OHome App

Unlike the formal sector which is organized, codified and coordinated, the informal sector is less organized. Meanwhile, the informal sector is the largest employer of labor in most countries of the world. In fact, the informal sector of the US is 1.5 trillion dollars in capitalization. One major challenge that people working in the informal sector face is that there are not many online marketplaces for them to showcase their work and skills. While the formal sector has an avalanche of products catering to its needs, the informal sector doesn't get such privilege. No dedicated LinkedIn, no payroll service to workers in the informal sector. There are only but a few platforms that cater to this demography -the demography of  workers in the informal sector. Because there are very few online marketplaces dedicated for them, their ability to make money online is very limited.

OHome is providing a marketplace for these workers to showcase their skills and expertise and get hired in real time by users who are within proximity, at the time the users are dearly in need of their service.

Here are the links to the product demo of OHome app, check them out for a visual feel of the product and its features: 

Youtube: youtu.be/FcVqH3tdLZs

ClipChamp: clipchamp.com/watch/Z4PARFkqxDL

OHome will positively impact the lives of workers in the informal sector such as Plumbers, Electricians, Babysitters, Hairdressers, Painters, Truck drivers, Automobile mechanics, CCTV installers, Gardeners, Barbers, Massagers, etc., by providing them an online marketplace upon which they can showcase their skills and get employed by users who need their service as at the time the users are in dire need of their service. This will impact their income level as well by exposing them to potential clients who desire their service and who are within proximity.

To understand the need of our prospective users, we started by identifying the demography of users we want to serve. We classed them based on the job they do. Then, we zeroed in on workers in the informal sector. These workers include:  Plumbers, Electricians, Babysitters, Hairdressers, Painters, Truck drivers, Automobile mechanics, CCTV installers, Gardeners, Barbers, Massagers, etc. Haven identified our prospective users within the community, we started out by having  one-on-one interviews with them to know what their challenges are. We spoke with 39 persons. From our discussion we deduced that their biggest challenge is increasing their income level. And we thought out a solution to that challenge by creating an online marketplace specifically dedicated to professionals in the informal sector. Thus our solution, which is a tech-enabled solution, named OHome app was born. Now, we have been going to the prospective users in the community with a prototype of OHome app. We gave about 27 of them a link to the prototype so they can have a visual feel of the prototype and its features and give us their feedbacks. We are getting very positive feedbacks. And we are increasingly becoming more confident about our product. Haven done all these field, on-the-ground, and market researches we feel confident that we are the team for this.

We've successfully built the design prototype of the product. The ideas has morphed from an abstract to a prototype one can interface with. Check out the Figma link to the ongoing product design for a clickable and interactive experience with the product design(Please NB, that I will have to grant you access to access this as this is a product under development and iterations):

Https://tinyurl.com/nhyhvt3f

Here are the links to the product demo of OHome app, check them out for a visual feel of the product and its features: 

Youtube: youtu.be/FcVqH3tdLZs

ClipChamp: clipchamp.com/watch/Z4PARFkqxDL

None. Our solution is still at the prototype stage although we have begun to poll prospective users and gauge their opinions about our prototype and its features.

Specifically, we need more hands in the technical department to make this a reality. We need technical cofounders who have dexterity in  backend programming especially backend languages like Rust and Java, we need skilled Database Management Systems  and DevOps experts. We also need legal help in terms of drafting a Founder's agreement and other legal frameworks. We also need advisory on tech startup incubation, marketing and fundraising advisory and strategies.

OHome's distinctive feature is its ability to match users with workers within proximity, the provision of audio-visual communication capability between users and workers and the provision of map-tracking capability for both users and workers to navigate to each others' location. 

None of our competitors has all of these functionalities combined in each of their software/products.

In the next five years we want to scale our platform to the point where over 100 million informal sector workers  will grossly depend on it to make their daily earnings. We want to be able to provide a platform helping over 100 million workers make a decent living in the next five years.

Our major KPI upon which we want to measure our impact is the item 8 on the SDG: Decent work and economic growth. Our goal for the next five years is to onboard over 100 million workers who will be making decent wages through our platform. We intend to onboard at least 20 million workers every year post-launch. We will be measuring our impact against this key performance indicator.

Our product will have an impact on the problem because it will allow users to make a decent earning and meet their economic needs.

The core technology that will power our product are the following:

Frontend: React Native, NodeJS,  React and JavaScript.

Backend: Rust, Java or Python.

Database Management System(DBMS): SQL, PostgreSQL.

DevOps:  AWS cloud service.