Hullo: The New Brunswick-developed app aiming to help newcomers in Canada

A newly developed app is hoping to ease the transition of newcomers into Canada.

“What we can help with is finding the community, and that’s what our app is designed to do. It helps newcomers communicate,” said Ben McFarlane of SyntecX Global,

The Hullo app was developed by Ali Allauddin Ajani, who is originally from Pakistan, and McFarlane, of Fredericton, N.B.

The inspiration for the application came from Ajani’s experience migrating to Canada.

He says when he arrived in Fredericton it was challenging to find his place in the community.

“I wanted to develop an application to which the city and this province can retain newcomers,” said Ajani

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The app’s interface has a map, job search, and a messaging component so those who are new to Canada can easily access settlement and cultural organizations.

“He’s going to see that he’s not the only one here who is from Pakistan. And so his cultural groups will be highlighted for him and then the resources that are most relevant to him based on his profile will show up on the map,” said McFarlane

To gain more content for the application they are interviewing those that migrated to the province and organizations that support newcomers.

“There’s a lot of things that we don’t know are difficult, there’s a lot of challenges like financing a car or finding a rental property, and getting a credit card,” said McFarlane.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's a lot of things that we don't know are difficult, there's a lot of challenges like financing a car or finding a rental property, and getting a credit card," said McFarlane.

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The app will be released in Fredericton first but they have goals of launching it across Canada. Ali says immigrants facing issues assimilating into new cities is a national issue.

SyntecX has invested $50,000 into completing the prototype and are seeking additional financial backing for the rollout.

“This application will help to boost the economy and we need of course community and investor support,” said Ali.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "This application will help to boost the economy and we need of course community and investor support," said Ali.

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The City of Fredericton is helping to fund the project.

The pair are hoping to have an early release of the software launched this summer.