Jobs and Financial Inclusion, Tinkerlink

Founder of TinkerLink a social marketplace helping communities to get jobs and get paid. Originally from Mexico, lived over 20 years in USA. In between Europe USA and Mexico for the past 7 years. With +20 years of experience in Management in the Telecom Industry. Eight years ago left the corporate world (a difficult decision being a middle age woman) and decided to be an entrepreneur. Co-founded Cronos Group carrier of carriers delivering enhanced unified communications. Thanks to COVID we also created Xekapp, a symptom monitor tracker webapp. I Chair the Alumni Foundation of the Stanford Executive Program, giving NGO founders chance to attend the Program. I’m impact officer at YPO running initiatives for upskill reskilling and refugee integration. Founder of Opulix a digital platform giving voice to underrepresented Spanish speaking authors. I am obsessed about Technology and its social Impact, convinced we all can make a difference.

Over 60% of world population works in the informal economy. COVID is leaving over +100million people unemployed that may have to resource from the informal economy as a way to have an income. 

We built Tinkerlink a beautiful social marketplace, to search, find and connect with trustworthy experts recommended by people you already know. 9 of 10 rather to hire someone recommended. Bringing online that offline word of mouth allowing everyone to become potential employers, giving them the possibility to offer services, gigs and jobs, learning new skills and trades, while including them in the financial mobile revolution.

When TinkerLink create job opportunities for the informal population in each city, it produces a ripple effect cascading into communities, generating positive impact everywhere. We will elevate humanity by giving back the power to people to employ and be employable, depending less on big enterprise and governments.

1) Employment: Because of COVID 100 million people will be out of a job, most likely will resource from the informal economy to make a living. Prior that half of the world worked in the informal sector. In the US that’s 5.1% of the economy is informal and in Mexico it’s 30% of its GDP ($168.5 Billion) where the domestic aid market alone, amounts to 3.6 billion pesos a month (that's more than 200 million USD). TinkerLink is creating those micro networks in their own communities to convert themselves into micro-employers but also are enabling them to learn new skills and trades (Re-skill/Upskill), so they can enrich their offering while in their search for the right job.

2)  Why is a problem the informal economy? Because they are left out of the financial system, meaning, they don’t have access to loans, mortgages, pension plans, etc. We are including people in the mobile economy by allowing them to get paid and access to the financial system. With TinkerLink is also a lot fairer for those offering their services as it enables them to make their own connections, negotiate their fees, and establish their own terms for contracts.

Our Solution is TinkerLink, the first social marketplace where you search, find, and connect with trustworthy experts recommended by your community. There are no practical and affordable online resources where people part of the informal economy can post their availability, be promoted by their own network, set their own rates, and make fair deals with other trusted people. Most job posting boards have been focusing on serving companies.  So, what happens to the day-to-day people who work in houses and small businesses or micro-businesses? I am a believer that each one of us personally can be employers and help at least one family to do something for us, recommend them in our network of contacts, and thereby help them cope or even get out of this current COVID19 crisis.

In Tinkerlink we created a network of Experts that are helping others to gain new abilities  and/or learn new trades (Upskill/Reskill), so they can thrive during this post Covid era, with TinkerLink It’s much easier, faster, and more secure, and TinkerLink is also much fairer for service providers, allowing them to make their own connections, negotiate their rates, and set their own terms for services and products offered.

Think about nurses, cleaners drivers, those you give the keys to your house, are unable to be part of the financial system, half of working population worldwide in the informal economy. Add +100 million of people, unemployed because of COVID. TinkerLink helps communities meaningful improving their quality of live. In our marketplace  people can post their availability, get promoted by their own network, set their own fees, and make fair agreements with other trustworthy people

We launched the Tinkerlink academy fostering member to member upskill and reskilling program where our users learn more abilities new trades and skills delivered by Tinkerlink members to members. With it, we improve their opportunities to connect, and recommend to each other. We nurture communities, allowing them to grow exponentially and once paid inside the app to be part of a financial system to receive loans, credit score, and more benefits.

