Homestrings is an investment platform that facilitates Diaspora investments into their own communities instead of just sending money or occasional help.
According to the team, “We built this platform to help you conveniently make a difference back home in the communities you care about.”
The diaspora investment platform was founded by Eric-Vincent Guicharda, its current CEO, a graduate of the University of Dakar, Senegal, Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and the Harvard Business School and Fauzia Sharmeen, the Chief Technology Officer.
They say on their site that Homestrings is a “transparent process that rests on strategic relationships with key partners of high reputation who are all dedicated to improving your experience.”
Homestrings helps users to identify projects, funds and partnerships focusing on regions they come from or that they care deeply about. With detailed fact sheets on funds or projects, individuals choose diligently where they want to invest with the help of the site’s administrator.
The investment portal also helps members watch their investments on a monthly or quarterly basis, depending on its nature with accurate independent reports sent by the team’s administrator directly to the member.
Members also have an individualized update via a personal Dashboard. “The reports are similar to the ones you would receive when you invest in a mutual fund or unit trust. Each promoter, investment or project was selected for its prospective socio-economic impact and investment profitability,” says the team.
According to their site, “Homestrings is designed to be user-driven. If you don’t like a feature or project or fund, or promoter, you can vote it down and give your thoughts about what you would like to see.”
Eric was born in Brooklyn, NY to a Guinean father and an American mother. He stayed in Guinea for 20 years where he also attended his school days in rural poor backgrounds. He later earned his MBA under the World Bank Scholar and Harvard Fellowship award.
He now lectures and has published articles on global finance and risk management and lives in DC.
Inspired by his childhood experiences he says, “our main goal is to facilitate your investment process by creating credible and trustworthy investment tools that you can use to direct your hard-earned resources effectively – all the while making a reasonable return.”
His partner, Fauzia was born in India but has stayed in both India and Switzerland and holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the George Washington University, Washington DC, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Bombay, Bombay, India.