JarJar

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JarJar: Local action for global change

Ezzahra, TunisiaNational impact, Tunisia
Year Founded:
2015
Organization type: 
hybrid
Project Stage:
Idea
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

JarJar is a proximity social network that allows users to know and talk to all the people who live around them. But also to share all goods and services with the neighborhood : share tools, share skills, carpooling, etc.

WHAT IF - Inspiration: Write one sentence that describes a way that your project dares to ask, "WHAT IF?"

What if most of our needs can be solved locally.
About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

Southern countries (especially Tunisia) are fascinated by Western countries and their technological and societal progress. However these developed countries are questioning some consequences of this modernity: consumerism, individualism. We are not obliged to take the same path with the same mistakes. We are in a critical period and we must opt for a model of society that links between technological progress and social links.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

The proposed solution is a proximity social network . It is a website that allows users to know and interact with their neighbors. It also allows to share all kind of objects and services with them ( share expertise , share tools, crowdfunding , surveys, alerts for incidents , etc ) . This site supports local commerce by promoting small shops in the locality and by exposing their promotional offers. Users will thus be active in their community. JarJar is a social network that promotes social connections , sharing economy (rather than the consumer society ) and a model of direct democracy through surveys and crowdfunding .
Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

A family has just moved into a neighborhood. They don't know anyone. By using JarJar, they met their neighbors and fit into the active life of the neighborhood. An unemployed youth sees his restaurant project funded by locals (who think that there are not enough restaurants in the neighborhood) and therefore avoids falling into delinquency, terrorism, etc. A grocer sees his business flourish thanks to the targeted advertising on the website and avoids unequal competition from hypermarkets. A student uses bartering systemwith locals to save for his education.

Impact: What is the impact of the work to date? Also describe the projected future impact for the coming years.

The project aims to connect citizens of the same cities with each other but also with the whole ecosystem : economic, associations, town halls, local producers, local shops. The long-term project is to create connected cities, but also user-friendly and environmentally friendly.

Spread Strategies: Moving forward, what are the main strategies for scaling impact?

The website is under construction. We expect to test it in a single region as a first step. It will be our test area. We'll take the time to properly analyze the entire ecosystem in this region: opinion of users, what to change on the site, partners, indirect competitors, etc. When the test is validated, we will spread gradually throughout the country by social network effect: users inevitably attract more users.
Sustainability

Financial Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure financial sustainability?

We explore several possible business models. Those we have selected are the freemium: all our services will be free, we can propose premium profiles for services that are more complex to implement. Since we can not provide all services offered on the site, a second financing solution is to redirect users to a more specialized site (eg crowdfunding for local projects).

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

Websites available in Tunisia are generally either ad sites (private sale) or facebook groups for local services. Our value proposition is to offer all services of the collaborative economy, but on a local area. Our service is secure (unlike facebook groups that anyone can join). Our business model is not based on mass advertising, as we hold personal information about users like their exact address.
Team

Founding Story

As I am an energetic engineer, I asked myself how can we save energy. I am strongly influenced by the idea of common good, through social connection, and I wanted to combine these principles with energy conservation : the idea was born : JarJar ! We can connect with our neighbors and save energy (promoting barter rather than purchases, promote local trade, etc.)

Team

Our team includes four Tunisian students who received a state scholarship of excellence in order to continue studying engineering in France. We are a dynamic team that knows how to combine good humor and efficiency. Our skills are mainly oriented towards energy and financial. We are working to improve our web development skills, or eventually look for a developer.
Background
Please confirm how you heard about the Unilever Awards:

Through the Social Economy Laboratory in Tunisia

Please confirm your role in the initiative (eg Founder/co-Founder) and your organisational title:

Founder

Which of the 8 UN Global Goals (Sustainable Development Goals) pre-selected for this competition does your solution relate most closely to? [select all that apply]

Responsible Consumption and Production.

Leadership and the Unilever Awards
Please provide examples of any previous entrepreneurial initiatives you have pioneered.

I personally was a member of a project called EcoCard within the university campus. it's a student entrepreneurial project, which aims to reward students through their "environmental" actions. They can win points they can earn points that will be stored in a loyalty card : EcoCard. The points can be spent in various activities within the campus.

Beyond your existing team, who else are you working with to achieve your objectives, eg partners, advisors, mentors?

I am currently following a student-entrepreneur diploma (with JarJar). This is a coaching course which aims to support student entrepreneurs to lunch their startups by advising them and allowing them to enter coworking spaces.