Detailed Plan

Market:

• There are more than 20,000 universities in the world. We would like to MVP in Malaysia and replicate success worldwide.
• The solution is scalable to upskilling or online learning platforms, which are becoming increasingly popular and more than 100 providers available globally.

Opportunities:

Three major touchpoints are involved in the process of education verification in the context of background checks

• An Educational Institution that produces digital certificates and
• an Employer/Company (HR) that requests consent for validation,
• as well as a mobile phone (students and fresh graduates) that tracks and provides consent.

and this enables us:

• To provide a digital verification process to Education Institutions, Companies, and Students/Fresh Graduates using DID and Cardano blockchain.
• To build a web-based app or product as an API that can be integrated with an existing system that Education Institutions and Companies (HR) currently use.
• To build a mobile/web app that allows end users (students, graduates etc.) to manage their DIDs/credentials

What makes this unique:

Enabling universities or colleges to produce digital degree or diploma that is immutable and easily shareable for verification. Employers could easily perform education verification without the need of third party, hence making it cost saving.

What we have learned so far:

1. The process of performing background checks is time-consuming and costly especially when employers are considering candidates but have not yet hired them.
2. A local solution called eScroll has already been implemented. As we learned, this solution only provides 'hash certificates' to students, which the future employer has to enter on the college/university website in order to verify. DID is not used as a solution.
3. Data privacy has always been a concern for people. The current hiring process is a hassle where the information(usually in hard copies) has to be shared even before the job interview takes place, and they are unable to track what has been shared digitally.
4. The banking sector requires job candidates to get solicitor's stamps to verify their documents (including education certificates). The candidates need to physically walk into a solicitor's office to receive the services. Other than that, this is a paper-based process.

The challenges:

1. Applications based on blockchain technology can be complex for some end users, and many simply don't understand why certain features like Seed Phrases matter.
2. Implementing blockchain technology in our product requires us to adhere to country, industry, or business policies and practices.
3. Locally, we must adhere to the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). PDPA is an act enacted by the Malaysia Government and was established on 15 November 2013 to protect individual personal data and sensitive personal data in a commercial transaction.

Why we need the fund:

To quickly get the product out for market validation and iterate to fit the needs

What success looks like:

The goal is to build a product that focuses on getting early adopters, so at the early stage we are working iteratively to ensure the product fits business and user needs.

• In 3 months: MVP of web and mobile app is out. At least onboard 3 users of local universities/colleges, 5 users of companies/corporates, and 100 users of students/fresh graduates.
• In 6 months: At least onboard 6 users of local universities/colleges, 10 users of companies/corporates, and 300 users of students/fresh graduates. The product is stable and performs well on major touchpoints.

Budget Breakdown in USD:

• Development=60,480
• Research & Development=3,000
• Tools=5,000
• Marketing=2,000

Total ~70,480

Thanks!