SmartJobs

John is a competent graduated electrician, passionate about his profession, but he never gets a job and he is struggling to produce income to make a living.

However, Mrs Martha lives in the same area as John, her house has electricity problem, she wants to quickly find an electrician to pay to fix the problem but can't find one, she doesn't know who to contact.  

So, my team realized the problem is a connection between John and Martha.   

For this, using the power of innovation and technology, we come up with a simple, reliable, secure and useful solution called SmartJobs.  

SmartJobs is a user friendly mobile platform connecting people and small businesses with competent technicians  to quickly help them to fix specific problems. 

Our solution can positively impact the lives of millions simply because regardless the area and country there are millions of John and Martha. 

The specific problem within the challenge we are working to solve is creating and improving social inclusion, shared prosperity, equitable and inclusive economic growth within communities. 

People who did not go to university but learned a technically skills at a professional school are struggling to find employment in Haiti's companies.  

However, companies sometimes need temporary specific services that they don't need to hire someone for. For sample, they won't hire a plumber but sometimes need to quickly find one to solve a related problem in the company but can't because they don't know who to contact and available.

Not only companies but also, a person whose house has electricity problem who want to quickly find an electrician to fix the problem  but doesn't know what nearby competent technician to contact and available. 

So the problem my team is solving is lack of connection between companies or people and technicians who can quickly solve a temporary problem they have.

With our solution, technicians will find the opportunity to practice their profession, companies or people will pay them for problems they solve for them, they will be able to produce income like people who found the opportunity to go to university. 

The population we are serving is: technicians, companies, and individuals. 

Technicians have skills that allow them to solve companies and people's problems in their area and produce income practicing their profession. So we will connect them with those people and companies in order to help them find jobs easily. 

In the other side we facilitate companies and individuals who, before our solution, struggled to quickly find someone to fix a specific problem they have. 

Example, if they want to quickly find a plumber to fix a problem in the sink, they can easily find a competent one on our mobile platform. 

They can see ratings, feedback other clients gave to technicians, so technicians can be chosen on the platform based on their profile. 

This is a way to integrate a system of reference on our solution so technician can dedicate to provide good service to clients so they can be rated and given good feedback and get chosen by new clients for new jobs. 

To better understand the needs of those targeted clients, thanks to the means of an incubator in which we are working on our solution, we are going to organize a survey with targeted clients. 

Our solution is called SmartJobs meaning your smartphone is your jobs, your smartphone is your solutions.

SmartJobs connects people and businesses to competent technicians to quickly help them solve specific problems.

We use the power of innovation and technology to do that. 

We already develop the prototype of our Android mobile App using Java Programming language, Android Studio and Firebase during an Hackathon organized in Haiti by Google Haiti in partnership with Banj, a co-working space in Haiti, during the first Google I/O Extended organized in Haiti. My team was among the 3 winners of this Hackathon from 10 finalists.  

How our solution works ? 

Technicians will download the App from Google Play Store or Apple Store or go to on our website and create an account on the platform and a profile with required informations. Their profile will be given a level in function of the informations they put. The more useful information technicians give, the stronger their profile will be. 

As they finish creating their profile, they become available on the platform so they can get found and paid by people or businesses in the area they choose to work to help them fix specific problems. 

In the other side, businesses (businesses will use more our website) and individuals will create an account on our platform. As soon as they need a technician to solve a specific problem, they will choose the category of technicians they want either electricity, plumbing, mechanical, floor tile, etc. As they click on the wanted category  they will see online technicians in their area with ratings, range of amount they work for, comments of people or Enterprises those technicians have already provided services. 

They will choose the technician of their choice, describe the problem they have, the place they want to be provided the service, the amount they propose for the service and pay using local mobile payment solutions integrated to the platform and also international payment solutions. 

Our system will debit the technicians account only after they have finished to provide the service to the client.

We will take a percentage of money of all transactions made on the platform; both from technicians and people or Enterprises the technicians have provided the service to.  

