DoDigi

Since early 2020, the way of doing business has dramatically changed, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in low income communities (who make up the majority of the Southern African populations) hasn't been able to digitize; as a result, businesses have sustained massive financial blows and some have had to close shop. DoDigi was birthed: a blended 12-week program that trains and mentors MSME's (with 60% being women-led) on digital technologies, entrepreneurship and resilience building in the face of economic challenges. Participants are then connected to the Meeticks platform; which enables them to sell their products/services to customers through a chatbot, running fully-automated over WhatsApp (the most used and accessible app in Southern Africa).  This app therefore allows merchants to connect with customers globally with a few clicks. We therefore seek to digitize low income communities so that they to can participate meaningfully in the digital economy

Across SADC, MSMEs represent 90%+ of all businesses, employ 50-60% of these countries’ workforce, and over 60% of whom are led by women, making women the backbone of these economies (Mckinsey). Since March 2020, however, when Covid-19 lockdowns were introduced many MSMEs especially those located in low-income, township and rural communities sustained massive financial blows of low or no revenues. This was also evidenced by entrepreneurs in our network, who were not being able to do business. The big problem is that since early 2020, the way of doing business has dramatically changed, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in low income and rural communities hasn't been able to digitize not because they don't want to, but because they don't know how to navigate the digital economy, and are not able to afford ICT/Digital consultants and specialists due their high cost. Mckinsey confirms that the emergence of online marketplaces and micro sales platforms that allow MSMEs to access new markets is one critical way of helping to overcome this challenge. It is within this context, that we adopted our programming and prototyped this project with 40 unemployed participants in SA, 65% of whom created a sustainable enterprise and were connected to economic opportunities

Our solution is a 12 week blended offline and online program that offers training for MSMEs on digital technologies and resilience-building skills as well as open digital channels (social-commerce) on our Meeticks platform to empower them to continue doing business. Meeticks is the first of its kind application, taking advantage of WhatsApp’s newly released API to enable any consumer with WhatsApp on their phone, to access business services and products from merchants who have been on boarded onto the app. We enable these entrepreneurs to become "visible" by connecting them to the digital economy, through cloud-based, chatbot-powered micro shops that are accessible over WhatsApp, meaning that many more consumers can access their services, enabling business continuity and a resilient and digitally adapted MSME sector, even if there are restrictions on people's movements in future. 

Our primary target market MSMEs (with at least 60% of them women-led and youth) living in rural and low-income communities in SA, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, eSwatini, Malawi and Mozambique. COVID-19 has advanced the digital age to a state of necessity and yet these communities have historically been left behind in remaining relevant and agile in the current economic climate. By bringing our solution to marginalized communities we are enabling its entrepreneurs (and consumers alike) to participate in the digital economy, to learn, and to earn; opening up economic opportunities and continued business operation, as well as possibilities for new avenues for growth and improved efficiencies.

As an organization we work in low-income, township or rural communities where women and girls are by far the most marginalized and vulnerable; which is why across all of our programs, we either work exclusively with women and girls or have a minimum participation threshold of at least 60%.We also conducted desk-top research released by McKinsey and Yoco; as well as ran a pilot in partnership with Gender Links working with 40 women in the township of Philippi Village. We experienced first-hand how these women were not able to do business which saw us providing food parcels for them. This highlighted the need to focus on women-led MSMEs because being the majority, they have had to contend with further socio-economic factors such as the rise of GBV. President Ramaphosa of SA. 

Furthermore, in Sub-Saharan Africa, even though the overall female labor-force participation rate has reached 61%, yet women constitute only 30% of professionals in the tech industry and the digital gender gap has widened with a quarter fewer women than men using the internet. This has led to the wrong perception that women are simply not interested or want to participate in the digital economy. We hope to shift this narrative as it has discouraged women competing with their male peers and ultimately undermined their capacity to reach their economic potential. 

We continually engage our target population by conducting pre-evaluation surveys, monthly mentor hangouts and post-evaluation surveys to capture and collate feedback. We also track participants' progress daily as they complete the curriculum and submit assignments. Through the data aggregated on Meeticks, we will be able to report on who is using the platform, at what frequency and to what extent they are applying the knowledge received on the platform. Participants will also be able to submit feedback through the platform. Creating several feedback checkpoints with participants is what we use to improve pre and during the lifecycle of the project.

The solution will therefore address their needs by empowering them with entrepreneurial and digital skills they did not have before that enable them to participate in the digital economy; as well as support them to open e-stores that provide them with visibility, access to a new and larger market and business continuity that is agile to lockdowns and enables them to improve their business income by at least 20%. 

