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Team:Manchester/businessplan3
From 2013.igem.org
Once the methods described during this project have been fully optimised, we believe that the ideas presented here have the potential to become a real player in the palm oil market. Producing the main palm oil components the E. c(oil)i way would drive down costs and, more importantly, safeguard the remaining rainforests. The following pages are a summary of our business plan, and the full document can be found by clicking on the button to the right.
Market Analysis Summary
We are a highly technical niche player offering the supply of strong product that is in great demand. We have identified that our target market are the brokers and distributors who have established relationships with large corporations who order palm oil on mass to be utilised in the production of their own goods for resale. E. c(oil)i is essentially the manufacturing facilitator for these brokers and distributors.Market Segmentation
We have identified the following segments which make up our market:
- Biofuel manufacturers and distributors: our potential customers in this segment include Renovatio Energy LLC and IOI Group. As members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, these companies support the manufacturing of palm oil which is not environmentally damaging.
- Cosmetics manufacturers: our potential customers in this segment include L’oreal and Henkel. Both of these brands have made a commitment to use only sustainable palm oil in the production of their cosmetics.
- Food manufacturers: our potential customers in the segment include Hain Daniels and Eccelso. These two companies have expressed an interest in our product by offering funding to help make the venture a success.
Target Market Segment Analysis
Biofuel Industry: This is potentially our greatest market opportunity. Biofuel is a growing market in terms of its palm oil use: palm oil is now thought to compose at least 20% and the use of palm oil in biofuel in the EU alone is projected to reach 2.7 million tonnes by 2020. This has forced many governments to seek a more sustainable palm oil supply chain.
Personal Care Industry: Palm oil and associated products are present in over 70% of cosmetic products. We believe that our product is particularly suitable to the personal care industry as they are often only interested in certain components of the oil. Using our three batch system, we are able to create components of palm oil individually, reducing the amount of time spent purifying the products.
Food Production Industry:The food industry has already shown an interest in a synthetically produced palm oil, with two companies financially supporting the preliminary research carried out in this project. With a strong marketing campaign aimed at the public emphasising the safety of consuming a genetically modified palm oil we believe that capturing a percentage of this market to be possible.
Photo © David Precious
