MITOS Tool 1 Migrant Opportunities Website. Published by:

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Stella Wilkerson
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1 MITOS Tool 1 Migrant Opportunities Website Published by:

3 MITOS Tool 1 Migrant Opportunities Website Exchange ideas start and grow your business! 1 Tool: This is a web-based migrant membership tool that allows migrants to identify business investment opportunities in their respective CoO. It responds to the migrants need for general but more up to date information on business opportunities. It also allows for ideas and opportunities of existing businesses online, both in the CoO and CoD. 2 Objectives: This tool will enable migrants to: Gain relevant and timely investment information that their counterparts in their respective CoO can use for income generation Share what they need in the CoD For remittance recipients to suggest and rank possible investment areas for income generation For existing enterprises to discuss potential and problems, and to find solutions by online dialogue 3 Target groups: CoD: Migrants with investible funds and needs for origin country products or services for both emerging and existing enterprises CoO: Migrants relatives and social networks (e.g., friends, former partners, school mates, etc.) that are entrepreneurially inclined. Other target groups are institutions and business support groups. It is highly probable that this tool could likewise inspire young would-be entrepreneurs and investors. 4 Problems and potentials of migrants addressed by this tool: Migrants who succeeded in their respective CoD might one day yearn to invest (or contribute) in income-generating ideas for their relatives and other possible business partners in their respective CoO. However, when the right moment to invest comes, migrants often rely on hearsays, rumours, out-dated and often inadequate investment information. There is a need to verify the opportunities. To do so, migrants rely on inexpensive (and often unreliable! e.g. word of mouth, old embassy newspapers and trade information, etc.) and expensive (e.g. investment consultants, travel to the place and check with key informants, etc.) means. Lack of reliable and up-to-date business information is one of the barriers that restrict the volume and speed of remittance flows from consumptive to business purposes. The Internet is increasingly being used by migrants (or their children) to communicate and obtain information from their CoO. Recently, social networking tools like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and others provide platforms where individuals or groups can communicate, discuss, and even cocreate enterprises. This is yet another tool that uses the power and influence of social networking. 5 Description: This tool offers an online investment marketplace for migrants. A migrant can visit the site and see a list of possible investment opportunities suggested by institutions, groups or individuals back in the CoO. The list will contain a brief description and suggest areas where they can be established. In the beginning, seed opportunities will be collected 1

4 from existing lists, records or opportunity scanning workshops and conference proceedings. When the site membership enlarges, more opportunities will be solicited from site members and visitors. Migrants who become familiar with the site can likewise post needs for special products or services needed from their respective CoO. In addition to suggesting opportunities, site members may also rank the published opportunities based on criteria such as: market potentials, startup time, employment, profitability and others. The monthly top three-ranked opportunities will be featured in the site together with more detailed information. The site will likewise provide a list of resources (reading materials, other background information and internet links), persons and institutions that may be able to help in developing the ideas. The tool could consist of the following elements: The Opportunities Blog will provide a continuing list of business opportunities that could be of interest to the site users. Each opportunity could be presented in the following formats: (a) title, (b) brief description, (c) start-up investment required, (d) location possibilities, and (e) comments. The opportunities will be presented as from CoO (completed by migrant counterparts) and from CoD (completed by migrants). An example of an entry can be found in Annex 1. Investment News and Events will consist information about trainings, livelihood investment promotion, trade and exhibition fairs, conferences of interest to investors and migrants. Site Services will show the additional services such as: ranking of opportunities, comments, chat, and migrant investment forum. Links will list the relevant links to institutional sites of relevance to the origin country, migrants, investments, business news, etc. About Us which describes the intent and background of the sponsoring institutions. Activities: This tool envisions the following activities: Developing the site. This would include: (a) laying out the site architecture; (b) choice of platform (see Annex 2 for a list); (c) customization of opportunities page, forum and chat; and (d) site testing. A local website developer may be hired for this activity (duration: 3 days). Listing the initial opportunities. This activity would collect business and livelihood opportunities (e.g., food processing, handicrafts, art and fashion wares, provision stores, services like barber shops, specialized clinics, parking spaces, etc.) in the origin country that may be started on very small scale operations. This initial list is merely the seeds that can grow and stimulate the site members (and visitors) to suggest additional opportunities once the site is mounted. The initial list can come from government institutions and from key informants in the local economic development (LED) agencies and projects. Likewise they can come from LED initiatives and Public-Private Partnership Dialogues. Staff of counterpart institutions may be able to do this even during office time (duration: 10 days). Training for content makers. This is an optional course for the staff of the counterpart institutions and others who can share additional opportunities and operate site maintenance. The course will provide how to: (a) use web 2.0 and social networks; (b) use and interact with the website; (c) update, edit and add content; (d) use the blog, forum and chat features; and (e) perform simple site maintenance tasks. Depending on the site language, a local or 2

