MAASconnect Neighbourhoods business plan by Amal Al Balushi

Business plan 2020 L’eau Amal Al Balushi Ahmed Abdelhafiz Word count:6129

CONTENTS

Executive Summary

What’s, Who’s, and How’s

The Maastricht Market

MaasConnect Neighbourhood Desks & Events

MaasData bank

Outreach

Funding

Appendix

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

We hope to connect all of Maastricht through a common space for events, activities and social interactions that everyone can enjoy.

Have you ever wondered what sort of events or activities people in your community would enjoy, or need in their immediate space? Or have you ever thought about the neighbours you have surrounded yourself with, how to connect with them, what kinds of people they are, what are their interests, goals and ideas? Well we at MaasConnect hope to bring out the community’s culture and vibes to the physical space and celebrate each other.

events in their neighbourhoods. We hope to lead the market in social events for Maastricht, as well as gain data and knowledge for future planning in neighbourhoods and communities. MaasConnect, as a public-private partnership with the city council and Maastricht University, is here to activate and understand which new meanings for the words “neighbourhoods” and “communities” in Maastricht we can create to bring a deeper sense of belonging to it’s people. Being a startup PP, we aim to work in a beneficial for all business model, where the government can gain from the data and information collected, the university could gain from research and student internships over time, and the community own and control what happens in their neighbourhood. We see it as a cycle that can be repeated and morphed into the necessities of the people and time.

To us, this project is the future of space building and possible spontaneous events within the city of Maastricht. It is also a way to empower people to take action in their every-day lives in connection with one another. While the city copes with large festivals and events mainly aimed at tourists/ or just for a certain season, we noticed the social disconnect Maastrichtian’s may feel in their everyday-life. Specifically disconnects between students and residents, as well as communities such as expats and locals. To bridge gaps and allow one to connect with the other, we plan on creating shared platforms for self-created events that are open and inclusive to all. This means, that while we target specific neighbourhoods and communities, we also help them bring forth their individuality and skills in an open manner that allows others not in their immediate circle - to enjoy too. More over, we attempt to have an easy sharing tool online for the neighbourhood events so that all of Maastricht can be aware of the self organised events that are happening or have happened in different areas. The interested users would also get information on how they could be included in planning and executions, how to join events, and how to use the inspiration to organise their own

Everyday life in Maastricht Data on the everyday life of Maastrichtian’s is scarce. That is why, we would like to be the ones who find this out for you, and with your help! Why is this important? Through connecting people we can create chances for new and exciting scenarios, as well as understand the capabilities that each neighbourhood or community can bring to the city life of Maastricht. We look at the time spent out of the average person’s daily working hours (Which we define as the everyday life) and within the intimacy of their neighbourhood. Then, we compare this with others in the same situation with similar interests or the will to explore their community and in the end hopefully create ways to bridge possible gaps of communication.

WHAT’S, WHO’S AND HOW’S... As a startup, we hope to mould our path, impacted by our mind-set along the way; and so, who are we?

WHAT is our role as community connectors? As minimal organisers, we are the first contact the neighbours would have to such an idea as MaasConnect. We hope to begin with surveys and advertisements that would peak the public’s interest, before moving onto big interventions like big public events for their gatherings and providing the necessary tools. We are also a backbone the community can lean on with ideas and for support.

WHAT are our motives? Our Aim is to create a platform where every local is able to meet similarly interested individuals within their neighbourhood, or search for their own community. We wish to minimalistically activate the public spots and allow everyday-life activities to thrive in the neighbourhoods of the city of Maastricht, through the help and initiative of the locals themselves. The Vision we see is an interconnected Maastricht, where people are aware of each other’s interests and develop their own new local traditions/ situations. Our company’s values that we uphold, and hope passes through our message is that Communication is Leadership and Inclusivity is Key. Communication allows us to easily understand one another and take necessary steps to visualise ideas. Our product is in need of clear communication between the users and one another, as well as towards us.

