Online marketplace for skills and knowledge brings people together to learn and earn
- Gig economy facilitator Konversai is changing how the world shares knowledge by bringing together seekers of a skill with providers who can teach it
- The online marketplace is the brainchild of Sushma Sharma, a lawyer who felt there had to be a place where you could say, ‘I don’t know this. Can you help me?’
Soon after friends Sarah Allmon and Zeenat Singh met in early 2017, they began getting together three times a week to sing, dance and speak Spanish. A year or so later, 26-year-old Singh (not her real name) went to the wedding of 29-year-old Allmon in East Lansing, in the US state of Michigan. It was a special occasion – the first time the two women met in person.
Wedding guests were surprised that the pair had never physically been in the same room before, and yet here was Singh at Allmon’s wedding – arguably one of the most important events in a person’s life, a celebration shared with close friends and family. How was this friendship possible? Through the online platform Konversai.
Konversai is a one-stop shop dealing in personal knowledge. A global economy marketplace with 200,000 users and counting, the site is a place where knowledge providers can quote a price and knowledge seekers can make an offer.
Career counselling, Indian vegan cooking, travel advice, how to apply make-up – the site has a dizzying range of skills and knowledge for sale.
When Allmon joined Konversai in 2017, she was working as a substitute teacher and applying for full-time jobs. She saw a Facebook advertisement for Konversai and decided to make some extra income. Seeing that Singh wanted to learn Spanish, she messaged her on the platform and their sessions started almost immediately.
What began as a way of earning extra cash for Allmon and a way to learn Spanish for Singh soon became an unlikely friendship between two young women living at opposite ends of the US.
