Squairr

• African citizens working in small non-profits accomplish excellent work in the absence of proper attention and recognition and with limited resources and funding. A report  by Bridgespan Group and African Philanthropy Forum states that  African donors directed just 9 percent of large gifts (by value), and non-African donors just 14 percent, to NGOs based on the continent. Another report states that only about 1% of all official aid, and an even smaller portion of humanitarian assistance, goes directly to the global south.
• Donors to non-profit organizations expect honesty, choice, and feedback on their contributions. According to FTC Consumer Sentinel Network statistics, there were over 4,600 reports of charitable solicitation fraud in 2020. The  2020 Report to the Nations, copyright 2020 by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Inc. (ACFE), on occupational fraud revealed that nonprofits represented 9% of the fraud cases and suffered a median loss of $75,000. Of the nonprofit cases, the average loss was $639,000.
• Tools used by non-profits for communication, volunteer management etc are scattered and scale poorly.

Squairr is a civic engagement platform for African citizens, non-profits, political candidates, and companies to easily and quickly create, publicize, support, and manage their social causes and campaigns digitally. We provide donors with the confidence to give to vetted non-profits all over Africa. We provide non-profits with access to networks, financial and human resources, and data; so that local and foreign aid flows with greater effectiveness and efficiency than ever before. Our solution provides:

1. Skill Volunteering:  We help social entrepreneurs and changemakers to mobilize, connect, activate, and engage your volunteers to drive real-world change. In a world that is becoming more and more online, how can you recruit, keep volunteers? How can you gauge or measure the success and impacts of your online volunteer communities effectively and prove their worth to your stakeholders? We answer these questions and foster direct, mutually beneficial relationships between skilled volunteers and local non-profits. We employ technology to remove physical barriers and reduce the cost of giving and utilizing time.

• Volunteer Recruitment:  We provide tools to non-profits call for volunteers, and get the right people with a shared vision, mission, and purpose to help them drive social change. We make it easy to find individuals who are passionate about social causes and are willing to dedicate their time and skills to support the goals.

• Volunteer Engagement: We Provide volunteers with the tools and capabilities they need to generate content, collaborate in real-time, and take part in team discussions. 
• Monitoring and Evaluation: We make it easy to measure community KPIs and track the progress of your campaigns and volunteers, evaluate the impact of your volunteer work, and identify areas for improvement.

2.  Donations: We help active citizens and corporate donors to directly donate to a well-vetted local non-profit. We make this process, transparent, open, and accountable delivering value to vetted, small non-profits, social entrepreneurs, and donors(individuals, companies, and institutions). We track how every money is spent and provide feedback to the donors backed with data.

3. We Help businesses in planning and executing their corporate social responsibility.

4. Social Enterprise Registration:  We assist changemakers and social entrepreneurs to formally register their organization with the Corporate affairs commissions and provide them with any other help they need to launch a successful impact-driven organization.

5. Peer Learning & Training: Online learning and sharing for and between local nonprofits, building internal capacity, improving effectiveness, and helping projects to scale their social impact.

6. Data Advocacy: We help in solving data challenges, facilitating data collection, and analysis, and sharing data on what makes projects effective and worth giving to. Our solution provides data collection methods, including surveys, forms, and feedback mechanisms, to make it easy for community members to share their feedback and opinions. This is essential for needs assessment gathering, Comprehensive Beneficiary Profiling which allows organizations to create detailed profiles of community members by collecting data on their interests, and preferences, use it to personalize outreach efforts, and provide targeted services. 

The technology is a mobile and web app.

Our target pollution includes African citizens, non-profits, political candidates, and companies. The solution impacts their lives in various ways, including:

1. African citizens can use Squairr to create and support social causes and campaigns that align with their values and interests. This enables them to engage in civic activities and participate in social change more easily and effectively.

2. Non-profits can use Squairr to gain access to networks, financial and human resources, and data. This allows them to operate more efficiently and effectively, with greater transparency and accountability. As a result, they can better serve their communities and achieve their missions with greater impact.

