[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.
Our Approach to the Problem: The current digital identity landscape lacks an open-source identity wallet that supports both browser and mobile platforms while being compatible with Atala PRISM v2.0. While solutions like RootsID Wallet, ProofSpace, and Blocktrust exist, they are constrained by limitations such as not being open-source, only available on a single platform, not compatible with Atala PRISM v2.0 or existing in early development stages. Our solution aims to fill this gap by offering a comprehensive, accessible, and secure digital identity management tool.
Unique Approach and Reasons: Our solution stands out as it addresses the unmet need for a versatile, open-source identity wallet that is both browser and mobile-friendly. This aligns perfectly with the demand for flexible, secure, and user-centric digital identity solutions.
Compliance with KYC and KYB Regulations:
In our commitment to uphold the highest standards of regulatory compliance, we have established a partnership with Trustmatic for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) processes. This collaboration ensures that our identity wallet solution adheres to stringent KYC/AML regulations. Trustmatic's expertise in identity verification will be instrumental in providing a secure and compliant framework for user onboarding. By integrating Trustmatic's robust verification systems, we guarantee that our platform not only meets but exceeds the regulatory requirements for digital identity management. This adherence to compliance standards not only fortifies the trustworthiness of our solution but also reinforces our dedication to maintaining a secure and legally compliant ecosystem within the Cardano network.
Engagement Strategy: Our engagement with the Cardano community is a cornerstone of our development process. We will actively seek feedback and incorporate suggestions from the community, ensuring our solution not only meets but exceeds user expectations. This collaborative approach will also help in refining our platform, making it more adaptable and user-friendly.
Demonstrating Impact: To demonstrate our impact, we will monitor key performance indicators such as user adoption rates, credential issuance and verification statistics, and user feedback. Success stories and testimonials will further illustrate the real-world benefits of our solution, showcasing its positive impact on digital identity management within the Cardano community.
Benefits and Importance to Cardano: Our open-source identity wallet is a significant advancement for the Cardano ecosystem. It supports secure digital identities, fostering the adoption of decentralized solutions. This project aligns with Cardano's commitment to privacy, transparency, and empowerment, contributing to a more secure digital future. It also supports lifelong learning by facilitating the verification of educational certificates.
Integration and Future Plans: The Socious app has been in production for more than a year and we have more than 6,600 users on the platform. Currently, Socious is integrated with ProofSpace, enabling the issuance of verifiable work certificates on Atala PRISM v1.4 for the work contracted on the Socious app (<https://app.socious.io>). With this new project, we intend to:
- Create Socious’ own open source identity wallet into our system. This proposal is for the web-based wallet.
- Upgrade our integration from Atala PRISM v1.4 to v2.0.
- Enhance our capabilities to include issuing educational and other types of certificates.
In the future, we will also be adding a mobile-based identity wallet that will be available on iOS and Android devices.
Technical Resources: For a deeper understanding of our project's technical foundation, please explore the following resources:
-
Wallet SDK: Atala PRISM Wallet SDK
-
Mediator: Atala PRISM Mediator
[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.
Value to the Cardano Community: The success of our open-source identity wallet project will bring significant value to the Cardano Community in multiple ways. Firstly, it addresses a critical gap in the digital identity management space by providing a versatile, secure, and user-friendly solution that is compatible with Atala PRISM v2.0 and with both browser and mobile platforms. Secondly, it strengthens the trust and security within the Cardano ecosystem by adhering to stringent KYC/AML regulations through our partnership with Trustmatic. Finally, by enabling the issuance and verification of various credentials, our project supports lifelong learning and enhances the utility of digital identities within the Cardano network.
Measuring Impact: The impact of our project will be measured through both quantitative and qualitative metrics:
- Quantitative Metrics:User Adoption Rates: Tracking the number of active users to gauge the adoption level of our solution.
- Credential Issuance and Verification: Monitoring the number and types of credentials issued and verified through our wallet to understand its utilization.
