INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT MIND BUDDY a SOCIAL PROJECT TO HELP PEOPLE HAVING MENTAL ISSUES

1 FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEPARTMENT   INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT MIND BUDDY A SOCIAL PROJECT TO HELP PEOPLE HAVING MENTAL ISSUES Group 11 Nguyễn Phương Hoa 20[.]

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

ECONOMICS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION 3

2 ABOUT OUR PROJECT 4

2.1 Current situation 4

2.2 General information about our project 5

3 BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS 7

4 DETAILED BUSINESS PLAN 13

4.1 Phase 1: Fundraising 13

4.2 Phase 2: Build app and volunteer recruitment 14

4.3 Phase 3: Assembly human resources 16

4.4 Phase 4: Promoting to targeted customers 19

5 BENEFITS OF OUR PROJECT 22

6 REFERENCES 24

INTRODUCTION

As society is increasingly developing, the young generation is exposed to many dangers for mental health coming from enormous stress and pressure However, only a small number

of people currently having mental issues seek advice from psychologist experts due to lack

of financial resources and fear of judgment

Bearing that in mind, we come up with a social project in which we help connect the ones having mental issues with psychologist experts and buddies.They can then share their stories and seek advice, support in a safe, comfortable and totally free of charge environment

We truly believe that by improving the mental wellbeing of the young generation, our project can make a huge contribution to the society as a whole As when being in the happy state, people can be more productive, more motivated to work and generate new ideas, which paves the way for not only personal growth but also social development

We would like to give our sincere thanks to our lecturer - Mrs Hoàng Hương Giang for your continuous support in order for us to complete this project Due to our lack of specialized knowledge and practical experiences, this project may have some mistakes and imperfections We would like to receive your feedback with an aim to improving the quality

of our work

ABOUT OUR PROJECT

1.1 Current situation

Society is increasingly developing according to a lot of changes in people's lives, and along with it is the generation of many dangers for mental health It is a wide range of states ranging from mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, phobias or paranoid securities, schizophrenia, and epilepsy Among them, depression is one of the most common diseases

in today's life Especially recently, hospitals have also recorded a significant increase in young depressed patients, most of which are students

So what is depression? Depression is one of the most common types of mental health conditions and often develops alongside anxiety Depression can be mild and short-lived or severe and long-lasting Some people are affected by depression only once, while others may experience it multiple times Depression can lead to suicide, but this is preventable when appropriate support is provided

Depression has created enormous impacts on society as a whole It creates enormous social and economic costs These costs impact many different sectors including healthcare, business, education, law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and emergency and social services

But what causes depression? The answer to this question is vaguely accurate since There are several ideas about what causes depression It can vary a lot between different people, and for some people a combination of different factors may cause their depression Some find that they become depressed without any obvious reason

The main possible reasons that cause depression include:

• childhood experiences

• life events

• other mental health problems

• physical health problems

• genetic inheritance

• medication, recreational drugs and alcohol

• sleep, diet and exercise

According to a study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), about 8% - 29%

of adolescents in Vietnam suffer from mental health diseases It is estimated that in Vietnam, there are at least 3 million young people and adolescents with mental health problems However, only about 20% of them receive the necessary medical support and treatment

1.2 General information about our project

• Overall: Realizing that psychological problems are gradually becoming more

common, we created the non-profit project "Mind Buddy" with the hope of helping young people who are experiencing stress or depression overcome their mental problems At "Mind Buddy", you can choose to chat anonymously with one of our Buddy or decide to contact a professional psychologist Your personal information

is wholly kept secret so that you are free to confide and share your difficulties We are here to listen to your story

• Mission statement: Mind Buddy's mission is to raise the awareness about mental

problems of young people and spread positive energy to the world

• Vision: To connect people to people, help people understand each other, and make

the world a better place

• Our story: Psychological problems of adolescence have appeared for a long time

but have received little attention, especially in Vietnam In the current context, when our country develops quickly, the pressures are also gradually increasing The rate

of young people suffering from psychological problems has gone up in recent years

Vietnamese people do not have the concept of going to a psychiatrist and rarely share their difficulties with anyone Understanding these issues, "Mind Buddy" is created

to build a friendly, safe environment for young people to share their stories or problems We hope that this small project of ours can help young people somewhat reduce life pressures, regain positive energy and continue to pursue their dreams

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS

1 Key partners

There are 5 main partners:

• Technology providers: the one who help us develop and operate our app

• Psychologist Institution: provides us their experts and necessary knowledge to develop our products

• Voluntary Organization: collab in order to recruit volunteer (who acts as buddy)

• Schools and universities around Hanoi city: a source for recruiting volunteers and promoting our project to the ones in need

• KOLs, Influencers, etc: helps us promote our products to young generation

• Motivation for partnerships: a chance of helping other people as well as contributing

to the society

2 Key activities

• Develop high-tech applications with high information securities

As many people are still not open about their mental issues, they are afraid that others will judge them when they reveal their weaknesses and vulnerabilities, so information security is of top priority Considering that fact, we build an app where our customers only need to provide their information for the first time signing up, then everything about them will be kept secret No one, including the experts and buddies will know who they actually are Therefore, our clients can freely share their stories and difficulties without any fear

• Connect users with psychologist experts/buddies

In our application, each psychologist, buddy will have their own profile in which they will mention their expertise, their stories, interests (for example: in which field, problem they are experienced and have the ability to give advice), and what they

cand do for our customers Therefore, our customers can consider and choose the ones that suit them best

Moreover, to make it easier for our customers, at their first time using our app, they can type in the current problems that they’re going through so that our app will suggest suitable experts and buddies for them

