Polivoice

Multinational brands spend billions of dollars on inspection-based audits to evaluate whether their suppliers are complying with local labor laws and meeting codes of conduct. Audits provide severely limited snapshots of factory conditions and are insufficient to detect issues and prevent tragedies such as building collapses, factory fires, child labor, forced labor, and sexual harassment. Brands need reliable, ongoing data so they can cost-effectively reduce their risk of negative PR incidents and supply chain disruptions.

Polivoice uses machine learning to help brands access year-round, real-time data on labor conditions at a price comparable to a single 3-day audit. Brands have access to true factory conditions based on anonymous feedback from workers. It serves as an early warning system for brands to monitor, identify and resolve issues in their supply chains before they become urgent. Polivoice helps brands create safe, respectful, productive workplaces.

Multinational brands spend billions of dollars on inspection-based audits to evaluate whether their suppliers are complying with local labor laws and meeting codes of conduct. Audits provide severely limited snapshots of factory conditions and are insufficient to detect issues and prevent tragedies such as building collapses, factory fires, child labor, forced labor, and sexual harassment. Brands need reliable, ongoing data so they can cost-effectively reduce their risk of negative PR incidents and supply chain disruptions.

Thousands of factories in Nigeria have workers endure truly tough working conditions. Without guaranteed anonymous feedback, these workers may never share their concerns with management. They do not want to be fired or victimized. According to the UN, “as a result of an expanding labour force, the number of unemployed is projected to increase by 1 million every year and reach 174 million by 2020. Some 700 million workers lived in extreme or moderate poverty in 2018, with less than US$3.20 per day”.

Polivoice exists to make work places safer by giving workers a voice and providing intelligence for brands and suppliers. Polivoice can help the world achieve faster, SDG Goal 8  “Decent work and economic growth”

We serve organizations and workers at manufacturing companies, factories, Logistics Company and companies with physically demanding work and hundreds to thousands of workers.

We have conducted over 50 in-person interviews with workers and leaders at these companies and we have learnt that the right solution has fewer questions, is automated, is user friendly and offers real time analytics. We took all of these learnings into building Polivoice. And we continue to get feedback from our users.

Polivoice meets the needs of workers by giving them a voice. It meets the need of the organizations by helping them understand their workers better, take action and help prevent disruptions, scandals while unlocking worker productivity.

Polivoice is an online platform that captures & analyses worker feedback anonymously in real time to detect, predict & improve work place conditions. Polivoice creates an anonymous two-way communication channel between workers and supply chain leadership that allows Workers to anonymously report on their real working conditions and Supply chain leaders to receive unfiltered and actionable data directly from workers.

Polivoice enables brands to subscribe & access year-round, real-time data on labor conditions at a price comparable to a single 3-day audit. Brands have access to true factory/work conditions based on anonymous feedback from workers. It serves as an early warning system for brands to monitor, identify and resolve issues in their supply chains before they become urgent.

Our ideal user is a director or HR leader at a manufacturing company, Logistics Company or any company that has physically demanding work and hundreds to thousands of workers.

He visits the website & signs up. We follow up and commence on boarding, including trips to the organization and worker orientation.

Polivoice for work is deployed via a simple, interactive survey that can be taken via mobile phones or PCs. Workers take it via the url. Surveys are taken on Mondays (before work starts) and on Fridays (just before the close of work. Polivoice is powered by machine learning and we provide detailed analytics for managers as they see the number of respondents and detailed analytics of responses in a graph.

Unlike our competitors, we deploy machine learning in analyzing data, sentiments analysis & flagging comments. Our product can be used across a variety of industries. Our platform is built with utmost consideration for ease of user experience. Most importantly, we offer real time analytics to brands unlike our competitors who take between 1 week to 1 month to crunch and share data.

Polivoice for Work is built on JAMStack frontend technologies of HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, React and Material UI with the backend API written in the most modern PHP framework, Laravel. We used ReCharts, a declarative React.js Data Virtualization library for display statistics in intuitive format.

Polivoices uses machine learning (powered by amazon sagemaker) to build, train, and deploy machine learning models quickly, thereby helping organizations get a full overview of the health of their company culture. Data is analyzed and displayed visually on an organized dashboard to provide all the information needed at a glance.

Specifically, sentiment analysis and powerful machine learning adapt to the organization, saving them time by highlighting trends and bringing the most information to their attention.

Polivoice is poised to address the problem because it directly boosts employee voice and helps organizations maximize this data, thereby unlocking the potential of their workforce. 

Globally, work is tough:

• Only 15% of employees worldwide are engaged in their jobs (Gallup)
• 25% of workers say they will burn out in the next 12 months (Gallup)
• 75% of those who experienced sexual harrassment didn't report it to their managers for fear if retaliation (Reflektive)
• Almost two-thirds of managers wish they had a better way to collect feedback from their team and peers (Betterworks).

Yet, 

• 75 percent of employees would stay longer at an organization that listens to and addresses their concerns (Ultimate Software).
• Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work (Salesforce).
• Highly engaged teams show 21% greater profitability (Gallup).

A study conducted in Nigeria concluded that employee voice improved job behaviors, industrial relations climate, enhanced organizational commitment, and ultimately improved individual and organizational performance 

We are currently serving one organization (Fanfaro Oil) with 100 workers.

In 5 years, we expect to serve 100 organizations with over 10,000 workers.

In the next 1 year, we aim to launch our mobile App (making it easier for workers and managers to access surveys & insights), vastly improve our machine learning capabilities, recruit talent and serve no less than 10 organizations, directly reaching about 1,000 workers.

In 5 years, we expect to serve 100 organizations with over 10,000 workers, there by helping them unlocking the potential of their workforce through safe, productive workplaces. Polivoice is working to help the world achieve faster, SDG Goal 8 “Decent work and economic growth. With Polivoice, organizations can keep their best people, achieve their biggest goals and have safe, respectful work places.

Funding is a key challenge. We need at least $10,000 to build our mobile App ($3,000), invest in our machine learning capability ($5,000) and reach potential customers via digital marketing ($2,000).

We are currently working on raising funds through applying for grants and accelerators. We are also raising money from family & friends so we can build a more robust platform.

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Our team is made up of fantastic people

Our Co-founder & Chief Design Officer, Akinosun Emmanuel, has over 3 years’ experience in UI/UX design.

Our Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer, Oyedele Hammed is a fullstack developer with over 3 years’ experience in web development and machine learning.

I am the Co-founder & CEO & I I have a background in Psychology with over 3 years’ experience in digital marketing. I have consulted for brands like Facebook & Google. Also, I am a 2019 Mandela Washington fellow currently undergoing a mini-MBA program at Kellogg School of Management.

Our model is Subscription based. We charge organizations $3 per worker per month.

Our path to financial sustainability is the "fee-for-service model of social enterprise". We sell Polivoice directly to organizations. 

We will also raise funds through donations, grants and investment capital.

I’ve been inspired by stories of past awardees. Pitching to a live audience of hundreds of leaders and an expert panel of judges at Solve Challenge Finals during UN General Assembly Week in New York City will give us the much needed global validation and open doors of global partnerships.

Joining a supportive community of peers, funders, and experts will help advance our work through Solve's 12-month program. Mentorship and strategic advice from Solve and MIT networks has the potential to transform our leadership skills and improve our entrepreneurial acumen.

The funding will help to accelerate product development, marketing and growth. Solve is exactly what Polivoice needs to truly move to the next level and make work, work.

World Bank: by deploying Polivoice in non-profits, schools and other public institutions.

MIT: by working with the world's leading machine learning experts & data scientists to improve Polivoice.