- Qualitative Metrics:User Feedback and Satisfaction: Conducting surveys and collecting user testimonials to assess the user experience and satisfaction.
- Case Studies: Developing case studies that showcase the real-world applications and benefits of our solution within the Cardano ecosystem.
Sharing Outputs and Opportunities: We will share the outputs and opportunities of our project through the following methods:
- During and after the completion of the project, we plan to spread its outputs. This will include providing monthly and milestone reports, as well as regular town hall meetings.
- We will share information about the project's outputs, impact, and opportunities with community members. The close-out report and video will be publicly available on YouTube. Additionally, we will share updates on our website and social media platforms. Work opportunities for Cardano developers will be listed on our Socious platform, which is a talent marketplace.
- Since Socious is an open-source project, our code base is publicly available on our GitHub page. Cardano developers are encouraged to fork and use it for other projects.
- We will also engage with the community through community forums and social media platforms, providing regular updates and insights.
Through these measures, we aim to not only quantify the impact of our project but also foster a sense of collaboration and shared growth within the Cardano community. Our commitment to transparency and engagement will ensure that the benefits of our project are widely disseminated and leveraged for the advancement of the Cardano ecosystem.
[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?
Our team is aptly suited and equipped to successfully deliver this project. We possess the requisite capabilities that uniquely position us to execute this project to high standards of trust and accountability.
Socious is a fast-growing impact startup that provides a talent marketplace, making impact work accessible and transparent. We connect purpose-driven professionals with impact organizations through AI matching. We use blockchain to trace impact work and reward contributions.
Socious is supported by 500Global, Microsoft, and Milkomeda Foundation. Our platform lists over 80k jobs, 24k organizations, and has 6.6k registered users. Our team consists of experts in impact measurement, finance, data science, and blockchain development.
Socious has extensive experience in the Cardano ecosystem, having successfully completed five Catalyst-funded projects in Fund 9 and two ongoing projects in Fund 10.
Our team members include:
- Seira Yun
Title: Founder and CEO
Role: Product Ownership, Project Management, Research
Commitment: Full-time
Linkedin:
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/seirayun/>
Bio: Seira Yun is the Founder and CEO of Socious.io, a talent marketplace that makes impact work accessible and transparent. Socious connects purpose-driven professionals with impact organizations through AI matching, and uses blockchain to trace impact work and reward contributions.
Seira is a serial impact entrepreneur with years of experience in the sector. He has led teams within the ICRC, UNHCR, and social ventures. Drawing from personal experiences as a migrant, an autistic person, and a proud pansexual queer, Seira is driven to make the world a better place through social innovation. As a full-stack developer with a Master's in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge, he enjoys blending technology with purpose. Seira is also an impact angel investor, a member of Hustle Fund's Angel Squad, and a mentor for 4WARD.VC's Climate Accelerator. When not working, he enjoys shooting hoops, running, reading, spending quality time with the kids, or embracing the adventure of getting lost during travels. He is also a long-term member of the Cardano community; he’s won and managed five Catalyst projects and has completed Atala PRISM Pioneer Program.
- Minh Douangprachanh
Title: Lead Designer
Role: Design
Commitment: Full-time
LinkedIn:
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/michel-douang/>
Bio: With more than a decade of experience specializing in product design, Minh is a multidisciplinary artist who has always believed art has a language of its own. As a neurodiverse individual, Minh is passionate about helping people and creating sustainable and inclusive solutions.
- Ehsan Mahmoudi
Title: Lead Developer
Role: Backend/Blockchain/AI Engineering
Commitment: Full-time
LinkedIn:
<https://linkedin.com/in/ehsan-mahmoudi-611123b8/>
Bio: More than 8 years of experience in Python and Machine Learning as well as extensive experience in blockchain development. Ehsan has worked for global startups including Rechat, AEC, and Navaak.