• Build community, blogs to share our clients’ stories and experiences

➢ A Facebook group, Facebook fanpage and blog category in our app in which we will share our customers’ stories and experiences (for the ones who are willing and feel comfortable) Also, we will share some necessary and meaningful information, knowledge relating to mental issues in these places with the hope to assist our customers to solve their problems, make them feel better and more motivated

➢ Besides, we create the Drawing activities which we encourage our clients to speak out their problems through the language of art When we collect enough numbers of art, we will organize am exhibition to share their stories with the world and raise awareness of the society

➢ We will hold worshops and offline meetings for those who are willing to expose themselves, want to have intimate and face-to-face conversations and maybe a long-life accompany (the one who they find comfortable to be with and share problems)

• Recruit and train buddies with necessary skills

As we already know, mental issues are a very complicated problem, not everyone is qualified to be the right assistant Unsuitable advice may have an adverse effect, which makes our customers feel even worse about themselves Therefore, our buddies after passing the final round will be thoroughly trained with the necessary

skills, knowledge, mindset, and attitude when working with people having mental issues

➢ Human resource management team

➢ Finance management team

➢ Psychologist experts/buddies

• Finance: Fundraising

• Technological Infrastructure

• Provide service that helps our customers solve their psychological problems

without any charging

As our targeted customers’ age range from 14 - 25, who are only students or new to the working environment, the majority of them don’t have enough financial resources to afford psychology advice services, we create a service to help them solve their problem freely

• Improve mental health for the young generations

• Encourage people to share their problems with each other

One special thing is that their identities are all kept secret so they can freely express themselves

• Trust

• Long-term and frequent connection

We can reach out to our potential customers through:

• Social media: Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube We would create different communication products with related contents and post them on those three social networks Creating a page where we can post psychological stories we receive from anonymous senders is also an activity that helps our app reach more users Moreover,

we can collaborate with KOLs whose Tiktok or Youtube channels are followed by thousands of people

• Having mental issues

According to our research, every person at the age mentioned above experiences a lot of changes, even shocks in both their physical and mental aspects Most youngsters get much more sensitive during their puberty, the phase when their mood and character are easily influenced by outside factors The common cause of depression in young people at this period is due to pressures in school and family circumstances Parents' pressure on their children in studying and taking exams causes them to fall into a state of stress and fear that they will gradually lose control of their thoughts In addition, some children are affected by family circumstances such as parents' divorce, parents' disagreements, and a heavy atmosphere of lack of happiness is also cause of depression for their children

As people reach the age of 18-25, when they become young adults, there are more and more reasons which can result in their mental problems Coping with the negative mental impact

of the college environment Students who have not experienced this new life will have to deal with tuition and living debt on their own Besides, their job prospects with university degrees after graduation are also rated as lower than previous generations The above raises concerns about depression among students today

Along with the pressure of the classroom, financial worries, overtime work, broken relationships create a mental and physical burden that causes students to neglect their studies as well as lead to negative consequences that are unpredictable Many students have also experienced love problems Breaking up with a lover often pushes students into a state

of depression because of negative thoughts about themselves, difficulty sleeping and difficulty in controlling thoughts It is estimated that 43% of students will suffer from insomnia within months of breaking up They are often those who have experienced indifference and abuse in childhood, have insecure emotional attachments, feel betrayed easily, and are less mentally prepared for the relationship break

For above reasons, our group believe that people from 14 - 25 are the appropriate customer segments for our project

• App Development cost:

Most of the entire cost of writing an app is largely focused on the Design and Coding phase According to The Manifest (Reputable technology news site for businesses), the average cost to develop an app ranges from 25 million to 300 million However, the actual costs are often higher

The cost of developing an app depends on different stages The cost of app development also depends on the platform factor For example, the cost of designing an iOS app will definitely be different from the cost of designing an Android app and vice versa

• App Distribution cost

If the app is ready to go public, it usually has to be registered with a third party (App Store and Google Play Store) before it can be distributed to users

However, the price for the app displayed on each store will be different Apps released on the App Store always cost more than on the Google Play Store

• App Maintenance cost

The cost of maintaining an app is also one of the costs that affect the cost of developing an app

App maintenance fees include costs for fixing and patching apps, adding new features, upgrading, and updating versions In addition, the cost of maintaining the app like the $99 annual fee to maintain the app on the Apple App store market is also an expense that we have to take into account

On average, the cost of maintaining an app will range from 15% to 20% of the total cost per year The cost of maintaining the app also depends on the complexity of the features

DETAILED BUSINESS PLAN

o Non-profit and social organizations

o Enterprises operating in educational and healthcare fields

• Value of project to sponsors:

o Expand brand coverage

o Facilitate access to potential customers

• Sponsor frame:

o 1 mil - 10 mil: Bronze sponsor

o 10 mil - 20 mil: Silver sponsor

o Over 50 mil: Diamond sponsor

1.4 Phase 2: Build app and volunteer recruitment

App build

• Step 1: Readiness Assessment

o Scope out your target market to find domain experts who can help you

o Carry out customer interviews to substantiate your project vision and define the pain points your product will address

o Team up with domain experts to run your project together

• Step 2: Budget estimation

o Rough estimate: So once we have critical inputs, you can get a rough estimate

of what your software will cost you It gives you ballpark figures based on: Idea validation, required product features and relevant experience with similar projects

o Detailed estimate: The detailed estimate goes deeper into planning each step,

software features, SDLC models, and the people involved in creating your product It also accounts for the hours it takes to develop your software by allocating them to every specialist on your team

• Step 3: Requirements Analysis

o Requirements and feasibility analysis makes detailed estimation and planning complete It looks at whether the software you want to build is viable for your requirements or calls for changes before design and development are in full swing

o When assessing software feasibility, your requirements may be changed If the analysis reveals some of them aren’t best for your business or target audience technically, operationally, or legally, we can give a few pointers on