Well, we finished up the final touches on the first machine -- designing and folding a coin tray, while Phillip welded inventory followers. With the machine all set to go, we went to lunch, looking forward to visiting Helena at the HIV clinic to show off our product.
After lunch, Aimee and I realized that we'd (of course) left the machine at the shop, which was now locked.
Unfortunately, there's no way to type a facepalm.
Nevertheless, we had an extremely productive visit with Helena. We were able to explain the rough dimensions and specifications of the new machine, and discussed the future possibilities for installation sites -- Helena is an extremely bright and quick mind, and she's very optimistic about our new model. She sees opportunities at every HIV/ART clinic in the Kumasi area -- but more importantly, she views these sites as proving and improving grounds for our design, which she believes the Ghanaian government itself may well be interested in for application across the country. I asked Helena how many clinics she was proposing, and she named nine in the Kumasi municipal area, with dozens more in the outskirts -- and close to 150 across the country. I'm hopeful the project will continue humming along, particularly with Jorge Appiah's aid after our departure. It seems that the sky's the limit, so to speak.
We also picked up 1,440 condoms (!), which Helena, it seems, can sell to anyone from her clinics for 5 Cedis/144 -- a massive profit margin for the vendor if vended at 50peswa/ea, and a ready and available source of condoms at HIV clinics across the area. Tomorrow morning, we'll use a package to evaluate and test the first machine. Assuming any issues are correctable in the morning, and we can achieve a >98% vend rate, we'll return to the clinic tomorrow and install the first machine!
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