1 FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEPARTMENT INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT MIND BUDDY A SOCIAL PROJECT TO HELP PEOPLE HAVING MENTAL ISSUES Group 11 Nguyễn Phương Hoa 20[.]
FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEPARTMENT _ _ INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT MIND BUDDY: A SOCIAL PROJECT TO HELP PEOPLE HAVING MENTAL ISSUES Group 11: Nguyễn Phương Hoa- 2012150034 Phạm Ngọc Hà – 2013150014 Dương Minh Châu – 2013150005 Nguyễn Thị Huyền – 2013150024 Hoàng Xuân Đạt – 2013150010 Đào Tùng Anh - 2015150545 Class: TMAE308.1 Lecturer: Hoàng Hương Giang TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ABOUT OUR PROJECT 2.1 Current situation 2.2 General information about our project BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS DETAILED BUSINESS PLAN 13 4.1 Phase 1: Fundraising 13 4.2 Phase 2: Build app and volunteer recruitment 14 4.3 Phase 3: Assembly human resources 16 4.4 Phase 4: Promoting to targeted customers 19 BENEFITS OF OUR PROJECT 22 REFERENCES 24 INTRODUCTION As society is increasingly developing, the young generation is exposed to many dangers for mental health coming from enormous stress and pressure However, only a small number of people currently having mental issues seek advice from psychologist experts due to lack of financial resources and fear of judgment Bearing that in mind, we come up with a social project in which we help connect the ones having mental issues with psychologist experts and buddies.They can then share their stories and seek advice, support in a safe, comfortable and totally free of charge environment We truly believe that by improving the mental wellbeing of the young generation, our project can make a huge contribution to the society as a whole As when being in the happy state, people can be more productive, more motivated to work and generate new ideas, which paves the way for not only personal growth but also social development We would like to give our sincere thanks to our lecturer - Mrs Hoàng Hương Giang for your continuous support in order for us to complete this project Due to our lack of specialized knowledge and practical experiences, this project may have some mistakes and imperfections We would like to receive your feedback with an aim to improving the quality of our work ABOUT OUR PROJECT 1.1 Current situation Society is increasingly developing according to a lot of changes in people's lives, and along with it is the generation of many dangers for mental health It is a wide range of states ranging from mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, phobias or paranoid securities, schizophrenia, and epilepsy Among them, depression is one of the most common diseases in today's life Especially recently, hospitals have also recorded a significant increase in young depressed patients, most of which are students So what is depression? Depression is one of the most common types of mental health conditions and often develops alongside anxiety Depression can be mild and short-lived or severe and long-lasting Some people are affected by depression only once, while others may experience it multiple times Depression can lead to suicide, but this is preventable when appropriate support is provided Depression has created enormous impacts on society as a whole It creates enormous social and economic costs These costs impact many different sectors including healthcare, business, education, law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and emergency and social services But what causes depression? The answer to this question is vaguely accurate since There are several ideas about what causes depression It can vary a lot between different people, and for some people a combination of different factors may cause their depression Some find that they become depressed without any obvious reason The main possible reasons that cause depression include: • childhood experiences • life events • other mental health problems • physical health problems • genetic inheritance • medication, recreational drugs and alcohol • sleep, diet and exercise According to a study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), about 8% - 29% of adolescents in Vietnam suffer from mental health diseases It is estimated that in Vietnam, there are at least million young people and adolescents with mental health problems However, only about 20% of them receive the necessary medical support and treatment 1.2 General information about our project • Overall: Realizing that psychological problems are gradually becoming more common, we created the non-profit project "Mind Buddy" with the hope of helping young people who are experiencing stress or depression overcome their mental problems At "Mind Buddy", you can choose to chat anonymously with one of our Buddy or decide to contact a professional psychologist Your personal information is wholly kept secret so that you are free to confide and share your difficulties We are here to listen to your story • Name: Mind Buddy • Mission statement: Mind Buddy's mission is to raise the awareness about mental problems of young people and spread positive energy to the world • Vision: To connect people to people, help people understand each other, and make the world a better place • Our story: Psychological problems of adolescence have appeared for a long time but have received little attention, especially in Vietnam In the current context, when