Privacy Policy

1. What data we collect

We only collect what we actually need to run Ecogru and keep it safe. Here's what that includes, depending on whether you're a professional or a founder:

If you're a professional, we collect:

• Your name, email address, phone number, and location.
• Your profession, skills, work experience, bio, and hourly or project rate.
• A profile photo, if you choose to add one.
• Identity verification documents, if you choose to verify your profile (see section 4).
• Messages, files, and activity inside the workspaces you join.
• Ratings and skill confirmations left by founders you've worked with.

If you're a founder, we collect:

• Your name, email address, and phone number.
• Information about the workspaces and projects you create.
• Messages, files, and activity inside your workspaces.
• Basic payment information if you subscribe to a paid plan (see section 5).

For everyone, we also automatically collect some basic technical information — like device type, browser, and general usage patterns (for example, which pages get used most) — so we can keep Ecogru working well and fix problems.

2. How we use your data

We use your information for one simple purpose: to make Ecogru work well for you. Specifically, that means:

• Showing your profile to the right people — professionals to founders searching for skills, and vice versa.
• Letting you communicate, share files, and collaborate inside workspaces.
• Verifying identities so that everyone on Ecogru can trust who they're working with.
• Processing subscription payments, where applicable.
• Sending you important notifications — like invites, messages, and account activity.
• Improving Ecogru over time, based on how the platform is actually used.
• Keeping the platform safe — detecting fraud, abuse, and violations of our Terms of Service.

We do not use your personal data to sell you unrelated advertising, and we do not sell your data to advertisers or data brokers.

3. How it's stored and protected

Your data is stored on secure servers, protected with industry-standard measures to keep it safe from unauthorised access.

• Passwords are never stored in plain text — they're encrypted so that even we can't read them.
• Access to sensitive data (like verification documents) is limited to the small number of people who need it to do their job — for example, reviewing a verification request.
• We use secure, encrypted connections (HTTPS) for all traffic between your device and Ecogru.
• We keep your data only for as long as your account is active, plus a reasonable period afterward in case it's needed for legal, security, or dispute-resolution reasons — after that, it's deleted.

No system is 100% risk-free, and we can't promise perfect security — but we take real, practical steps to protect your information, and we'll tell you promptly if something ever goes wrong that affects your data.

4. ID verification data

Verification is optional for professionals, but it helps founders trust who they're hiring — verified professionals get a badge on their profile and typically appear higher in search results.

• If you choose to verify, you'll upload a government ID or similar document, along with a selfie or photo used to confirm it's really you.
• This document is reviewed by a small, trusted team at Ecogru — it is never shown publicly, and founders never see the document itself, only the "Verified" badge that results from it.
• Verification documents are stored securely and separately from the rest of your profile data, with extra access restrictions, for as long as it takes us to review them.
• Once we've made a decision on your submission — approved or rejected — we permanently delete the document and selfie image itself, immediately. We only keep the result: whether you're verified, the name confirmed from your document, when it was reviewed, and which reviewer handled it. We never hold onto the images themselves "just in case," whether you're approved, rejected, or later delete your account.

5. Payment data

If you subscribe to a paid Ecogru plan, we need some payment information to process that — but we keep our own involvement with it as limited as possible.

• Card and payment details are handled by trusted, secure payment processors — Ecogru does not store your full card number on our own servers.
• We keep a record of your subscription status, billing history, and receipts, so you can view and manage your payments.
• For work payments made directly between founders and professionals outside of an Ecogru subscription, Ecogru does not collect or store those payment details unless a specific paid payment feature says otherwise at the time you use it.

6. Who we share data with

We share your data only when it's genuinely necessary — never to make money from selling your information.

• Other Ecogru users, appropriately. Your public profile information (name, skills, bio, ratings) is visible to other users as part of how Ecogru works. Private information — like your ID documents, email, or phone number — is never shown publicly.
• Service providers we trust. We work with a small number of carefully chosen providers who help us run Ecogru — for example, secure cloud hosting and payment processing. They only get the specific data they need to do their job, and they're not allowed to use it for anything else.
• Legal requirements. If we're required to by law — for example, a valid court order — we may need to share specific data with the relevant authority.
• Safety situations. If we believe someone is at risk of harm, or serious fraud or abuse is happening on the platform, we may share relevant information as needed to protect people.

We do not share your data with advertisers, marketers, or data brokers.

7. Your rights over your data

It's your data, and you're in control of it. At any time, you have the right to:

• See what we have. You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct it. If something in your profile or account is wrong, you can update it yourself, or ask us to fix it.
• Delete it. You can delete your account and request that we permanently remove your personal data, subject only to what we're legally required to keep for a limited time (for example, financial records for tax purposes).
• Download it. You can request an export of your profile and workspace data in a readable format.
• Object or restrict. You can ask us to stop a specific use of your data that you're not comfortable with, and we'll do our best to accommodate that request.

To use any of these rights, just contact us — see below. We aim to respond to every privacy request within 30 days.

8. Contact us about privacy

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests about your privacy or personal data on Ecogru, reach out any time:

• Email: privacy@ecogru-africa.com
• We aim to respond to every message within a few working days, and to fully resolve data requests within 30 days.

Related reading: our Terms of Service covers the broader rules for using Ecogru.