FEASIBILITY Hire a Buddy! plans to pilot in Breda, because Breda is a booming student city with a lot of target audience and thus will have a lot of overlooked young people suffering from loneliness and isolation. As of January 1, 2018, Breda inhabits 25,565 young people between the ages of 15-25 and 47,839 people between the ages of 25-45 (allecijfers, 2018). Breda is also number 87 on the list of highest-income counties in the Netherlands with €27,300, which indicates good financial health (allecijfers, 2018). Down to the specifics, why is this idea feasible? First of all, the very low investment and production costs make this idea very feasible. Low investment is needed, no raw materials (in fact, no materials of any kind) are required, no physical facilities are needed, and no logistics and transportation other than the buddy’s traveling arrangements are involved. The only investment needed is building and maintaining the app, website, and other digital platforms. Not only is this a rather low-cost idea, but it is also very environmentally friendly since there are no material depletion, barely any CO2 emission, and no human or planetary exploitation of any kind, which are exactly the conditions of my opinion on sustainable development mentioned in Chapter 1. There are multiple sources of income to keep this business model social, yet financially sustainable: ● Ads: the app will include free and pro versions. The free version will include generated ads that will produce revenue for Hire a Buddy! ● Pro version: at €4.99, users can upgrade to the pro version in order to eliminate ads permanently. This will be a one-time payment. ● Premium subscription: users who plan on using the app frequently can subscribe to a premium account for €9.99 a month, thereby receiving a fixed discount on activities and unlocking premium features. It will not include a quarterly or yearly pricing plan, because this app is supposed to eliminate the need for the app in the first place. 90
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