our country develops quickly, the pressures are also gradually increasing The rate of young people suffering from psychological problems has gone up in recent years Vietnamese people not have the concept of going to a psychiatrist and rarely share their difficulties with anyone Understanding these issues, "Mind Buddy" is created to build a friendly, safe environment for young people to share their stories or problems We hope that this small project of ours can help young people somewhat reduce life pressures, regain positive energy and continue to pursue their dreams BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS Key partners There are main partners: • Technology providers: the one who help us develop and operate our app • Psychologist Institution: provides us their experts and necessary knowledge to develop our products • Voluntary Organization: collab in order to recruit volunteer (who acts as buddy) • Schools and universities around Hanoi city: a source for recruiting volunteers and promoting our project to the ones in need • KOLs, Influencers, etc: helps us promote our products to young generation • Motivation for partnerships: a chance of helping other people as well as contributing to the society Key activities • Develop high-tech applications with high information securities As many people are still not open about their mental issues, they are afraid that others will judge them when they reveal their weaknesses and vulnerabilities, so information security is of top priority Considering that fact, we build an app where our customers only need to provide their information for the first time signing up, then everything about them will be kept secret No one, including the experts and buddies will know who they actually are Therefore, our clients can freely share their stories and difficulties without any fear • Connect users with psychologist experts/buddies In our application, each psychologist, buddy will have their own profile in which they will mention their expertise, their stories, interests (for example: in which field, problem they are experienced and have the ability to give advice), and what they cand for our customers Therefore, our customers can consider and choose the ones that suit them best Moreover, to make it easier for our customers, at their first time using our app, they can type in the current problems that they’re going through so that our app will suggest suitable experts and buddies for them • Build community, blogs to share our clients’ stories and experiences ➢ A Facebook group, Facebook fanpage and blog category in our app in which we will share our customers’ stories and experiences (for the ones who are willing and feel comfortable) Also, we will share some necessary and meaningful information, knowledge relating to mental issues in these places with the hope to assist our customers to solve their problems, make them feel better and more motivated ➢ Besides, we create the Drawing activities which we encourage our clients to speak out their problems through the language of art When we collect enough numbers of art, we will organize am exhibition to share their stories with the world and raise awareness of the society ➢ We will hold worshops and offline meetings for those who are willing to expose themselves, want to have intimate and face-to-face conversations and maybe a long-life accompany (the one who they find comfortable to be with and share problems) • Recruit and train buddies with necessary skills As we already know, mental issues are a very complicated problem, not everyone is qualified to be the right assistant Unsuitable advice may have an adverse effect, which makes our customers feel even worse about themselves Therefore, our buddies after passing the final round will be thoroughly trained with the necessary skills, knowledge, mindset, and attitude when working with people having mental issues Key resources • Human: ➢ Product Development team ➢ Technology team ➢ Marketing team ➢ Human resource management team ➢ Finance management team ➢ Psychologist experts/buddies • Finance: Fundraising • Technological Infrastructure Value proposition • Provide service that helps our customers solve their psychological problems without any charging As our targeted customers’ age range from 14 - 25, who are only students or new to the working environment, the majority of them don’t have enough financial resources to afford psychology advice services, we create a service to help them solve their problem freely • Improve mental health for the young generations • Encourage people to share their problems with each other Customer relationships • Customer services: when comes to our app, customer can connect with psychology experts or buddies and have private conversations with them through: ➢ online chat ➢ voice call One special thing is that their identities are all kept secret so they can freely express themselves • Trust • Long-term and frequent connection Channels We can reach out to our potential customers through: • Social media: Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube We would create different communication products with related contents and post them on those three social networks Creating a page where we can post psychological stories we receive from anonymous senders is also an activity that helps our app reach more users Moreover, we can collaborate with KOLs whose Tiktok or Youtube channels are followed by thousands of people • Applications • Word of mouth • Offline marketing at schools and universities Customer segments • Age: 14 - 25 • Having mental issues According to our research, every person at the age mentioned above experiences a lot of changes, even shocks in both their physical and mental aspects Most youngsters get much more sensitive during their puberty, the phase when their mood and character are easily influenced by outside factors The common cause of depression in young people at this period is due to pressures in school and family circumstances Parents' pressure on their children in studying and taking exams causes them to fall into a state of stress and fear that they will gradually lose control of their thoughts In addition, some children are affected by family circumstances such as parents' divorce, parents' disagreements, and a heavy atmosphere of lack of happiness is also cause of depression for their children 10 As people reach the age of 18-25, when they become young adults, there are more and more reasons which can result in their mental problems Coping with the negative mental impact of the college environment Students who have not experienced this new life will have to deal with tuition and living debt on their own Besides, their job prospects with university degrees after graduation are also rated as lower than previous generations The above raises concerns about depression among students today Along with the pressure of the classroom, financial worries, overtime work, broken relationships create a mental and physical burden that causes students to neglect their studies as well as lead to negative consequences that are unpredictable Many students have also experienced love problems Breaking up with a lover often pushes students into a state of depression because of negative thoughts about themselves, difficulty sleeping and difficulty in controlling thoughts It is estimated that 43% of students will suffer from insomnia within months of breaking up They are often those who have experienced indifference and abuse in childhood, have insecure emotional attachments, feel betrayed easily, and are less mentally prepared for the relationship break For above reasons, our group believe that people from 14 - 25 are the appropriate customer segments for our project Cost structure • App Development cost: Most of the entire cost of writing an app is largely focused on the Design and Coding phase According to The Manifest (Reputable technology news site for businesses), the average cost to develop an app ranges from 25 million to 300 million However, the actual costs are often higher 11 The cost of developing an app depends on different stages The cost of app development also depends on the platform factor For example, the cost of designing an iOS app will definitely be different from the cost of designing an Android app and vice versa • App Distribution cost If the app is ready to go public, it usually has to be registered with a third party (App Store and Google Play Store) before it can be distributed to users However, the price for the app displayed on each store will be different Apps released on the App Store always cost more than on the Google Play Store • App Maintenance cost The cost of maintaining an app is also one of the costs that affect the cost of developing an app App maintenance fees include costs for fixing and patching apps, adding new features, upgrading, and updating versions In addition, the cost of maintaining the app like the $99 annual fee to maintain the app on the Apple App store market is also an expense that we have to take into account On average, the cost of maintaining an app will range from 15% to 20% of the total cost per year The cost of maintaining the app also depends on the complexity of the features 12 DETAILED BUSINESS PLAN 1.3 Phase 1: Fundraising • Objectives: To afford the setup of Mind Buddie app and operating activities of the project • KPI/Result: o o • • • Numbers of sponsors: 11 - 16 in total ▪ Bronze sponsor: - ▪ Silver sponsor: - ▪ Gold sponsor: - ▪ Diamond sponsor: - Volume of fund: 200 - 300 million VND Sources of fund: o Non-profit and social organizations o Enterprises operating in educational and healthcare fields Value of project to sponsors: o Expand brand coverage o Facilitate access to potential customers Sponsor frame: o mil - 10 mil: Bronze sponsor o 10 mil - 20 mil: Silver sponsor o 20 mil - 50 mil: Gold sponsor 13 o Over 50 mil: Diamond sponsor 1.4 Phase 2: Build app and volunteer recruitment App build • Step 1: Readiness Assessment o Scope out your target market to find domain experts who can help you o Carry out customer interviews to substantiate your project vision and define the pain points your product will address o • Team up with domain experts to run your project together Step 2: Budget estimation Rough estimate: So once we have critical inputs, you can get a rough estimate o of what your software will cost you It gives you ballpark figures based on: Idea validation, required product features and relevant experience with similar projects Detailed estimate: The detailed estimate goes deeper into planning each step, o software features, SDLC models, and the people involved in creating your product It also accounts for the hours it takes to develop your software by allocating them to every specialist on your team • Step 3: Requirements Analysis o Requirements and feasibility analysis makes detailed estimation and planning complete