5 foreign content making specialist may be hired to do the training (duration: 2 days). Administration and content updating. The counterpart institution s web staff will update the content weekly, including: (a) addition of new business opportunities; (b) investment news; (c) forum summary; and (d) management oversight. In addition, other staff with the participating institutions may likewise be invited and become site coordinators. (Duration: 2 Days per month). Site promotion. The site will be promoted in the relevant governmental and non-governmental institutions, chambers of commerce, trade and exhibition organisations, fair trade promoters, banks and microfinance and remittance handling institutions, foreign workers and migrant associations, and other professional organizations via posters and radio. The marketing shall expand the membership base by encouraging members to pass the site information to their personal networks and business groups. The site promotion may be implemented by the counterpart institution itself or a hired events management team (duration: 25 days). 6 Prerequisites: Counterpart institution. Co-sponsorship or partnership of a government entity can add credibility to the site. In turn, the counterpart institution can adopt a new way of using social networking for service provision and information dissemination. Ideally, the counterpart for this tool should have an underutilized internet server with one staff able to use social networks on the institution s website. Some possible candidates are: (a) the Ministry of Local Government; (b) Ministry of Trade and Industry; and (c) Private Business Serving Organizations (e.g., chambers of commerce, trade and exhibitions organizations, fair trade promoters, foreign workers and migrant associations, banks and money transfer operators as well as other professional associations). 7 Particularities and/or difficulties: Particularities. The migrant opportunities site is a low effort project with potentially high impact compared to the operating and maintenance costs. Major investment is limited to the membership campaign in the CoO. This is particularly interesting for the young would-be CoO entrepreneurs in search for business opportunities and potential co-investors (as will be discussed in succeeding tools). Advert solicitation and sponsorship may be pursued later to ensure long term sustainability. If desired, some (non-financial) incentives may be offered as prizes to the highest number of opportunities suggested or the best-ranked investment ideas. 8 Costs: Costs can vary significantly from country to country. Rough estimates are shown below: Items Days US$ Cost/ Unit Total Cost Developing the site Listing the initial opportunities Training for content makers Administration and content updating , , ,800 Site promotion ,500 Prizes Dissemination: Total 16,800 The internet has many sites that share general business opportunities. This site will have three distinct advantages: (a) it is for and by migrants and their counterparts; (b) can be directed to a region, province or town specific migrant groups originate from; and (c) more relevant and up-to-date business information. Note that to achieve a notable marketing effect, the site should collect at least 100 3

6 members who can use or feed the site with investment opportunities and rank them. 10 Links to other MITOS tools: MITOS Tool 02: Kiva for Migrants Prepared by: Dr. Eduardo Canela, CEFE International MITOS Tool 03: Migrant Asset Custodian Services (MACS) MITOS Tool 04: Migrant Innovation Treasury MITOS Tool 10: Trade Promotion Agency Manual MITOS Tool 12: Migrant Market Place MITOS Tool 15: Virtual World for Migrants 3D Collaboration 4

