A couple of highlights from the last month:
We received our first test pouches, the quality looks good and we can now produce some mock ups for potential vendors as well as make samples of the product in a way more similar to our final process than we have been able to up until now. We should be receiving our main equipment over the coming 6 weeks, please be asking for good coordination of all that needs to come together and that the shipping happens without incident.
As the construction is nearing completion we have hired a gate guard (well, three men from the same family working shifts). We get to see a bit more of our day guard, an 18 year old called Eysa (Jesus). So, yes, Jesus is controlling who comes on site – may this be true in every way. Michael has been enjoying the fact that the business is now finally giving him regular contact with ‘You’ families, through whom he has already met several other people from the village nearest our factory.
The factory construction contractor continues to be hard to pin down, he has major cash flow problems that have already caused us significant delay. Please be lifting this up as we are finalising negotiations to give him 2 weeks to complete enough that we can move forward with factory set-up. We believe we can get his sub-contractors to hold off for that time (and to complete what remains unfinished) and we would then pay them directly. Please be lifting up this situation – we would love to start installing the wall and floor finishes needed to get us to production standards by the end of the month.
We have also been negotiating terms on a series of 10-20,000 US Dollar loans (most of which came about through the presentations we gave while we were in the US in November). We are close to finalising these which will give us an additional 70,000 Dollars. We had previously said we were looking for minimum loans or investment of 50,000 Pounds (75,000 Dollars) but have decided that if we can get smaller loans but with a similar repayment and interest schedule the increased work of managing them would not be too high. Once we receive this money we still will need about 130,000 Dollars and have several leads that we are pursuing. If anyone else is interested in talking with us about a loan or investment, please let us know.
A final thing that will be a regular prayer request over the next few months is our Food Production Licence. Although we can’t formally start this application until our factory is completely set-up, there is a lot we can be working on now, from preparing documents to building relationships with key officials who will oversee the process. If everything goes well the approval process will take three months (hopefully starting in the spring). It could however, take much longer and significantly delay the start of production. We are asking that we would have wisdom now as we prepare and that the relevant officials would continue to show favour to us in doing their work efficiently and diligently. Karen is taking the lead in preparing all the documentation needed for this process too.
Thank you all once again for your thoughts
Michael for the Eleanor’s Garden Team
We received our first test pouches, the quality looks good and we can now produce some mock ups for potential vendors as well as make samples of the product in a way more similar to our final process than we have been able to up until now. We should be receiving our main equipment over the coming 6 weeks, please be asking for good coordination of all that needs to come together and that the shipping happens without incident.
As the construction is nearing completion we have hired a gate guard (well, three men from the same family working shifts). We get to see a bit more of our day guard, an 18 year old called Eysa (Jesus). So, yes, Jesus is controlling who comes on site – may this be true in every way. Michael has been enjoying the fact that the business is now finally giving him regular contact with ‘You’ families, through whom he has already met several other people from the village nearest our factory.
The factory construction contractor continues to be hard to pin down, he has major cash flow problems that have already caused us significant delay. Please be lifting this up as we are finalising negotiations to give him 2 weeks to complete enough that we can move forward with factory set-up. We believe we can get his sub-contractors to hold off for that time (and to complete what remains unfinished) and we would then pay them directly. Please be lifting up this situation – we would love to start installing the wall and floor finishes needed to get us to production standards by the end of the month.
We have also been negotiating terms on a series of 10-20,000 US Dollar loans (most of which came about through the presentations we gave while we were in the US in November). We are close to finalising these which will give us an additional 70,000 Dollars. We had previously said we were looking for minimum loans or investment of 50,000 Pounds (75,000 Dollars) but have decided that if we can get smaller loans but with a similar repayment and interest schedule the increased work of managing them would not be too high. Once we receive this money we still will need about 130,000 Dollars and have several leads that we are pursuing. If anyone else is interested in talking with us about a loan or investment, please let us know.
A final thing that will be a regular prayer request over the next few months is our Food Production Licence. Although we can’t formally start this application until our factory is completely set-up, there is a lot we can be working on now, from preparing documents to building relationships with key officials who will oversee the process. If everything goes well the approval process will take three months (hopefully starting in the spring). It could however, take much longer and significantly delay the start of production. We are asking that we would have wisdom now as we prepare and that the relevant officials would continue to show favour to us in doing their work efficiently and diligently. Karen is taking the lead in preparing all the documentation needed for this process too.
Thank you all once again for your thoughts
Michael for the Eleanor’s Garden Team
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