On-demand career-coaching startup Sociov recently announced a partnership with Pru-Life UK’s Quartz District to empower financial advisors with data-driven professional development services. Through this partnership, Sociov hopes to provide Pru-Life UK’s coaches with better tools to address cyclical poverty in the nation by promoting financial literacy among their clients.
Short for “social innovation”, Sociov was founded by CEO Neil Soria during a Go-Jek sponsored workshop he led in Jakarta in 2019. Soria began with a broad concept for a social enterprise geared towards addressing soaring unemployment rates across Southeast Asia. He eventually landed on accessible professional coaching as a path towards greater employability. Six months later, Soria decided to move to Ho Chi Minh to study Vietnam’s tech startup ecosystem and, while working a day job as an English teacher, develop the blueprint for a student-centric career-coaching platform.
Along with his co-founders, Lea Berioso (CTO), Josh Alas (CHRO), John De Recto (CFO) and Atty. Chad Osorio (Legal Counsel), Soria pulled together a minimum viable product in early-2021. This was the beginnings of Sociov, a concierge service matching clients and career coaches based on needs, specializations, and price ranges.
By May 2021, the group’s pilot saw 18 partner-coaches clock in 94 coaching-hours to a community of clients and learners using their web platform. The platform launched with an initial focus on job-seekers navigating the pandemic-era labor market. Sociov offers coaching sessions on a tiered basis, based on the quality of coaches. For resume development sessions, clients pay P500 for a bronze coach, P1,500 for a silver coach, and P4,500 for a gold coach. For job interview coaching, clients pay up to P800, P1,800, P5,000, and 6,000 for bronze, silver, gold, and platinum coaches, respectively. Sociov charges a platform fee of 20–30% for each session.
Soria likens Sociov to foreign services like San Francisco-based BetterUp, which leverages artificial intelligence and behavioral science in delivering their holistic coaching services. According to BetterUp, members availing of their offerings have reported a 90% reduction in stress, 149% increase in resilience, 181% improvement in focus, and 222% increase in team agility. BetterUp caters to a massive domestic market for professional coaching services, with some estimates valuing the US business coaching industry at $11.2 billion. Globally, total revenue from coaching reached $2.8 billion in 2019, up 21% from revenues reported in 2015.
By focusing on bridging clients with coaches, Sociov hopes to build the Philippine market for professional coaching services. Today, the startup is looking beyond jobseekers and interview training. According to Soria, Sociov’s recent partnership with leading life insurance provider Pru Life UK’s Quartz District will allow the startup to cater to the group’s 5,000 employees spread across 19 branches. These employees will be utilizing Sociov’s platform to better achieve their mission of empowering Filipinos through financial planning, as well as procure higher-level coaching services themselves.