3. Political candidates can use Squairr to publicize their campaigns and connect with voters. This enables them to engage in democratic processes and communicate their vision and policies to a wider audience.

4. Companies can use Squairr to support social causes and campaigns that align with their corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives. This enables them to demonstrate their commitment to social and environmental issues and contribute to positive social change in Africa.

Overall, Squairr's solution has the potential to improve the lives of African citizens, non-profits, political candidates, and companies by providing them with a platform to create, publicize, support, and manage social causes and campaigns digitally. Additionally, the platform provides donors with the confidence to give to vetted non-profits all over Africa, which can increase the flow of aid and contribute to greater effectiveness and efficiency in the distribution of resources.

Our team is uniquely positioned to enable our startup's success for the diverse set of skills, domain knowledge, and experiences each of us uniquely brings to the table. 

We have a combination of expertise in business strategy, product development, Software Engineering, technology, marketing, customer service, and operations, which allows us to approach our startup with a holistic perspective and quickly identify opportunities to capitalize on. All the founders have a proven track record of developing successful products and services in a startup environment. 

Additionally, our team has a strong drive and commitment to success, backed by a shared vision, experiential knowledge of the problem, and the negative impact of this problem not addressed. 

We have seen first-hand how this issue has affected our personal lives and our communities and understand the need to build a working solution, where impact meets sustainability. For instance, our Team Lead Eme Lekwa worked as a volunteer for an Internation Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and saw this issues firsthand. His work as a student social innovator at Enactus Nigeria is essential in equipping him with the right skill to provide the solution. Below is a detailed background of our two co-founders.

1. Eme Lekwa (Cofounder & CEO), Background: Political Science Graduate, Software Engineer, CivicHive Fellow 2022, Ashoka Changemaker Leadership Academy graduate 2022, Henley Business School Founder Programme, Alumnus,  Former Software Engineer at Semicolon Africa. Enactus Nigeria Alumnus, Former Volunteer International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse(INPEA). Eme will bring his knowledge of how government and civil society work, to help us develop products that meet the needs of our target market. 
2. Victor Ihedioha (Cofounder & CPO-CTO). Background: Computer Science Graduate, Fullstack Software Engineer, Product Designer & Former Product Lead at Homefort Energy. Henley Business School Founder Programme. His Computer science background and several years of experience in product design, Software Engineering means that the architecture and system designs of products meet best practices. Think about it, there is a capable hand to build it.

1. Partnerships: Driving social change is not what can be done in isolation. We need partners who we can work together to achieve our corporate objective. We believe that participating in Solve challenge will help us secure business partners. We are particular about partnerships with organizations that incubate aspiring social entrepreneurs and nonprofits. And other organization that has member organizations within them for example, the Nigerian Network of NGOs, etc.

2. Financial barriers: We require funding to scale our platform and expand our operations to new regions. Solve can connect Squairr with potential investors, philanthropic organizations, or other sources of funding that align with our mission and objectives.

3. Technical barriers: We need technical expertise and resources to scale our infrastructure. Solve can connect us with technology partners, and developers, who can provide guidance, support, or resources to enhance the functionality and usability of our platform. This may include access to AWS or Azure cloud services, Software subscriptions such as Microsoft Office packages, etc. Google Ads can help us in digital marketing and have a wider reach.

4. Network. We need access to a global network of social entrepreneurs that we can learn from each other. If accepted into the program, we will have the opportunity to interact with entrepreneurs across the globe and get the chance to see innovation from an MIT point of view.

5. Mentorship: The program will allow us to learn from seasoned academics and industry experts. The guidance, support, answers, and clarification of issues bothering our minds, by these experts will open our minds to possibilities.

6. The program will help expose the work we do to the work through traditional and new media.

Our solution, Squairr, is innovative because it provides a comprehensive, user-friendly platform for civic engagement and social impact initiatives in Africa that is tailored to the unique needs and challenges of the region.