WHO ARE WE? OUR TEAM Amal Al Balushi & Ahmed Abdel hafiz (founders) International students interested in bringing together Maastrichtian’s for self-organisations, with the job of overall management and the outreach of the projects, as well as analysing and finalising collected data. Maastricht University/Student Interns One of the most disconnected locals in Maastricht, students tend to not have a interactions with nonstudent within city. These internships would allow for fun social work and get them in touch with their local community and help set up events. Maastricht City Council As a public private partnership with the Maastricht city council would thrive, and ease exchange of information is beneficial for the both parties The Communities Such as physical neighbourhoods and evolving groups of like-minded people, the communities themselves need to help us initiate events in their best interest. Two Assistants Survey collecting and the side of the team that helps the creation of on site interventions

WHAT is our end-product? We could say that our work splits into three distinct branches: + The Neighbourhood Desks (small scale) While the name desk is in an attempt to keep the idea of a small intimate space, it is in fact a built temporary structure or platform for the Neighbourhood/Community to interact and get together, initiate their own events and get to know one another. + MaasConnect Events (medium scale) Happening in connection with The Neighbourhood Desks and separately; as data is collected on neighbours preferred seasonal activities in spare time, organised larger events can be put on an online platform in which other interested persons - not from the immediate circle - are able to join in. These events would also be connected to existing larger event platforms such as city festivals, in which locals would be able to have a say and input into certain functions/gatherings that may happen. + MaasData (big scale) The data collected can help us understand at a mass scale what sort of cultures exist and what is needed to help them thrive in Maastricht’s neighbourhoods.

HOW do we plan on starting? Through hard work and constant interactions! A prototype pilot program with a small study radius is to be the first project MaasConnect takes on, where we could try out and tweak necessary adjustments for the next turns. HOW do we evaluate ourselves? Over time and landmarks, we need to reflectively look back on how our tools and support would allow a certain community to become self-independent in organising most of their events and how much of the community is included.

THE MAASTRICHT MARKET Existing products in the Netherlands/Maastricht Through market research, such an akin product aimed directly at the neighbourhood space and residents of Maastricht has not been previously done. In comparison, Germany has initiated online websites were communities can interact in a nonpersonal way [1], yet no similar methods were found in the Netherlands. However, there are a few other community connector programs, in their own way, accessible to Maastrichtian’s:

numbers over a short time period. MaasConnect hopes to attach our “Neighbourhood Desks” to these houses as a possible starting point, as we can assume these houses are existing nodes of interactions that the immediate neighbours are aware of. Our input would be through the provision of tools that can be used by the students, as well as a common space for the communities to come and provide ideas on what they want and prefer. Therefore, this could be a conversation point between students and residents on their neighbourhood activities rather than a one way enforced requirement.

Mett.nl Started 1999 417 - euros per month 15 staff members Online based Mett is an online website with 88 functionalities (groups) where people in Netherlands can connect with [2]. These groups can be Professional (such as energy management consultants and enthusiasts) where Mett provides experts to help deal with possible problems and ideas, as well as social (such as a community) where Mett brings together likeminded people. The entire process starts and stays online with no interactions to the physical. Mett would also create a new Functionality for those who join in with a new need. The website currently boasts around 800 users interested in the various topics from all parts of the Netherlands MaasConnect sees itself different from Mett, mainly due to our physicality. Yet from Mett, we can learn that there is a need for experts to be involved to solve possible arising issues or concerns, or just help smooth out the process of organising and creating such connections.

Mosea Zorggroep Empowerment and training program Works with student, professionals and elderly. Has specific homes, but also works in communities Mosea Zorggroep is a company advertised online as a helper in dealing with elderly residents of Maastricht mostly, through the provision of health care and live-in training [5]. Moreover, the company attempts to educate those living close by or around the elderly resident with ways to help and handle their neighbour. They work heavily with students to provide them with internships as well as elderly care skills. The company has an advertising campaign that is effective and well trains people in a similar way to what we aim for; however they focus on one demographic, and train them according to manuals they have created in one generalised way. We hope for a more bottom up approach in which the community tells us what they need, and we internally search for and organise the tools/experts for their growth..

