needs map

Feasibility Analysis: Enhancing Functionality and Business Flow of Needs Map’s Online Social Marketplace

Client: Needs Map (İhtiyaç Haritası)

Service: Management Consultancy

Implementation Partner: TED University Social Innovation Centre

Challange: Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, Turkey’s recent history is marked by frequent and severe natural disasters, each leaving a trail of destruction and social effects. The Needs Map team played an active role in the emergency and recovery efforts of almost all of these disasters. The teams first-hand experiences  have identified three primary issues with current emergency and disaster relief efforts;

1. Centralized humanitarian aid that overlooks local businesses: In humanitarian aid interventions, many supporters tend to source aid materials from different suppliers in various locations within the country or from their own suppliers to support existing needs. This leads to the centralization of humanitarian aid processes. 

2. Operational inefficiencies causing delays and congestion: Particularly during crises and disasters, one of the most significant problems observed by Needs Map is the congestion and delays caused by attempts to send aid from various different regions to the disaster-affected regions. Coordination of this process is quite challenging, especially in chaotic environments.

3. Competitiveness: In addition, the local economy and local suppliers are not competitive and they are the most affected by disasters or crises in a region.

To address these problems, an active and well-functioned social marketplace will contribute the solutions of these issues. However, although the technical infrastructure of the platform and competencies of Needs Map’s team hides a strong potential, the existing business model and functionality of the Social Marketplace needs a series of enhancements. 

Result: The objective of the project was to refine and enhance the functionality and business operations of the Needs Map Social Marketplace. It aimed to strengthen digitalization and technological development, improve stakeholder relations, supplier and product management, and clarify the platform’s value propositions for users, suppliers, and beneficiaries to attract more stakeholders to be ready and well-equipped for not only disaster response but also the ordinary periods. By addressing these areas, the project seeked to mitigate the issues identified in disaster relief efforts, thereby supporting local economies and streamlining aid distribution.

Evren Aydoğan, Director of Needs Map

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