Tinkerlink innovative social platform
TyN Magazine I make an interview to Diana Daniels Founder of Tinkerlink
TyN Magazine: What is Tinkerlink?
Diana Daniels: Tinkerlink is a social marketplace that helps communities to connect with trusted experts recommended by people you already know. We are a platform, we launched first in the Mexican market, and we have more than 150,000 users who have generated employment or have been hired. Our referral-based application aims to help the community that regularly works in the informal economy to be included not only in the labor market, but also in the mobile money revolution
TyN: What is your background?
D.D.: I lived in the United States for over 15 years and have been in the telecommunications industry for as long as I can remember. In this sector of Telecomm I worked in the merging of the two largest prepaid calling card companies in the United States. My target market has been Hispanic Americans for many years, with a lot of focus into the multicultural communities across America. And for the last 6 years I have been living in between Barcelona, the United States and Mexico. So I decided to team up and create TinkerLink.
TyN: How did you come up with the idea for TinkerLink?
D.D.: 3 years ago my grandmother suffered a stroke, which left her unable to move or feed herself, she was weakened and she was no longer self-sufficient. This was very difficult for her and for us, her family. We all work full time, so we had to hire an adult caregiver. But who? . We had to make use of our own network of contacts, friends, mothers of friends, acquaintances, all trying to find a trustworthy person to take care of my grandma. Do you know how difficult it is to find a good caregiver? In whose hands can you leave your loved ones? Especially if they cannot speak and tell you if they are being well attended. Who do you give the keys to your house? I empathized with my friends who have children and the difficulties they face when looking for babysitters, domestic helpers, this is the same problem for some warrior travelers, executive men and women who need help who they can trust with a key to their homes.
TyN: How big is this market that TinkerLink focuses on?
D.D.: Just as many of us are looking for trusted people to help us with things at home or small businesses, at the same time, there are millions of people looking for jobs of all kinds, and now even more with this crisis caused by the pandemic of the corona virus, Think about all cleaners, drivers, gardeners and cooks, babysitters, customer service, shopkeepers, restaurateurs, all people in the tourism industry. More than 30 million in the USA are losing their jobs, and it is expected that at least 25 million more in Latin America.
According to the International Labor Organization, half of the world’s population works in the informal economy sector. In a place like Mexico it is 30% of its GDP ($ 168.5 billion) where the domestic aid market alone amounts to 3.6 billion pesos per month (more than 200 million dollars).
TyN: What is the value added that Tinkerlink gives?
D.D.: There is no marketplace targeting this segment of economic activity, there are no online resources where people can post their availability, be promoted by their own network, set their own rates, and make fair deals with other trusted people. Most online job posting boards have been focusing on serving companies. So, what happens to the day-to-day people who work in houses and small businesses or micro-businesses? I am a believer that each one of us personally can be employers and help at least one family to do something for us, recommend them in our network of contacts, and thereby help them cope or even get out of this COVID19 crisis.
Then TINKERLINK was born as the first social marketplace where you search, find, and connect with trustworthy experts recommended by people you already know.
It’s much easier, faster, and more secure, and TinkerLink is also much fairer for service providers, allowing them to make their own connections, negotiate their rates, and set their own terms for contracts.
TyN: What is the connection to the mobile money revolution?
D.D.: We firmly believe that we can provide a great advantage and help many of these people who currently work in the informal economy and do not have banking services, because they do not trust banks, and with our service we can help them become active users of the financial services so desperately need. Virtual and mobile, and be part of the collaborative economy through their smartphones. We are looking for strategic partners in the different countries of Latin America that seek to provide solutions for this market group and we hope to be able to scale our solution under this model to several Latin American countries.