Match Houses Started 2017 Free, for Maastricht University Students 6 Houses throughout Maastricht Match houses is based in Maastricht, where the university provides free bedding to students as long as they fulfil 8 hours of social work per week in the neighbourhoods they stay in [3,4]. This can be in the form of setting up community brunches and get-togethers, as well as helping out their neighbours with possible tasks such as baby sitting. The houses have been a success and grew in

Our Market Through data from the Maastricht City council [6], we are able to find statistics on neighbourhoods based on income, number of residents, age... etc. Yet social interactions and nodes are not present (which is the information we hope to “sell” back to the municipality once collected). With these preemptive data, we can understand places dynamics and single out the areas to establish our possible prototype base.

THE MAASTRICHT MARKET The user profile we looks for is all inclusive. Working in neighbourhoods provides a mix of ages in most cases; making the events catered to multiple sorts of needs. There are 6 identifiable neighbourhood boundaries in the city of Maastricht that vary in size and number of residents, and each neighbourhood has it’s own demographic and collection of cultures and norms that we would have to work with. Though we have to keep in mind that for the prototype we intend to roll out in the beginning, this would be a small scale mainly English-speaking case study; this would be in the best interest of our company, as our current working body team would be able to handle this. In time, of course, when a larger team is put together this would change. As our product is such a personal experience, it is likely that we would need a diverse team in terms of languages and life experiences.

Fig. 1 - Example of statistical data on areas with highest number of houses in Maastricht, by Gemeente Maastricht. [6]

MAASCONNECT NEIGHBOURHOOD DESKS & EVENTS Fig. 2 - graphic on a container with the advertisement and calendar screen to be used in neighbourhoods as the main gathering spot for the communities.

The MaasConnect Neighbourhood Desks of the city. Not literally a desk, but a shed in which the community can identify as their shared space. These “Desks” are first to be applied to Match Houses (see previous Chapter). While the desk can be a built structure as proposed in the graphic above, this is not always necessarily the case. In the centre of Maastricht, public spaces are scarce, protected and expensive to build on. In these cases, the desk is an actual small booth in shopping centres or pop up stalls in the Markets space. We would rely heavily on the online traffic for scenarios where a semi -permanent space can not be acquired. Yet this point also proves the need for communities to be aware of events happening in other neighbourhoods, specifically when their own physical space can not provide in the same way. The Desk structure consists of the following characteristics: + MaasCalendar/Screen A screen on the side of the structure that projects upcoming events by MaasConnect desks in the area and other areas nearby. This interactive screen also allows communities to post notes in various categories such as finding possible neighbours to create an event with, advertising their own events, and even post information on things they are selling, found on the street..etc. + Storage The community, sponsors and ourselves can input materials in the desk to be used at different events. This storage would be handled by the student interns in the case of Match houses. These would be the tools that help them organise their events efficiently. + Open structure For unfavourable seasons, the structure is able to

open on one side and provide shade to the users of events held underneath them. + Working space When not used for gatherings and events, the inside of the structure has a Designated working space provided to the student interns to keep atop their social assignments. This also helps MaasConnect have a clear caretaker of the shed, as well as a space to conduct credible interactions with the students and evaluate performances. + Event space These desks are to be put in situations where sufficient accessible public space is present for both possible events and public interactions. The structure could be made by container, or any quick modular system that can be easily repeated in other scenarios, since we ultimately aim to have a Neighbourhood Desk in each of the neighbourhood boundaries of Maastricht, making it 6 spots in total. Website

Neighbourhood Com mun Event ity s

Data

Public Events Fig. 3 - The flow of ideas from the communities to different sources. The neighbourhood can access the online website to find out what’s happening in their designated area as well in other areas. They are able to input comments or wishes and update their forums and leader boards, which is then collected and published in the neighbourhood desk MaasCalendar screens. This data is also stored in the MaasData bank and sent to the MaasConnect team to prepare for public events