7 Annex 1: Example for an Opportunity Entry Wood handicrafts from the small town of Tukuyu in Utopia seeking migrant investors and importers. These are beautiful items that could adorn living spaces and inspire both your families and visitors abroad. Tukuyu is a small town with a few woodcrafters that have changed the lives from rural, unemployed artisans. The handicrafts are very popular as corporate gift items. Their prices go up to 20 EUR a piece depending on the design. Tukuyu is now stressing heavily on the marketing of their products particularly to Utopians living in Europe and the US. The items will bring your origin country to your present country. The group of artisans is assisted by the INGO Project and has recently bagged an order of 1,200 wood decorative handcrafted pieces from the US. Marketing is crucial in Utopia. You will find many people who do beautiful things, but it does not sell. This is because they don t know how to sell them. Investment Parameters: Utopian migrants can order 1,200 pieces for only 2500 EUR plus shipping costs. They can also help us employ one more artisan by buying the equipment needed, a donation of 120 EUR would suffice. Contact: Mr. Anyname Anonimous Block 32, Lot 58 Anywhere Street, Tukuyu, Republic of Utopia Posted by: Investment ranking: 5

8 Annex 2: Alternative Social Networking Platforms Blogger ( Very popular. Cloob ( Popular in Iran Facebook ( Very popular, but not (fully) accessible everywhere Flickr ( Photo sharing, commenting, photography related networking, worldwide Fotolog ( Popular in South America and Spain hi5 ( Popular in India, Portugal, Mongolia, Thailand, Romania, Jamaica, Central Africa and Latin America italki.com ( Language learning social network languages kaioo ( Non-profit Kiwibox ( Micro-finance access LinkedIn ( General but mainly business LiveJournal ( Blogging Livemocha ( Dynamic online language learning online courses in 22 languages world s largest community of native language speakers. Multiply ( Real world relationships. Popular in Asia, My Opera Community ( MySpace ( Netlog ( General. Popular in Europe, Turkey, the Arab World and Canada s Québec province. NGO Post ( Non-Profit news sharing and networking, mainly in India 6

9 Ning ( Users create their own social websites and social networks Odnoklassniki ( Popular in Russia and Soviet republics, Orkut ( Google login. Popular in Brazil and India. PartnerUp ( Networking site for entrepreneurs Passportstamp ( Travel Picassa ( a photo blogging site Plaxo ( Aggregator Plurk ( Micro-blogging, RSS, updates Qapacity ( A businessoriented networking and directory site Sonico.com ( Popular in Latin America, Spanish and Portuguese Tumblr ( General. Micro-blogging, RSS Twitter ( Micro-blogging, RSS, updates Vox ( Blogging WAYN ( Travel and lifestyle Windows Live Spaces ( Word Press ( Xanga ( Blogs and metro areas XING ( Business (primarily Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and China) YouTube ( SocialGO ( A social network builder 7

12 Published by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Sector Project Migration and Development Registered offices Bonn and Eschborn, Germany Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 40 Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg Bonn/Germany Eschborn/Germany Phone: Phone: Fax: Fax: migration@giz.de Authors CEFE International and the global network of CEFE trainers Design andreas korn visuelle kommunikation, Bad Homburg Printed by Aksoy Print & Projektmanagement, Eppelheim Printed on FSC-certified paper Photographs Front cover: GIZ/Markus Kirchgessner As at July 2012 GIZ is responsible for the content of this publication. On behalf of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Division Federal government/states/local authorities; migration and employment; returning experts; export credit and investment guarantees Addresses of the BMZ offices BMZ Bonn BMZ Berlin Dahlmannstraße 4 Stresemannstraße Bonn/Germany Berlin/Germany Phone: Phone: Fax: Fax: poststelle@bmz.bund.de

MITOS Tool 11 One Stop Shop Service for Migrants

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