KSMART AUTO ARTISAN CERTIFICATION SCHEME

The current Nigerian automobile artisan industry is a highly unstructured system which is grossly unprofessional and unaccountable to its customers.  It is very inefficient and without a standardized evaluation system to measure output efficiency, is riddled with lack of trust between customers and artisans. The lack of the requisite skill set in many automobile artisans often leads to the provision of poor quality products and services with no capacity to incorporate innovations in technology into their trade.

We provide them with standard professional training to enable them exploit and integrate modern technological innovations into their business. This will aid them use the scalable power of technology to reach more customers as well as utilize the latest advances in technology to run their business more efficiently and build trust with customers.

We anticipate this will increase revenue generation, economic growth and creation of more job and business opportunities. 

Nigeria has the largest number of people living in extreme poverty in the world with nearly 50% of its estimated 200 million population living in extreme poverty of less than $1.90 a day. With youth unemployment rate  over 60% and thousands of unemployed university graduates, individuals with little or no skills and with no formal education are much worse off. The auto artisan industry provides a viable opportunity for low skilled and less educated people to earning a living. Unfortunately, this industry is highly unstructured with poorly trained artisans leading to low productivity, poor customer satisfaction and paltry incomes. This has led to gross under expansion of the industry falling severely short of its high potential to provide much needed jobs to thousands of poor, destitute low skilled youths. 

It has been reported that Anambra State in Nigeria loses about N1 billion ($2.6 million) annually of internally generated revenue due to inability to track and receive taxes from the auto artisan industry, contributing to government's inability to fund improvements in this industry. This state has approximately 10,000 auto artisans and apprentices. Therefore, private-public partnership is the best approach to address these issues in a productive and sustainable way. 

-Certification training program to improve their technical skills and competency

-Automobile business management and computer literacy training 

-Centralized web-based database where all the automobile artisans can be advertised and accessed

-Certified automobile artisans which the State Vehicle Inspection Department can refer automobile owners to for repairs following road worthiness computerized testing results

 -Technological services to improve their business through use of targeted electronic advertisements, centralized marketing platforms for greater reach; increased customer satisfaction via performance rating review;  access to customized platform for customer data mining and algorithmic targeting.

Processes and technology: 

-Live training workshops over an average of six months depending on specialty. Detailed curriculum (core auto engineering, business management and accounting, computer and online marketing competencies) will incorporate audiovisuals to facilitate comprehension. Ksmart currently developing a learning management software and app for the training  giving participants life time access to educational materials.

-State Centralized Artisan Business Website: database of all our certified, registered automobile mechanics in the state with each vendors business profile and customer rating, dynamic platform for advertisements, collaborations; data collection analytics and payment process capability on the vendors backend platform.

-An immersive training program with virtual reality applications will be offered as a non compulsory option. 

Ksmart Solutions will provide this service to Anambra State Automobile Artisans at the pilot stage scaling to other states in Nigeria and Africa within a few years. This state has about 10,000 automobile artisans and apprentices mostly from poor lower class of the society with limited or no formal education. With usually no access to significant capital to start a buoyant business, they start off as poorly paid or unpaid apprentices to an established automobile artisan who will pass on the skills of the trade (usually suboptimal and outdated) informally. Apprenticeship can last from five years to indefinitely depending primarily on availability of funds for independent practice. Unfortunately, with automobile artisans poorly paid, apprentices can 'graduate' to artisans but still under service of the 'boss' with meager pay -barely able to meet basic needs. 

Ksmart has engaged with the trade union representing the small percentage of registered automobile artisans in the state, their complaints and challenges reflected in our solutions which address their needs by increasing technical and internet skills, more structured/organized system of business, access to larger customer base through the Artisan centralized portal website with internet and social media marketing platform, ultimately leading to revenue and economic growth.  

'Equips workers with technological and digital literacy,the durable skills.....;enables small businesses, especially in untapped communities,prosper and create good jobs....' 

- Training programs will increase technical, internet/computer and business management skills

- Targets poor low skilled segment of population to increase skill set and marketability as certified auto artisans, providing rewarding means of livelihoods.

-Computer and internet literacy leading to marketing platform for their businesses Increasing revenue generation and economic growth.

- Automobile artisan economy that is globally competitive with a payment portal platform leading to more revenue generation for the state and subsequent investment in development of the local economy. 

The current Nigerian automobile artisan industry is highly unstructured and unregulated. Automobile artisans, mostly poor with minimal formal education, are poorly trained through informal apprenticeship system that perpetuates sub-optimal skill sets. Their technical knowledge is severely limited  as a result of being disconnected from current technological advances as they lack the capacity and the means to incorporate innovations in technology into their trade. This leads to poor customer satisfaction,low patronage and income and continued cycle of poverty through generations.

