Project Starfish: Global Workforce Development Platform

Project Starfish has created a scalable workforce development platform, transforming marginalized population (including disadvantaged youth) through knowledge-based business development skills and experiential learning, to digital on-demand workers beyond borders for 26 million small/startup/scaling businesses in the USA. This solves resource problems among startups and solves unemployment challenges.

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It is here. Please pardon me. I am going through severe pollen allergies, preventing me to record a 2 minute pitch, so here is a 4 minute video that sums it all up. Appreciate if you can consider.

Our model solves the following problems for marginalized population and disadvantageous youth:

1. Contemporary Skill or Re-skill issues.

2. Utilization of resources ( who needs them ) and who pays for workers.

3. Beyond border issues, as long they are digitally connected.

4. Learning methods.

5. Using the easiest digital learning platform and quick ramp up.

6. Social inclusion and business inclusion.

7. Confidence.

8. Providing nearly Equal opportunities and springboard.

9. An abundance of work available for youth.

• 26 Million small businesses in the USA have little access to resources to scale and sell more , and need simple market research, prospecting, social media, email/appointment setting etc which are a time suck.
• Unemployment is caused due to lack of contemporary skills & work experience and business/social inclusion. Project Starfish creates workers assisting small businesses on these tasks that can be re-skilled in 3 months.

Proof:

• 200+ workers in 7 countries made money, have re-launched careers. Most were professionals who are blind. Example here
• 100+ business have benefited. Example here

Impact:

• 200+ people who had no income for a decade made income via skills and re-launched careers.
• 7 countries: USA, Canada, UK, India, Australia, Philippines and Malaysia.
• There are typically 7 skills that are needed; all of them take maximum 3 months.

Deployment:

1. Knowledge training happens via phone lines that can accommodate people from 60 countries.

2. To learn we use facebook pages/Groups

3. We crowdsource knowledge from thousands of people worldwide.

4. We have a Training cycle used on the lines of "Experiential Learning" and "Business Simulation" to create skills. It's actually fun.

5. We want to use an LMS for scale. 

Outreach to thousands of organizations and measure who is sending the youth for training. - Find 1000 Organizations that help with disadvantaged youth to participate and use our knowledge resources leading to at least 10,000 disadvantaged youth participating.

By provisioning the ID's and measuring the number of people participating. - out of 10,000 youth, how many youth are attending the skill courses on either facebook or LMS

We expect to measure the ID's who are continuously trying the best to learn. - Out of 10,000 youth, we expect to have 4/5th drop out of the course/skill training

Innovation:

1. It creates business value to groups who are traditionally marginalized/excluded from the workplace.

2. It addresses demand and supply. We train and help place workers into cloud companies, small businesses, and businesses who rely more on digital workers.

3. We offer an end-to-end model -- namely, our training provides skills, experience, job placement, inclusive work environments, and greater financial gains for everyone.

Technology:

We use digital technology that is affordable and scalable. We used Facebook, Soundcloud, Zoom, Freeconference Call etc. 

Our solution will be scalable with a learning management system (LMS).

1. Facebook is available as a platform for anyone, anywhere and anytime. Learning needs to be 100% social. We are now going broadcast knowledge using videos soon.

2. Freeconference call is free for 10,000 people.

3. Soundcloud/Youtube is great for it's statistics and scale.

All of these technologies have accessibility at it's heart. Everyone can use it.

We use technologies that anyone uses. Adoption needs to be easy! That's why we succeed.

4. It is unheard of, we never asked for funding. We will now.

The answer is above.

We will slowly use developers to use Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots on top of Facebook for customized learning and training. 

We have a massive plan to scale to help benefit marginalized workers and the businesses that hire them.

1. We will ask for funding from corporates (by way of CSR funding) and Foundations (by way of grants) and invest in a learning management system (LMS), which will have AI embedded into it, on top of Facebook. We will use inherent capabilities as a platform which anyone can access, learn, assess and then help them go through skill development/ experience.

2. For those who successfully complete our training, we will utilize them to become resources for small scaling cloud companies on contract, that's 5,000 companies looking for at least 20,000 workers. That will help bring revenue as well.

4. We have major plans to train disadvantaged youth as drone operators, field workers as IoT technicians. In 5 years, industries will need individuals to fly them.

The biggest challenge is not the solution at all. In fact in the last 4 years of operation the challenges we observed are:

1. The organizations that serve under-served / disadvantaged youth do not want to work with us. We are disruptive for their survival. We are about solutions. They are about getting grants by keeping the population under served.

2. Most of the Organizations helping disadvantaged youth/ disabilities have a thought process which is dated. 

The current system is slow to change. People who profit from the system hold the system tight. Innovation is a threat.

http://www.pstarfish.org/forjobseekers/

https://www.facebook.com/60Minute2Impact/

http://twitter.com/ProjectSTARF1SH

All success has been achieved by:

1. Studying the problem. It is all about human centered design to problems.

2. Nearly every part of the solution is crowdsourced. Knowledge, Skill, management etc, everything uses crowdsourcing. Dedicated people just manage the process. 

We are applying to solve because:

1. We need brilliance of "critical thinking".

2. Business contacts + technology contacts

3. Passionate changemakers / communities.

4. Leverage existing knowledge of success to scale.

Solve is the community that does it. It requires connecting dots.

1. President Jill Weinberg : Prof Tufts University

2. MIT Startup Exchange startups

3. ERG groups in Corporates

4. Startup businesses

I wish we had competitors.