- Iman Rezasefat
Title: Senior Frontend Developer
Role: Frontend Development
Commitment: Full-time
LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/iman-rezasefat-001988121/>
Bio: An experienced frontend developer with 7+ years of experience.
- Marjan Arami
Title: Senior Frontend Developer
Role: Frontend Development
Commitment: Full-time
Bio: An experienced frontend developer with 10+ years of experience.
- Azin Zare
Title: QA Engineer
Role: Quality Assurance
Commitment: Full-time
LinkedIn:
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/azin-zare-355a27179/>
Bio: An experienced QA engineer with 9+ years of experience.
- Madi Lommen
Title: Advisor
Role: Project Management, Research
Commitment: Part-time
LinkedIn:
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/madi-lommen-394940b0/>
Bio: Madi has 10+ years experience in social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and partnership building. Madi is passionate about interdisciplinary learning / problem-solving that leverages entrepreneurship and multilingual teamwork for community development. In recent years, she founded Madibanani Co. to champion refugee youth, designed a data collection program on the Jordan-Syrian border, and coordinated military-like training for Emergency & Disaster volunteers of La Cruz Roja (Red Cross) in Ecuador. After completing a thesis on medieval Arabic poetry at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, she worked with a network of angel investors scaling women-led SMEs tackling poverty in Southeast Asia. She has experience working in four languages (English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese) and has lived in Singapore, Jordan, Ecuador, the UK, South Africa, the USA, and Japan.
- Raphael Hode
Title: Design Advisor
Role Design Direction
Commitment: Part-time
LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelhode/>
Bio: Raphael is a Strategic Designer with a passion for social innovation and sustainability. After a few years in advertising agencies in Paris, Raphael moved to Tokyo in 2015 and joined Designit, a global strategic design firm. At Designit Raphael worked on growing a team and helping some of Japan’s most ambitious companies make innovation happen, leading him to endorse a variety of roles across UX design, service design, business design, and strategy.
In parallel, he has been passionately engaging in activities related to sustainability and social innovation: giving talks and workshops, mentoring early-stage social founders, and eventually co-founding a social venture. Today, he spends most of his time working with incredible social entrepreneurs to help them define, design, and launch visionary products that contribute to creating a more sustainable society.
To supplement our core team, we maintain a reserve of skilled freelancers, ready to contribute at short notice. Our talent marketplace, Socious, is a hub for over 6,600 individuals, many of whom could potentially assist in this project, if required.
Our ability to deliver is not just theoretical but backed by an impressive track record. We have successfully completed five distinct Catalyst projects funded in Fund 9, all within the projected timelines and budget. These accomplishments bear testament to our capabilities and our commitment to deliver projects as proposed.
The Fund 9 projects we’ve completed are as follows:
- Recognize Impact through DIDs <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-dapps-products-and-integrations/recognize-impact-through-dids>
- Atala Integration with Milkomeda <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-dapps-products-and-integrations/atala-integration-with-milkomeda>
- Decentralized Escrow for Remote Job <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-developer-ecosystem/decentralized-escrow-for-remote-job>
- Impact lending for the unbanked <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-dapps-products-and-integrations/impact-lending-for-the-unbanked>
- Scoring Social/Environmental Impact <https://projectcatalyst.io/funds/9/f9-catalyst-natives-x-cardashift-demonstrating-and-monetizing-impact/scoring-socialenvironmental-impact>
We’ve also been funded two projects in Fund 10:
- Work History as Verifiable Credentials <https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/102247>
- Decentralized Referral System for DAOs <https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/103005>
The trustworthiness in our fund management processes is grounded in our serious adherence to legal and financial compliance. Each transaction conducted is meticulously documented with tangible evidence and audited internally for accuracy. To bolster our commitment to financial transparency, we have established collaborations with external accounting firms that assure compliance. Our Japanese entity works with Tatsumi Accounting Firm (https://kessan-online.jp/company), while our Singaporean entity partners with BBCIncorp (https://bbcincorp.com/offshore/accounting-and-auditing).