Fig. 4 - The neighbourhood desks application method

SURVEYING & DATA COLLECTION 1 month

ANALYSIS OF RESPONSES 2 weeks

GROUPING OF THEMES 2 weeks

ORGANISING COMMUNITY & SPACE 2 weeks

EVENTS ROLL OUT

Match house 8

MAASCONNECT NEIGHBOURHOOD DESKS & EVENTS What Next? Our plan is to supply these structures and monitor closely for the first three years of their deployments, making constant updates and upgrades accordingly to the neighbourhood’s needs. However, during that time, we expect to slowly take a less firm hold on the processes of events as the neighbourhood gets used to organising their own situations. And so, it is important that we encourage and include possibilities of self-organisation and spontaneity. We believe that our product is able to grow with the community due to it’s variables:

happening. for example, if they create a picnic day for the families with young kids, every family that brings their own chair and helps set up the area for the picnic has taken control and part in the event, making the space more meanigful to the user. + Communication node between various agents While we expect the structure to promote communication between the variables of the neighbourhood, the area is still a organised public spot that can also be a point of information distribution to the neighbourhood; and therefore be continuously a point of interest for advertisers and the city council.

+ Bottom-up approach The events are first and foremost based on the residents wishes. We start with the culture of creating what the residents want and growing only with their input. This is suppose to show them that these structures are for them to activate and use. + Open communication Other than an open communication towards MaasConnect, the leader boards and chat forums on our website and on the MaasCalendar screen of the structure is created such that the community has an easier method of pooling ideas and concerns together. This bridges the gap of “what could I want?” to “What could my neighbourhood achieve when we all work together?”. We hope this encouragement will allow for self organised structures and systems within the community to thrive. + Match houses and student engagement The student interns are the constant backbone to the structure, as it includes all tools that allow their task of social work to be easier and quicker. With the constant stream of new and excited students into the homes, MaasConnect gains one new connection point and definite user for the neighbourhood desks. + Storage and self maintenance Other than being set up and provided infrastructure connections by our team, the neighbourhood desk also grows through donations of the neighbourhood. When the community donates to the structure for an event, they include their own input to the event and therefore have a sense of ownership for what is

MAASDATA BANK As our product grew from the niche of not having enough information on what Maastrichtian’s did on their free time, and what activities they were into, we see the capabilities of data that we can accumulate and differentiate benefits of use for various sorts of data. We intend to produce and distribute surveys to the general public. These surveys would be regulated in the beginning according to our prototype neighbourhood, and eventual aim to grow to include all 6 neighbourhood districts of Maastricht. With such a mass end goal, it is therefore expected that the survey in years time would be in the vaious different languages spoken in Maastricht, targeting all communities of the city. Ultimately, Through the gathering of these sensitive data points on the local resident’s likes, interests, activities and needs, we would be able to have a clearer picture of what sort of events to organise where. This data is intended to be worked into the Maastricht Municipality statistics and be the root for possible research and further understanding of what the neighbourhoods may need in future developments, and recognise patterns for opportunities. Currently, the municipality and various other realestate/house rental websites rank neighbourhoods according to number of functions they may have and how clean or safe they are. One day, community engagement and events frequency can also play a hand in neighbourhood ranking systems of Maastricht. [7] Nevertheless, the data collected can also be used to provide personalised advertising on the MaasConnect neighbourhood desk structure and websites with hopes of a small steady income that can be put back into the maintenance and handling of the neighbourhood desk structure for a self sustainable life cycle. Thus, the idea of the MaasData Bank arose, as closed system with data analysis on findings based on surveys and ongoing updates according to the how active certain communities are, and the effectiveness of the neighbourhood events. This, like many data tools of the business, is only accessible by MaasConnect, the City council and paid memberships (third parties). We expect this tool to be beneficial for businesses willing to open in certain neighbourhoods, as well as researchers looking for information on Maastrichtian’s