My team is figuring out how to make the solution available to people who don't have a smartphone so it can be more inclusive. 

Our solution is innovative as it is a new application of existing technology to serve a new population. 

We use existing technology. So, we don't bring any new technology on the table. We use what already exist, but we combined them in a new way to serve a new population. What we are doing is connecting two points on the market that did not connect before. 

There are platforms in Haiti which allow enterprises to post vacant posts so interesting people can apply to get an employment but there is no yet a platform which connects individuals to technicians in their area who can solve a specific problems they have and there isn't either a platform connecting enterprises with technicians to solve a temporary problems they have without employing someone for that. 

SmartJobs gives opportunity to technicians who most of the times don't qualify to find employment in enterprises, to produce income practicing their profession.  

Similar solution to this problem exists elsewhere (a platform called YoupiJob in 3 countries which are France, Belgium and Switzerland) but there is no this platform yet in Haiti and the Caribbean. And our solution is different from existing solution as we dot not only connect individual to individual to exchange service but we also connect individual (Technicians) for temporary jobs. 

Our solution can be seen like the Uber of jobs where we quickly connect people or enterprises to nearby technicians who can solve a specific problem they have. 

Technology is a key component in our solution. 

As a reminder, our solution connects two entities which are individuals and enterprises with technicians who can solve specific problems they have. 

To make this connection, we use technology. We already develop the prototype of our android mobile solution. And we are working in parallel on the iOS and web version of the platform.

We use Java programming language, Android Studio, Firebase to develop the version for Android of our platform. We use swift programming language, xcode and the same Firebase platform as a central database to our android, iOS and web platform to develop the iOS version of our platform. Firebase can sync data between those 3 platforms in milliseconds which allows our system to be fast. Means individuals and companies can contact technicians in milliseconds thanks to our solution called SmartJobs. 

 And we will use other existing technology to provide our web solution like vue.js, react.js or angular JavaScipt framework to develop the front-end of our web version using the same Firebase to sync data with mobile platforms in milliseconds.

We also use Google Maps platform to facilitate the technician to go to the individual or enterprise's place using GPS. 

And an interesting technology we intent to use in the future is AI by training models using TensorFlow Maching Learning library to better match individuals and enterprises to technicians like eBay uses AI to better match buyers with sellers. 

We expect our solution to address the problem because we know exactly what the problem is. It's lack of connection between individuals and enterprises with technicians to solve problems for them. 

A reality is Enterprises need specific temporary services that they don't want to employ someone for. 

Now they try to find someone who can fix those problems for them. Example, if the sink of the kitchen of the enterprise has a problem, they want to find quickly someone to fix it without employing this person permanently where he/she will get paid  each month while they need his/her service only sometimes. 

The reality now is enterprises are struggling  to find a competent technician to fix a specific problem they have.

Same thing for individuals, they can't quickly find someone to solve a specific problem they have. For example, an electricity problem in their house. 

So, the need exist based on our observation. Sadhguru said: "if your vision comes from what you see, how it can not be disconnected to the reality?". The lack of connection between enterprises and individuals with technicians who can quickly solve problems they have is something we observe. 

In the others sides, I talked with technicians about the project, they said that this solution will be useful for them, they can't wait to see the solution.  

We will organized a survey with our target population to gather more information and adapt our MVP to their needs. 

The number of people we are serving now is zero. In one year we intend to serve 2 thousands of people and intend to double the number each year so in five years we will be serving 10 thousands of people.

 This goals of serving 10 thousands of people within 5 years comes from the Hackathon's challenge organized by Google Haïti in partnership with Banj, a interesting Co-working space in Haïti, where we have developed the prototype of the Android App of our platform. The challenge of the Hackathon was to develop in 48 hours the prototype of an App which has the potential to gives 10 thousands of jobs within 5 years. 

