GREEN DREAM PROJECT

Prepared By

Name Banik, Sudip Imran, Faisal Al Pinky,Saberin Kamal Karim, Md. Enayet

ID 09-13991-2 09-13998-2 09-12887-1 09-13781-2

Email sudipbanik94@gmail.com faisal_sr08@yahoo.com saberinkamal@yahoo.com Sifath02@gmail.com

Contact Number 01674060159 01672432323 01681550283 01924724929

A research paper submitted to Sabnaz Samia, Lecturer, American International University-Bangladesh, in partial satisfaction of the requirements for Entrepreneurship Development Course.

Summer 2012 Dhaka, Bangladesh

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TREE PLANTATION BUSINESS

Business Plan Summer 2012 Entrepreneurship development

Submitted to ShABNAZ, SAMia

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Tree Plantation: Plant Tree, Save Humanity

Business plan submitted to the Department of HR, AIUB, in part-fulfillment of the requirements of the Final Examinations in Entrepreneurship Development , Summer 2012

Prepared and submitted by Karim Md. Enayet Banik, Sudip Imran, Faisal Al Pinky Saberin Kamal

Section: B

Course teacher Samia Shabnaz

Date of submission 09 July 2012

American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB)

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Index
Title 1. Introduction 2. Product or Service 3. Technology 4. Market Environment 5. Competition 6. Industry 7. Business Model 8. Marketing and Sales Strategy 9. Production or Operating requirement 10. Management and Personnel requirement 11.Intelluctual Property 12. Regulations or Government Issues 13.Critical Risks Factor 14.Conclusion 15.Bibliography Page No 6 7 8 8-9 9-10 10 10 11-14 15 15-16 17 17 18-20 21 22

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Executive Summery
This business plan is about TREE PLANTATION. As our govt. inspiring businessmen for doing some social business, we think our project will serve the society. Our business plan is to plant trees of wood value and food value on some unused lands like beside roads. Well take this lands lease from government, then plant some trees of good market value. Well plant shishu, mehogani, ekashia, segunbarmatik trees and sell these trees to OTOBI, HATIL and shipyard companies at nominal price. Also we can plant jackfruit, mango, litchi, banana trees that we can serve this fruits within 2-3 years. Here our target customers are little school going child and we think we can serve some fresh fruits to them of great food value and also sell these fruits to juice producing companies and local market. We will also plant some flower trees like rose, gardenia, marigold etc and sell them to flower shops. From local nurseries well collect good quality seeds. We can finance our project by taking loan from local banks. We have our initial capital also to run the project. We will produce our products using natural resources like seeds, cow dunk, and water and in winter we will produce with the help of green house. We will select direct marketing and trade show, trade magazine to promote our business. We will follow some strategies and implement them in our business. So our target is to make our lands full of green as much we can and also generate a handsome profit from the business. Well operate our marketing plan as a green campaign. Well motivate people to plant more and more trees that will make our nature green and free of pollution. It has also economic benefit too. There is another eco environmental issue here Erosion and flood occurs when there is shortage of trees that could prevent soil from washing away.

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Introduction: Give back the forest, take your town, says Rabindranath Tagore. By these lines he tries to convince us about the importance of Trees. Tree plantation means planting trees more and more. It is not possible to lead a happy and peaceful life without trees. Due to heavy population pressure only 6% of Bangladesh is now covered by trees and even that number is now decreasing due to the ignorance of people and lack of environmental awareness. Trees provide fuel, food for people and livestock, building materials, shade, soil fertility, and most importantly provide the oxygen for us to breathe in creating a lovely landscape and climate. Bangladesh is an agro-based country where 85 percent people live in rural areas. They have mostly nutritional deficiency. In order to meet the nutritional demand of increasing population of the country, huge amount of fruits and vegetables need to be produced. The government of Bangladesh has, therefore, given special emphasis for planting different fruit trees and medicinal plants over the country. We get timber form trees and without timber we cannot make our houses furniture's, boats, launches, ships etc. If trees are planted on the banks of rivers and sea-shores, soil erosion can be prevented. They also prevent air pollution. Trees protect the country from the harmful green house effect. There is ample scope for a forestation in Bangladesh. Sea beaches, low lying areas fallow lands can be brought under the best time for planting trees. Company Name Greenland Company Ltd. Company Objectives Our company has identified several objectives for the business: 1. Become a leading supplier of botanicals for the furniture/health industry. 2. Reach the point of sustainable profitability. 3. Enjoy work while making a good living.

