LOKAL is a mobile-first digital platform (PWA) that solves a discoverability problem: niche service providers - African barbers, hair braiders, ethnic cooks, language tutors, translators, repair specialists - operate actively in Russian cities but are completely invisible online, working entirely through Telegram, WhatsApp, and word-of-mouth. Existing platforms (Avito, Profi.ru, YouDo) serve mainstream businesses and ignore niche providers. LOKAL is the bridge.

Three modules: Services Marketplace (find, book, review verified providers), Local Goods Marketplace (buy/sell/give away items by city - solves cold-start problem), Community Hub (v1.1).

AI stack (all Russian infrastructure, 152-FZ compliant): - Yandex Cloud Embeddings: semantic provider matching by query intent, not keywords - YandexGPT Lite: AI-assisted profile enrichment from minimal provider input - GigaChat + VK RuModernBERT: fake review and fraud detection - Yandex Translate API: multilingual support (RU/EN/FR/AR)

Verification: Gosuslugi OAuth + biometric API. Reviews locked to completed transactions only.

Market: 400,000+ international students in Russia (beachhead demand) + 15.2M registered self-employed (supply). Pilot city: Saint Petersburg.

Team:

Okechi John Uchechukwu - Founder & CEO. Strategy, product vision, partnerships, grant compliance, and UI/UX design (Figma). PhD student at SPbGETU LETI. Two-time Student startup winner: AfroKiva (4th cohort) and FreshStart (5th cohort).

Amarachi Tyndale Eche - CPO. Product logic, user research, UX flows, and metrics. MSc Data Analytics, University of Manchester. Remote.

Adeseko Samuel Oluwatobi - CTO. Technical architecture and full-stack development. Founder of Paytrybe and NetAdmin. Based in Russia.

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