MySoft: The App for Small Service Providers

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MySoft: The App for Small Service Providers

Nordeste Brasileiro, BrazilSalvador, Brazil
Organization type: 
for profit
Project Stage:
Growth
Website:
http://www.dossierdigital.ws
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

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

MySoft intends its production and distribution of computer applications (apps) for use by service providers in classes C and D, promoting the digital inclusion of small businesses from the base of the social pyramid. The creators of the applications are youth from the same social reality, organized in professional cooperative networks, for income generation via the production of software.

About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

Small service providers, such as street market salesmen, curtain fitters, car washers, confectioners and day laborers, were largely benefitted with the popularization of cell phones. Now they demand these small devises help them organize their day to day, the operationalization of the services they provide. We supply this demand. These micro entrepreneurs need to organize their list of clients, appointments, deadlines, can benefit by having greater control over on credit sales, etc. In principle, information technology can contribute as much as it does with larger businesses. However, these small service providers are disregarded by conventional suppliers of information technology.

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

The MeuSoft solution innovates the technology of app production, the technology of collaboration, in networks, and in the business model, whereby the royalties resulting from the sale of the apps are shared among the participants of social projects. Once produced, for a specific client, each app goes through an approval and generalization process, in order to serve similar demands and gain scale in target audience. The apps are hosted in the cloud (Cloud Computing) and are sold, at the price of snacks, in large scale. The MeuSoft platform develops apps for numerous systems. Initially designed for Windows 7, MeuSoft has guaranteed resources to develop the app for smartphones in the three leading platforms: Windows 8, iOS and Android. But it´s the collaborative aspect that is the most innovative. MeuSoft allows the reutilization of a wide range of devices produced by the participants. Thus, a new app comprises a vast collection of features, as a starting point.
Impact: How does it Work

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

There are four actors: the social project participant, the future app users, the endorsing institutions and the Digital Dossier. The participants are trained to develop apps that will generate income. The more apt can achieve a minimum wage salary, continuous and increasing, as of the third year. This is a major prospect for a youth from the periphery at age 19 (average age of participants). The participant is part of the network from the first day of classes and monitors sales performance through monthly statements. The participant may remain in the network as long as desired. The small service providers, target users of MeuSoft, will attribute greater utility to their smartphones (increasingly affordable), and will be able to expand their businesses as a result of greater control and organization. As na example, we have FinanX, a financial app that speaks the language of the small service provider and goes straight to the point. It controls the receipt and payment of bills, keeping the cash flow updated. The FinanX has just been approved by SEBRAE-BA and wll be distributed to all the public assisted by SEBRAE. The partner institutions benefitted from the promotion of the communities, and for the sake of measuring results, the monitoring of the performance of the participants. Each participant in a social project becomes part of a network, where they will be challenged to produce, and ranked in comparison with their colleagues. The ranking is published on the MeuSoft website. The Digital Dossier benefits from the collaborative network it promotes.
Sustainability

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

We produce professional apps for laptops and smartphones, a market that comprises numerous competitors. Our greatest differential is the price. A subscription is equivalent to one meal a month at McDonalds. The price we are able to offer is the result of the technology used (could, disconnected operation, high level of component reuse), of directing (for simple apps) and lower production costs, due to the labor used The social Project network developed is, at the same time, a social contribution and part of our strategy to achieve capillarity and variety of solutions, all at a very competitive price. The result of the research undertaken to identify this proposal´s competitors is very favorable: no direct competitor.
Team

Founding Story

In 2008, a private client, from the area of OSH Management (Safety, Medicine and Occupational Health) hired us to develop a platform that would increase its productivity with the development of variants of the app. We delivered a solution but noticed that it could evolve into a platform that benefitted more people due to the facility in modeling apps. We then proposed a partnership with the client to develop the necessary resources to make the platform even more accessible, facilitating its use by people without computer training. The client, who had great sensitivity and social responsibility, came to support the business, participating as a capital partner. After the initial phase of developing the technology, we received incentive funds and the project began to take the shape it has today. At the root, there was our aspiration to do something for the public least contemplated by information technology, and get away from conventional solutions.
About You
Organization:
Dossier Digital
About You
First Name

Sebastião

Last Name

Cartaxo

About Your Organization
Organization Name

Dossier Digital

Organization Country

, BA, Salvador

Country where this project is creating social impact

, BA, Nordeste Brasileiro

Age of Innovator

Over 34

Gender of Innovator

Male

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

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Innovation
How long have you been in operation?

Operating for 1‐5 years

Social Impact
What solution(s) does your initiative address to help emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses grow and thrive in underserved communities? (select all applicable)

Access to supply chains, Access to technology, Access to economic opportunity.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

We are still in an experimental phase, but we have already gathered some results. We had the support of two companies (Eletrobras and the JCPM Group – the largest network of malls in Northeast Brazil) for which we conducted training for over 200 youth in pilot projects. In both cases, new classes are planned.
With each class, a MeuSoft collaborative network gains shape, as the training qualifies the participant to produce software as a member of the network. As such, actual professional work and income generation happen after the training. The participant remains in the network as long as he considers he is being productive.
A good example is the case of Idon Alves, participant in the first class promoted by AMACH (Pelourinho/ Salvador), sponsored by Eletrobras. Idon is developing an app to organize the ordering and delivery of warm lunches. His testimony is annexed in the videos section (media), through the link http://youtu.be/X6z30OPy5fA .

What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?

In three years, through partnerships with NGOs, Civil Society Organizations of Public Interest (OSCIPs) and neighborhood associations, we will have trained and brought into the MeuSoft Network about ten thousand youth. These youth will be able to produce apps and obtain remuneration for their intellectual work through royalties.
The market potential reaches 27 million small service providers who will also benefit with the availability of apps 100% adherent to their realities and at an accessible price.
The apps produced will have a chance to climb the market and spread in viral progression, making their authors as successful as famous football players.
This impact can be exported to other regions of the world, following our course of expansion and internationalization.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

Attracting financing to leverage the business is prohibitive due to high interest rates, especially given the lack of real guarantees demanded by the banks, including government banks.
We will overcome this barrier by attracting partners who will support us through sponsorship, or through the endorsement of fundraising. Another possibility is the enlargement of the society, with the acceptance of new partners.
The Project will be lucrative from the third year, due to the multiplication of subscriptions in geometric progression.
The current perception is that the critical point which determined the survival of the enterprise has already been overcome. Now it is a question of speed of growth and scale.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Obtain our first international partnership.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1

Increase our visibility by participating in events and expanding our relationship network.

Task 2

Finalize the projects that are underway for the development of app generators for mobile platforms.

Task 3

Improve the organizational processes in order to better cope with a larger scale

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Achieve our first international partnership, taking MeuSoft to other continents.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1

Deepen the international contacts we are making.

Task 2

Develop a technology for multilingual app generation.

Task 3

Improve our organization so as to supply demands at a global scale.

Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships

The Digital Dossier is a technology laboratory that depends 100% on partnerships to guarantee the dissemination success of this project.
There era two kinds of partners, the institutions liked to communities and the sponsors of projects.
The institutions are essential because the selection of talents in the communities is strategic for the business. The sponsors enable the projects financially.
Another kind of association would be with a technology partner. We produce simple apps that can be integrated to corporative systems with large synergy potential.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

The Digital Dossier is a technology laboratory that depends 100% on partnerships to guarantee the dissemination success of this project.
There era two kinds of partners, the institutions liked to communities and the sponsors of projects.
The institutions are essential because the selection of talents in the communities is strategic for the business. The sponsors enable the projects financially.