When most people left the hospital and went home, Osi Egole would open her laptop. By day she stitched lives together as an NHS midwife; in the hours others call downtime she quietly began building something new.
Her idea wasn’t born in a boardroom. It surfaced in the lived moments between hospital corridors and late-night breaks, shaped by the question she couldn’t ignore: Why should influence belong only to those with fame or a following?
A brief moment in Ghana that changed everything
On a trip home to Ghana last January, Egole watched Dragons’ Den and saw a pattern she couldn’t unsee. People recommend clothes, skincare, restaurants, gadgets, all the time. Those suggestions led to purchases, yet the recommenders rarely shared in the value.
She remembered dozens of conversations involving friends texting product photos, cousins swapping links, neighbours asking “where did you get that?” Value was happening in those small exchanges, not on red-carpet stages. The question that kept her awake was simple. Why should only people with huge followings profit from what the rest of us create in daily life?
A simple idea, built from the margins
That question became the idea behind DRSR, a social commerce feed that rewards genuine recommendations. When someone’s recommendation converts into a sale, the recommender earns a flat 5% commission. No influencer gatekeeping. No brand deals required.
Turning that clarity into a product meant working in the time left after shifts and family life. Egole juggled long nights, cross-continent calls and often unreliable internet. She bought the domain in February, set up in the UK by March, launched a US entity and trademark efforts in May, and had a coded prototype by November. The MVP went live in December, and a process patent application followed before the year closed.
Gained quick momentum
People responded fast. Three days after sharing the journey on Instagram, more than a thousand people were watching. Crowdfunding raised £12,000 in 20 days. HMRC approved SEIS and EIS tax relief. Today a waitlist of roughly 1,600 sits behind a wider community of more than 6,600 supporters.
The traction earned stages beyond hospital corridors, including a pitch slot at Web Summit Qatar, where Egole laid out a different message. Influence already lives in group chats, kitchen tables and WhatsApp threads. The aim is not to erase creators with audiences but to make everyday trust count.
The story of DRSR is less about disruption and more about recognition. It reframes a simple social act, telling someone what worked for you, into a small but meaningful economic share. If it succeeds, those offhand recommendations that drove your last purchase might also carry a little reward for the person who made them.