Thanks to the data Tinkerlink provides, we understand what areas and networks require what types of work and skills, so we will be able to address those specific needs from our own communities, making sure to either employ someone or get employed by a fellow member of the network

Our moonshot is to democratize prosperity, and we want to do it by giving the opportunity for Tinkerlink members to be able to continue working in things they love. Many old occupations and trades are disappearing, falling into the informal jobs, as consequence underpaid and unable to be part of the financial system. We give the power back to change the equation. With Tinkerlink they regain the opportunity to improve their chances as they expand their digital reputation and with it their reach. We encourage their upskill and reskill and find out more income opportunities for them.

A few years ago my grandmother was very ill and no longer self-sufficient. This was very difficult for her and for us, her family. We all work full time, so we needed to hire an adult caregiver. But who? Do you know how difficult it is to find a good caregiver? In whose hands can you leave your loved ones? Especially if they cannot speak and tell you if they are being well attended. Who do you give the keys to your house?  We called every one in our network of contacts, friends, mothers of friends, acquaintances, all trying to find a trustworthy person to take care of my grandma. And as we dig deeper into it, I realized the problem was even bigger, not only for employers  (to find trustworthy experts), but for the employees the issue was double difficult. Half of the population that work in these type of jobs, the nurses, nannies, cleaners, gardeners, are usually paid in cash (either because they do not trust the banks, or don't even have an account) so they are paid in cash, therefore out of the financial system, without access to loans, credits, pension plans, enabling a vicious cycle.

When my mom, in her late 30s lost her job, It was very difficult for her to be able to provide for us. Saw her knocking every single door she could to find a job. Come from a strong women family, we do not give up that easily. I’ve emigrated to USA, and managed the two largest calling card companies in the US, and sold prepaid debit ATM cards to immigrants, saw many of my “paisanos” and many others from many countries, suffering not only to get a job, but also paying ridiculous amount of commisions, for being out of the financial system, when sending money back to their countries. I sympathize with all immigrants trying to make a better living for their families. Me as a Mexican immigrant, I have the duty to give back not only to my community, but also to increase that reach to all the people that could have the opportunity to change their fortune, regardless where they do come from. Their destiny and their whole families could be changed shall they’ve been given the opportunity of a better and dignified job granting them access to prosperity. 

I am a Mexican immigrant that lived in the US for more than 15 years and have been in the telecoms industry since I can remember. I used to work in telecoms and merged the two largest calling card companies in the US. My target markets has been for many years the US Hispanics, and multicultural communities all around the USA. I completely understand this market segment better than many, and truly believe there is no one better equipped person to take this project to completion than me. I understand our users and want to build better products for them. I believe that hard work and constant improvement through learning and experience are two of the most important steps in making a better product. Listening to the customers has been vital in the development of our solution. I'm a true networker, all my life have been creating networks in my personal and work life. I truly understand the importance of referral systems in our society. And not only understand the power of partnership but I treasure it. I embrace the opportunity to work with people that are way more talented than me, as a consequence, we’ve formed an incredible team that has helped me to get where we are. The road has not been easy, but we have a commitment with our communities and members at TinkerLink, to help them get a job and get paid, that is a satisfaction that we all are very proud of.

Back in 2012, while I was the driving force of the fusion of the two largest calling card companies in the US, managed the 50% of voice traffic incoming into Mexico. I helped to secure US$150million in credit lines from vendors, the owner/chairman of the company decided to file for Chapter11 without telling me. I heard it next day from one of the vendors who previous day has just provided us US$2 million in services. That is how my transition from corporate to entrepreneur started. I thought I’d never recover from it. But I truly believe that overcoming adversity is recognizing that you are not a victim but realizing that there is something bigger than you. It is grit and discipline ultimately the ones who help you push through. And I believe that this pushed me to create my own destiny. To be owner of my future. I already had the NOes, just needed to fight for the YES. Borrowed 13k from a 2nd mortgage to prepay a vendor to prove I was worthy of my word and will payback. After that, many more vendors started business with us with credit. My grandma says you only fail when stop trying.

A good leader is that one that has won the trust of their team. And while the road has not been easy, as leading teams in corporations was completely different to what I have done in a Startup, I had been able to build a fantastic team. Together, we can create together the best product needed in the market. And each of them knows it, and know they are needed and key part of the consecution of our objectives. You not only need to show leadership in your company, but we also create trust in your user's community. Today we are helping many #Tinkers to develop their own personal brands in order to create opportunities of  employment and chances for them to become providers of training for the subject there are experts on.  That has granted us with access to understand the needs of the community and create that bund where we understand their needs and listen to them. We are obsessed in solving their problems, not only because we want to help them, but because we learn from them. We push ourselves to think differently and look around each step of the process to better serve our community.

