“I started Cliqa with my co-founders to solve a basic need for us immigrants in the US.”
Edgar Navas | Founder and CEO of Cliqa Inc.
Edgar has a degree in economics and finance from Texas State University and also holds an MBA in international economics, a degree that took him to Europe and to a stint with the World Trade Organization. His corporate background includes extensive work in the telecom industry.
Edgar started Cliqa Inc four-and-a-half years ago, after he observed with alarm the inner workings of the long-distance calling card business, with its countless fees and dodgy rules that allowed card balances to expire quickly. Knowing the telecom business inside out, he decided to step in and change it.
The company started as a technology tool to help immigrants access services that usually were available only at physical shops, with many layers of overhead and costs that were passed down to the customers. Cliqa brought those services to the users with a digital platform that reduced the cost effectively and substantially.
Cliqa services ranged from digital rechargeable phone cards for international calling to financial solutions. With Cliqa’s tools, an immigrant could help a loved one back home by, for example, covering an equivalent of a US $15 mobile phone bill without using expensive international money transfer services better suited for much higher sums.
Edgar broadened his efforts by applying the company’s technology expertise to the growing social media space and monetizing existing networks. The result is a digital platform to inspire and inform the Latino community: Cliqa Digital Media. Partnering with social media influencers, the platform promotes events, new products and services, entertainment, news, and even get-out-the-vote campaigns.
Cliqa Digital Media campaigns have helped clients dramatically increase their reach to the Latino market. Using its capacity for digital analysis and communication strategies, the platform’s accounts have grown to 30 million followers, with one channel drawing up to 4 million impressions per month.
Monetizing this activity requires a network of social media profiles, landing pages, and a system to convert traffic into verifiable data that can start a two-way conversation between a client and a potential customer, while at the same time respecting privacy rules. The wealth of data makes Cliqa Digital Media a massive digital asset and a formidable vehicle to link up with a diverse LatinX audience.