Freelance Marketplace In Ethiopia

In our 10th edition, we wrote a tech article on the topic, Freelancing in Ethiopia. Now let us dive a little deeper and look at different freelance marketplaces that we can use in Ethiopia. We will also try to look at the term Talent Pool.

If you search ‘freelancing in Ethiopia’ on Google, websites like UpWork, Fiverr, Truelancer, and freelancer.com will appear. These companies are what we call a Freelance Marketplace. From Wikipedia, Freelance marketplaces provide a marketplace for freelancers and buyers. Service providers or sellers create a profile where they include a description of the services they offer and, in some cases, information about their rates. Buyers register and create a profile and then post projects outlining their requirements. Buyers will then bid for these projects on a fixed price or hourly basis. Many of these websites have user review sections that affect the reputation of freelancers who list there.

There are also other places you could find freelance jobs in Ethiopia, like Freelance Ethiopia on Telegram. Freelance Ethiopia has been operating for the last three years. Freelance Ethiopia is not a freelance marketplace per se. Because from the definition above, a freelance marketplace should let the service providers, the freelancers, create their profile, which Freelance Ethiopia does not provide. But if they go on that path, it would be great for them. At the time of writing, there are more than 120,000 subscribers on their telegram channel. And the number is growing steadily. From Telegram's statistics, tgstat.com, Freelance Ethiopia has over one thousand posts every month, on average, that is close to forty posts per day. And from their pitch profile, it is mentioned that they have over 35 approved jobs per day.

Another freelance marketplace that we will look at is Gebeya. As the name hints, Gebeya is a Pan-African online talent and freelance Marketplace founded in 2016 and headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The company aims to become an active contributor to Africa’s digital transformation by providing job opportunities for African talent. 

Imagine if every time a company had a job opening, they had a pool of talent available for them from which to choose. To achieve that, Gebeya utilizes something called a talent pool. In simplest terms, a talent pool is a database of potential job candidates. The candidates included in the database are typically highly qualified. Gebeya has a talent pool in different disciplines such as Software Development, Graphics Design, Project Management, AI, Cyber Security, and others. For a talent or freelancer to join Gebeya’s talent pool, they have to apply first. They must then meet rigorous standards for expertise, validated by testing and screening interviews. After passing the requirements and joining the talent pool, the system will automatically match the talent with projects that fit their profile and rate. 

On a fireside chat on YouTube, on a channel called Metta Nairobi, CEO and Co-founder of Gebeya, Amadou Daffe, speaks about the challenges they had as a freelance marketplace. "One of the challenges we have is that different customers, especially African companies, that interact with us may not understand the full power of having a freelancer. So there's a lot of educational aspects that we need to do behind the scenes for clients. We do that to make them understand why it is more beneficial to have a freelancer at the stage that they are in rather than a full-time employee.”

Amadou Daffe continued, "For the western world, whether in the United States or even Europe and Asia, freelancing is so common that it is part of life. Moreover, 45% of the workforce in the United States of America are freelancers. People don't realize that. When people go to the US to get a job, it's easier to get a freelancing job than a full-time job. Companies are looking at the cost associated with a full-time job and the speed at which they can have someone who knows what they're doing rather than bringing them on to train them. So that's the challenge I have, to prove that African businesses can be successful by hiring freelancers, which makes it at the same time exciting."

In conclusion, I believe the future of work, especially in tech, is freelancing and working from home. I say that because freelancing is advantageous for both the freelancer and the company hiring them. The freelancer will have the freedom to self-manage, work on their own time and with their preferred clients; the company reduces the cost of hiring and training a full-time employee, a win-win for both. The freelance marketplaces mentioned above will help you to do just that.