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Mission It is our mission to become the leading provider of botanicals to the furniture/health industry. This will be accomplished by providing quality plants at fair prices while exceeding customer's expectations. Also run campaign of Green Marketing Keys to Success Company will adhere to three keys that will be instrumental in its success: 1. Strict financial controls. 2. The never ending pursuit of the highest concentration of botanicals in every plant. 3. Ensuring that all customers needs are met and they are satisfied with the purchased products. Product/ Services: Our business plan is to plant trees of wood value and food value on some unused lands like beside roads. Well plant acacia (akashmoni), menjam, mahogany, eucalyptus, sal (gojaria), neem, agar, arjun shishu, segun-barmatik and others. Also we can plant jackfruit, mango, litchi, banana trees so that we can serve this fruits within 2-3 years. Our business plans to concentrate on vegetables as its primary product. This includes growing carrots, romaine lettuce, leeks, red onions, summer squash, and spinach during summer, pumpkins, winter squash, globe beets, and winter greens in fall and winter. The company's farm will have a capacity sufficient to produce in excess of 200,000 lbs. of vegetables per year. We will also plant some flowers like rose (golap), cestrum (hasnahena), gardenia (gondhoraj), marigold (gada), jasmine (jui), china rose (joba), dahlia etc. And by planting trees ultimately we get some services like soil erosion and air pollution can be prevented. It also protects country from green house effect. As we said in our proposal that our target customer will be furniture companies like OTOBI, HATIL etc and school going children by serving some fresh fruits to them of great food value. Also our customer will be juice, jam, jelly producing companies like PRAN, ACME, and SAJEEB CO. etc. we can sell the vegetables on local market as well as in AGORA, SWAPNO who sells vegetables. Then there are many flower shops and wedding planner organizations to which we can sell those flowers. So our product line consists of three- Wood, Food (Fruits, Vegetables) and Flowers.