Additionally, we liaise with an external law firm, Enlighten Law Group (https://www.enlightenlaw.com/), to ensure full legal compliance. This meticulous, multilayered approach to fund management reflects our dedication to maintaining high levels of trust and accountability.
[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?
Milestone 1: Market and Technical Research
Outputs
Milestone 1 includes the following key activities:
- Conduct a literature review of the issue.
- Perform a market analysis.
- Conduct a competitor analysis.
- Conduct interviews with stakeholders and analyze them (recording dates and timestamps).
- Conduct research on technical aspects of the project.
- Develop a detailed plan of action for the project.
- Draft a technical and market research paper summarizing the findings above.
Acceptance criteria
The market and technical research paper is finalized and published on Notion. It is accessible for community review. The report will including the following: - Literature review
- Market analysis
- Competitor analysis
- Interviews with stakeholders and their analysis (including dates and timestamps)
- Technical aspects of the project
- Detailed action plans for the project
Evidence of Milestone completion
Community members can access the market and technical research paper on Notion (publicly accessible) to find the following content:
- Literature review
- Market analysis
- Competitor analysis
- Interviews with stakeholders and their analysis (including dates and timestamps)
- Technical aspects of the project
- Detailed action plans for the project
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 2
Cost
43,000 ADA
% Completion
14%
>Milestone 2: UI/UX Research
Outputs
Milestone 2 includes the following key activities:
- Based on the market and research paper, brainstorm and Ideate
- Create prototypes for user research
- Conduct user research using the prototypes
- Compile and analyse the findings
- Iterate design and repeat Step 3 and 4.
- Finalize the UI/UX design
- Consult with the developers to decide on the technical architecture based on the design
These steps will results in a finalized UI/UX Research Paper and a prototype on Figma
Acceptance criteria
The following three items will be publicly available for the reviewers.
- An UI/UX Research Paper on Notion
- A prototype on Figma
1 The UI/UX Research Paper includes
- Details of the user interviews
- Analyses of the findings
2 The prototype on Figma will include interactions that reviewers can click on to view how the app behaves. The design will include the following user stories:
- As a user, I can create a DID on the Socious wallet
- As a user I can go through a KYC process and receive a verifiable credential.
- As an educational organization (issuer), I can issue an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As a learner (holder), I can receive an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As an hiring organization (verifier), I can verify the authenticity of the academic certificate.
Evidence of Milestone completion
We will submit the following three items which will be publicly available for the reviewers.
- An UI/UX Research Paper on Notion
- A prototype on Figma
1 The UI/UX Research Paper includes
- Details of the user interviews
- Analyses of the findings
2 The prototype on Figma will include interactions that reviewers can click on to view how the app behaves. The design will include the following user stories:
- As a user, I can create a DID on the Socious wallet
- As a user I can go through a KYC process and receive a verifiable credential.
- As an educational organization (issuer), I can issue an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As a learner (holder), I can receive an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As an hiring organization (verifier), I can verify the authenticity of the academic certificate.
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 4
Cost
51,000 ADA
% Completion
16%
>Milestone 3: UI/UX Design
Outputs
Milestone 3 includes the following key activities:
- Complete the production-ready design in Figma.
- Film a video walk-through of the design.
These steps will result in a finalized, production-ready UI/UX design in Figma, along with a video walk-through.
The Figma file will be published and made available for community review. Similarly, the video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.
Acceptance criteria
The production-ready UI/UX design is finalized, published and is accessible to the community for review. The design will include the following user stories:
- As a user, I can create a DID on the Socious wallet
- As a user I can go through a KYC process and receive a verifiable credential.
- As an educational organization (issuer), I can issue an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As a learner (holder), I can receive an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As an hiring organization (verifier), I can verify the authenticity of the academic certificate.
The finalized production-ready design will be handed over to the engineering team. “Production-ready” means that it doesn’t need more work from designers and is ready for the engineering team to turn the design into code.
