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Imperative of Outsourcing Innovative Skills
Emma Okonji writes on a new outsourcing initiative
As some employers are laying off employees and shifting attention to new ways of getting work done, Terawork, a Lagos-based information technology (IT) firm, is creating fresh opportunities for both the employees and employers.
The firm helps skilled and semi-skilled men and women access businesses that seek to save costs by hiring freelancers. This effort brings efficiency into businesses seeking speed of execution and maximum value from every expense.
Leveraging technology
Precisely, Terawork leverages the growing reliance on technology to help buyers (businesses) access as many professionals (sellers) who are ready to trade-off unique skills for some freelance pay.
The outsourcing innovation reduces another stress point for fund-starved businesses, pressed by the weaker global economic activities, just as it buoys the new generation of professionals who have been roiled by employers’ penchant for downsizing in the harsh operating environment.
Employers reduce cost by downsizing, outsourcing, or encouraging the workforce to take a pay cut; affected and unaffected employees, essentially professionals, find a new way to earn more money. Publicists, lawyers, accountants, graphic designers, software developers, app developers, writers, editors, website builders, and more trade their skills on Terawork.
As 1.6 billion of the total three billion global workers are poised to lose their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a lockdown projection by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), work innovation is needed to balance out the grim effects on business and household incomes.
Hence, since the online outsourcing innovation provides a channel that helps businesses, households, and economies heal, it is, therefore, no surprise that it was selected to participate in the Forbes Global Startup Ecosystem. After all, providing opportunities for dialing up from near-collapse across industries is commendable.
Speaking recently, the Chief Operating Officer of Terawork, Titi Taiwo, explained that businesses operating in the 21st-century economy must be frugal and adaptive to survive.
According to her, “At Terawork we concentrate on helping organisations access an expansive network of professionals across wide fields of skilled and semi-skilled men and women consistently available to execute tasks.
“This provides a platform for organisations to save cost by getting things done within the popular gig-framework where unnecessary overheads are waived as part of a pay-per-task model.”
The model
Speaking about the freelance model, Taiwo said with the model, freelancers get the maximum return for every task. They even get recommendations for tasks executed excellently thereby improving their overall brand. Essentially, there seems to be value to be had at both ends of the relationship. That value proposition is what separates Terawork from competing platforms.
“The Forbes Accelerator programme slated June 25 may see Terawork emerges as one of the leading innovative solutions coming from Africa’s largest market. Obviously, recognition is deserved,” Taiwo said.
Technology offerings
The IT firm offers innovative work solutions that help drive efficiency in 21st-century organisations. It and generates fulfillment for workers. And, in terms of positioning, it provides accessibility – a list of highly skilled and semi-skilled freelancers across relevant fields.
Further, it adds flexibility, which means tasks can be outsourced anytime and anywhere. The solution also lowers overhead, erases employees’ excesses, and totally removes pay packages that bloat cost in many organisations.
On a broader scale, it solves some of the unemployment headaches in Africa by serving as ‘tasks mall’ and ‘skills bank’ where businesses and professionals can trade value.
Still, as a service, the Lagos-based firm is a lever of advantage for the burgeoning market comprising MSMEs and large enterprises seeking to outsource tasks. It is a step up among targeted digital enterprises.
Indeed, the United Nations had said in 2017 that digital innovation is critical to Africa’s economic recovery. From financial services to Human Resources (HR), startups are adapting technology to match the dynamics of everyday challenges. For that reason, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, Egypt, and Tunisia are fast turning into a hot bed of inspiring digital innovation.
Apart from employing a growing African youth population, the startups are providing the platform for the continent to keep pace with the EU, North America, and Asia’s burgeoning startup ecosystem.
Venture capital and philanthropic funds are pouring from every corner of the globe to support those startups ecosystem. For instance, the French Development Agency (FDA) released €65 million fund to support African Union Agenda 2023 to eradicate the frustration encountered by young entrepreneurs striving to turn their ideas into the worthwhile enterprise that could scale up to reasonable socioeconomic impact.
The opportunity to start, the incentive to continue, and the market to lap up every attempt to scale will push bright African youths into pursuing the African digital future. This is the path pursued by Terawork’s CEO.
Startups success
Considering the success of startups in Silicon Valley, Nairobi, Stockholm, and Doha, Nigerian young entrepreneurs will stop at nothing to come up with bold ideas to meet the needs of all sections of the total 200 million population.
Terawork has emerged as a top Forbes innovator and by June 25, 2020, the American publisher will host the first Forbes Nigeria Summit. This culmination day will celebrate the influencers of Forbes’ Digital Startup Accelerator (Nigeria Edition) featuring over 50 speakers, 100 partners, over 200 cohort companies and over 5000 applicants. And it is expected the firm will put up a good performance as it continues on this journey of providing timely solutions that meet the needs of corporate enterprises and the bloating line of employed and underemployed professionals across the continent.