MIT Solve

Basic Information

Our tagline:

Breaking the language barrier to bilateral trade and opening new business frontiers for people worldwide.

Our pitch:

Language skills deficit cost UK companies up to $67 billion each year. University of Wales research shows that lifting the language barrier can increase bilateral trade by between 75% and 170%. The ability to communicate seems to increase opportunity.

While the UK accounts for averagely 3.2% of world trade, this problem is faced by every country in the world. We can only imagine the billions, if not trillions are lost for the inability to communicate bilaterally.
Strefo is a two-fold platform. Social Commerce and language Edtech. Strefo.com will bring down the language barrier enabling easier business enhancement globally. Here users create or join language based tribes with the admission of only one person per nationality to every tribe i.e. a country is only represented once in every tribe. The tribe members are required to have a minimum level of communication skills to join or create a tribe. For example, a Kenyan interested in doing business in China will go to the platform and find a tribe there whose language is Mandarin.

The only two criteria are that one can speak basic Mandarin and that there is no other Kenyan in that tribe. On the other hand, a tribe cannot access the full benefits of the platform until it on-boards a native of the country that speaks the language.
Once allowed into the tribe by the tribal chief (the creator of the tribe) one will network with many nationals and exchange interests in the country and language. This way they can exchange notes on business experiences, sourcing commodities, new markets etc, leveraging on each other’s wisdom and experiences to do better in our respective markets.
On the other hand, there will be the need to provide language skills to the tribes so that members get better, and can rank higher in the tribe because there will be several advantages to a better language proficiency index. For example a Kenyan will be an easy pick for jobs in translation & transcription, training and tour guiding for any Chinese national wanting to back-pack to Kenya.
Strefo.com also fully covers the need for to better your linguistic skills with an elaborate and diverse language EdTech segment for standardized learning, testing grading for the tribe members. Tribes can also exchange resources. For example if my tribe’s Chinese member resides in Fujian, We can find another tribe whose member resides in Shenzhen to help with contacts there.
Every activity from both individuals and tribes are monitored and credited to tribes and their members. The tribe with the highest score had priority when non-members are sourcing for goods and services from the platform.

These networks have rich mixes of countries and languages hence more informed goods and service sourcing, easier transacting and delivery, faster, transparent and more affordable value chain. The uncertainties of doing bilateral business will also be significantly reduced. Finally, we will make learning new languages easier, fun and put to better use than just hobbies as it is for many people.

Watch our elevator pitch:

Where our solution team is headquartered or located:

Nairobi, Kenya

The dimensions of the Challenge our solution addresses:

Upskilling, Reskilling, and Job Matching
Other (Please Explain Below)

If you selected other, please explain the dimension of the Challenge your solution addresses here:

Social Commerce

About Your Solution

What makes our solution innovative:

Networking and referral based sites/platforms already exist. But the language barrier to bilateral business is still a big problem. This platform specifically addresses the language barrier to international business. Our innovation is the mix between linguistic skills (secondary languages) and networking on the basis of international languages encouraging and open up markets bilaterally. This is also a sure way to cut back on the number of middlemen in the supply chain.

Juma, a Kakamega gold miner speaking minimal mandarin can join a mandarin speaking tribe, eliminating middlemen and directly get Chinese gold buyers or suitable referrals.

How technology is integral to our solution:

This is purely a web based social commerce platform. We are currently developing the web app now, and we intend to complete Android and Apple iOS apps within 24 months of operation depending on end user devices.

Our solution goals over the next 12 months:

We are looking to grow at 40% per month and have a list of 55 waiting to be on-boarded once we launch, hence about 2,000 within 12 months over 21 countries

Our vision over the next three to five years to grow and scale our solution to affect the lives of more people:

To be a full social commerce platform with online shops from tribe members, have 13 comprehensively covered in language EdTech and have a conservative 8,000,000 active tribe members. Blockchain technology and AI will be our greatest assets too and we are working to make strefo.com a social credit rating standard for trade partner prospectors worldwide.

We aim to make strefo.com world's most effective and credible "middleman" in 80% of global B2B - SME business

Our website

http://strefo.com

Our promotional video:

The key characteristics of the populations who will benefit from our solution in the next 12 months:

Adult
Non-binary
Urban
Lower
Middle

The regions where we will be operating in the next 12 months:

Sub-Saharan Africa
Europe and Central Asia
East and Southeast Asia

How we will reach and retain our customers or beneficiaries:

First, the value we bring to social media does not currently exist. Individuals will make friends, money learn/better their language skills and grow businesses networks here all in a fun way.

Second, we have an elaborate reward scheme through points and credits that will later be converted to discounts and high level access for performing individuals.

These will make everyone want to grow their "Social credit score" by indulging more, learning more contributing more and trading more on the patform

How many people we are currently serving with our solution:

We are still in the development stage but have 55 individual businesspersons awaiting signup for the beta

How many people we will be serving with our solution in the 12 months and the next 3 years:

12 MONTHS
We are looking to grow at 40% per month and have a list of 55 waiting to be on-boarded once we launch, hence about 2,000 after 12 months

3 YEARS
The exponential growth puts us at 6,500,000 users in three years

About Your Team

Partnership Potential

strefo [strefo.com]