The video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.
Evidence of Milestone completion
The Figma files and the video walk-through are publicly available and community members are able to review them.
The design will include the following user stories:
- As a user, I can create a DID on the Socious wallet
- As a user I can go through a KYC process and receive a verifiable credential.
- As an educational organization (issuer), I can issue an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As a learner (holder), I can receive an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As an hiring organization (verifier), I can verify the authenticity of the academic certificate.
The finalized production-ready design will be handed over to the engineering team. “Production-ready” means that it doesn’t need more work from designers and is ready for the engineering team to turn the design into code.
The video walk-through will be published on YouTube and made available to the community.
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 6
Cost
32,000 ADA
% Completion
10%
>Milestone 4: Open Source Identity Wallet Development
Outputs
Milestone 4 involves the following key activities:
- Sprint planning, which includes meetings with the Product Manager, designers, and developers. This includes writing tickets with specifications, assigning story points, and more.
- Backend development
- Blockchain development
- Unit testing
- Manual testing
- Bug fixes
- Deployment
- Documentation
- Film a product demo video
These steps will allow us to develop the feature and make the GitHub repository (public) available to the community member.
Acceptance criteria
The acceptance criteria for this milestone are as follows:
- Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)
- Community members can view the video walk-through of these functions on Youtube.
The code will include the code of the following functions:
- As a user, I can create a DID on the Socious wallet
- As a user I can go through a KYC process and receive a verifiable credential.
Evidence of Milestone completion
As evidence of milestone completion, we submit the following:
- Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)
- Community members can view the video walk-through of these functions on Youtube.
The code will include the code of the following functions:
- As a user, I can create a DID on the Socious wallet
- As a user I can go through a KYC process and receive a verifiable credential.
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 8
Cost
78,000 ADA
% Completion
25%
>Milestone 5: Education Certificates Development
Outputs
Milestone 5 involves the following key activities:
- Sprint planning, which includes meetings with the Product Manager, designers, and developers. This includes writing tickets with specifications, assigning story points, and more.
- Backend development
- Blockchain development
- Frontend development
- Unit testing
- Integration testing
- Manual testing
- End-to-end testing
- Bug fixes
- Deployment
- Documentation
- Film a product demo video
Acceptance criteria
The acceptance criteria for this milestone are as follows:
- Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)
- Community members can view the video walk-through of these functions on Youtube.
The code will include the code of the following functions:
- As an educational organization (issuer), I can issue an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As a learner (holder), I can receive an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As an hiring organization (verifier), I can verify the authenticity of the academic certificate.
Evidence of Milestone completion
As evidence of milestone completion, we submit the following:
- Community members can view the source code of the features on GitHub (open source)
- Community members can view the video walk-through of these functions on Youtube.
The code will include the code of the following functions:
- As an educational organization (issuer), I can issue an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As a learner (holder), I can receive an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As an hiring organization (verifier), I can verify the authenticity of the academic certificate.
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 10
Cost
58,000 ADA ($21,280)
% Completion
18%
>Final Milestone
Title: Marketing, user testing, data analysis and final report
Outputs
Final Milestone involves the following key activities:
- Marketing to a specific target audience
- Onboard users as beta testers
- Conduct user acceptance testing with stakeholders
- Analyze users’ feedback
- Bug fixes if necessary
- Draft a project close-out report
- Record a close-out video
These steps will produce two deliverables: a close-out report and a close-out video
Acceptance criteria
The following items are publicly available for the community to review.
- Project close-out report
- Project close-out video
In addition, the following functions will be available through a publicly available link:
- As a user, I can create a DID on the Socious wallet
- As a user I can go through a KYC process and receive a verifiable credential.
- As an educational organization (issuer), I can issue an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As a learner (holder), I can receive an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As an hiring organization (verifier), I can verify the authenticity of the academic certificate.
