PROJECT CHARTER

Green Hills of Africa – Baby food line

Daniel Birgisson
Karen Barros
Riddhi Dhokiya
Executive summary

The following document presents a Project Charter for the launch of a new suggested production
line for Green Hills of Africa (GHA), which is a Kenyan jam and tea processing and exporting
company. The suggested new production line is prepared organic baby food, set to launch in the
United States, and the starting period of the project is January 2020. The following Project
Charter lays out the implementation strategy, objectives, and other details about the project.

An implementation roadmap has been defined in order to get the Business Plan done. A
presumption of six months of pre-launch phase will be taken into consideration before making
the new product available for consumers. Activities are given to the three departments of the
company, which is R&D, Marketing and Sales, and Operations. R&D consists of the two pre-
launch activities of product development and packaging development and one main activity of
quality standard check, which is continuous from the beginning of the project. Marketing and
Sales consist of three pre-launch activities, which are market testing, presenting the products to
existing and potential clients, and set the go-to-market-strategy. Subsequently, constant activities
of marketing advertising and a growing client base will follow, and sell-out analysis and
forecasting will be ongoing from the start of the project. Lastly, Operation will also consist of
three pre-launch activities and one subsequent constant activity. Pre-launch activities are plant
modification for the new production line, hire new workers, and negotiate with suppliers.
Milestones will mainly include the target market share of 0,015% nationwide when launching,
increasing to 0,023% in five years after starting the project.

The total initial financial cost for the first year is 100.515€, but in the second year, the
cash flow is estimated to be positive, and the new production line starts to generate profit. The
risks are quite high in the pre-launch phase, where the launch can be delayed, but when
established in the US market, the risks shift towards how competitors and consumers will react to
the new production line.

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Table of Contents
General Information1
Project sponsor 2
Project stakeholders 3
Project purpose 4
Purpose 5
Objectives 6
Project overview 4
Project description 5
Scope 6
Assumptions………………………………………………………………………………
Constraints……………………………………………………………………………..
Project requirements 4
Project deliverables………………………………………………………………………………..
Project plan and schedule 4
WBS 5
Project risk 4
Risk assessment 5
Project organization 4
Project organization chart 5
Roles and responsibilities 6

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General information

Project sponsor

The project sponsor for the baby food line is a business angel

Project Stakeholders

For this project to be developed successfully, there are several organizations and people that will
affect directly and indirectly for the development of the new product line and export of them to
the final customer. Some of the stakeholders are the following:

- GHA owners
- Project managers
- Fruit suppliers
- Packaging suppliers
- Logistic company
- Employees
- Investors
- End customers
- Retailers
- Partner in the USA
- Government
- United States department of agriculture (USDA)

Project purpose

Purpose

The purpose of this Project Charter is to explain the process of launching a new production line
of Green Hills of Africa (GHA). Both the pre-launch phase and the monitoring for the first years
are included in this Project Charter. Essential activities, milestones, risks, and other factors
involved in the process of launching the production line are identified and described in detail. ell
Cost and future financial estimations are realized as well.

Objectives

The objective of this project is to develop a product line of baby food that is affordable for any
person and organic and healthy as possible with the following characteristics:

- The product to be above the minimum 95% of organic ingredients required for the
USDA, by making sure that there are no synthetic pesticides, petroleum-based fertilizers,

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 synthetic growth hormones, artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, no GMOs or
ionizing radiation used for the fruit growth.
- Use lemon juice concentrate as a preservative, which will be in a small quantity (<1%) to
avoid the growth of bacteria.
- Target market share of 0.015% for the third and last quarter of 2020, until achieving
0.023% in 2024.

Project Overview

Project Description

The focus of this project is to describe the new production line of prepared organic baby food,
which is launched in the United States market. The primary approach in this project charter file
is about how to implement the roadmap, scope, schedule, objectives, and milestones of the new
production line. The suggested new baby food product from a Kenya based company is for
families with babies between six months and three years. So, our target customers are parents of
kids.

The boundary of the project is the activities or tasks which are not included in WBS for
the project. Such as selling activities or marketing campaigns. These activities include in the pre-
launch part. The time limit boundaries, which from time 0 to time one those procurement
processes (buying new manufacturing equipment, paying taxes, cost of hiring new people,
capital expenditure) include in boundary limits of the project.

Scope

The Work Breakdown Structure for the baby food production line has been defined into two
phases pre-launch phase and Launch phase. Before making a new product available for the
customers, the pre-launch phase will take nearly 18 weeks. There will be some pre-activities
which will be done before starting a new production line such as finding funds, planning, and
budgeting will take around 40 days. Then in R&D, task design packaging and product
development activities are included. Marketing consists of three pre-launch activities, which are
marketing campaigns (presenting the products in front of clients or customers) and set to market
strategy for selling the products. These activities take around three months.

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 At last, in operations, there are four pre-launch activities. Plant modification, buy new
equipment or machines, hire new people, negotiate with suppliers, and baby food production for
market tests. All these activities take around two months.

Therefore, all these activities belong to the R & D, marketing & sales, and operations
department. In the R&D department, the quality standard check activity, in marketing
department advertisement of new products, growing customers and selling out analysis and
forecasting activities, in operations department production and shipping of the product activity,
all these activities will continue from the start of the project.

