Building on past projects, in 2011 SHIP asked a third student team to develop a business plan for expanding its lemongrass distillery by recruiting external lemongrass growers. The team constructed a variable-driven financial model incorporating unit cost and revenue information, leading to a set of strategic recommendations. Data were collected through interviews with donors, non-profit leadership, project managers, suppliers and local farmers. The students’ model quantified the effect of international markets on lemongrass sales, including new insights about risks, and informed a significant switch from production of lemongrass to other income generating activities. A year later, we learned that SHIP continued to use and revise the students’ analysis tools.
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