HEXA

• 1. What motivates you to be part of Bounce Back Ideas?* 

What motivates me to be a part of Bounce Back Ideas is that I want to help. I think that big problems requiere big solutions, and sometimes big solutions start small. If we could bring ideas to the table, these ideas will invite other ideas, and the process will lead us to understand the point of view of others.

I am concerned about the lack of opportunities especially for young people and I want to explore with the cooperation of the other innovators new possibilities.

• 2. Problem/Opportunity Statement*: 

The Coronavirus Pandemic has resulted in a number of economic damages as some companies were forced to laid off staff, following downsizing strategies, while other ones closed. 

Some businesses will be able to recover after the crisis, but many of them will not be so lucky as in some fields, the ecosystem has been irreversibly modified. 

In big cities like Buenos Aires, corporate offices have remained closed as many employees now work remotely on a permanent basis. Businesses that used to serve those corporate offices, such as small restaurants, or shops have been left without a livelihood. In residential neighborhoods, a similar situation has taken place. People that have ran out of money, have stopped spending on indulging themselves. As a result, businesses have suffered. In residential neighborhoods, however there seems to be more potential for recovery.

The crisis has brought an increase in unemployment and difficulties for families forced to reorganize with less income, lack of domestic help and restrictions to the access to educational offering and equipment. In some cases, intergenerational help has also been affected, since the elders of the family have had to take precautionary measures to avoid exposure to contagion.

The decrease in the labor demand, in combination with the decrease in face-to-face work and its training potential, have created a barrier for young people to get their first jobs.

In Latin America, and I think in other 3rd world countries as well, there are some worse worrying aspects to take into account. The region has suffered an aggravated crisis as it has had a much slower vaccination rate than that in developed countries, which has led to tougher restrictions and for longer periods. This situation has affected both professionals and non-professional workers, in particular those who live in areas far from the demand.  Closed businesses have received insufficient compensation and many of them have closed to bankruptcy.

As countries in the region have fewer resources to face setbacks, as pre-crisis conditions were far from optimal, the covid crisis has triggered a substantial growth in the debt of individuals and companies. Business and independent workers had less savings to face a period of inactivity, worse investments in technology and worse access to internet connectivity, what resulted in reconversion to freelance work and distance education harder.  Besides, the economic aid provided by states for small business and  unemployed workers was insufficient. 

Not only have there been insufficient compensation, but in most cases the tax burden and regulatory restrictions have not been reduced in order to alleviate the exceptional crisis. 

• 3. Short Idea  Description*:

Project HEXA aims at generating resources to recover after the multiple setbacks of the coronavirus crisis by helping three entities in particular:

1. Professionals that faced unemployment and debt, who were forced to dispense with their support systems and that need an injection of resources in order to bounce back
2. Recently graduated professionals who found that the labor market couldn´t hire inexperienced employees because it couldn´t train them during pandemic. 
3. Small hotels and restaurants that faced time closed and debt during the pandemic

• 4. Long Idea Description*: 

Project description

Hexa Project is a temporary remote work project that involves the facilities of a small hotel or restaurant (or even a co-work) and a team of 6 professionals.

The hotel or restaurant facilities will have a spacious and airy room for six tables or desks with computers, Wi-Fi, good lighting and availability of coffee.

The team of six professionals will be composed of five professionals with work experience (one of them will be the project manager) and one advanced student or recent graduate without any work experience.

The work team will have to meet two objectives:

• 1st: it will have to meet the business objectives of the project and 
• 2nd: it will have to enable the training on the job of the inexperienced member of the team.

The project manager will be in charge of setting the steps in order to achieve the completion of both goals and the reporting of progress. 

The business objective could be the improvement of a web page, the update of a product catalog, the attention of a peak of demand in some seasonal business, for example. The objectives could be administrative, commercial, accounting, software programming, or from any other kind.

At the end of the project, the following results will be expected:

• The restaurant, hotel or co-work will receive a payment that will allow it to cover debts or make the necessary arrangements to operate again.
• Professionals will receive a payment that will allow them to cover debts, make an investment in a computer, repair a vehicle, prepare their home for work, or simply rehire domestic help to return to working life.
• All team members will receive a certificate for their participation in the project. This certificate will be useful for the inexperienced employee to access jobs and for the jobless professionals to bounce back into business.

The companies that contract these projects may consider them a business contract and a charity action at the same time, and use their corporate responsibility budgets to give extra benefits for the workers, like a laptop, or training, or another benefit. The companies may benefit from the good publicity.

It is desirable that payments reach its beneficiaries in full and that the reduction of taxes to the minimum is contemplated. It could help if payments are considered a form of donation.

After the project, no obligation between the parties remains.

• 5. Why is your idea innovative

I worked in big companies for 20 years and I know that the training on the job is planned sometimes while other times, it just happens. 

In critical situations like this crisis, where you have to find a way to insert young people without experience into the labor market, we have to find a way to ensure that the learning happens effectively. 

HEXA teams have to meet two goals at the same time, the business goal and the training. The training becomes a responsibility that falls on all team members. They have to take the commitment to explain and train the inexperienced member, to get the job done. 

The companies will benefit from the teams in a very particular way: they will have the experience from the senior professionals, combined with the insights from the young member of the team.

• 6. What are the potential impacts of your idea?*

The project can generate value in different aspects:

• For companies that hire work teams: Many companies that had to face uncertainty and are still in a reshaping process, will benefit to connect with diverse teams from all over the world. The younger member of the team, will give a fresh perspective to the company. 
• For inexperienced professionals: Recent graduates who did not have the opportunity to access a job and start their professional careers, will benefit taking part in a project of this kind, as they will have the opportunity to interact with experienced professionals and learn.
• For unemployed seasoned professionals: unemployed and often indebted professionals may have a chance to regain their skills with new challenges, earn some money and re-enter the job market. 
• Companies and senior professionals as well will have the joy of helping young graduates.

The project is scalable. Each team has six members,but there can be as many teams as required.

• 7. How do you plan to implement this idea?* 

Current stage: Idea

How to turn the idea into a reality: the idea is very simple and can be carried out in a modular way, starting with a single work cell. Then it could scalate to many work cells. 

As I have a background in Marketing, I will start as the project manager in Marketing projects, like a concept test for new products, a marketing plan to reach a new segment, for example

Implementation plan: The implementation plan has the following stages:

• Contact prospect companies that need to hire a temporary work team and offer them the fresh insight that a team could bring.
• Negotiate the terms
• Recruit the team: for the first projects I could reach universities, I studied in a Technologic institute and taught in a Marketing University. I could offer the project to these kind of institutions.
• Monitor progress: In the first project, I will be building the HEXA concept and delivering the business contract at the same time. I will use the first project to fix all the problems.
• Evaluate the final result 

• 8. Why is your team ideal to implement this idea?*

In order to develop the idea, I think this profiles could be the ideal team:

• A Public Relations role that invites companies in a position to hire the HEXA teams
• A Human Resource role that recruits and trains team members. In particular they will have to develop a short introductory course to the inexperienced member
• A project manager that develops the agreement with the contracting company and negotiate the terms of the project, like the payments for the team members and the workspace.