Our Big Social Idea is called Good Gym

UsefulVisitorsUV01/MAR09

What is this document for?You have probably received this document because Femi Longe thinks you are potentially suited to contribute something very useful to UsefulVisitors – his BIG [social] Idea.

The aim of the next few pages are to help you understand what he is trying to achieve, the people already behind the idea, alongside the challenges and opportunities they face and the partners he needs to engage to move forward – and finally, most importantly....

...where YOU fit in!

If you’d like to get involved please contact Femi at UsefulVisitors: t. 07707318449 e. femilonge@gmail.com

What’s the BIG [social] idea?Volunteering overseas can be expensive and time consuming. UsefulVisitors creates opportunities for travellers to connect with organisations who would benefit from their skills, if only for one afternoon.

Background and inspiration

UsefulVisitors is the brainchild of Femi Longe, inspired by his own difficulty finding things to do during free time on a trip to Nigeria visiting family and friends. He had always been keen to find ways to contribute to African development but was limited by lack of volunteering contacts. He later realized that if he went to one of the volunteer providing companies, it would cost an arm and a leg to be introduced.

Surely, he thought, with the power of the internet it must be possible to bypass these middlemen and create a service that matches people to organisations that could do with their skills directly at very negligible cost.

Femi sees this service bringing disruptive innovation to the volunteer tourism industry, in exactly the same way budget airlines changed the airline industry or lastminute.com challenged the travel agencies.

He wants his idea to be run as a commercial enterprise providing quality service at an affordable price, making healthy profit yet still having very large social impact on the travellers and the host communities.

Concept outline

UsefulVisitors is a web service to match international travellers, who have lots of skills but limited time, with charities, schools or small businesses in their destination countries that they can donate their skills to.

Whether travelling on business, to see friends and family, or as a tourist, UsefulVisitors makes it simple for people to take part in effective exchanges of knowledge and skills over short periods of time - yet still make a difference.

Every one of us has all kinds of experience that charities, schools or small businesses could benefit from. With as little as two hours to spare of your vacation time, travellers can start to create positive impacts for the community - simply by sharing their expertise. In exchange, the traveller will gain firsthand insights into local life and the feel-good factor that comes from a sense of time well spent!

In an attempt to redefine the somewhat patronising connotations around ‘volunteering’, UsefulVisitors prefers to promote the idea of ‘mutual exchange’.

The story so far... January 2009

On the back of successfully roadtesting the Useful Visitors concept at Social Innovation Camp 2008, Femi Longe [Founder and Project Leader] is presently building a team to work with him in delivering the idea. There are presently five people at the core of the project, as well as a large number of supporters contributing specialised skills as required.

Femi Longe: background in leadership development training, group facilitation and project management with extensive experience working with AIESEC, an international charity that runs a large international exchange and volunteering programme.

James Day (Technical Coordinator): background in IT project management and studying for an MBA in carbon management. James has experience working on IT projects with organisations such as Microsoft, Diagoe, BBC. He previously worked at Social Change Online which provides web services to the government, community and union sectors in Australia, NZ, UK and the USA

Rodrigo Zuniga ((Product Development Coordinator): background in interactive product design and information technology. Rodrigo works with Deutsche Bank as an IT analyst.

Neil Ramsorrun (Marketing and Communication Coordinator): background in interactive media as a video producer/director and digital media consultant. Neil was MD of digital media agency Gas Street Works www.gasstreetworks.com and is now working freelance.

Zanna Rodrigues (Operations): background in corporate communications and sustainable development. Zanna is from Zimbabwe and has extensive volunteering experience in Zimbabwe and the UK. Presently works with an oral heritage charity in East London.

What’s the plan?

A business plan is in development with a view to applying for seed funding to develop the initial [beta] website, establishing the proof of concept which could lead to more substantial investment. In-kind support will also be sought at this stage.

The team are planning to incorporate UsefulVisitors as a business shortly before the launch of a beta version of the site at the end of April 2009. The beta site will test user experience and identify any process flaws – both for travellers looking to compare organisations they might like to support and the organisations looking for visitors with particular skills. A key issue is that the site will facilitate relationships between visitors and beneficiary organisations which are uncomplicated and easy to manage.

This will involve recruiting visitors from travel agencies and around 20 organisations in each of 3 African cities initially:

• Nairobi, Nigeria

• Lagos, Kenya

• Johannesburg, South Africa

Subsequently, the project will be expanded into other cities and countries across the world.

Without diluting UsefulVisitors’ key principle of ‘redefining volunteering’ the concept can also be taken to partner organisations for consideration as an integrated element within CSR programmes – especially relevant for organisations with frequent flyers or operations in several countries. A global corporate community could be built on this basis.

What does UsefulVisitors need to keep the idea moving?

With the key next steps involving establishing proof of concept and the development of the beta website, the project needs to create traction on several fronts – especially in building its social and growth capital to both populate the beta phase and fund initial development. Bringing the right levels of skills to the project now, either paid or in-kind, will make a big difference to creating trustful engagement around the idea, an essential facet of any online community.

The big [social] idea infogram on the next page gives a snapshot of the landscape for UsefulVisitors right here, right now. It is designed to help identify what relationships need to be built around the idea and, perhaps more importantly, show anyone interested in supporting this big [social] idea how they might fit into the big picture.

Interested?

If you are interested in UsefulVisitors and would like to find out more, please contact Femi Longe on 07707318449 or email femilonge@gmail.com

About Femi

Femi Longe is 30 years old. Until recently he worked at The Young Foundation as the Project Lead of the UpRising Leadership Programme. He since left in December 2008 to run his own organisation, Africa++, an African collaboration consultancy. He is involved with Useful Visitors as the founder and Project Leader. Femi’s big passions are Africa, fulfilling human potential and miscellaneous sports (as a spectator)

Next steps?

stage 2:useful visitors

database beta site

stage 1:useful visitors

proof of concept

organisations who can use volunteers

charities, small business, enterprise,

schools etc in developing nations

social capital - tourism

beneficiaries

individuals or organisations that can help to grow the big [social] idea

people who help to deliver the big [social] idea

individuals or organisations that can help to grow the big [social] idea

human capitalUsefulVisitors – where do you fit in?

leisure touristspeople frequently travelling or planning

a one off journey in their spare time.

uk based volunteerspeople already volunteering but

on a local level.

business travellerspeople frequently travelling or planning

a one off trips to do with work

existing volunteerspeople already volunteering

in developing nations...

social capital - business