characteristics. One other interesting look at MaasData would be to evaluate ourselves and our engagement with communities and turnout in comparison to large official festivals and events held in the city. GDPR and data collection legality Due to the fact that we intend to collect a large sum of data - sensitive, personal and general - we, as a business, are required to follow EU’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation [8,9]. Looking at the GDPR, we can see the specific articles that affects us, and how we could cope or use these regulations: + Obtain Consent, inform user According to the GDPR, as we collect data through surveys and online traffic on our website, we need to obtain consent from the users. This means that all 18+ users need to give us clear consent to collect their personal information. As well as the fact that we need to inform them about the extent of the data collection, how long and who has access to the data. Using this basis when creating the survey, for example, the first page can have a quick overview and use a signed consent. When dealing with minors in instances where we want information on the types of events children would be into, parents/ guardians are the consent givers adn would be expected to provide consent in the same fashion as previously stated. + Protect info from misuse & exploitation In order to protect information, surveys will be conducted on hand held encrypted devices that provide a secure loop. GDPR states that we are the responsible party to take extra steps incase of a breach, and so we shall take a further tried and tested step that is used by many data collection sources, which is to create pseudonyms of each neighbourhood member. This system protects personal information from third party users by changing the name of the person in a nondecipherable way by external sources. [10,11,12] + Personal information Category Personal information is defined in the regulation as names, addresses, biometrics data, photos and IP address. These are the information we are

required to keep protected, in which we have provided our paths of protection above. However, this definition of persnal data still legally allows us to disclose information on the general statistics of the neighbourhood resident’s preferred activities, types of gatherings, the number of times they do gather, and the demographic differences such as gender and age. It also lets sell this information and advertise to the people of the neighbourhood according to algorithmic suggestions. + Breach notification We are enforced to notify authorities and the users of any breaches to the information we collect. This rule has only been enforced in 2018, whereas before this, companies were not forthcoming with breaches easily or in a timely fashion. This regulations mean that although we attempt to use pseudonyms to protect the identity of our users, a back access to the actual users is necessary in order to contact them in the case of a breach - an issue we intend outsource cyber-security specialists to handle. + Right to keep data/be forgotten Finally, our clients legally have certain controls over what we do with their data. They are able to tell us when they do not approve of their data to be used for personalised advertising or to any third party organisations at any point. They are also able to elect when they wish their data to be completely erased. This option would be provided though their account on our website, or though visiting their neighbourhood desks and communicating with our interns to begin the procedure of erasing their personal data from our system.

OUTREACH To implement effective advertising methods for our market, we should first better understand what image we would like to portray to the public, what do we stand for and how do we reach our consumers? As a startup by international students, with no previous experience in Professional organisation and management of a business, we would like to portray the fun and excitement we have to be dealing with people. A light, small scaled, “everyone can contribute in some way” attitude is to be conveyed to our users. As detailed in our upcoming funding plan, we recognise our disadvantage at not being Maastrichtian’s, and how we are unaware of the full advertising culture in the Netherlands, and therefore would enrol the help of a local PR team to help us with the final strategy and outreach program.

not have deep roots in a community. How do we advertise his interests to find him a community? And once we do, how do we advertise to organise their event? For this case study, let’s assume certain necessities identified in this business plan are already functioning: + Our online website for people to contact us is up and running. + We have placed our first Neighbourhood desk as an attachment to a Match house in one of the six neighbourhoods of Maastricht (where Murat Lives) Our first form of advertising for most people would be word of mouth. Most people would have a few connections within their circle who may be interested in similar things, they may already know their neighbours, or have people in their lives who might want to support them and the events they are into. Murat, a new resident, does not have a large group that fits into this category, and therefore the other measures should be taken into consideration.

CASE STUDY: Music Sessions Due to the fact that we intend to start at a small local scale within a community as a prototype and slowly grow while ever-evolving, we are able to experiment and explore different balances in advertising and implementations. This gives us a high potential to be resilient and not as wasteful as if when starting on the mass market in one go. Through this process we can say that MaasConnect works in a scenario to scenario conditions. In our outreach strategy, we take this into account as well; advertising accordingly based on the type of event we wish to promote and in the future learn from our results all the while reactively improving our strategy for the next advertised event. With this in mind, we will approach our outreach strategy with a case study based on our first Maastrichtian contact. While observing the state of people’s activities in the centre of Maastricht, we got in touch with Murat, an interested potential first user. Murat is an immigrant waiter at a prominent Italian restaurant in the centre of Maastricht, who hopes to find companions and a suitable place to play music outdoors. Murat spends 15 minutes on the bus per day as he lives in a neighbourhood away from his work space, and has been in Maastricht for half a year. He is still getting used to his living situation and is not very aware of his neighbours, and does