Firstly, Squairr is innovative in the way it leverages technology to connect citizens, non-profits, political candidates, and companies in a single platform that promotes collaboration, transparency, and social impact. By providing a digital space for these groups to create, publicize, support, and manage their social causes and campaigns, Squairr empowers them to mobilize communities, drive positive change, and hold leaders accountable.

Secondly, Squairr is innovative in the way it combines the functionalities of different platforms into one, allowing for greater efficiency and convenience. Instead of using different platforms for fundraising, organizing events, and managing campaigns, Squairr provides all these features in one place, reducing the time and effort needed to manage multiple platforms.

Finally, Squairr is innovative in the way it promotes transparency and trust in the non-profit sector by vetting non-profit organizations and providing donors with confidence that their donations will be used effectively. By providing non-profits with access to networks, financial and human resources, and data, Squairr helps local and foreign aid to flow with greater effectiveness and efficiency than ever before.

Squairr has the potential to catalyze broader positive impacts from others in this space by inspiring more platforms to focus on creating a comprehensive and user-friendly platform for civic engagement and social impact initiatives. By demonstrating the potential of such a platform in Africa, Squairr could lead the way for others to adopt similar models in other regions and sectors.

Squairr has the potential to change the market by creating a new category of social impact and civic engagement platforms tailored to the unique needs and challenges of Africa. By providing a one-stop-shop for social impact initiatives, Squairr has the potential to become a leading platform in the region and beyond, attracting more users, donors, and investors to drive positive social change.

For small non-profit

1. To raise 100 million Naira annually in direct funding for 500+ well-vetted small non-profits in the next 1 year and 500 million Naira in the next five years.

2. To create an online talent pool, where 500+ small nonprofits can access skilled volunteers.

3. Improve organizational effectiveness of 500+ small nonprofits by 50% through the use of our digital tools.

4. Get 12 petitions addressed by the government annually.

For Donors:

1. To Enable 200,000+ donors to give money each year to our vetted small non-profit.

2. To enable 500+ volunteers to give their time each year to 250+ vetted small nonprofits annually.

3. Keep donors motivated and feel inspired to give more.

4. Provide impact feedback to donors on the non-profit they have donated to.

For PolicyMakers

1. Acknowledgment and recognition of Civily/Squairr as a source of expertise in empowering small non-profits with data, and resources to create change.

2. Influence policy direction through petitions.

• The amount raised and committed to drive social change through our platform.
• The Proportion of the population who believe decision-making is inclusive and responsive, by sex, age, disability, and population group by using our petition feature to influence public policy in Nigeria-Africa.
• For non-profits to achieve sustainability and build their communities.
• Well-vetted non-profit utilizes digital tools to organize their work and become effective and efficient.

• Well-vetted non-profits receive volunteers, the people power needed to help them in their impact-driven mission.
• Better policies occasioned by needs assessment gathering and data collection are made possible through our platform.

1. African citizens working in small nonprofits accomplish excellent work in the absence of proper attention and recognition and with limited resources and funding.

2. Donors to non-profit organizations expect honesty, choice, and feedback on their contributions. Tools used by non-profits for communication, volunteer management, data sharing, etc are scattered and scale poorly.

3. Technology can improve processes. The internet has no territorial limits; it allows fresh and diverse perspectives to be heard; and it collects, saves, and analyzes data at previously unthinkable scales.

The core technology that powers Squairr is a web-based platform that leverages a range of modern technologies, including cloud computing(particularly AWS and Azure), mobile technology(built with Flutter), and data analytics(With Python). Our platform provides a range of tools and features that enable African citizens, non-profits, political candidates, and companies to easily and quickly create, publicize, support, and manage their social causes and campaigns digitally.

One of the key technologies that underpin our platform is cloud computing, which enables us to deliver our services to users across Africa with speed and reliability. We use cloud-based infrastructure to store and process user data, as well as to host our applications and services.

We also leverage mobile technology to enable users to access our platform from their smartphones or other mobile devices. This is particularly important in Africa, where mobile phone penetration is high, and many people access the internet primarily through their phones.