Evidence of Milestone completion
As evidence of milestone completion, we submit the following:
The following items are publicly available for the community to review.
- Project close-out report
- Project close-out video
In addition, the following functions will be available through a publicly available link:
- As a user, I can create a DID on the Socious wallet
- As a user I can go through a KYC process and receive a verifiable credential.
- As an educational organization (issuer), I can issue an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As a learner (holder), I can receive an academic certificate as a verifiable credential.
- As an hiring organization (verifier), I can verify the authenticity of the academic certificate.
Expected timeline for the delivery
Month 12
Cost
53,000 ADA
% Completion
17%
[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?
Socious is a fast-growing impact startup that provides a talent marketplace, making impact work accessible and transparent. We connect purpose-driven professionals with impact organizations through AI matching. We use blockchain to trace impact work and reward contributions.
Socious is supported by 500Global, Microsoft, and Milkomeda Foundation. Our platform lists over 80k jobs, 24k organizations, and has 6.6k registered users. Our team consists of experts in impact measurement, finance, data science, and blockchain development.
Socious has extensive experience in the Cardano ecosystem, having successfully completed five Catalyst-funded projects in Fund 9 and two ongoing projects in Fund 10.
Our team members include:
- Seira Yun
Title: Founder and CEO
Role: Product Ownership, Project Management, Research
Commitment: Full-time
Linkedin:
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/seirayun/>
Bio: Seira Yun is the Founder and CEO of Socious.io, a talent marketplace that makes impact work accessible and transparent. Socious connects purpose-driven professionals with impact organizations through AI matching, and uses blockchain to trace impact work and reward contributions.
Seira is a serial impact entrepreneur with years of experience in the sector. He has led teams within the ICRC, UNHCR, and social ventures. Drawing from personal experiences as a migrant, an autistic person, and a proud pansexual queer, Seira is driven to make the world a better place through social innovation. As a full-stack developer with a Master's in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge, he enjoys blending technology with purpose. Seira is also an impact angel investor, a member of Hustle Fund's Angel Squad, and a mentor for 4WARD.VC's Climate Accelerator. When not working, he enjoys shooting hoops, running, reading, spending quality time with the kids, or embracing the adventure of getting lost during travels. He is also a long-term member of the Cardano community; he’s won and managed five Catalyst projects and has completed Atala PRISM Pioneer Program.
- Minh Douangprachanh
Title: Lead Designer
Role: Design
Commitment: Full-time
LinkedIn:
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/michel-douang/>
Bio: With more than a decade of experience specializing in product design, Minh is a multidisciplinary artist who has always believed art has a language of its own. As a neurodiverse individual, Minh is passionate about helping people and creating sustainable and inclusive solutions.
- Ehsan Mahmoudi
Title: Lead Developer
Role: Backend/Blockchain/AI Engineering
Commitment: Full-time
LinkedIn:
<https://linkedin.com/in/ehsan-mahmoudi-611123b8/>
Bio: More than 8 years of experience in Python and Machine Learning as well as extensive experience in blockchain development. Ehsan has worked for global startups including Rechat, AEC, and Navaak.
- Iman Rezasefat
Title: Senior Frontend Developer
Role: Frontend Development
Commitment: Full-time
LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/iman-rezasefat-001988121/>
Bio: An experienced frontend developer with 7+ years of experience.
- Marjan Arami
Title: Senior Frontend Developer
Role: Frontend Development
Commitment: Full-time
Bio: An experienced frontend developer with 10+ years of experience.
- Azin Zare
Title: QA Engineer
Role: Quality Assurance
Commitment: Full-time
LinkedIn:
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/azin-zare-355a27179/>
Bio: An experienced QA engineer with 9+ years of experience.
