Let’s focus on the final products people made, grew or bought, and the services they offered. Remember that this only happens after the raw materials or skills (inputs) have been changed. The sellers have added value to them in some way to make them special, to make customers want to buy the products or services.

Here’s a quick summary of the value chain again:
1. Inputs are the things you need so you have something to sell. They can be raw materials or skills you already have. They are the resources and assets.
2. Processes are the things you do to your basic products or services. You must be able to do the processes to add value to your product or service.
3. Outputs are the final products you make, grow or do to sell. Your business activities increase the value of the inputs, so they are now more valuable and worth buying to customers.

Here are the ways that the people in the stories got their outputs – their final products or services for sale. Remember that customers need things such as medicine and daily food to live, but they also buy things such as dolls for entertainment and pleasure.

Outputs: Growing things people want
Both Lufefe and Dlyani grew fresh herbs or vegetables for other people. Customers want these foods when they are fresh, and they do not always have the space or time to grow food themselves. There is a demand for healthy food in small quantities – people don’t want a whole crop at once! Lufefe used his own spinach in the bread he baked.
• Lufefe’s outputs were both the spinach he grew, and the spinach bread that he baked and sold. The bread helped to feed hungry people in a healthy way.
• Dlyani’s output was delivering fresh herbs to the restaurant where he worked. The restaurant cooked with the herbs, so diners (the people who ate there) got tasty food.

Outputs: Making things people want
Lufefe, Dineo and Maite all made things people wanted to buy. They changed raw materials or ingredients into finished products that people thought were worth buying.
• Lufefe’s output was his spinach bread. It made people feel healthy and full.
• Dineo’s output was chicken soup. Tired, hungry commuters (travelers from work) could eat supper and also provide for their families.
• Maite’s output was trendy African dolls. The dolls made families feel good about their own looks, and also entertained the children.

Outputs: Doing things people need
Sizwe, Thapelo and Nikiwe provided services that people needed. Services can be different things, such as passing on skills or knowledge like Thapelo did when he gave school children extra Maths lessons. Sizwe and Nikiwe both found ways to make transport in their customers’ lives easier. Sizwe delivered important medicines to old or infirm people in the area, and Nikiwe did the shopping for a whole group of people at once so that they could use their time to do other useful things.
• Sizwe’s output was delivering the medicines he fetched from the clinics and transported to the patients. People could take the medicines they needed to be healthier.
• Thapelo’s output was extra Maths lessons for students. Schoolchildren could pass their Maths tests and examinations so that they could study further, get a well-paying job later on, or use Maths successfully in their daily lives.
• Nikiwe’s output was groceries for a group of people. Now her customers were able to feed their families and themselves.

Outputs: Selling things people need
Asiphe sold small packets of fruit at a place where people could find her easily. Her processes did not include changing the fruit, but rather how it was packaged, and where it was sold.

What is your output?
Think about what your final product or service for sale will be.
• How have you added value to the things you started with?
• How does your product or service help customers?
• Which people will be interested in buying your product or service? Why?

What have we learned?
Your outputs are the final products you make, grow or do for sale. They look different to what you started with – the inputs – because you have changed them, and they are more valuable now. Customers should think your outputs are worth buying because your processes have added value.