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Before starting business we will have to take land as lease from government. Whatever we need to use as raw materials are seeds, cow dunk, oil-cake, chemical fertilizers, urea, TSP, MP, water, polythene. And of course we need human labor. We will collect seeds from local nurseries, farmers and chemical shops and all these are highly available in market. We can test our market with flowers and vegetables as they are fast growing products. We will sell them to local shops by our sales representative to justify as they are satisfying customers need or not. Finally if our products succeed in market surely we will expand our product. We can plant different types of flowers, fruits and vegetables from other countries like strawberry, tulip, broccoli etc. In that case we will have to import seed from other countries. Technology: With the growth of the popular natural food position, and the federal government's new organic labeling policy, we will focus produce on the organic label. This means that approximately 95% of the food production process will be natural. And 5% will produce in greenhouses in winter. In future we will conduct research to test certain clay-sand-manure mixture levels to obtain better, cheaper bedding and agronomic soil mixtures that are more effective than the standard used in our country. Market Environment: A target market or target audience is a group of people that will basically need or want your products and services. Target market is defined in terms of age, sexual orientation, gender, economic class, religion, ethnicity, or location. As we mentioned we have three product lines and target customer is different for them. And we should also mention it before defining our target market is that our market will be a business to business market. Trees with wood value- Here our target customers are furniture producing companies like OTOBI, HATIL. Demand for furniture will never decrease as population is increasing as well as
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nuclear family is growing day by day. Besides it has demand in boat, launch and ship producing companies like Western Marine Shipyard Limited, Alam Group etc. Trees with food value- We will produce fresh vegetables and fruits. In order to meet the nutritional demand of increasing population of the country, huge amount of fruits and vegetables need to be produced. So our target customers are PRAN, ACME, SWAPNO and local markets. We will sell fruits to them. They will produce juice, jam and jelly from those and meet customer demand. Megamall like AGORA, SWAPNO they sell fresh vegetables and fruits. And in local market (bazar) people also can get fresh fruits and vegetables. Flower producing trees- Now a days people are more concern in celebrating many occasions like New Year, Valentines Day, Pohela Falgun, and Pohela Baishakh. So during these occasions demand for flowers increase highly. So our target customers are different kind of flower shops. Also there is trend now to arrange a wedding ceremony by wedding planners. In that case wedding planner organizations will be also our target customer. As ours is a business to business market so our business is under food industry and appliance industry. Frequency of product purchase is very high in this market because there is a never ending demand for food and furniture not only in our country but also in other countries. Size of our market is definitely large market and our targeted geographic area is near the area where we will get lease from government. Beside, our target customer is some shipyard company so may be Chittagong can be our targeted area. Also we will target to reach our fruits and vegetables in rural areas. For selling flower we will just focus on Dhaka. As ours business purpose is only to serve people, living natural and living green so we dont have any plan to capture market share or doing related something like that. Competition: One advantage of our business is that there is no direct competition. But local nurseries can be our competitor. So key competitors, market shares, resources, products and market focus is not applicable here. Uniqueness of our business is we are not only concentrating in only one sector but we are at a time producing four different types of products whereas other nurseries are focusing only in flowers or vegetables or fruits. We are taking land as lease from government so
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we are getting huge places to plant and cultivate while local nurseries plant in their own land so they can get adequate space to plant more. But there are some barriers to entry in the market as no business is easy to start without facing any difficulties. These are- inadequate supply of improved seed/seedling, lack of technical know-how, low price of sapling, lack of efficient labor, damage of seedling, infestation of insects and diseases, lack of irrigation facilities and lack of credit facilities. It is not difficult to copy our business but there is a less possibility of copying our business. Individually one can start a nursery on flowers or fruits or vegetable but generally it will be difficult for them to run a business with these products. Industry We are lying at different industries like furniture industry, food industry, and flower industry. In our furniture industry, there is huge demand for fresh, quality woods. And in food industry we are suffering from unhygienic food, foods full of chemicals. So we can serve here chemical free fruits and vegetables. Demand for fresh, nice flowers in wedding season, interior design are increasing. We think we can do a good business here. Business model Our major revenue we will get from woods selling to furniture market. Then our juice, jam, jellies products, which will be sold to PRAN, ACME, SAJEEB CO. Then we hope our fresh vegetables sold to AGORA, SOPNO will generate a great buck to our business. Finally our fresh flowers sold to wedding planning organizations can generate handsome revenues. A sample Tree business under private management generated Tk. 5,000,00 and Tk. 8,000,00 per ha as net return on full-cost and cash-cost basis, respectively. The major income of our business will come from wood/forest plants that we will sell to OTOBI, HATIL. The rates of returns on both full-cost and cash-cost basis were estimated at 1.50 and 1.9 respectably.

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Marketing Strategy The marketing strategy will be based on generating awareness and visibility of our self and our ability to produce the highest percentages of botanicals. The strategy will rely on several different forms of communication. We can choose following media: The main form is participation in the numerous trade shows for the industry. The trade shows are where everyone from the industry gathers to meet and transact business. It is a wonderful place to network as well as learn about new developments in the industry. The second form of communication will be the use of advertisements. The main venues for advertisements will be industry trade magazines. The trade magazines are a well read source of information that buyers and sellers refer to for many different transactions. As it is a business to business type, well make direct communication with our clients through our sales representatives.

