Introducing Eezlife
In China, expatriates, students, and travelers who are not fluent in the local language have a hard time getting by. Even the smallest tasks, such as getting a taxi, doing online shopping, or managing minor housing issues, can turn into extremely frustrating experiences. Anyone who has ever stood for hours on the streets of Shanghai trying to hail a taxi, or didn’t know who to call for help when their home Wi-Fi stopped working, knows the feeling.
The same situation exists in other Countries like Russia, Japan, and South Korea. With the exception of minorities who relocate with an expat package – which includes a house, a driver and a secretary – most expats end up having to make compromises, have to pay international prices, or are subject to the goodwill of colleagues and acquaintances for help with common day-to-day issues.
Eezlife is a project which was started to put an end to this situation. It is a solution for those who could use a friendly hand now and then, without the added cost of paying for a full-time personal assistant. The user can purchase tokens that can later be exchanged for services which help with practically anything an expat might need. From booking a taxi, to arranging a visa or adopting a pet, Eezlife provides personalized care delivered by people, not robots.
Eezlife’s founder, Alumnus Raquel de Oliveira Barra (MBA, Hult class of 2015), has been living in China for over three years. She has first-hand experience of the issues Eezlife was created to solve. Even if the idea of Eezlife had been alive for some time, it really only took shape after Raquel had the chance to attend Professor Jehiel Zif’s elective, “Entrepreneurial Marketing” in Shanghai, thanks to Hult’s lifelong learning opportunities for the alumni community. During this elective, a team formed by Benjamin Talpe, Carola Bonanomi, Harika Mullapudi, Kyle Small, Ricardo Parrini, Frederik Raudies, Gaurav Majumdar, and Raquel de Oliveira Barra worked together to polish the idea into its final shape.
“Even speaking some Mandarin, I cannot read characters. That means I am always asking
my co-workers for help when I need to buy things online on stores, like Taobao or JD.
I hate the lack of privacy of having them know everything I buy”.
Raquel de Oliveira Barra, Founder of Eezlife
Starting a business in China is a complicated venture, which is why the Eezlife project was created as a joint venture with local Chinese partners. The company has secured seed capital and will go through a round of crowdfunding in October 2017. The company is expected to start operations in China in early 2018 with expectations to quickly expand to other countries.
Eezlife aims to be the first choice wherever expats experience language and cultural barriers. With this initiative, expats struggling anywhere in the world will have the best personal assistants in their pocket at just a click away.