This scheme is the first time there will be a statewide effort to reform the Nigerian automobile artisan industry to: 

- Increase technical skills of the auto artisans to international standards

- Impart business management and computer/internet skills to improve business operations and visibility through internet and social media marketing 

- Develop a more economically viable industry providing jobs for thousands of unemployed low skilled youths

- Provide access to a much larger customer base through the Artisan centralized portal website leading to increased revenue generation and economic growth

- Provide access to highly competent and professional automobile artisan base giving the customer a level of control through rating of artisan services and product, building more customer confidence which in turn increase revenue for artisans through continual patronage and referral

-  Develop a structured and centralized automobile artisan economy that is more professional and accountable leading to increased tax revenue generation and more government investment into the development of the local economy including the automobile artisan industry

Rationale for using a relatively low tech approach is due to our target audience who lack basic computer knowledge, with generally low levels of formal education.

1. Training workshops will be live with audiovisuals and optional immersive training with visual reality tools to facilitate comprehension and retention of content. Ksmart currently working on  developing an easy to use app with these educational concepts for reference during and post training. This will be a potentially useful aid as basic mobile phone penetration is generally high.  

2. Upon completion of training, automobile artisans shall be awarded a certificate of competence with access to Centralized Artisan Business Website. This dynamic website will : 

- comprise a platform with a database of all the certified and registered automobile artisan businesses in the State

- have all certified vendors with a page profile created for them where anyone can search and see their businesses; can easily be contacted on the website 

- regularly updated to reflect any changes a business may undergo

- highly promoted and advertised giving more visibility to certified automobile artisans

- provide a rating and grading mechanism on services provided
- have GPS-monitored technology to locate artisan workforce (with business locations usually in poorly marked, densely populated neighborhoods) for customers 

-Sources of revenue for the government processed through the website include:

• Payment for certification training by Artisans
• Automated income tax collection via online payment transaction platform
• Centralized platform registration fee
• Commercial advertisement revenue on platform
• Digital marketing revenue on the platform

Technology employed in this project is simple, widely used and accepted. It involves building two websites with a diverse array of features incorporated; as well as easy to use downloaded apps. 

1.  Centralized Artisan Business Website and app - will be optimized for digital marketing and customer targeting; review/ranking of artisans; payment platform for certification courses, government dues. 

2. Ksmart automobile artisan educational website and app - with live courses, library of the audio visual aids; extensive educational resources for further reading, seminars, courses or certifications; a chat feature with certified auto artisans for troubleshooting will be enabled

3. Immersive training with virtual reality tools will be offered to interested participants. Ksmart solutions is currently developing a virtual lab for the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu. Ksmart will also manage this virtual laboratory after its establishment. It will enter an agreement with the College to use this facility for training of the auto artisans who registered for the virtual reality aspect of the training. This more complex training aspect will be geared to employees of major car dealerships who are interested in cutting edge technology training for their staff. Ksmart will partner with mechanical/automobile engineering schools to obtain access to virtual reality content  in this space. 

The current number of people you’re serving (starting December 2020) - 10,000

The number you’ll be serving in one year - 30,000

The number you’ll be serving in five years- 500,000

In the next year - plan is to expand services to the other four states in South Eastern Nigeria.

In the next five years: expansion to other 31 states in Nigeria - challenges similar to those describe above; international expansion to the rest of subsaharan Africa

In the next year - primarily funding. Discussions with Anambra state government in process. The government is highly interested and indicated strong interest in private-public partnership with Ksmart Solutions. COVID-19 pandemic has halted negotiations for now. We plan to resume as soon as feasible, anticipating a signed agreement and MOU by October 2020. 

In the next year - plan is to expand services to the other four states in South Eastern Nigeria. This will involve discussions and negotiations with the governments and trade unions. Ksmart success in Anambra state will serve as a testimony to the economic viability of the program.  We anticipate this will be welcomed by these governments especially as it represents a source of internal revenue and reducing unemployment in their states.

In the next five years: expansion to other 31 states in Nigeria - challenges similar to those describe above; international expansion to the rest of subsaharan Africa : challenges will be financial, legal as well as cultural. 

In the next year - initial start up funding needed.  

-This project will  be executed without any upfront cost to the Anambra state with Ksmart Solutions bearing the upfront cost. Ksmart Solutions shall then recoup cost from a certain percentage of the registration and workshop fee per Artisan enrolled.The state then provide policies and enforcement to ensure buy in and participation. 

- This will be repeated in other states during expansion phase. Ksmart expects to get significant revenue from registration and workshop fees to fund expansion. Financial prudence and careful planning will be needed ; accountants will be employed. 

Full-time staff :5

Part time staff : 3

Contractors : 2

KSmart Solutions is a leading education and enterprise technology software company. We provide enterprise software applications and related services to the government and education industry. 

