Localized: Guidance from people who get it

Localized is a learning platform that draws on diaspora and global professionals’ talent to offer career guidance and expertise about tomorrow’s jobs to aspiring professionals who share language/cultural context. With Localized, universities leapfrog over outdated career and alumni services models and provide students with "guidance from people who get it."

Students in emerging markets have professional opportunities that were previously unimaginable. But their universities are ill-equipped, lacking essential alumni and career services infrastructure to help students obtain good jobs. India has 1 career counselor per 3,000 people; America has 1:500. Top universities retain 15-40 career services employees whereas schools in emerging markets have one or none. If universities don’t act, they’ll fall further behind. Meanwhile, successful professionals who share language or culture (especially those living abroad) want to stay connected to their roots and help the next generation. Technology can connect supply and demand, turning brain drain to brain gain.

A college education isn’t enough to succeed in tomorrow’s economy. Diasporas are especially suited to plug students’ knowledge and network gap in emerging markets because they’re more motivated to act, share linguistic/cultural competencies and have contacts and expertise (World Bank: http://bit.ly/2tQQyqm). We’ve spent 18 months interviewing potential users. We’re now partnering with companies, organizations, schools, governments and diaspora associations. With Localized, universities prepare students for tomorrow’s economy more cheaply and effectively than hiring a career counselor by exposing students to experts who share roots in top companies/innovative fields globally. Students can ask questions and get a sense of their options.

Life changed when a Microsoft employee presented to Najeeb’s class. Seeing a role model he could relate to (a fellow Jordanian) awakened Najeeb’s aspirations. Now Najeeb works for Google. 268M students will enroll in higher education in 2022; we plan to reach > 10M of them. They deserve the same opportunity Najeeb had. By joining Localized, colleges introduce students to exceptional role models and career guidance in fields that cross technology. Localized enlists diaspora professional associations (India has >600) and top companies seeking to engage their employees (and whose talent recruiters in HR want a pipeline to stellar remote workers).

Track conversion from initial exposure (marketing, referral, etc.) to user profile - 2500 users within the first 6 months of pilot launch 2017-2018 academic year

Track sales, retention of universities (we will also track monthly active users & much more) - >8 universities subscribe for 2018-19 academic year

Track sales, retention for >40 universities - Access to >240,000 students + alumni by 2020

Diasporas are especially suited to plug the knowledge and network gap in emerging markets as they want to offer their time and talent if it is easy, user-friendly and effective. Our approach is built around this understanding. Localized is a custom developed responsive web platform built on Python Django, hosted in AWS. It’s mobile friendly, following the latest web-based technology trends. It’s available in Arabic and English, and designed for all languages. Localized factors in levels of fluency, allows for one-to-many interactions (optimized for exceptional mentors who lead busy lives) and matching based on shared language, interests and affinities. 

Localized emerged from conversations with communities across Palestine, Jordan, Albania, Moldova, Syria, Kosovo, India, Pakistan... Localized’s team conducted hundreds of interviews with students, educators, universities, diaspora professionals and leaders in STEM, business, finance and government officials. These conversations shaped our business model. Ours is a 2-sided marketplace which means that we need to prove value to both the users (students, global professionals) and customers (universities, diaspora associations, companies). We’ll measure qualitative and quantitative KPIs including traction, retention and reviews from our users and customers. We’ll constantly watch the numbers, and improve our platform and services to meet their needs.

Localized is B2B2C: universities pay annual subscription fees (priced below the cost of hiring a career counselor in their local market). Students, alumni use the service for free, accessing top talent in emerging fields. In the future, companies in emerging markets could pay for expertise/mentors for their employees. We’re coordinating with two major diaspora networks (related to technology and banking) and three universities for our pilot. Localized's founder is a Young Global Leader with access to a vast network. We'll pursue paid sponsorships. We can provide specifics offline. Insights from the platform become a data asset especially for talent acquisition.

Our team has a history of launching, running and scaling organizations so we are not strangers to this early, very lean stage of growth. We are currently fundraising. We’re a registered C-corp and are in conversation with a range of angel and seed investors. We also have a 501c3 fiscal sponsor to make the platform available for free to refugee organizations and had raised >$250K in grants to get us to this point. We’ve recruited our first customer & anticipate revenues. We are also speaking to several potential government sponsors. We can provide further detail by phone/email as some information is confidential.

Ensuring we have sufficient financial runway to stay responsive to our users and customers--enabling us to build partnerships, conduct marketing, add features that will benefit our users, and analytics capabilities to provide additional value to our customers. We must ensure mentor experts feel a sense of purpose and accomplishment in participating. We must ensure the experience is seamless regardless of what language users speak. We must further integrate our platform with the environments our customers already feel comfortable in. Finally, the ability to create a committed, engaged community is a key success factor for Localized.

http://www.localized.world

Solve offers access to a stellar community of experts, entrepreneurs, advisors, potential partners and funders. We’re looking for infrastructural and moral support as well as expertise. Since our platform is built to scale globally, and harnesses successful diaspora talent to channel back to aspiring professionals in emerging markets, an affiliation with MIT and Solve will add tremendous credibility to our team and widen our global footprint.

We’re coordinating with numerous diaspora associations (including launching with the Arab Bankers Association of North America, “ABANA”), technology companies and governments. We’re in conversation with the Palestinian Education Minister, Jordanian foundations and a network of reputable business schools. We're partnering with refugee organizations and recruited rockstar mentors. Details available offline.

LinkedIn, Micromentor, Skillshare, Quora, Everwise, Chronus though they address different markets.