SWOT Analysis for Unique Post-Disaster Business Using vMAP

“So you can hurt me, hurt me bad. But still i’ll raise the flag”, the quote is a lyric of a song titled Every Teardrop is a Waterfall by Coldplay. Just like the lyrics of the song, every natural disaster that befell us will certainly cause extraordinary pain, but behind it all, we must still have a positive perspective. Natural disasters do not always cause losses, but can also provide an opportunity for business. With putting forward on ethics and humanity, here is a list of unique post-disaster business and its analysis:

Reward-based Crowdfunding Platform (Plantation sector)

a. Introduction

Maybe this business is not yet known to many people and there may also be many questions for you about the business, allow the author to answer possible questions that will arise.

  • What is Reward-based Crowdfunding Platform?

Rewards-based Crowdfunding Platform is a website designed to facilitate fundraising to finance a certain business, in which entrepreneurs solicit financial donations from individuals in return for a product or service.

  • Why do individuals have to finance business (especially in the plantation sector) on the platform?

In the case of natural disasters, many entrepreneurs lose their businesses (especially plantations) due to the impact of natural disasters, and of course, they need funds to rebuild their businesses.

  • How does it work?

The entrepreneurs will explain their business and fundraising needed in the platform. As a reward for individuals who have donated, entrepreneurs will give rewards in the form of their products. For example, coffee farmers will give rewards in the form of coffee beans from their plantations to individuals who have donated to a certain amount.

  • Who are the investors for their business?

Usually, the investors are individuals who operate/are interested in the same field or investors as well as consumers. For example, if those who need funds are coffee plantations/farmers, the  investors are coffee shops or coffee business owners.

  • What are their benefits as a platform owner?

Platform owners will get benefits in the form of service fees, the percentage of service fees depends on the regulations in their country regarding Crowdfunding.

b. SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is an evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for a long-term business strategy. The following is a SWOT analysis for the Reward-based Crowdfunding Platform business (Case study: Coffee Plantations)

  • Strength Analysis:
    • The strength in this business is the rewards that are quite unique, because those who become investors also need goods that are rewarded (ex: Coffee Beans for Coffee Shop Owners).
    • The entrepreneurs (in this case the coffee farmers / plantation owners) can get funds easily.
    • Information is easy to access because it is based on a website, in this case vMAP can be integrated with these platforms to display information more interesting and easier to understand. Share Map is a feature of vMAP that allows users to share map views on their website, by simply clicking the url link.

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Figure 1. Share Map feature

An example of the figure below is the use of the Object Inspector feature in vMAP to provide general information about the location and description of coffee plantations that need to be funded and can also be updated periodically.

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Figure 2. Display Information using Object Inspector

  • Weakness Analysis:
    • The goods that are rewarded may have poor quality.
    • Investors cannot get more profit because the number of goods (as a form of the reward) has been determined from the start.
  • Opportunities Analysis:
    • The more coffee shops there will be more potential investors. The example below is a display of the growth of coffee shops in an area from 2015 - 2019, using the Time series feature in vMAP.
    • Marketing optimization to potential investors (coffee shops) that are close to coffee plantations, so that the time (and also costs) needed to marketing isn’t much. The closest coffee plantations also help in reward distribution during harvest period.
    • The display below is an estimate of the area that can be reached by a plantation within 20 minutes using "Route in minutes" feature.
    • The use of social media to increase the scope of marketing.

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  • Marketing optimization to potential investors (coffee shops) that are close to coffee plantations, so that the time (and also costs) needed to marketing isn’t much. The closest coffee plantations also help in reward distribution during harvest period.

The display below is an estimate of the area that can be reached by a plantation within 20 minutes using "Route in minutes" feature.

coffee_7.webp

Figure 3. Estimated area that can be covered by a coffee plantation (yellow arrow) in 20 minutes

  • The use of social media to increase the scope of marketing.

     
  • Threat Analysis:
    • The biggest threat is that these plantations can be affected by disasters again because they are still included in disaster-prone zones. Disaster-prone zone analysis can be done using the vMAP feature called "Radius in meter".

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Figure 4. Eruption Risk Zone

Overall, vMAP can help display information, plan strategies and evaluate the Reward-base Crowdfunding Platform business, especially in the plantation / agriculture sector. Might also be applicable to other sectors as well as other types of Crowdfunding.