To support our users' campaigns and causes, we use data analytics to provide insights into user behavior and campaign performance. This enables our users to track the impact of their campaigns, refine their messaging and outreach strategies, and improve their effectiveness over time.

In the coming years, we are planning to build Machine learning and AI capabilities into our platform. We planned to build a token system that will be powered by Blockchain technology. The token will be used to reward donors, citizens, and corporate bodies for their civic engagement and participation in taking action to drive social change.

Overall, our platform is powered by a range of modern technologies that enable us to deliver our services to a diverse and geographically dispersed user base in Africa. We believe that by leveraging these technologies, we can empower individuals and organizations to drive positive social change and promote civic engagement across the continent.

We are committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusivity in all aspects of our work. Our team recognizes that diversity is a strength and that it is essential to the success of our mission. We strive to foster an inclusive and welcoming environment where everyone's voice is heard and valued.

Our leadership team is diverse, with members from different, backgrounds, and cultures. We believe that this diversity brings a unique perspective and contributes to our ability to develop innovative solutions that address complex social problems.

We recognize that there is always more that we can do to become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. To this end, we have set goals to increase the representation of underrepresented groups within our team and to promote a culture of equity and inclusivity. We have taken actions to achieve these goals, including:

1. Developing a diversity, equity, and inclusion policy that outlines our commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone.

2. Conducting unconscious bias training for our team members to raise awareness of the ways in which unconscious biases can affect our decisions and behaviors.

3. Actively recruiting from diverse talent pools to increase the representation of underrepresented groups within our team.

4. Reviewing our hiring processes to ensure that they are free from bias and promote equity and inclusivity.

5. Encouraging open and honest communication among team members to create a safe space for everyone to express their opinions and ideas.

We recognize that promoting diversity, equity, and inclusivity is an ongoing process, and we are committed to continuously improving our efforts in this area. We believe that our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion will enable us to better serve our diverse communities and achieve our mission of promoting civic engagement and social change in Africa.

We adopted the following model: B2B, B2C, Subscription Model, Commission based, Ads-based. 

We offer subscriptions to organizations using our customer relationship management (CRM) software to track donations and manage donor contact information. Our CRM software offers multiple functionalities such as email, phone, activity tracking, volunteer communication, and others in a single system without having to use multiple software tools.

We make money through a 2.5 percent commission on all donations to an organization. This helps in our tedious and rigorous due diligence process and to power our digital payment processing. In the future, as we grow our number of users, we intend to introduce unintrusive ads.

Our plan for becoming financially sustainable is to leverage a combination of revenue streams to cover our expected expenses.

Firstly, we plan to generate revenue through the sale of premium services to non-profits, political candidates, and companies. These premium services would include advanced analytics, campaign management tools, and enhanced customer support, among other features. We believe that there is a significant demand for these services among our target audience and that we can generate meaningful revenue by offering them. This also includes service subsidization, we are planning to partner with Norbase to subsidize the cost of registering nonprofits in Nigeria through our product Launchpact.

Secondly, we plan to raise investment capital from impact investors who are aligned with our mission to drive positive social change in Africa. We believe that there is a growing interest among impact investors in supporting tech-enabled solutions that promote civic engagement and social justice, and that we can attract investment capital by demonstrating the impact of our platform and the potential for growth. Currently, we have been able to raise $25,000 in investment funding from Semicolon Ventures.

Thirdly, we plan to seek out grants and funding opportunities from international organizations, philanthropic foundations, and governments who are committed to supporting civic engagement and social impact initiatives in Africa. We believe that we can leverage our track record of success and our growing network of partners to secure meaningful grant funding that will enable us to expand our platform and reach more users across the continent.

Finally, we plan to explore additional revenue streams, such as advertising and sponsorships, that align with our mission and values. We believe that by diversifying our revenue streams and leveraging a range of funding sources, we can achieve long-term financial sustainability while staying true to our commitment to driving positive social change in Africa.

We plan to achieve financial sustainability through investment funding, grants, and revenue. So far, we have raised $25,000 in pre-seed funding from Semicolon Ventures.