Goal

We want to support refugees who want to start their own business (in Germany, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, etc.) by providing grants and later microfinance support for them.

Plan

We want to achieve that by developing a platform to maximize the chances of success and help newcomers manage their own business.

It also should enable NGOs/volunteers to verify the applicants and their business ideas and help them develop and execute a solid business plan.

Market analysis 

KEY FINDINGS

1. Most refugees only have mobile phones, therefore the platform has to be available as a mobile app.
2. There is a strong need for newcomers to build trust with potential local customers and business partners.
3. Despite their professional skills, most newcomers lack the knowledge about local bureaucracy  (laws, administration, accounting, taxes, etc.) and volunteering NGOs also don't have updated knowledge and are also dealing with high volume of refugees.
4. Due to lack of resources newcomers want to avoid risk and rather go for stable perspective.
5. Newcomers lack knowledge about the local market's needs.

Solution

KEY CONCEPTS

1. We recommend web technology that will enable us to create a cross-platform app (available for Iphone, Android, Ipad, Windows phone etc. and for all common desktop and mobile browsers).
2. The only thing newcomers can offer to build trust fast enough is through radical transparency. Therefore with help of the app all their business activities should be open and transparent.
3. App should help NGos with supporting newcomers when registering a business, applying for tax number, opening a bank account, do the bookeeping/annual reports, etc.
4. The app should include a marketplace where local businesses, NGOs and newcomers can discover each other's services.
5. Local businesses can post their needs and pre-order services or products from refugee businesses.

Platform (app)

There are 4 main views (boards) in the app:

Marketplace board

• refugees, NGOs and local businesses can offer (sell) and request (buy) services to each other.

Profile board

• basic info about user, verifications, business overview

Management board

• users can manage their tasks and by keeping them transparent, others can give them feedback and easily collaborate

News board

• users can follow each other and get inspired and learn

Boards

User story

Example

Story of Malakeh 

Malakeh is a Syrian cook who wants to start her catering business in Berlin.

Malakeh finds out about the app through Refugio, who volunteered to help newcomers with their business and has a profile on the app. In Refugio they told her, she can go on the app, and officially asks them to support her in order to get a grant to start her new business.

Malakeh opens the app and comes directly to the marketplace. She searches for her NGO (Refugio) and finds their service pin and clicks the button "Get support".

She now needs to create a profile, then she continues and fills out a "Get support" form to give the NGO a bit more information about her business idea.

Malakeh submits and can now see  the request being pinned on Refugio's board, next to other requests from newcomers. She can approximately imagine how long it will take to get a response from the NGO. 

Refugio gets a notification and checks Malakeh's request on their management board. In the comments below the request, they ask her for further clarification or more information and when everything is ready they invite her to meet in person.

Malakeh gets notified and confirms the meeting through her management board. On the day, the app reminds her of the meeting. She meets with them, explains her idea and at the end gets a "homework" to prepare a business plan.

She clicks on her management board and adds her first pin (a business plan draft). She shares it with Refugio to get the feedback. Refugio comments and gives suggestions. They ping-pong through the comments. Through the process Malakeh creates sub-pins for more concrete tasks in her business plan. One of them is i.e. open a company + bank account. For pins where she can, she estimates costs/revenue which automagically updates her financial dashboard. Refugio, Malakeh and others can now see her plan growing in the strategy view.  

Malakeh 1/2

After everyone is satisfied, Refugio can finally verify and endorse Malakeh so she can now click to apply for the grant. When she submits, her application is pinned on Ashraf's (admin's) management board, next to other applications. Admin asks for details or refinements in the comments section and later accepts her application and starts following Malakeh and her project.

She can now over time work on her tasks. During the process she has a support and mentorship from her NGO and others. Once the business is registered, Admin gets notified and the grant can be transferred. They can also watch live how it's being used, since her activity is transparent.

She now has a business running and can offer her services on the marketplace and searches for potential partners (customers, accountants etc.). She can click "Make an offer" if someone on the marketplace is looking for catering, otherwise, waits for someone to click "order" on her offer on the marketplace. Buyer and seller then negotiate price and terms in the comments section of the offer or order pin. Once they find a win-win position, they click accept and Malakeh can provide the service. After the job is done, Malakeh closes the pin with issuing the invoice.

In general Malakeh can find other users that inspire her and follows them She gets news about their activities on the News board which helps her to learn and to network.

Malakeh 2/2

Ole! We have a concept :)

There is of course tons of details and thorough research of how to apply certain features and technological details, needed to build the app.

So, Skype call would be a good thing after you read it through and take time to understand all the parts presented ;)