Goodwall is a professional development network created primarily for

students A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary ...

, entrepreneurs, and young professionals which allows members to connect over shared interests, present themselves to universities and employers, and discover opportunities from

scholarships A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarshi ...

jobs Jobs may refer to: * Job, an activity that people do for regular income gain People * Steve Jobs (1955–2011), co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc ** Steve Jobs (disambiguation) * Laurene Powell Jobs (born 1963), widow of Steve Jobs * Lisa ...

. Members are prompted to build a professional and visually appealing profile that shows off who they are and what they have achieved in their lives, ⁣ with a preference for graphic or video messages, rather than a plain-text version, such as on a resume. The Goodwall app is available on both

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

. Goodwall was founded by Omar and Taha Bawa and was launched as a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

in January 2014. In 2015, it was developed into a mobile-first platform. Goodwall SA, the company behind the platform, is headquartered in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

The Goodwall Community

Goodwall was initially geared towards students, from high school students to those in

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. Later, the company increased its scope to include

entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and young professionals. Today, the average age range of Goodwall’s members are 16–26. As of 2020, Goodwall has grown to over 1.5 million members located in more than 150 countries.

Posts

Goodwall offers 4 main posting options: default posts, questions, ideas, and achievements. On all post types, members can add text, video, images, keywords, and a location tag. For questions, ideas, and achievements, a unique banner marks the post as such, allowing other Goodwall members to locate relevant material in their feeds and react accordingly (i.e., answer the question, give feedback on an idea). In ideas, Goodwall has pioneered the
virtual elevator pitch
" a modern take on th
traditional elevator pitch

Scholarship & Opportunity Search

Goodwall has listings for jobs and internships around the world. As a job board, Goodwall includes the standard search functions, such as location search, keywords, bookmarking, and more. On the education side, Goodwall has scholarships and awards and courses.

The Goodwall Blog

Goodwall’s blog was relaunched in late 2019 with an updated design and dedicated visuals. The blog aims to focus on many issues close to the hearts of students and young professionals, including entrepreneurship, ⁣ navigating academia, finding jobs and careers, social impact, climate change, locating scholarships and awards, motivation, ⁣ and more. More features exist on Goodwall, such as a messaging ability among members.

Partnerships

Goodwall works with universities, companies, and organizations providing opportunities for early professional development.

Universities

Goodwall partners with universities across 4 continents. High school students can find matching universities based on their grades, location and field of interest.

Employers

Goodwall works with companies in all industries and offers internship and job opportunities to young people.

History

The idea for Goodwall originated from End Ignorance, a blog that was created by Omar Bawa in 2012 with the goal of highlighting the various crises occurring around the world. Wanting to encourage positive deeds in response to these crises, the Bawa brothers expanded the blog into the

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

that became Goodwall. Goodwall’s team has grown globally to over 50 people in based in 9 countries: the US, the UK, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. The company has raised over $16 million in funding and is strategically backed by

Randstad The Randstad (; "Rim" or "Edge" City) is a roughly crescent-shaped conurbation in the central-western Netherlands, consisting primarily of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht); their suburbs, and many tow ...

, one of the largest HR and

recruitment Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs (either permanent or temporary) within an organization. Recruitment also is the processes involved in choosing individual ...

companies globally, and Manixer, a

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

focused on

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

. On December 13, 2019, Goodwall's Android-version app reached a milestone of 1,000,000 downloads. In early June 2020, the Goodwall community surpassed 1.5 million members.

Awards and Recognition

With its growth and positive mission, Goodwall has been mentioned in, among others, the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

Inc Magazine ''Inc.'' is an American business magazine founded in 1979 and based in New York City. The magazine publishes six issues per year, along with surrounding online and social media content. The magazine also produces several live and virtual events y ...

The Next Web TNW (The Next Web) is a website and annual series of conferences focused on new technology and start-up companies in Europe. The Next Web company was established in 2006 by co-founders Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten and Patrick de Laive in Amsterda ...

, and the University Herald. In September 2019, Goodwall was named as one of “Switzerland’s best scale-ups” by Venturelab.

References

* * * {{paywall Social networks for social change Internet properties established in 2014 Swiss websites Employment social networks 2014 establishments in Switzerland