It has been two years since we unveiled Sofiri to the world, and it has not been short of challenges but also rewards.
As with many start-ups, our mission is to venture into unknown waters and we wanted to do things differently in the world of international student recruitment.
It is evident to us, the end of a year always allows the opportunity to reflect on what has been and what is to come.
The heart of our vision continues to be supporting aspiring international students into the future and to use the combination of human being expertise and technology to connect qualified students with study opportunities around the world.
We are very grateful to all of those helping us fulfil our mission and for believing in Sofiri; we want to say thank you!
Reflecting…
2019: A snapshot
Whilst a lot goes on behind the scenes we’d like to reflect on some of Sofiri’s work in 2019 and some of our plans for next year.
Number of students registered in Sofiri by the end of the year: 23,000
Close to 1,000 applications created thus far
Students from 80 different nationalities have started an application in Sofiri
Different types of counsellors
4 Independent, agent, trained current student and Sofiri Direct
15 Countries with Sofiri expert counsellors
Covering several continents, our counsellors are available in most key source countries in the world
Instant Qualified Applicant Platform (IQAP) 2019 has seen us launching a SAAS product for universities, colleges and agents.
5K+ Engaged students
2.6K+ Facebook bot chats
5K+ Android installs
4.8 Facebook rating
| 2020: What’s ahead? Here a few challenges we aim to achieve in the coming year! |
Instant Qualified Applicant Platform (IAQP)
Our first client roll out will be in January 2020. Using bots and natural language A.I., Sofiri’s software will be used to qualify, respond automatically and distribute instant messaging queries to the correct channels and individuals ensuring inquiries are handled quickly and turned into successful applications.
WhatsApp Bot
Sofiri has already enabled automated notifications in WhatsApp for students and counsellors; we will use all of our learnings to create a friendly experience to help connect qualified students with the right study opportunities. It’s time to extend our qualifying bot to the largest instant messaging app in the world, WhatsApp boasting over 1.6 billion users.
Google Dialogflow Artificial Intelligence
Currently, some of our Facebook Messenger Bot experience is powered by Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence default platform wit.ai we plan to build a more natural and rich conversational experience by incorporating Google’s machine learning expertise and their natural language processing (NLP) solution which can be used in Sofiri website, apps and bots in various languages.
Sofiri Experts
Sofiri has four types of Education counsellors who use our Platform: those working at an agency, those operating individually, those currently studying in an overseas destination and trained by Sofiri and Sofiri Direct which are our in-house counsellors. In 2020 we will plan to extend the number of counsellors to ensure we as an organisation are available 24/7 for prospective students and can cover various languages.
For now, season’s greetings from all the team at Sofiri! We wish you a very happy and relaxing holiday season and a prosperous new year.
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