credit, personal archive
Former Buddhist nun Koral Sunon managed to find A own designer To help her change her wardrobe
- author, Elna Schutz
- roll, Business reporter
After spending 10 years as a Buddhist nun in Myanmar, Coral Sunon knew she needed help getting dressed when she returned to the outside world.
But with a difficult financial situation, relying on the services of a Personal stylusProfessional t was simply out of the question. or not?
Coral, who lives in Malaysia, heard about a website called TimeRepublik, which describes itself as “the time bank for the Internet age.”
Time banking is, in essence, a more complex form of exchange. You don’t pay someone cash for the work they do for you.
Instead, you give that person time credits that they can use to get a service without paying through someone else.
On TimeRepublik, Coral was able to connect with Cherish Cullison, a fashion designer and fashion designer barber For a professional New York fashionista.
Over Zoom, Cherish was able to help Coral find the modern wardrobe that would best fit her.
“I found my technique really good,” says Corral.
“Money cannot pay for this kind of transaction, it is priceless, it is based on trust.”
The two have kept in touch after they met on TimeRepublik a few years ago. This included Coral responding to the help by giving Cherish some meditation lessons.
Cherish thinks it’s a good idea to “expect elusive money”.
“Instead, you really get to the heart of things and discover something that is, I think, even greater and priceless.”
credit, personal archive
a barber Professional Cherish Cullison earns time credits providing fashion advice
Relationships and trust
TimeRepublik is the creator of the Swiss Gabriele Donati and Karim Farini, the founders of the platform. They released the first version in Switzerland in 2012, but international expansion has occurred in the past two years.
The site is free to use for members of the public. Users who provide a service get a “TimeCoin” credit (something like “time currency”).
That’s 15 minutes, no matter what job you’re applying for, whether it’s mowing the lawn in the neighbor’s garden or teaching math over a video call.
You simply advertise what you are offering and how long it will take your TimeCoins.
“We wanted to get away from financial transactions and find something that could create relationships between people,” says Donati.
“Because we truly believe that only through our relationships can you gain another person’s trust.”
TimeRepublik is now headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland and New York, USA, and claims to have more than 100,000 users worldwide. They make money by selling the service to companies that provide it to their employees through their internal websites.
The concept of a time bank has been around since about the 19th century. Donati says he wanted to bring it to a younger, more digitally savvy audience.
Another organization helping to create online time banks is the charity Timebanking UK.
Provides assistance and software to help communities and organizations across the UK set up their own time bank systems.
The platforms allow users to post offers and requests, record business hours and leave comments.
Sarah Bird, UK CEO of Timebanking, highlights the protection features that are built in, such as the ability for users to report any issues.
“If something goes wrong with the local time bank, we can just jump in there and see if we can fix things,” she says.
credit, Disclosure / Timebanking UK
Timebanking UK helps communities and organizations create time bank programmes
Bird also explains that while the time bank is not a substitute for professional services or government programs, it can support and engage people who would not normally do traditional volunteering.
She adds that the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions allows job seekers to claim bank hours as time spent searching for gainful employment.
“A time bank can be the first step anyone takes out of prolonged unemployment before becoming a volunteer or taking a course, because it’s a way to make people feel more confident about themselves,” Beard says.
Timebanking UK has also set up similar schemes abroad in countries such as China, Russia, India, South Korea and Thailand.
credit, Disclosure / Timebanking UK
Participants can use time bank software to show their willingness to work
At Tempo Time Credits, based in Cardiff, Wales, the timeshare model is a little different.
Instead of participants earning credits that they can redeem through someone else working for them, they earn credits that they can redeem at affiliates such as local gyms, movie theaters, food stores, and attractions.
Rachel Gegeshidze, CEO of Tempo Time Credits, says her online system is a way to attract and reward volunteers.
It is used by local authorities across the UK to help develop projects aimed at important community improvements, such as dealing with loneliness or tackling poverty.
“It really helps people do new things and have new experiences…but we also have programs to connect residents to their communities and improve health and well-being,” she explains.
The charity’s 2022 Impact Report showed there were 10,731 active participants and nearly 1,100 participating organizations. The study also found that 84% of the participants felt more optimistic about their future.
As for TimeRepublik, the site says it doesn’t want to be seen as a substitute for cash savings — and that it is, in fact, “created to cohabitate” with them.
Based on her own experience, Cherish Cullison states that “everyone was really happy with the exchanges, and I met some really interesting people.”
