Assignment 24A

Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity: 

• 3.6 million Americans use wheelchairs to assist with mobility but there is a serious lack of wheelchair accommodations(specifically ramps) among businesses.
• The forces behind the lack of wheelchair ramps is a lack of knowledge about the needs of those in wheelchairs. 
• Another force is the lack of care of some business owners. Many would rather turn away customers in wheelchairs rather than investing in ramps to accommodate them. 
• The market is extensive demographically and geographically. There is a wide range of businesses that attract different demographics and that are located all over the nation. The one thing these businesses have in common is their lack of wheelchair accommodations.
• There are many businesses that have proper wheelchair ramps, but there are also many that are not satisfying this need. Throughout interviews with business owners, I have discovered that business owners that have wheelchair ramps are not loyal to the companies they buy their ramps from. Overall, many business owners were interested in the design and function of the ramp that I strive to create.
• This opportunity is relatively large, there is a large population of Americans that use wheelchair ramps. 
• This window of opportunity will be open for as long as people utilize wheelchairs, which is indefinitely. 

Innovation: 

• I have developed a wheelchair ramp that can easily be hidden underneath carpet or tile. It also functions as a conveyor belt. 
• This will help wheelchair users feel more independent because they no longer have to rely on others to help them enter businesses.
• After a patron in a wheelchair presses a button, the wheelchair ramp will slowly extend out to them and they will wheel themselves onto the ramp. 
• The ramp will slowly raise a railing behind them that will be extensively safely checked. The ramp will slowly lift them into the business. 
• This innovation will be marketed to businesses that lack wheelchair ramps and will cost between $200 and $400 depending on the size of the ramp. 

Venture Concept:

• This wheelchair ramp will be an alternative to large or inconvenient wheelchair ramps. Businesses will therefore be more driven to install wheelchair ramps in their businesses to accommodate wheelchair users. 
• Customers will buy my innovation because it is convenient and will not damage their business. This product will also attract more customers, specifically those in wheelchairs. 
• Getting customers with wheelchair ramps to switch to my product may or may not be difficult. The innovation of my product could potentially convince them to switch and the price could as well. 
• Competitors are stores like Walgreen's or Lowe's. These stores have a vulnerability of not having a ramp that works like a conveyor belt. They also don't have a ramp that is small and easy to store. 
• Packaging, price points, distribution, and customer support play a large role in this company. 
• To support the ongoing production of this product, many employees and managers would be hired to run a distribution center to sell this product to customers.

Three Minor Concepts: 

• My venture's unfair advantage is my passion. I have a passion for helping others and this is where this business idea stemmed from. I want to make this world a better place and I believe that this ramp has the potential to help many people.
• I would love to tackle the problem of lack of handicapped bathrooms. In most restrooms in restaurants, there is one handicapped stall and people who are not handicapped often use this stall. I would love to develop a way to stop non-handicapped individuals from using this handicapped stall. 
• If I launched this business idea, I would want to have this product thriving in the next five years. As an entrepreneur, I would want to continue helping the handicapped community have more accommodations while also pursuing a career in nursing.