- Madi Lommen
Title: Advisor
Role: Project Management, Research
Commitment: Part-time
LinkedIn:
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/madi-lommen-394940b0/>
Bio: Madi has 10+ years experience in social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and partnership building. Madi is passionate about interdisciplinary learning / problem-solving that leverages entrepreneurship and multilingual teamwork for community development. In recent years, she founded Madibanani Co. to champion refugee youth, designed a data collection program on the Jordan-Syrian border, and coordinated military-like training for Emergency & Disaster volunteers of La Cruz Roja (Red Cross) in Ecuador. After completing a thesis on medieval Arabic poetry at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, she worked with a network of angel investors scaling women-led SMEs tackling poverty in Southeast Asia. She has experience working in four languages (English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese) and has lived in Singapore, Jordan, Ecuador, the UK, South Africa, the USA, and Japan.
- Raphael Hode
Title: Design Advisor
Role Design Direction
Commitment: Part-time
LinkedIn: <https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelhode/>
Bio: Raphael is a Strategic Designer with a passion for social innovation and sustainability. After a few years in advertising agencies in Paris, Raphael moved to Tokyo in 2015 and joined Designit, a global strategic design firm. At Designit Raphael worked on growing a team and helping some of Japan’s most ambitious companies make innovation happen, leading him to endorse a variety of roles across UX design, service design, business design, and strategy.
In parallel, he has been passionately engaging in activities related to sustainability and social innovation: giving talks and workshops, mentoring early-stage social founders, and eventually co-founding a social venture. Today, he spends most of his time working with incredible social entrepreneurs to help them define, design, and launch visionary products that contribute to creating a more sustainable society.
To supplement our core team, we maintain a reserve of skilled freelancers, ready to contribute at short notice. Our talent marketplace, Socious, is a hub for over 6,600 individuals, many of whom could potentially assist in this project, if required.
[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.
Please find below a detailed breakdown of our budget, including the allocation of people and hours to each task. We have calculated the cost at $50 per person per hour. The current conversion rate for ADA-USD is 0.40 at the time of writing.
Executive summary:
Total Cost: 315,000 ADA
Milestone 1: 43,000 ADA
Milestone 2: 51,000 ADA
Milestone 3: 32,000 ADA
Milestone 4: 78,000 ADA
Milestone 5: 58,000 ADA
Final Milestone: 53,000 ADA
Please find the details of the breakdown here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vTmdataXh8Yd5G_PUerQMDmRlHV_ryAtdVRnyHMQECw/edit?usp=sharing
[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?
We believe that this project offers great value for money within the Cardano ecosystem.
- Direct Benefits to the Cardano Community: The project's deliverables, particularly the open-source identity wallet, are designed to directly benefit the Cardano ecosystem. They enhance digital identity management, increase security and trust, and facilitate credential issuance and verification. These features are crucial for the sustained growth and adoption of the Cardano network.
- Proven Track Record of Onboarding: Socious has successfully onboarded 6,600 individuals to the Cardano ecosystem. Leveraging this experience, our new project is positioned to significantly expand this number, directly contributing to the growth and vibrancy of the Cardano community.
- Competitive Salary Structure: While the average hourly rates for product designers, developers, and product managers are high in our industry (averaging $72, $68, and $65 respectively, as outlined in our detailed cost breakdown), we have consciously budgeted salaries at a more modest $50 per hour. This decision reflects our commitment to cost-effectiveness while maintaining high standards of professionalism and expertise.
- Budget Based on Empirical Data: Our budgeting process is informed by extensive experience with similar projects. We have carefully analyzed past projects to determine the optimal number of personnel and hours required, ensuring that every aspect of the budget is realistic and justified.
- Continuous Engagement and Transparency: Our commitment to regularly sharing progress reports, engaging with the community through forums and social media, and maintaining an open-source codebase on GitHub demonstrates our dedication to transparency. This approach not only builds trust but also encourages collaboration.
In conclusion, the project's cost reflects a balanced approach that prioritizes quality, market alignment, and value addition to the Cardano ecosystem. Our detailed and prudent budgeting, combined with our commitment to community engagement and transparency, ensures that the project provides excellent value for money.