Strategy and Implementation Summary We will leverage our competitive edge in order to gain significant market share. Our competitive edge is their ability to consistently produce plants with high active product percentages as well as a high ratio of healthy plants (sellable). The marketing strategy will have the objective of raising awareness and visibility of our industry-leading percentages of active products. The strategy will communicate the fact that our plants will yield a significantly higher amount of products measured per plant. The sales strategy, in addition to reinforcing the competitive edge, will seek to qualify leads by concentrating on our ability to perform reliably on long-term contracts, becoming a stable supplier to the larger companies that need a steady supply stream.

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Competitive Edge: Our business has a dual competitive edge: Healthy Plants: The healthier the plant, the faster it will grow, the more products that can be extracted from it. This means an increase in production efficiency due to a larger percentage of plants that are sellable. Other characteristics of healthy plants which are important on the production side are: lower pest counts, more established root structures, and high biomass. High Concentration of Active products: This is beneficial to the purchaser because they are buying the plants precisely for the active products. High concentration levels are valuable to us because they increase the amount of products produced per plant or per acre, increasing the production capacity of a given amount of land, thereby increasing their return on investment and increasing the attractiveness of our plants relative to the competition.

Sales Strategy Our sales strategy efforts will focus on identifying qualified leads and turning them into paying customers. The main sales effort that we will undertake is the reinforcement of the fact that our plants have the industry's highest percentage of fresh products. This will be quite appealing to the buyers as this is exactly what they want, more fresh products per plant. In addition to selling the buyers on ours competitive edge of potent plants, there will be an emphasis on our ability to perform on long-term contracts. We recognize that the transactions should not be thought of as individual sales, but as long-term relationships. This is a reasonable assumption based on the fact that the customers are in the business of utilizing botanicals, that they will continually have the need for the botanicals, and that it is far less expensive to establish a relationship with one vendor than to continually have to find new vendors that can meet their needs. The buying patterns of the different customers are typically based on these variables:

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Price Availability Ability to deliver consistently on long-term contracts Significant % of active ingredients Consistency.

We will focus on this factors most to boost up our sales. Sales Forecast The sales forecast indicates that growth will be slow but steady. Growth will be slow because of the time and effort needed to develop the customers. Production is not the slowing element as we have been in production for a couple of years. Granted they were not producing at the same level, or for that matter with the same goal of business efficiency, but nonetheless we will be able to reasonably raise production to meet the sales needs. During the wet months of the year, the forecast reflects a tapering of sales as production will fall during these months. There are a few risks that could have a negative impact on sales. The first is weather. Plants are dependent on the weather. A poor growing season will have a serious effect on production. This risk is spread amongst all of the producers of the specific region meaning the weather risk is imposed on everyone, generally not a specific farmer. Another risk that could affect sales is some sort of pest that could unexpectedly negatively affect the crops. By planting multiple botanicals and choosing them based on their heartiness relative to the growing climate, we are able to minimize these risks as much as possible. Distribution Strategy We have identified three different distribution strategies: Supplement Companies: This customer group manufactures botanical supplements for their own label products. The companies purchase the plants and extract the active ingredients and transform them into sellable products for their own brand. There are a handful of large companies that operate in this market space. Ten years ago there were many different ones but
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through consolidation the industry has grown in size but decreased in the number of different players. Example: OTOBI, HATIL. Processors: These customers purchase the plants, extract the botanicals and either sell the concentrated botanicals to the end producers or they themselves produce the supplement and sell the final product to other companies for their private label products. In essence they are the subcontractor for the supplement companies. These companies therefore are one layer within the manufacturing system and do not sell to the end consumer. They act as a supplier/processor for the retail brands. Other Nurseries/Garden Centers: This customer group purchases the plants which they in turn sell at retail to the individual end consumer. The typical consumer is a health conscious individual who is interested in either extracting the botanical from the plant immediately or growing the plant in their own garden for future use.