It looks at whether the software you want to build is viable for your requirements or calls for changes before design and development are in full swing o When assessing software feasibility, your requirements may be changed If the analysis reveals some of them aren’t best for your business or target audience technically, operationally, or legally, we can give a few pointers on 14 adjustments These can help you get a more viable and cost-efficient product in the long run o Feasibility and requirements analysis hones in on technical, operational, and legal matters • Step 4: Design the App o Design brief: You draw up this document with your team to take ambiguity away from the design table It should incorporate the key aspects of your project, including requirements and deliverables, and be comprehensible among stakeholders Designers and engineers stick with a brief during all software development process steps o User personas: These emerge from your user research findings With welldocumented user personas, UX/UI designers can meet the people they’re designing your product for, even though they’re fictitious Your team knows who your ideal customer is, how old they are, what they for a living, and other details that enable them to strike the right chord with design decisions o User journey and user flow: These are the visuals that map how your target audience can use your product to fulfill their needs Plus, user journeys go beyond that by visualizing their experience even after their goals are achieved Both visuals are essential to design a solution that feels more personalized • Step 5: Testing o Usability testing is the final check before software product development begins It involves exposing your product design to a group of end-users to assess its intuitiveness, accuracy, and effectiveness o Usability testing is an insightful way to: ▪ Check user behaviors in real-life product interaction scenarios ▪ Make sure your design decisions were right or need to be reconsidered ▪ Assess the visual appeal of your design 15 ▪ Detect flaws and design elements associated with user dissatisfaction Volunteer recruitment plan • Objectives: To build up a voluntary team with knowledge and skills to help adolescents with their mental problems • o Quantity: 15 - 20 members o Commitment time of member: at least months Recruitment process o o Characteristics ▪ Commit to participate in the full implementation period of the project ▪ Have enthusiasm for social work ▪ Highly responsible, organized and disciplined Means of communication: online via social and nonprofit fanpages and organizations o Phases ▪ 1st round: Application & CV ▪ 2nd round: Group interview ▪ 3rd round: Case solving ▪ Final round: Individual interview 1.5 Phase 3: Assembly human resources After getting through the first stages of developing the application, we will begin to assemble our quality human resources that would be the core of our project: 16 • Recruiting volunteers through application forms: The link to the application forms will be posted on all of our social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) Our questions include: + Full name + Age/Date of birth + Gender + Ethnicity/Nationality/Place of birth + Education + Occupation (place of work/school name) + Place of residence + Phone number + Health condition (weight, height, pulse, mental state, any existing ailment) + Reasons for volunteering for the project • Inviting KOLs and influencers: We begin sending emails and invitations to KOLs, influencers and other such popular personalities on social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc We would pay special attention to those whose followers consist mostly of young adults and teenagers, our main target clients, so that our project would reach them faster and easier • Contacting psychologists: The next important step is to contact and enlist psychologists to our cause As this project concerns the highly delicate subject of mental wellbeing, we must be extremely careful to select professionals with certified degrees and experience in the field • Holding meetings for involved sponsors and participants: After having ascertained our numbers, we would hold meetings for all involved parties in our project In the meetings, we would negotiate and discuss our methods, schedules and other matters of concern that any party may have By coming to an agreement, we would be able to move onto the next step of our project • Coming up with training schedules for volunteers: 17 We would proceed with the agreed-upon training schedules for our volunteers During this period, we would give advice and make improvements on any existing problem with our human resources Our next stage is to make appropriate preparations for the official launch of our project: • Test-running the application: As our application has only been developed recently, there would certainly be issues in its functions Therefore, several test runs will be attempted in order to identify the faults and reach proper solutions • Analyzing methods of advertisement: In order to ensure our project can reach and help as many people as possible, it is important that we go over the methods with which we advertise ourselves An appealing design for our posters, banners and pamphlets should be a matter of consideration If our budget allows it, we would hire skilled designers for this task At the same time, we would discuss which channels and platforms should maximize