Our goals within the next year is to impact the lives of 2 thousands clients including individuals, enterprises and technicians. We want technicians to be able to practice their profession and produce income thanks to our solution. 

Same things for individuals and enterprises who have specific problems to solve, we want to make the process easy in way never than before. 

And in five years, we intent to impact the lives of population in others countries. 

An interesting thing with our solution is, it can scaled easily as it is it easily replicable  because regardless the country, the need our solution suits exists. 

No matter the country,  Enterprises have specific problems that they want to solve and don't want to employ someone for this as they will pay this person each month who will solve problems for the company only sometimes. 

No matter the country, individuals need specific services that they want someone to provide them. 

So, my is passionate in five years about seeing this solution replicated all over the world. 

It's normal to project some numbers about how much population we will impact in what year, but I personally believe that this solution will replicate exponentially beyond our expectation because it is like a social network which not allow people to chat but to exchange services. It is going to be a new way of communication between people like they are using Facebook, Whatsapp right now. 

For the next year our bigger barrier is a cultural barrier. As our solution require technician to go to the place they will provide the service to the client. Culturally technicians might be afraid because of security concern to go to individuals home for solving their problems however they won't have any problem to go to enterprises, they will feel that more secure. 

However, this cultural problem in Haiti might not be a problem in other countries  where there is more security. 

Another barrier for the first year might be financial also because we are now 4 developers in the team working on the solution. 2 of us work as freelancer so we find more time to work on the project and the 2 others work full time so they don't really find time to work on  the project.  

Technically we won't really have barrier because our team was selected from 40 teams postulated to integrate an incubator in the country setup by the Haiti's Ministry of Finance in partnership with the Haïti's Central Bank. We receive:  mentorship about business, expert's technical support, legal support, but the incubator don't promise to give us funds. Instead as soon as our solution is ready, they will facilitate us to pitch our solution before potential investors.  

To address the cultural barrier related to a fear of insecurity for technicians to provide service through the platform, we will gather also information on the client when he/she is creating his/her account. he/she will be asked to enter his identity number. 

For the financial barrier, the other developer and me who are 2 freelancers among the 4 developers of the team will make our best to launch the project for the first year. For the years to come, we will use money that we have already generated with the solution on the first-year population to keep working on the project.  But chances might be the solution doesn't provide any income yet in the first year, so we plan to exploit competition around the world which is related to our solution to seek funds for the project so we can pay new developers to join us to keep working on the project while scaling it to other countries. The reality is we are not at the stage yet where we can borrow money from bank.  For sample we participate in the MIT Solve's 2019 Challenge. 

Another interesting thing is to create passive income like a blog where we can publish useful contents so that we acquire a lot of visitors so we can produce income with the blog using google adsense. But, this way might need some times to start generate income. So, the good way is using the strategy mentioned above.   

We  are 6 people working on our solution team. 

were are 4 full time people. A manager,  2 Developers, a Statistician. And we have 2 others Developers working part time on the solution. 

Me and my team is best-placed to deliver this solution because we have passion, skills and experiences in launching innovative products using technology as a powerful in order to solve real life problems . 

Me, I am creative, I am curious and I am self-taught.  I have skills in programming, specifically native mobile development. I have a background in computer Sciences with minor in Entrepreneurship and Business Management. In term of experience, I already launched a startup which is working on the Haitian market right now.  It is a mobile App related to concept FinTech having now, more than 1500 downloads on Google PlayStore. 

The App is simple but useful, it allows users to compare real time Haitian banks exchange rate and includes the Google Maps GPS service helping users to quickly find nearby bank branches and ATM. It also includes a currency converter, history of bank rates for the last 7 days of the week in form of list and charts, It also includes other features. 

In my team, we have different background. A statistician helping us with survey to better analyse the market. A manager helping us with the deadline, planning and more.

I am good at native mobile development. Android and iOS and I am also good at Firebase. But among the 3 others  developers, one is good at one is good at web development, one at UI and UX, and another one is good at back-end. 