Pricing Strategy: We will take low price strategy to capture all levels of market and give ourselves a competitive edge. Later when our sales volume will increase well increase our price according to market condition. Warranties & Discounts: There will be definitely warranties on specific products. Like wood value products will have minimum 2 years warranty on some products we will offer 10% to 20% discounts when buyers will buy a certain volume. Marketing Budget: Our starting marketing budget can be from 3 lacks to 4 lacks.
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Production/Operation Requirements As we early said that, well collect our fresh seeds, fertilizers from local nurseries, production related machines well collect from local shops. We will lease lands from government and plant our trees on roadsides and unused places and make these lands green. Quality: We can ensure our products quality and services through these steps: i. Improve tree seed procurement, testing, storage and distribution. ii. Establish and maintain quality tree seed sources. iii. Produce quality tree seedlings and other planting materials. iv. Develop and implement a tree improvement program. v. Promote the multiplication and use of indigenous species

Cost of plant nursery business The variable cost here included the cost of human labor, seeds/seedlings, organic manures, chemical fertilizers, soil, earthen tub, polythene, irrigation, insecticides, and interest on operating capital. On the other hand, the fixed cost included cost of family labor, cost of land use, and depreciation of tools & equipment. The total cost of plant tree business under private management was Tk. 30,000,00 per ha on full-cost and Tk. 15,000,00 on cash-cost basis. The cost of human labor was the highest cost item accounting for 35% of the total cost followed by the cost of seeds/seedlings.

Management and People Organizational sustainability embraces the economic, social and environmental sustainability of our company. Economic sustainability refers to the ability of an organization to effectively and efficiently manage its resources in a transparent management system that produces the expected deliverables. The ideal is that this should be attained without additional funds from outside, but
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in practice the forest sub-sector delivers a lot of non-revenue earning public goods and services that require extra revenue funding. In addition, the internal control systems of the organization must allow it to operate in a social manner and within a socially acceptable environment. It is also true that the organization impacts upon the physical environment and vice versa in the course of its operations. Therefore all these factors must be embraced when considering the survival of our company.

Corporate Governance: We will continue to improve its corporate governance portfolio as a bed-rock for the economic, social and environmental benefits attained through management of ours and supplying forest products and services to our customers. This will be done through observing its core values of integrity, transparency and excellence. Our staff will be encouraged to walk the talk in line with established policies, laws and operational guidelines. Improved governance will ultimately lead to a motivated staff, more effective control of illegal activities, sustainable benefits to the subsector stakeholders and a good public image. To increase our peoples skills we can follow following steps: i. Review, and implement the Human Resource Manual. ii. Develop and implement staff training programs. iii. Develop and implement staff motivational schemes. iv. Review the organizational structure for effective management. v. Develop a policy on internship. This priority will be achieved through the following strategies:

i. Develop and implement a decentralized structure that promotes devolution of decision making and resources to the field units. ii. Develop companys internal policies, standards and guidelines for effective management and administration, including codes of professional practice and ethics. iii. Strengthen the internal monitoring system internal audit, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and discipline. iv. Develop and implement a reward system for good governance.
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Intellectual property We have to register our business trademark at Department of Patent Design and Trademark of Ministry of Industry of Bangladesh. As our business is a tree plantation business, actually there is no intellectual property. Regulations / Government Issues Some regulation and risk factors are discussed below: (i) The area of the company will remain stable to strengthen the confidence of the private sector and other financing and technical cooperation partners. This is a particularly important assumption in view of the on-going debate on the land law and policy. (ii) Government will legally adopt arrangements for payment of ecosystem services in order to generate funds to finance management of natural forests for public goods.

(iii) International goodwill and commitment to the cause of environment and natural resources will be sustained, especially the adoption of the international arrangements on Reducing Emissions due to Deforestation and Degradation for natural forests. (iv) International & local markets for products from responsibly managed forests in developing countries will continue to grow and offer premium prices. (v) Conducive investment climate and incentives to support forestry developments will be created and sustained. (vi) There will be continued positive political will to maintain the current levels of the company as the government Policy provides. (vii) All planned revenues will be collected.