We are a for profit company and as explained before we are a multicultural team, we have a big part of the team in Barcelona, we also have the team in Mexico. I am resident in the US and the company has been established in the US with a subsidiary in Mexico, In Spain the 10% partner of the company  is providing us with services and contract employment from our tech team who works full time for us and is fundamental part of our core.

We want to give back the power to people to be able to become employers and provide new sources of employment, at the time, we give them a platform to learn new skills that will give them more sources of income. While it may seems that this is already happening in the offline world, there is absolutely no marketplace today targeting this segment of economic activity, there are no online resources where people can post their availability, be promoted by their own network, set their own rates, and make fair deals with other trusted people. Most online job posting boards have been focusing on serving companies.  So, what happens to the day-to-day people who work in houses and small businesses or micro-businesses? I am a believer that each one of us personally can be employers and help at least one family to do something for us, recommend them in our network of contacts, and thereby help them cope or even get out of this COVID19 crisis.

Also we are much easier, faster, and safer than platforms like TaskRabbit, Angies List or Home improvement that offer reviews of people’s work but ultimately, you’re most likely having to let a complete stranger into your home and family. TinkerLink is also a lot fairer for those offering their services as it enables them to make their own connections, negotiate their fees, and establish their own terms for contracts.

With Tinkerlink we help people get jobs, get paid, and get included!

We firmly believe that positively impacting the life on one person is good enough, but what about if we create that network effect where we all impact the life of another? I believe a lot in the 6 degrees of separation, so we always have the opportunity to help someone that we already know, to either help her/him to find or to be found with an opportunity that'll improve their life. This is what Tinkerlink is about, We want to democratize prosperity. How can yogurt more jobs? if you get recommended, and if you get recommended, you can negotiate your own fair income for the job you want to do, and that will get you more recommendation,s and will expand your network which will increase the possibilities to get more acquaintances, and also, make you more tech savvy as you are using mobile technology to do this, even get opal in the app and with that get out of informal economy, be included in the financial system access to pension, mortgages, insurances loans, that will build your credit score, that will give you more access to finical product, that will increase the chances for you to get done more jobs, and with that more recommendation, meeting new people, getting better social skills, even teaching some of the stuff you already know to new people, impacting positively your relationships in your community and your family at the time you meet more people, and even learn something new from some one in that community that will give you more skills to get more jobs better paid, and the beautiful cycle never ends, creating what we want democratize prosperity!

We currently serve 100k registered users that had created an approx of 1k jobs and generated  over 20k matches. We want to grow in one year uno to a million and up to 13 million in the next 5 if we get the right partners and funding!

TinkerLink’s goal for the next years is to have returning customers into our Mobile wallet build a merchant network the will allow us to enable more people to be employed and financially included. We want to expand and partner with financial institutions, that can deliver products to our market base,. And also with learning institutions that can provide with more skills to our members so they can have access to more knowledge and better job and better paid opportunities.

We want to continue growing in Mexico go to the US to address the multicultural ethnic market, mainly by connecting communities that are already created in between Mexico and their peers and relatives into the US, and from there going down in the map into Latin America. 

We are piloting in Spain at the current moment to understand if the dynamics of the European market amid COVD crisis and recession, will work as well for Tinkerlink, and see as well how this could impact the refugee market in Europe as well that could positively is impacting the migrant workers fro Mexico. Our goal is to keep growing and increasing client satisfaction by focusing on the trust in the service and the quality of the product. In order to achieve this, they surround themselves with quality motivated and competent workers who help them to stay on top of the latest industry trends and keep learning and improving every day.

Funding. We were very slow in getting the right talent on board, because we did a lot of bootstrapping, but now we have a fantastic multicultural team based out of Barcelona and Mexico, that we all are ready to take the challenge. 