Our mission is to harness the power of technology to improve and advance learning. We provide technological solutions that allow instructors to design and create quality course content ,  provide the medium to enable them effectively deliver the contents to students. We also provide tools to give students access to course materials in such a way that will afford them the opportunity to effectively understand delivered content.

We also design complex commercial platforms of business enterprises that integrate technological tools for more efficient business transactions including payment processing, search engine optimization, online product processing, virtual receipts, and customer activity analytics amongst other tools. We also provide cutting edge web designs that are tailor made to fit our clients’ business needs. We manage all stages of the platform development for our clients as well as provide hosting services, security fixes and technical support

We understand the complexities involved in implementing and managing an advanced technology platform. We are not only interested in implementing a technological process for institutions but we believe in being on ground to work with our customers to ensure success in utilization and sustainability of our product delivery. Nothing is more distressing like the under-utilization of a technological installation! We are on ground with  partnership agreements to actively manage beyond the scene operations for our clients in other to guarantee success. 

Ksmart Solutions Intl partners as follows:

• The Government of Anambra State: The state will provide policies and enforcement to ensure full buy in and participation
• Nigerian Automobile Technician Association, Anambra state branch: This trade union will help to ensure buy in from their registered artisans.
• The University of Nigeria, Nsukka : Ksmart has an active partnership with the University developing and hosting various practical skill/entrepreneurship courses; developed and managing its online learning platform including distance learning program. 
• The College of Medicine, Univeristy of Nigeria: Ksmart is currently developing a Virtual lab for preclinical courses - anatomy,physiology. Ksmart will liase with the College to run the virtual course content of the artisan certification training course in their labs on a contract basis.

Key customers and beneficiaries : auto artisans, their customers, the government, the entire public

Products or services provided: better training of auto artisans, structuring and regulation in the industry, accountability and improved customer relationships; improved road safety

How do you provide these products or services? : Live training courses with audiovisuals and virtual reality learning tools; centralized website and app for registration and online marketing; educational website and app for continuous learning

Why do they want or need them? : To improve the industry, expand the industry to accommodate more practitioners easing high unemployment; to increase income earned by increasing productivity and trustworthiness; to decrease automobile vehicle accidents due to suboptimal car servicing thereby increasing road safety; increase government internal revenue generation from the industry boosting more investment into its development

- Percentage of the registration and workshop fee per artisan enrolled

-  Sales of certificates reflecting completion of certification courses. 

-  Percentage of advertisement revenue on the centralized website 

- Percentage of revenue from digital marketing on the centralized website

- Percentage of yearly dues paid to the government as payment for maintaining and hosting the website

- Revenue from retainership agreement with car dealerships for ongoing certification courses for their auto artisans

- Revenue from  training courses incorporating virtual reality tools which will be only offered at higher registration fee

- Revenue from training courses for specialized auto mechanic fields such as diesel mechanics, advanced auto diagnostics,fuel and emissions etc. 

- Revenue from subscription for educational resources on the Ksmart auto artisan educational website.

- To receive help and guidance in developing technological tools for the project

- To gain access to a supportive community of peers, funders, and experts to help advance my project

- To receive mentorship and strategic advice from Solve and MIT networks

- To receive $10,000 grant from Solve as well as access to significant additional prize funding.

To receive advice and mentorship on business model outlined

To assist in developing technology needed for the project

To receive mentorship and advice on funding and revenue model, appropriate monitoring and evaluation tools; marketing especially use of digital marketing and social media marketing.

We would like to partner with any organization who will contribute to our growth.

Consumer companies, MIT, impact investment funds, UN agencies

Our solutions are in line with SOLVE's objectives:  'Enable small and new businesses, especially in untapped communities, to prosper and create good jobs through access to capital, networks, and technology; Equip workers with technological and digital literacy as well as the durable skills needed to stay apace with the changing job market'

We do this by: 

- Training programs will increase technical, internet/computer and business management skills

- Targets poor low skilled segment of population to increase skill set and marketability as certified auto artisans, providing rewarding means of livelihoods.

-Computer and internet literacy leading to marketing platform for their businesses Increasing revenue generation and economic growth.

- Automobile artisan economy that is globally competitive with a payment portal platform leading to more revenue generation for the state and subsequent investment in development of the local economy. 

Our solutions are in line with SOLVE's objectives:  'Enable small and new businesses, especially in untapped communities, to prosper and create good jobs through access to capital, networks, and technology; Equip workers with technological and digital literacy as well as the durable skills needed to stay apace with the changing job market'

We do this by: 

- Training programs will increase technical, internet/computer and business management skills

- Targets poor low skilled segment of population to increase skill set and marketability as certified auto artisans, providing rewarding means of livelihoods.

-Computer and internet literacy leading to marketing platform for their businesses Increasing revenue generation and economic growth.

- Automobile artisan economy that is globally competitive with a payment portal platform leading to more revenue generation for the state and subsequent investment in development of the local economy.