(viii) The fluctuation of energy prices (especially hydropower & fossil fuel), interest rates and foreign exchange rates will remain within predictable ranges in order to keep investment at the planned levels.

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Critical Risk Factors:

1. Forest Fires: In view of the planned forest plantation area, forest fires will become a major risk to investments. Therefore we will adopt fire management as a major budget line in its annual plan. . 2. Loss of Forest Estate: Company can loss its land due to govt. regulations.

3. Increased Expenses of Dealing with Forest Crime: Local leaders can hamper our business through crime activities. To mitigate this risk, we will maintain dialogue with the local leaders.

4. Fluctuations of Prices: A great risk lies in fluctuations of energy prices (hydropower & fossil fuel), tree prices. When the fluctuations lead to rises beyond what is expected, it will result in high operating costs and negatively affect the cash flow. In order to mitigate this risk, we will monitor prices and adjust its operations.

5. Unreliable Weather Patterns: Due to the effects of climate change, unreliable weather patterns will make it difficult to plan for tree planting and this might make it more expensive in terms of replacement of dead trees and protection of other wooded lands. To deal with this risk, we will pay careful attention to planning seasonal activities.

6. High Population Growth Rate: Population growth will continue and therefore clearing of forests for agriculture and human settlement will be difficult.

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S-O Strategies to pursue opportunities:

Expand the already existing high demand for our products through continuous advertisements. Emphasize continuous expansion of partnerships and private sector participation in forest management. Lobby for more donor support. Expand business portfolio in product and service delivery. Research in better quality products and services.

W-O Strategies to minimize weaknesses and exploit opportunities:

Increase earnings through product value addition and targeting international markets. Recruit more staff in marketing and enlist more agents for forestry products across the whole country. Establish an appropriate forum in which we can present its budget constraints to the government and lobby for more public funding since the biggest share of its resources goes into provision of a public good.

Invest in fundable project proposal writing skills among key staff to increase chances of accessing donor funds for forestry work. Train our staff in customer care improvement skills. Sensitize staff to avoid conflict of interest. Uplift staff attitude at work through motivation. Ensure timely decision making among management staff. Improve NFA reputation through intensive publicity. Scrap off and/or merge some positions in the organization which duplicate services to reduce payroll costs.

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S-T Strategies to build on the strengths:

Ensure optimal use of the available experienced staff. Encourage partnerships directed towards saving local and private forests Invest in improved tree species varieties for the market. Expand customer base; Develop the quality of the existing distribution channels and create more channels.

W-T Strategies to avoid threats:

Enhance public awareness and lobby for positive political involvement and support in forest activities. Strengthen law enforcement and forest patrols by recruiting and training more staff. Emphasize production of better quality products to counter competition from substitute products.

These strategies have been built into the activities in our Business Plan.

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Conclusion
On the surface, starting a tree planting business may not seem like a very lucrative business to operate. However, each year forestry companies cut down thousands of trees and replant thousands more. Typically, the task of replanting these trees is left to subcontractors who either have successfully tendered for the job or have established a working history and relationship with forestry companies to provide tree planting services. A good starting point in this industry is to compile a list of all forestry companies and commence contacting them to inquire about forthcoming tenders and the status of their particular tree planting programs. Providing you are successful in securing tree planting contracts, be prepared to work hard and form a crew of tree planting laborers. The work is physically demanding and usually requires the operators of these businesses to be away from home for extended periods of time. Our business is not only a profit generating business for but also it plays a vital role in environment. Our business has some social benefits too. We can make this land more green through our business. That is why our Project Theme: Plant a Tree, Save Humanity

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.bplans.com/ www.businesslink.gov.uk Home Starting up Business planning www.masterplans.com/business-plan-articles/tree-farm-business-plan community.intuit.com/.../creating-a-sustainable-tree-farm-as-a-busine.. www.ces.ncsu.edu/.../CBO%20Business%20Case%20Studies/...

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