In order to reach people who are interested in attending events with others to watch or do something, setting up our stalls at existing events would allow us to be known amongst our common peers. This is an effective way to present and express the idea of our company. This would also be a point of direct conversation between ourselves and various people from all over Maastricht (in comparison to the usual neighbourhood aimed process that we regularly use). Existing music events are then the aim for Murat’s prototype event. Finding the same sort of music Murat intends to play will also bring him closer to the music scene in Maastricht. Social media over the last few years has proved to be a far reaching way of advertising as well. Currently in Maastricht, many events publish their details on Facebook events and get a lot of attraction. [13] Many view social media as an efficient digital marketing tool, which we would use to our advantage. These online methods can easily connect viewers to our website. Our online presence is not limited to Social

media, while we work with various third parties to help realise this company, it is safe to say that connections to our websites and events would be attached to the websites of our sponsors and partners. For example, websites owned by the city council and Maastricht university could have details on our upcoming events or ways to contact us. This would breach out into the real life of these organisations.

that the neighbours are aware of the social public works the students have previously done and would therefore find out of the Murat event in planning. This could be compared to door-to-door advertising. In all cases, our advertising would be a situation in which our team would have to push itself to show our qualities and gain the people’s trust over time. This is achievable by: 1 - Consistent, accurate fulfilment of the people wishes and expectations by bringing what we say through good communication into reality actions. 2 - Realistic views on what can be done, and respectful towards what should not be done according to legal, social and moral norms. 3 - being addressable towards issues and providing a constant evaluative process with the community to improve one event after another.

Our website works as a point of information, and also allows for users to sign up to an account online with us. Through these “memberships”, the users let us know where they are based, and what other interests they have or communities they are part of. Other than just being a data collection tool, it’s also a form of organising our users into groups and providing them with forums to speak to one another and self-generate smaller events. Printed media, such as brochures and magazine outputs would also get us in touch with mainly the older generation who may not be as easily accessible online. This could grow in time to advertise upcoming events in city-event calendars. We also hope that the actual structure of our Neighbourhood Desks in the Match homes would be the most interconnected way to approach the neighbourhood residents. Through this we assume How much advertising methods? 20%

Printed Media

30%

Website, Social Media, Third Party Adverts

50%

Word of mouth, door to door, local advertising

Printed media is one of our efforts, yet not the most direct form of our engagement.

Online presence

Online presence would boost the idea of our company to a large audience, and can be used more for a sense of general communication and updates.

ON SITE ADVERTISING

As one of our intentions is to create intimate relationships within the neighbourhood and the community, approaching them one on one seems like the most important advertising tool to us.

Fig. 5 - Percentages of effort and capacity of different forms of advertising

FUNDING 1- No rent for the main office, as our partnership with the municipality would allow us to work in their quarters 2- No rent for the land. Support from the city council would include land use permits without any additional charges. Support from Match Houses gives the land. 3- 12 Euros per 1 working hour as is higher than low-income part-time salaries [14,15]. These will be mainly our student interns. 4- As part time students and founders, our own salary is lower than average. We, as business founders, are very a ware of our situation in which we are enthusiastic to work hard and make cuts where necessary to help the business grow.

Starting any business would for sure need a proper and detailed financial overview. As founders we have attempted at a prediction of possible expenses MaasConnect could need for the one year prototype launch. First of all, let’s have a quick look at our current financial situation; we are students that do not have savings to put into our project; thus we are looking for investors willing to become shareholders in time. Therefore, we are approaching organisations and bank institutions interested in startups. The following cost plan has been deducted with the help of an RWTH Business Administration Master’s student (See Appendix) Our plan works with the following assumptions listed Investments

ASSETS

One neighbourhood desk

Living essentials

Cost p/unit

Descriptions

Total cost

13.000

The communal events quarter. This is the average price of a container home’s refurbishment. [16,17] During the first year, only one prototype would be established and studied

13.000

1.900 (monthly) Heating installation, water pipes, electric cables, connections, furniture, burglary protection, hygiene area to prepare food

2.500

(In Euros)

Main office furnishing

3.000

Preparation for the office and working space

3.000

Mobile desk for events

1.000

Moveable stall for festivals and temporary events outside of our specified locations.

