious one not only to a particular group of people but this problem can be found in every household.

Image designed on canva.com

Identifying a problem.

Vegetables and fruits is one of the most consumed category of food around the world and my locality is no exception. The problem with vegetables and fruits such is they quickly begin to rotten due to their high moisture content. Tomatoes is the most consumed fruits in this part of the world and it contain about 95% of water that means tomatoes has a shorter lifespan after harvest which is about 72 hours before it begin to rotten.

This can be elongated to about a week in a colder environment such as been kept in the refrigerator the problem with this is that the fridge has be working always without lose in power connection, this is almost impossible due to irregularity in power supply. So they is no clear solution to this problem until now.

Image source

My idea to tackle this problem

I know in order to solve this problem the moisture content of these vegetables has to be reduce to decrease the chance of bacterial acting on it which causes them to rotten. In order the achieve this we need to dry them under a high temperature. My first thought was drying using sun radiation by making use of glasses to intensify the heat but that will be slow in term of drying and subjected to weather condition which will be completely useless without sunlight. I need to come up with a better solution which we can put our trust in getting the job done.

The only thing I know can dry vegetable and fruits quickly and effectively is an electric dryer and that I could not find any in my environment or even heard about any from anyone. So in order to accomplish this I have to design a new dryer which uses electricity. This is no easy task because I have to consider so many factors, but been a farmer for many years I know exactly what factor to consider.

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My design

Electric Dryer is basically an electric heater build around a body to conserve the heat so the material in the surrounding can be dried. So based on my knowledge studying agricultural engineering in school I began to design and came with this.

As seen from the above image they is a roof with a small opening to reduce heat escape and allow smoke escape. At the center we can see set of net and that is where the vegetables and fruits will be placed. The heater can be seen below and the heat will slowly raise up and dry the vegetable has it pass through them. The spaces seen on the body is the observatory area which is made with a glass to help monitor the vegetable without opening the door of the dryer which heat can escape from, the power connector can also be seen where it will be connected to electricity.

What it takes to make my idea a reality.

Constructing the dryer will cost a lot because I will use quality material to make it last long. Here is the list of materials needed.

• 2mm plate which cost 30,000 NGN which is about 137 steem at 1 steem price at 220 NGN and I need 2 quality.

• 4x4 Angle Steel Iron which cost around 35,000 NGN which is 159 steem and 2 quality will be use.

• Glass which will be used for observation 20cm X 20cm 2,000 NGN 9 steem, 6 quantity needed.

• An electric heater 1 quality needed and it cost around 5,000 NGN 23 steem and 2 need.

These are the major material needed to construct the dryer and in total I need around 180,000 NGN after including other materials and expenses and that amount is about 818 steem without labor.

That amount seem reasonable and I will definitely give it a try when I have the available funds. After construction and testing I will determine the time it takes to completely dry certain vegetable and fruits especially tomatoes and spices and the volume my dryer can take. With this information I will be able to determine the amount of money to charge for each drying services.

NOTE: All unsourced images are drawn by me using 2022 Autodesk AutoCAD.

The objective and advantages of my innovative idea.

Surly, after drying vegetable it will last longer and this will reduce wastage. Some of the advantage of electric dryer include:

-Reduce farmer lose: Vegetable is a perishable product and it shorter life usually lead to lose for farmer. If farmers have access to my electric dryer they will be able to dry their vegetables and fruits faster when sliced and this will almost eliminate any wastage. I will be happy if I can accomplish this specific goal because it hurt to see how a farmers are losing their farm produce after all they hard work.

-Reduce market trip: They is hardly a household in my locality who doesn’t consume vegetable and fruit very day that means they have to visit the market often time to get this farm product. If they are able to conserve their vegetable and fruits to last a longer this can safe many trips to the market and that is exactly what my dryer offers.

Image of a dried tomatoes
Image source

Drawback and challenges I am likely to encounter.

With every innovative idea comes drawbacks and challenges so based on my knowledge these are the problem I am likely to face.

-Capital: This is the challenge most business face and mine is no exception I need funds to turn my ideas into reality. As seen above I need 818 steem to construct my dryer and I will need more for transportation and advertising.

-Acceptance by the community: Yes it solve a problem but not everyone will be willing to pay for drying their product when they can simply dry under the sun. Although, it will take time but some rather use the conventional method.

-Electricity supply: Electric supply is not contents in this part of the world and that will be a major problem because my dryer rely on electricity to work. They is solution to this problem by using electric generator but that is an extra cost and charges will also be increased.

Conclusion

I am very certain my idea will help a lot of people in my locality and this will save a lot of stress and money. I plan to construct not just one dryer but many so I can fix them at different location so that my idea can help more and more people and I can also increase my profit.

Thank you all for reading.

Business name:	Ai'nu Farm
Owner's name:	@weasell
Business address:	Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.
About us:	Click Link.

NOTE: 10% Author Reward goes to the community account and 10% to support @gensequini wishing her quick recovery.

I will like to invite @dinaks44, @jamezmccoy and @badmus-official to participate in this contest thank you.

Cc. @shemul21