Now we did not have partnership yet. 

But we intent to make partnership with Professionals schools to provide our platform with technicians like (CETEMOH, Canada Technique). 

We will also make partnership with local mobile payment solution so we can facilitate people who doesn't have international payment means to pay directly on our platform. Those mobile payment solutions providers will be Digital for its mobile payment solution called Mon Cash, We also intent to partner with Cash mobile, Lajan Cash which are two other mobile payment solutions available in Haiti.  

Our solution connect individuals and enterprises to technicians to solve specifics problems for them. 

By making this connection, we facilite the life of individuals in quickly  finding technicians in their area to solve specific problems they have. We facilitate enterprises to quickly find someone to solve a specific problem the enterprise have where they don't need to employ someone for this problem. 

We facilitate technicians to practice their profession and produce income. 

We take a fee on each transaction made on the platform; both from individuals and enterprises and from technicians. 

As we have already mentioned, we will get a fee from each transaction made on the platform. So, this the way our platform is making money. 

In the longer term, our revenue streams should plausibly be able to cover our expected expenses so we can make profit. 

In short term, we intent to find grants. So we participate in competitions related to our solution so we can raise funds, find grants. 

We will also raise investment capital. 

First of all, we want Solve helps us to find funds for the project. 

And as it was in the last two years, I would like to find with my team mentorship, technical expertise, media and conference exposure, business and entrepreneurship training. I have already followed a lot of trainings related to business but I want to always catch opportunities to learn because I like learning new things and always keep growing. 

The types of organizations that can help us accelerate our solution is organizations which can give us specific technology training related to a specific part that we are struggling with in our solution. 

Organizations that we can ask specific advice related to our business when we need to understand a specific thing. 

We develop a mobile platform connecting individuals and enterprises to technicians who can help them solve specific problems to suit their needs. 

In Haiti, technicians are struggling to find employment in enterprises. 

However enterprises and individuals are struggling to quickly find someone who can fix a specific problems they have.  For sample, a plumber that can fix a problem in the sink of their kitchen. 

So connecting those two entities will be an advantage for both of them. 

Technicians will produce income  practicing their profession.

Enterprises and individuals will be able to quickly find technicians to suit their needs. 

Not only in Haiti but our solution will be  also useful in other countries. 

To better connect individuals and enterprises with technicians, using AI will be very useful. 

Like eBay uses AI to better match buyers and sellers, we will use AI to better match individuals and enterprises with best technicians to suit their needs. 

AI may also help technicians about the process they should use to fix a problem. For sample, like AI system as Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, Cortana where we can talk to and give us answers, technicians will be able to talk to our platform and get answers about the problem they are solving. 

To train our model, we will use for example TensowFlow Google machine learning library.

Me and my team will utilize this prize to pay expert and take more developers with us to incorporate AI in our solution. 

We develop a mobile platform connecting individuals and enterprises to technicians who can help them solve specific problems to suit their needs. 

In Haiti, technicians are struggling to find employment in enterprises. 

However enterprises and individuals are struggling to quickly find someone who can fix a specific problems they have.  For sample, a plumber that can fix a problem in the sink of their kitchen. 

So connecting those two entities will be an advantage for both of them. 

Technicians will produce income  practicing their profession.

Enterprises and individuals will be able to quickly find technicians to suit their needs. 

Not only in Haiti but our solution will be  also useful in other countries. 

To better connect individuals and enterprises with technicians, using AI will be very useful. 

Like eBay uses AI to better match buyers and sellers, we will use AI to better match individuals and enterprises with best technicians to suit their needs. 

AI may also help technicians about the process they should use to fix a problem. For sample, like AI system as Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, Cortana where we can talk to and give us answers, technicians will be able to talk to our platform and get answers about the problem they are solving. 

To train our model, we will use for example TensowFlow machine learning library by Google.

Me and my team will utilize this prize to pay expert and take more developers with us to incorporate AI in our solution.