the scope of our project and plan our advertisements and priorities accordingly The criteria that we take into account include the expenses of advertisement on each platform, which platform is most used by our target demographics, the formats of posts that go viral easily, … Our aim would be for every of our posts to reach at least 20 thousand users on each platform we use • Assigning tasks and positions based on the number of participants: By this stage, our participants and volunteers will have received training which provides them with sufficient knowledge and flexibility After having a firm grasp on our numbers and their capabilities, we would start assigning them to positions which suit our overall conditions • Rechecking for any potential issue in the application, contact lines and website: Before finally launching the application, contact lines and website, we would a final test run so as to ensure that no serious issue exists in our systems 18 1.6 Phase 4: Promoting to targeted customers ➢ Gathering an audience: • Running advertisements on social media: We begin by running advertisement campaigns of our project on social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc Based on the social media metrics, we would adjust our strategy accordingly • Reaching out to KOLs and influencers and to promote the project to their followers The KOLs and influencers will be asked to promote our project in their posts If possible, we would ask them to make separate posts about our project They may also be asked to put the links to our social media in their bio or pinned posts Should they be willing, they can receive our service firsthand and review their experiences to their followers • Printing handouts and giving them to students after school While social media is the main focus of our advertising campaign, we would also strengthen our presence further by personally approaching schools and other educational institutions Depending on the number of students and the population density of the area, we would assign the appropriate number of volunteers Our volunteers would be tasked with delivering the handouts to students after school, when the number of students and parents gathering at the gates is at the highest, thus attracting more attention to the project Lunch break is also an option worth considering • Setting up banners and posters in places near schools In addition to the handouts, we would also put up our banners and posters within close proximity of schools By placing them where they can most easily be seen by the students and their parents, we can increase the exposure of our project • Volunteers recommending the project to their friends, family and known acquaintances 19 Word of mouth is an essential factor in advertising, so it is the duty of our volunteers to promote the project themselves to their friends and family and other known acquaintance For each person who uses our service through the recommendation of a volunteer, a small gift will be given (that person will be allowed to choose one to their liking from a range of gifts we offer) • Encouraging teenagers to share their experiences and what they have learned after their sessions with the psychologists with whom they have been matched through the application: This is the key stage of our project After receiving the input from our first users, the algorithms of our application will analyze their issues, under human supervision, and proceed to match a teenager to a psychologist most suited for his or her needs However, the user has the option of requesting for change should they feel uncomfortable with their match Records of each session will be kept to keep track of every patient’s progress and ensure the quality of our project After using our service, if the users can assess themselves that their mental state has improved, we would ask them to write reviews of their experiences and what they have learned from their time with us We will encourage them to share these reviews with their friends themselves, or post them on our social media with the consent from the writers, in which case they will be given the choice of remaining anonymous • Holding an online art gallery which features drawings by the teenagers who are undergoing or have undergone mental issues, having them share their stories and thoughts through their drawings: This is another key point of our project Our website will have a special section dedicated to displaying drawings made by teenagers, with their thoughts attached to their works Teenagers who are undergoing or have undergone mental issues, regardless of whether they have engaged with our application or not, can submit their drawings and writings to our project through emails Although the submissions are required to come from confirmed identities, we will respect the wish of those who not want their 20 ... fee to maintain the app on the Apple App store market is also an expense that we have to take into account On average, the cost of maintaining an app will range from 15% to 20% of the total cost... Non-profit and social organizations o Enterprises operating in educational and healthcare fields Value of project to sponsors: o Expand brand coverage o Facilitate access to potential customers Sponsor... Recruit and train buddies with necessary skills As we already know, mental issues are a very complicated problem, not everyone is qualified to be the right assistant Unsuitable advice may have an adverse