StudentNest

StudentNest- Everything you need in one platform
House hunt using our filtering options and find something in your budget.
Find roomates by adding profile or browsing existing profiles.
Know about a free room? Let fellow students know by posting it
Add an opportunity by its deadline for everyone to see.
Why Us
Ask our AI Assistant about anything student life at CMU Africa.
Sell an item to a fellow student incase you are leaving and do not need it anymore.

Inspiration

Meet Emmilly

An international student who recently moved to Kigali for her studies on a budget.
Lost 2 weeks of study time hunting for apartment through WhatsApp groups and Agents.
Missed several opportunities because she didn't know they existed
Can’t find budget-friendly appliances/furniture
Not sure if she will find roommates since she prefers shared accommodation due to high rental costs
Constantly anxious and frustrated.

What it does

StudentNest - Leverages artificial intelligence and verified community data to provide structured, centralised, and trustworthy guidance -

Housing recommendations
Seamlessly finding roommate
Access to opportunities
A marketplace for second hand appliances and furniture Effectively addressing critical relocation pain points for students and alumni

How we built it

The solution is a lightweight and deployable as a prototype using dummy data, enabling rapid iteration with student feedback before scaling to live listings and integrations. It has been developed using Typescript, a programming language built on Javascript and deployed on Vercel, a user friendly web app deployment platform.

Challenges we ran into

Lack of readily available data for example on housing and relevant FAQs
Time constraints to come up with with a more functional prototype

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Up and running prototype outline a foundation we can build on for a scalable solution

What we learned

We learned the importance of validating our solution through real user feedback rather than assumptions. Initially, we focused on solving housing and roommate matching. But after speaking with students, we discovered that their needs were much broader. They wanted a one-stop shop to buy and sell appliances, access local opportunities, and receive personalized recommendations.
We learned that you don’t always need to solve a problem in the most direct way. Language barriers are a major challenge for students, and while we couldn’t build full translation features due to limited resources, we found other ways to address it. For instance, by connecting students with landlords and local services like salons, we help them navigate language barriers more easily.