Marketing dollars, we have evidence that then market segment we are in, still are in the learning process of their digital reputation, we need some odd the investment to go to retrain and help relearn not only technology to the better use and promote our members, but also to create and partner the right content programs that will allow our members to grow in the platform with more and better paid services.

Another potential barrier is if we do not partner with financial institutions, and try to create our un Fintech, might be regulation, so that will increase the cost of potential solution, but again this is solvable.

Funding, Culture, Partnerships.

If we get the right partners in funding and in developing the services, cross marketing and cross product that can be available through our platform, the world is ours,.

We can overcome any of those obstacles with the right team and culture in the company, and we have the right team (we just need more smart hands) and we have the right fighting/helping/belonging/makig an impact culture, to make it happen!

We had been reaching out to Mexican authorities to work in paralel to help them achieving their goals in getting more people employed, as everyone knows working with govemenr can be tiresome, but we are there knocking doors.

We also recently get approached by the Catalonian government where we are working together in developing solutions for targeting the agricultural segment in the job creating and inclusion.

I am personally Impact Officer of YPO Greater Europe and within the Network I am championship the Future of Work Initiative in Europe, I am in conversations to put as pilot our platform to see how we can help with the COIVD era unemployment crisis, the platform of Tinkerlink to work.

The Revenue Model is composed of three elements as following: 

Wallet: Transactional - Model over small competitive fees for sending and receiving payments, and commissions over sales and gift cards  or prepaid products within merchant networks.

Advertising - We wan to help brands to get to closer to their customers, and help them target their campaigns based in the interest and preferences of our users. We can share information on possibilities of targeting the right product or service based on the acuity of each user in the network, in a socially and ethically committed way. We also see possibilities for Brands to sponsor sections, branded content, and searching other B2B opportunities to interact with our communities. 

Freemium - We want our users to have visibility, but if some of them need an extra push, they can indeed upgrade opportunities to be first in search, as well as make subscription models where they get some benefits in exchange of monthly fees

We are enabling the wallet within the next 3 months, and we believe that within the first year of operations we can become self-sufficient. Our SAM is composed by half of the population that work in the informal economy in the world, if we do a micro-view into Mexico, for example, We are saying that 60% of economically active population work in the informal economy, this is about 58million people, out of those 70% have smartphones and use social media applications (40million) we believe we can get during the first year 1.5% of that market (half a million), out of that we believe that at least 20% will use our wallet with a minimum fee, we will bring at least 5% of the customers buying services through our app where we will get some type of commission from vendors and affiliation programs, and another 5% of commissions for the selling of telecom services.

In order to achieve sustainability we need to increase our engineering team to provide us with a robust wallet and API modules for the creation of the merchant network. and increase our Budget in Marketing dollars.

We are actively looking to get access to grants, so we can release the pressure of getting a VC looking for immediate ROI, and also looking for impact investors that can not only help us with funding but with partnerships to make this bigger. 

10% Cronos Group

90% CEO - DIANA DANIELS  

Back in 2012, I created my own telecommunications companies which is profitable and in good standing, I have partners in that company that I convinced to let me pursue this passion of mine, while they would provide me a small fund in exchange of the10% of the company. So I have still 90% of the rest of it.

Ideally with TinkerLink we would like to get at least 1.5 million USD in a convertible note. This money will allow us to finish the Money wallet, the interconnection with API for a merchant network, as well as an operating budget for marketing dollars that will support our expansion plan. 

For 2020 we have an expenditure planned of 600k. Our current distribution of expenses is 20% advertising  5% equipment 40% salaries (marketing development, all)  25% services 20% in software

We would love to either partner or learn from fintechs, as well as banking partners that are ready to be disrupted and embrace the change. 

With legal firms that could help us solve the regulatory concerns that may emerge then from us becoming a Fintech in the different markets. 

We would welcome all the advice in the the go to market strategy from Advertising and Marketers. And would love to have great partnerships with retailers where we can improve our merchant Newtork, and allow our users to use services from our app into their services.

We would love to add a tech-ed solution that will help our users to enhance the current members to member upskill reskill program, and add on educational and training services where we could offer certification for members that will improve their chances to get better paid jobs.

Insurance (medical work and general), mortgages, and work, personal and ediucation loan providers as well as other type of services that usually the informal sector, had not get a chance to be part, we would like to bring this untapped segment to the economy.