MicroLift | Devpost

Categories: best overall, people's choice award, best UI/UX, best wing award, best use of mongodb

Inspiration

Currently one billion women worldwide lack access to financial institutions due to discriminatory lending practices and patriarchal misconceptions that men are better at managing money, forcing women to remain dependent on men as they do not have financial resources to start businesses, pursue education, or invest. Microloans are small loans that have been proven by the World Economic Forum, United Nations, and more to have life changing impact on women, especially those in developing countries. Although micro, they provide the jumpstart that women need to achieve their dreams. Women around the world do not lack ambition, innovation, or any other traits they need to succeed in their goals; they simply lack the support. With MicroLift, we aim to change that for all gender oppressed people. Moreover, it’s not just the women who benefit. Even though women face more barriers in receiving loans, research proves that they are actually lower risk because they have higher loan repayment rates than men. Thus, our app would allow investors to contribute to a good cause while reliably making a profit. Furthermore, once women have the capital to achieve economic independence, there is evidence that suggests women are more likely to invest in their communities, including their families’ healthcare, education, or general well-being. This means that the effect of one microloan has the potential to create an enormous ripple effect.

What it does

MicroLift is a simple platform that connects women and gender minorities with dreams to possible lenders and investors. We have different functionalities for our two target audiences (women and gender minority entrepreneurs and lenders/investors). While signing up, users can choose if they are borrowers or lenders. From there, they create either a business or lender profile. The business profile consists of an email, description, goals, and total capital collected. The lender profile includes an email, description, goals, maximum amount willing to lend, total lent, and current contributions. For lenders, they can swipe through possible businesses, checking whether they are interested or not. If they are interested, they are then prompted to input their loan and investment/interest amount. If not, they are taken to a new business, similar to a dating app! They can also view and edit their profile. For businesses, their home page will show the lenders and investors interested in their business, as well as any offers received. They will be able to click a dropdown to show details about the lender profile and choose to accept the offer based on that information. They can also view and edit their profile. Overall, the goal of our app is to demonstrate that every person can help uplift women and gender minorities, no matter how micro that contribution is.

How we built it

We used the MERN stack to build our platform, utilizing MongoDB, Express.js, React Native, and Node.js. MongoDB stored borrower and lender profiles with basic attributes like email, name, and more complex arrays to store loan requests and transaction data, while Express.js managed backend routing and data handling. React Native provided the foundation for our mobile app, and Node.js powered the server-side logic.

Challenges we ran into

One of the major technical challenges we faced was configuring MongoDB, particularly when it came to establishing a connection. The need to continuously whitelist our IP addresses and properly configure network access made the setup process significantly more time-consuming. We also had to ensure we were following the schemas we designed when making requests. Additionally, we encountered cross-platform development issues. With one team member on a Mac and the others using Windows, we ran into compatibility problems with dependencies and configurations. This required extra effort to ensure our codebase worked seamlessly across all platforms. We had to frequently adjust tools and settings to ensure everyone could contribute without encountering build or runtime errors.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of how much we accomplished within such limited time. Initially, we planned to focus solely on the lender’s perspective of the app, but thanks to our efficient progress, we were able to also develop the borrower’s perspective and integrate both with the database, resulting in a fully functional app. We are also proud that even though we faced hours of troubles with network errors, we did not give up and managed to meet our goals.

What we learned

For half of our team, this was their first time using Expo Go and MongoDB, and even for the members who have used such technologies, we had to further our understanding due to the continuous connection issues we faced. For example, we found that tricks like deleting the Expo Go app and clearing caches sometimes fixed our issues, while other times we needed to adjust our sign in request entirely. These challenges also forced us to learn more about networks, since we literally could not connect due to issues with IP addresses for hours and noticed patterns with location changes, computers restarting, and processes running in the background, encouraging us to research network ports and PIDs. We each learned more about backend development, such as editing schema designs and creating requests.

What's next for MicroLift

We are most interested in implementing a real time chat function, as this would allow our entrepreneurs greater access to advice and support. We want to facilitate open and honest communication between our business owners and lenders/investors, allowing them to discuss future goals, make informed decisions, and learn more about each other. Furthermore, we want to create a community that relies on each other with the shared goal of uplifting women and gender minorities. Thus, we hope that this chat function would allow entrepreneurs to ask each other for advice, as financial literacy is a crucial hole that must be filled to see more success in women and gender minorities’ businesses. Another goal is to integrate payment options through our app so that our entrepreneurs can directly access money from their loans and investors. This way, women and gender minorities who are unable to access traditional banking or financial institutions will still be able to make a living. We hope to allow sustainable payment plans for our entrepreneurs to reimburse the loans, such as grace periods or emergency adjustments. It is important our users’ financial information remain secure, so we would prioritize cybersecurity in the process. Lastly, we want to acknowledge that there is a digital divide in developing countries, where women and gender minorities need the most support. Thus, we would love to use our app to connect with local organizations that support microloans, as they can provide in person support. We think that instead of the entrepreneurs using the app directly, the local organizations could represent them and our lenders/investors will still be able to view their business profiles and create offers.