4 Random Trends They Don't Want You to Notice

As per Assignment 6 for my ENT3003 class, here are two opportunities from business trends and two from legislation changes that I have noticed and believe could be capitalized upon:

1. Fear of a pandemic is increasing. Every news outlet is a-buzz with reports on the coronavirus originating in Southern China. Another item of Chinese origin is, obviously, traditional Chinese medicine. If you could concoct an herbal remedy or similar such substance, then you could market it as a natural preventative for infection. The most a product like what I envision could do is act as a symptom suppressor or placebo, which both still have their merits. The thing with this idea is that it's all in the marketing and specification of consumers. If we could design a product specifically for residents or shoppers in Chinatowns, with the trimmings of traditional medicine, which has a large following, but with its origins outside of the infected zone, the Chinese mainland, then the profit is ensured. I really haven't seen anyone else marketing in this sort of way, but, to be fair, I do not shop in Chinatown.
2. Meat substitutes are on the rise. Despite the non-stop meme-ing our culture collectively does on vegans, the rally in Beyond Meat's stock price earlier this year was salivating, and big name brands like Hormel and Tyson want a piece of that, according to the Motley Fool. What I see, however is an opportunity to subvert the need for fake meats and substitutes, and instead just focus on accentuating vegetables. There are already quite a few restaurants doing this. Serving up a head of cauliflower as an entree (as you might have seen on BuzzFeed's 'Worth It?' food series on YouTube). Not only is this trend being slept on by the bigger names, there is such a potential for high margins, since vegetables are inherently cheaper than meat or fake meat, but they could be just as satisfying if prepared right. I would want to focus on the frozen food/breakfast market with just such an item. Besides, a lot of vegans that I have talked with are a bit disgruntled over the obsession of 'I can have meat, after all!' 
3. Found on the website shared by the Small Business Innovation Research and the Small Business Technology Transfer, there is government money for whoever can develop a "socially-assistive [robot] (SAR) to engage persons with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and AD-related Dementias." Now, I, unfortunately, have had experience of AD in my own family, so I know from personal experience that sometimes, all the victim needs is someone to have by their side and hold. When I was in elementary school, my gifted program sewed teddy bears for just such a need and for other needs, too. Now, even though it's a bit out of my depths, I have a handle on the current innovations in soft robotics, and I know it is feasible to today create a sort of living plush animal that can act as a companion and maybe even an organizer with smartphone-level technology. This has been done before, but the market for it is undoubtedly going to grow for it considering the aging demographic trends in the US and the West. Another thing which most people probably don't consider, though, which I find insightful, is how a robot could be a companion and a home-assistant, pulling out chairs, opening the door, etc., but it should not be perfect. In fact, if we make a robot that is specifically weak sometimes, that would give the patient an outlet to help and feel useful. Once again, to be fair, my knowledge of the market is mostly educated guesses, and I saw a Japanese company using imperfect robots over a year ago, but still... there's opportunity here.
4. The Florida legislature, both the House and the Senate, are considering passing a bill that would set up an additional Sunshine Scholars Program. The purpose of this Program would be to fund 100% of the tuition and fees of Floridian students who come form households earning no more than $50,000 a year. Legislators are planning on passing this into law before the end of 2020. That would probably lead to more first-generation scholars, and that would mean we could provide a supplementary counseling service, since, as you would know if you read your teachers' Facebook or attend a anything other than an 'A' grade school, there is a shortage of school counselors, especially for the disadvantaged in our community, doubly so for those who can maintain the expectation in students for higher education. I have some experience in education (beyond just being a student!), and I'm not the only one to see this opportunity, but I am probably one of the few paying attention to the Legislature.