Genie
Founders: Magdi Omar, Danni Lu and Kylo Xu
We help refugees, immigrants, and people get what they need.
Most of the refugees and immigrants arrive to a new country with only the clothes on their backs. This meant that upon arrival, they are immediately reliant upon donations from NGOs, government subsidies, and good hearted people willing to help. But NGOs and government settlement agencies can only do so much. They are usually only able to cover the immediate essential needs of housing, food, and basic furniture, and these items are usually obtained through donations or thrift stores or donation depots. What we’ve seen happen many times is that donations end up been given to random families due to limited resources & lack of transparency, which results in families getting three microwaves, when they might have only needed one, and what they really needed was something else.
After working with newly arrived refugees in Canada for six years and helping them settle in, We’ve seen it happen many times that refugees or immigrants are been given donations that they don’t practically need but could not say no. It is a ongoing struggle that exists everywhere but has been overlooked.
As immigrants ourselves, all three of us faced problems settling in when we first arrived in Canada, and all three of us had difficulties affording important items we needed to create a home. Eventually after settling in and working with newly arrived refugees for six years and helping them also settle, we realized that most of them face similar challenges to what we faced, and we want to help reduce the problems people face.
Genie is an app that enables newly arrived immigrants, refugees, and locals in need to list items that are missing from their homes, or needed by their family. They create a “Wishlist” allowing people with items to donate, to search for families or individuals within a certain area or proximity with a specific need/request for their item. Basically making the donation process more efficient and targeted ensuring that people get exactly what they need.