2.000

Official documents, registrations, legal support

2.000

City council permissions governmental processes.

2.000

Insurances

and

fees

for

550 (yearly)

Insurance plan for the business to prepare for unexpected conditions.

550

TBC

Throughout the city in physical printed form and online advertising.

circa 600

800 (starter) 150 (monthly)

We intend to deal with a PR company, favourably a local one, that offers website designs, hosting and managing services in addition to social media advertisement campaigns

2.600

Surveying team

12 (hourly)

We will hire 6 students to help gain knowledge of their community. 6 hour working days with 42 days of information gathering.

3.100

Advertising team

12 (hourly)

We will hire 3 students to help advertising and using the mobile desks in different events during two weeks of launch.

1.350

3.900 (monthly) The salaries of Ahmed and Amal during the first year of launch, and of our first assistant.

46.800

Advert material Website and Social media

Salaries Legal team

300 (monthly)

Handling our legal aspects as a firm

3.600 -25.000

City Council sponsorship Maastricht University Research sponsorship

-2.700

TOTAL

53.400 Fig. 6 - Funding Assets and costs for one year of MaasConnect functioning

FUNDING Possible future funding needs Once an investor takes an equity position in our company, We are aware that a most unwelcoming surprise for an investor to find out is the need for additional expenses. We have tried to minimise the possibility of large future funding requirements by setting achievable incremental goals. Furthermore, the funding request for one year focuses heavily on one MaasConnect neighbourhood desk project. We believe our attachment to existing organisations and the incorporation of many different sponsors should show an established working backbone that have already a long history of experience with the communities we wish to work with.

the neighbourhood and keeping track of any self organised get-togethers, as well as preparing for the next event. With the prototype event expected to take 2 and half months to organise and launch, we can assume that the first 7 months before the event would be for acquiring space and developing on our tactics, then a few months would be used for preparation of data collection and analysis. Once the prototype event is launched, we would then have 2 months to repeat our steps and set up for a second event. Why provide funds? In such a very fast growing world, it becomes an essential need for new ideas and features that fulfil the people’s wants and interests. This is necessary to cope with the growing markets and urban developments trends. Our idea and business is the first from its kind to offer a proposal with such a great degree of on-site methods to connect people. This idea was made for and fits to the scenario of Maastricht, but this does not mean that the idea would end there. We have Maastricht as the starting ground for testing and development, and in time have the rest of the Netherlands, and in fact the rest of the EU, to explore with. We invite all businesses, private and public sectors, companies and banks to think about our company and place themselves, in their communities, in their neighbourhood and imagine a spot for regular interactions being a commonality. MaasConnect is a low input high return opportunity that hopefully will soon be in your neighbourhood serving you.

Parameters of funding We accept any kind of funding according to our company profile values; in which we would like to work with sponsors who accept an all inclusivity environment. Legal and governmental regulations are, obviously, to be followed and handled by our legal team. As we expect a small profit through website advertising and data sales, we are willing to discuss shares and profit margins once a more concrete flowchart is established. Time line of funding Our request follows a one year possibility in which we hope to set up all preliminary necessities (such as the office spaces, legal documents, the team) and move on to the creation of the outreach advertising strategy. At the end of one year, the company should have advertised and set up one prototype public event, while monitoring and collecting data on 1

OBJECTIVE Preliminary Necessities Preparations for Data collection Data Collection and Analysis Communal organisation Event Evaluation process Updates and second event preps.

MONTH 6 7

APPENDIX Contact Persons:

Funding plan consultant:

Amal Al Balushi Cofounder and director of business communications Email: amal.albalushi@rwth-aachen.de

Martin Welp RWTH-Aachen Business Administration Final semester Master Thesis Candidate Martin.welp@rwth-aachen.de

Ahmed Abdel Hafiz Cofounder and director of executive affairs Email: ahmed.abdelhafiz@rwth-aachen.de

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