Company Description: We are a collaborative company which is regarded as a startup for a team of undergraduates at Zewail City University of science and technology. Our company aims to solve the problem of energy in Egypt through innovative solutions. Marketing has already started at the moment we have entered the competition and we are continuing our work to make the best startup in Egypt and lead the renaissance in the field of energy.
Mission Statement: Our Company’s mission is to offer innovative solutions for the problem of energy in Egypt. Smart Solar Panels is just one project of many other projects as Piezo electric speed bumps integrated with street lights. Smart Solar Panels is the first project for the company but not the last. Hopefully our projects will integrate together to form alternative solutions for energy problems in Egypt based on renewable energy engineering and smart technologies as image processing and embedded systems. The mission has started and hopefully within three years it will totally accomplished according to our timeline.
The Team: Our Company is based on the shoulders of a team of youth all are undergraduates at Zewail City University of science and technology. We have a supervisor who is Professor Mahmoud Abd-Elaty.
Each one of the team has a specific area of proficiency and all our projects are integrated collaboration between different fields. Our team is composed of renewable energy engineering students (identifying the problem and the solution), Nano Technology students (developing innovative solutions) , Material science students (develop special materials when needed) and space-communication engineering students(embedded systems and technological aspects). We work together in a collaborative way in order to accomplish our mission as soon as possible.
Market Summary (review): Our Company is regarded as an initiator in its field as the field of renewable energy technology has not yet entered Egypt. There are some companies selling imported solar panels, however these companies are not competitors as the field we deal with is totally different and our work is built over their work. Therefore it is a perfect chance to initiate the market and to lead it easily. The market demands our existence due to the increasingly growing energy problem. So our existence is determined and our market is being shaped.
Project Idea (over view): for full description for the project move to project section. Our project simply is a solar tracking system based on image processing. This technology enables the tracking system to move with the sun and maximize the amount of light energy utilized. Calculations predict that this tracking system can duplicate the product of any solar panel; however it does nothing with the efficiency of the panel itself. The first stage of the project is to sell the tracking system units and maintain them. The second stage which is the main project is to make and produce smart panels with integrated tracking system in it. The second stage duplicates the profit and increases the number of consuming clients. The tracking system is composed mainly from a camera for image processing, a microcontroller for calibration and doing calculations and 6 degrees of freedom stands. See photos in the prototype section.
One camera and one microcontroller can be used for thousands of solar panels. So this fact minimizes the cost, and also facilitates the maintenance. See advantages of the project section.
For details please refer to the Project section.
Competition: Our Company will initiate the market, so we do not have competitors initially, however we are ready with other ideas and projects that can make us take the lead of the Egyptian market in managing energy technology. As piezo electric speed bumps. This project is our next step it can allow us to illuminate all the Egyptian streets with no cost and we can also rebuilt our ways and streets based on our technologies.
Goals and Objectives: Our target is to fulfill our mission while leading the Egyptian market. We target for the first year to establish the company and collect the fund needed for the second stage of the project. We also planned to collaborate with the Egyptian government in establishing the first four solar power stations in Egypt nest year. For the second year we aim to build our own smart panels and invade the Egyptian market. By the end of the second year, hopefully we will become the most well-established Egyptian Company in the field of managing energy. Then, we target exporting our products to Arab countries then to the whole world.
Financial Plan: The plan starts when we have enrolled in the competition. Our company is looking for an investor to support our Company. We offer a deal for a five years contract which states that:
- First working year: Neither the company nor the investor will have profit. The profit gained will be used to establish the second stage of the project.
- Second working year: 70% of the profit will be distributed among the investor and the company by the ratio 50% and 50% respectively. The other 30% of the profit will be used to extend the limits of our reaching area.
- Third working year: 85% of profit will be distributed among the investor and the company by the ratio 35% and 65% respectively. The other 15% will be used as investments in any other field to guarantee the stability of the company in case of appearance of any competitors.
- Fourth working year: 90% of profit will be distributed among the investor and the company by the ratio 40% and 60% respectively. The other 10% will be used as investments in any other field to guarantee the stability of the company.
- Fifth working year: 95% of profit will be distributed among the investor and the company by the ratio 50% and 50% respectively. The other 5% will be used as investments in any other field to guarantee the stability of the company.
After the fifth year the contract will be no longer working and we will be able to make a new contract based on the company’s situation in the market.
In case of absence of investors, we shall ask for support of Zewail city which supports innovative projects, Nile University and many other Organizations that support the scientific renaissance.
A Chinese University has already offered our company to travel to china the last two weeks in August to introduce our project(Certified). However, we hope we will be able to apply our project in Egypt and for the sake of the Egyptians with our own supplies.
Resource Requirements:
- Personnel: We need to support our team with financial youth experts. We need media experts. However All our team has already studied entrepreneurship. We need youth enthusiastic members to support our team.
- Technology: We need to decrease the size the module as small as possible with the least cost. Therefore the progressing technology and Nano-technology will be very necessary and helpful.
- Finances: We need an initiation fund of about 50 000 L.E to establish the company, Produce the first 50 modules and initiate the media campaign. For the second stage of the project we need about 150 000 L.E to produce our smart solar panel modules. Hopefully, the first stage will support the second stage with fund but we still need fund to have a strong start.
Risks and Rewards:
Risks, Other companies may invade the Egyptian market and compete with us for the same targeted segment of clients. The response of the Egyptian market is not guaranteed, in other words we cannot assure the acceptance of our market for our products. Also the continuous fund is not guaranteed for a long interval of time.
Rewards: The first reward is acceptance of ASTF for our project. The market is really rewarding as we will build and shape it through our performance. The project has the chance to win more than one reward through ASTF, Egyptian Inventors Competition, Space international solar power competition and the prize of the best project in the annual conference held at Zewail city. The project is also rewarded by the interest of the Chinese university and the acceptance of the international professors as Dr.Abd-ElAty. Hopefully, the near future carries more rewards for our efforts.
Key Issues and Decisions: As we are moving on in our project many issues face us, however we manage to solve them all. Some issues are technical, financial or even the time to do the tasks. Until now we managed to move over all the obstacles that have faced us. We are expecting to face some financial issues so we start to put alternative solutions in case we have not found the suitable investor. We have started in raising fund for the project in Zewail city and after the competition we will search for some sponsors. We plan to enter different competitions with this project in order to raise fund through their prizes. Our team starts to give workshops and courses to other students to introduce renewable energy for them. This is another way to raise fund. Part of our group starts freelancing to support the project. We do tasks for companies or associations in return of some money and rewards. We believe that money is the smallest obstacle that can hinder our ambition.
However if something is not clear you can still ask.