Our solution aligns with the challenge because we are targeting digitally excluded communities and small businesses by facilitating trading by opening safe and private cloud-based, chatbot-powered micro shops that are accessible over WhatsApp for all our beneficiaries on the Meeticks platform to enable them to continue and sustain their businesses; and - address the lack of skills, knowledge and lack of access to economic opportunities which affects their ability to sustain their business especially in times of crisis by connecting them with mentors and training in digital technologies, financial management and resilience-building skills and techniques.

We are currently piloting the DoDigi project with 50 MSMEs from South Africa and Botswana. The pilot is running for 12 weeks and we are currently on our third week. We are deploying and testing the Meeticks platform with these entrepreneurs in order receive critical feedback and co-create the innovation with them before scaling it across the region. For more information kindly see this website: www.dodigi.africa

Our approach is innovative because we offer a virtual and authentic learning environment that combines a subject of academic study (digital technologies) with its real-world activities (trading through Meeticks) to improve our beneficiaries' skills, business and economic outcomes. This was even affirmed by the judges who awarded us the 2021 WVLSA Women's Day Economic Justice Award for our economic impact in the gender space. Our Meeticks platform is the first of its kind app, taking advantage of cloud-based, chatbot-powered micro shops that are accessible over WhatsApp to enable any consumer with WhatsApp on their phone, to access business services and products from our merchants who have been on boarded onto the app. We have not come across any other organization in the region taking this approach in the entrepreneurship and gender space. 

 Adopting digital technology and a community-based holistic approach uniquely positions our project to be more scalable and cost-effective than traditional approaches. We successfully prototyped in one country and are now piloting it in SA and Botswana. We strongly believe therefore that given our unique approach and experience we can successfully implement this project, being the first of its kind in the SADC region.

We seek to enable broader positive impacts by significantly closing the gap towards realizing a resilient and digitally adapted MSME sector in SADC. We will be able to track our participants through their engagement on the Meeticks platform and we expect at least 80% to have sustained their businesses 36 months after the program.

Current people: 50 MSMEs in South Africa and Botswana

One year: 200

Five years: 100 000

Indicators we use to measure our progress:

- the number of MSMEs and youth trained in digital technologies, financial management and resilience-building skills;

Participants eligible to graduate from the program once they have passed their course content by at least 50%; trained at least 1 x youth with the content they have learnt ("pay-it-forward") and have been onboarded on Meeticks

- the number of MSMEs onboarded and the dollar amount of sales facilitated on Meeticks; and

- percentage of MSMEs who have received economic opportunities and increased their income by at least 20% during and post the project.

Full time: 5

Part time: 2

Volunteers: 15

We are a women-led award winning team highly skilled in legal, accounting, ICT, project management, media and communications, tech development, accounting and entrepreneurial skills. We are deeply engaged in the entrepreneurship and gender equity space over the last 10 years winning awards such as the USAID Young Women Transform Prize, the Economic Justice award at the WVLSA Women's Day 2021 Awards, the SIAWECCA South Africa Women Entrepreneurs Climate Change Awards, to name but a few awards. We are all from the communities we serve not just in terms of African descent but also as founders of businesses and therefore have intimate first-hand knowledge and lived experience of our target beneficiaries; which is why DoDigi was birthed. Since we serve low-income and rural communities, we have to consult the elders of these communities before implementing any project in their communities through public meetings called "lekgotla". This is where we are meaningfully guided by the community's input on the design and implementation of our programs. Furthermore, the data aggregated from Meeticks enables us to know who and where the entrepreneurs are, as well as where consumers are, which further enables us to map parts of the ecosystems more accurately, for better decision making to know how to better capacitate the startup ecosystem. We also conduct pre-evaluation surveys, monthly mentor hangouts and post-evaluation surveys to capture and collate feedback. Users are also able to submit feedback through the platform. These feedback checkpoints with participants helps to improve the design and implementation of DoDigi

Being a tech-driven solution, we recognize the lack of women leaders in the tech industry and are therefore paving the way by being an 80% women-led team including at board level. All of our programs also reflect at least 60% women and girls as our beneficiaries. Even though we promote youth leadership as a youth-led team, we also appreciate inter-generational wisdom therefore our leadership team embraces diverse age groups and African nationalities, tribes and tongue. Our programs offices are located in one of the townships in South Africa and in the rural community of Jackalas 2 in Botswana; to immerse ourselves in the realities of our communities. Understanding the context is critical in understanding the intersectionality of the position of our target beneficiaries in society. Part of our intervention team includes  graduates of our programs and this allows the participants to see their potential of a full-circle journey. We also have institutionalized policies describing our values of zero tolerance for sexism, discrimination and racism; as well as actively engaged in platforms such having Observer Status with the AU Human Rights Commission to advocate for such values at the highest level as well as at national level through our affiliation with the CIVICUS Global Alliance and Gender Links.