Assumption:

● The fruit suppliers and logistics company will continue to support the project plan.
● For testing the product, the clients will be available during the time they agree.
● Raw materials and new equipment for the new production line will arrive as planned
within the project schedule.
● Project costs will stay the same as initially budgeted costs.

Constraints

Time, cost and scope are the most important constraints the project could have.

Time and cost are one of the essential stakeholder's considerations, project time (how long it will
take to deliver the product), because the longer it takes, the cost of the project could increase
beyond of what is budgeted.

The scope of the project because for our stakeholders, to guarantee that all the tasks involved in
the project development. These must be delivered successfully with all the specifications so our
products is perfectly manufactured, shipped and sold.

Project requirements

Parents want the best for their children, especially when they are in the vital development stage.
Parents started avoiding foods that contain chemicals which could have harmful effects on the
body. Chemicals like pesticides, fertilizers, artificial colors, sweeteners, and flavors which was
something familiar in the first baby food products released in the market years ago.

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Project deliverables

GHA has created a product line that is made with all organic ingredients. The new baby line
product will include four different flavors like mango, papaya, pear, and banana, which will
come in a 125g glass jar. To ensure the product is 100% organic, avoid the bacteria's growth, we
will use lemon concentrate as a pesticide, which would be in a small quantity.

Project risk

Risk Assessment

In order to meet deadlines, objectives and run a smooth launching process without additional
cost, risks need to be realized, and risk management implemented. The risk assessment can be
seen in the figure below where risks are identified and then rated based on the probability and the
impact that it can have on the project. The two rates are then multiplied into a risk index that can
vary from 0 to 1.

Risk P (0-1) I (0-1) Index (P*I)

Finding funds 0.5 0.7 0.35

Regulations setbacks 0.2 0.3 0.06

Extreme competition reaction 0.35 0.5 0.175

Bad consumers reaction 0.15 0.5 0.075

Currency fluctuation 0.05 0.2 0.01

Supply chain inefficiency 0.15 0.2 0.03

Manufacturing issues 0.1 0.35 0.035

Transporting issues 0.15 0.25 0.038

Over/underestimations 0.2 0.2 0.04

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 Planning and communication 0.1 0.15 0.015

Problems finding clients 0.15 0.35 0.053

As seen in the figure, the highest estimated risk is to find investors to fund the new production
line with a risk index of 0.35, followed by reactions from competitors and how consumers react
to the new product. In the figure below, preventions and planned responses to the risks are
identified.

Risk Response

Finding funds Pitch for business angels and equity funds

Use existing knowledge of the US market (we are already

Regulations setbacks present in the market)

Extreme competition Aim of niche organic prepared baby food market, relevantly
reaction small

Bad consumers reaction Market testing

Currency fluctuation Accept risk

Work close with suppliers and invest 5% of yearly net profit in

Supply chain inefficiency machinery for farmers

Manufacturing issues Use existing manufacturing capabilities and know-how

Transporting issues Use existing transporting relations to the US

Over/underestimations Accept risk

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 Planning and Avoid by using decentralized communication platforms through
communication the organization

Pitch new product line to existing clients in the US, continually

Problems finding clients work in client expansion

Project Organization

Project organization chart

Roles and responsibilities

The project will be composed of 5 teams who are part of the organization, and some others are
external. The teams are the project managers, marketing/sales team, accounting/financial area,
operation team, and R&D team.

The specifics responsibilities of each team are:

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 Project Managers: will have the general responsibility of every aspect of the project on
behalf of the owner of GHA. The project manager has the primary responsibilities for the
following tasks:
● Resource and activity planning: the deadlines for all the tasks that must be
delivered.
● Motivate and organize teams and all their tasks. Ensure that each team has a clear
vision for the desired result.
● Estimating the cost and creating a budget for the project
● Alongside with the marketing team, ensure the customer's satisfaction
● Monitor all the stages of the project development, making sure that each team
expenditure and performance are efficiently aligned with the project's objective.
● Coordinating all the negotiations and agreements with external organizations for
the successful development of the project
 Marketing/sales team leader: It is in charge of all the product design, launching
campaigns, and promotion. The specific responsibilities are the following:
● Create and manage the content strategy in social media.
● Collaborate with a graphic designer for advertising
● Do in-depth market research on products as well as an analysis of the competitors
● Analysis of the customer's satisfaction metrics
● Implement sales and advertising plans
 Accounting/financial team leader: it is in charge of the managing of the financial issues
regarding the project. Among its specific responsibilities are:
● Develop monthly reports about financial performance and prepare balance sheets,
income statements, etc.
● Supervise the project budget and all financial issues, maintain cash flow for the
project
● Create forecasts
● Payment of all the project expenses incurred by the teams
 Operation leader: It is responsible for analyzing and supervising all the aspects related to
the manufacture of the product. Among the specific’s responsibilities are:
● Monitor workers during the production process

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 ● Evaluate manufacturing equipment
● Ensure that products manufactured meet quality standards
● Keep records on the performance of the workers
● Make sure that working materials are present when needed
 R&D team leader: In charge of researching, planning, and implementing new programs
and protocols into GHA and overseeing the development of new products. The specific
responsibilities are:
● Research for new products by determining the specifications of the product, costs,
and timeline.
● Stay ahead of any possible threat in the industry
● Keep up with the trends
● Research and design packaging of the product

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