Okki-Mockup-3

Getting Connected

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Gabriel Soares has lived much of his life in Macau and is currently a self-described ‘Covid refugee’ in Singapore.  But the challenges of the current global situation haven’t stopped him from launching his latest mobile app, Okki, designed to quickly and easily link up service providers with potential customers
 
 
Can you tell us a bit about Okki?  What is its main function and purpose?
 
Okki is a listing platform for location-based services. The vision for it is to provide an open and easy way for service providers to list their services, and for service seekers to find and connect with them. Services can be anything from cleaning, photography, babysitting, painting services, to pretty much any professional service you can think of. Category sorting, tags, distance filters, and ratings within the app help users find the right person they’re looking for and then you can contact service providers directly through the app. 
 
How did you first come up with the idea for Okki?
 
The concept came about from two perspectives. First, I was considering the difficulty of finding basic services in Macau. Usually, if you needed help with something, you would ask around. Otherwise, you would have to search online, which is often time consuming, especially as many small service providers don’t have a website. Of course, many services now promote themselves on Facebook or other social media platforms, but even that is a struggle. On the other hand, as someone who has also worked as a freelancer for many years, I believe that there are many who have side-gigs, working as freelancers or running a small business who are looking for better ways to market their services and engage with customers. 
 
Are there similar competitor Apps and what are the advantages of Okki?
 
There are lots of platforms competing in this space. Many people currently turn to social media platforms to market or find services. However, many of those platforms are not really designed specifically for service providers and seekers in mind, and it’s easy to get “lost” in all the other content and ads.  Then there are service platforms that cater to online services that can be provided remotely like design, web development, copywriting, etc., which is not really an area that we are targeting as we want to focus on localized services. 
 
Finally, there are our more direct competitors, which are platforms that also offer service listings, usually by city or country. I don’t want to single out any particular ones out here, but many are lacking both in terms of user experience and features. Others have business models that either prioritize or only offer a narrow selection of services and in many cases take high commissions while also controlling the transaction between the two parties. So our vision for Okki is to provide a streamlined and cost-effective alternative for users.
 
 
Why do you think Okki is a useful App, especially in a city like Macau?
 
Everyone needs services, whether it’s someone to wash your car, groom your pet, fix your toilet, or take photos of your wedding ceremony.  But we want Okki not to just be about convenience, we want to enable new and creative services in Macau. It’s about providing a way for freelancers and entrepreneurs to bring their services to a wider audience. We have a lot of new features that we are currently working on and are planning to launch a Chinese version of the platform soon. We also plan to expand to Hong Kong towards the end of the year and hopefully then into mainland China and beyond. 
 
How long have you been working on Okki and did you receive any support from the Macau government in terms of start up financing?
 
The idea for the app started to roll around in my head several years ago, but only in 2019 did I really start working on it in earnest. The development of the app started last July and we launched our first beta version in April.  As for funding, there are some government funding schemes available in Macau, but none that are specifically designed for tech startups. Currently, public funding towards science and technology development in Macau seems to be mostly targeted at universities and research institutes, and we weren’t able to find a good match for our projects, so we’ve decided to just bootstrap the project until we raise our first round of funding.
 
What were some of the major challenges and hurdles in developing Okki?
 
The initial stage is definitely a real challenge as there are so many areas of your idea to work out, from market research, deciding on your technology stack, finding developers to setting up the company, writing business plans, looking at funding options and so on. It can be overwhelming at times where you feel you’re being pulled in a hundred different directions. Some days you just think to yourself – what the heck have I got myself into? That’s where the support of your friends and family who believe in you and your idea really help to keep you going. It’s all about keeping moving in the right direction, if one thing doesn’t work, you find another. 
 
As we started out in Macau, finding the right talent locally was particularly hard, both in terms of finding developers and co-founders. I think everyone understands this as the pool of app developers in Macau is very small. Fortunately, it’s one of those things that can be done remotely and I think most startups from Macau will rely on developers from other regions. Also, there aren’t a lot of options for public or institutional funding and the network of angel investors interested in tech startups is limited. So you really have to rely on funding through personal connections or look further afield. 
 
Are there any advantages to being a tech start-up in a place like Macau?
 
While the ecosystem in Macau is still in its infancy, I really love the passion of the people involved and I think there is great potential there.  And events like Macau Startup Week and the creation of the government supported MYEIC (Macao Young Entrepreneur Incubation Centre) have really started to put Macau on the map and support the local startup community. 
 
Macau does have some other advantages for startups too. It has a very small market size, and this can be a good thing for early-stage startups looking to test their product and gain market penetration before expanding into larger more competitive markets in the region. Its location, a stone’s throw away from major tech, manufacturing and commerce centers in the GBA, also provides easy access to tremendous opportunities and resources for entrepreneurs.
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