There are two main reasons why we are applying for this challenge:

- the opportunity to join a network of impact-minded leaders across industries and sectors; and

- the opportunity to receive monitoring and evaluation support to build an impact measurement practice.

Covid-19 taught us that access to these two have been the most important reason why we are continuing to stand as an organization. It is through networks that we were cushioned and supported to stay afloat whether in-kind or in financial support. For example, this year we received the largest single grant we have ever received as an organization and that was through attending a networking event where a fellow attendee told a team member about the funding opportunity. Had we not attended that event and met that leader, we would never have been positioned to receive that grant. As a team we respect networks highly not only as places where we receive but where we in turn can also generously give of what we have. 

We have also learnt that building an impact measurement practice positions us for success because people want to invest in something that produces results. We are committed to be an organization that makes significant impact that is measurable and traceable in our communities and we believe that such an organization will always stand the test of time. 

Therefore, even if we only gain access to these two opportunities in Solve, it will position us favorably towards helping us overcome financial barriers. 

These are the two areas our organization still needs significant improvement on. We have the foundational systems in place in terms of having a marketing strategy, using social media and our website to communicate impact; as well as using Salesforce to collect data. However, we strongly believe there is so much more we can do. We currently do not have full time staff specializing on focusing on our public relations and monitoring and evaluation so we split the responsibilities of these two portfolios between the team. We would therefore like to continually grow in our understanding and application of these two areas as they have a direct impact on the organization's growth, financial sustainability and our ability to secure high impact partners.

We would love to partner with Solve members working in a similar sector as us namely in educational training focusing on entrepreneurship and digital technologies for knowledge sharing and benchmarking. To this end, we have identified, Laboratoria in Peru.

We have been intentionally focusing on advancing Digital Equity and inclusion since 2018 when we launched the Emergent Business and Coding Academy for learners and unemployed youth in low-income and rural communities. This academy has trained over 200 students over a 12 month period with entrepreneurship and digital skills that has enabled 80% of them to receive economic opportunities in the form of long-term jobs, tertiary education and start their own entrepreneurial venture after the academy.

Since Covid-19 affected onsite learning in schools, our team has been installing cloud software and creating online visibility through web development in over 130 schools in South Africa and training teachers on how to teach online using online platforms. 

We've conducted digital skills, business and online safety skills training to over 110 000 participants in partnership with platforms such as national tv broadcasters in Botswana and SA, colleges, youth organizations, AfriLabs and churches across Sub Saharan Africa. We even received the 2019 Daily Dispatch Local Heroes Award for our contribution towards digital inclusion of youth in township communities:  https://youtu.be/GfMZLtjS0LI

 We are also beginning a campaign called #IamOnlineSmart for 7000 learners (60% being girls) in 4 African countries to train youth, teachers and parents on Online Safety in August 2021.

In March we launched the DoDigi program (www.dodigi.africa) in SA and Botswana for 50 MSMEs (70% women-led) to digitize and support these enterprises for 3 months to become resilient and sustainable 

Our entire team including at board level is led 80% by women. All of our programs reflect at least 60% women and girls as our beneficiaries. We have therefore been recognized in the gender equity space through being awarded the 2019 USAID Young Women Prize, the 2021 South Africa Entrepreneurs Women Climate Change Award (https://youtu.be/d9pmOZ_rvsk) and the WVLSA Women's Day Economic Justice Award for our impact in the gender space. The increased GBV during the Covid period in SA saw us receiving funding from the Solidarity Fund (established by the president) to support the nation's efforts to reduce this scourge. Our Emergent Business and Coding Academy has trained at least 120 unemployed women over a 12 month period with entrepreneurship and digital skills that has enabled 80% of them to receive economic opportunities after the academy.

In March we launched the DoDigi program (www.dodigi.africa) in SA and Botswana for 50 MSMEs (70% women-led) to digitize and support these enterprises for 3 months to become resilient and sustainable. Please watch this initiative we recently concluded in partnership with the Israeli Embassy in Botswana: https://mail.google.com/mail/u...

We've conducted digital skills, business and online safety skills training to over 110 000 participants (60% being women and girls) in partnership with platforms such as national tv broadcasters in Botswana and SA, colleges, youth organizations, AfriLabs and churches across Sub Saharan Africa. We even received the 2019 Daily Dispatch Local Heroes Award for our contribution towards digital inclusion of youth in township communities:  https://youtu.be/GfMZLtjS0LI