Gigmart- skills and talent marketplace.

Joy Atieno is an Actuarial Science graduate who possesses 5 years’ work experience with extensive engagement in the ICT world involving mentorship, collecting, analyzing data, mobilizing partners, resources and project management. Joy started her career in 2015 at Deloitte East Africa before changing career track and responded to the call of humanity. She has since 2016 combined her academic achievements and diverse working experiences to contribute to making a difference for the youths through Digital activism. Joy currently leads an innovation academy, Upskill (upskill.ac.ug), in Uganda that seeks to address the high unemployment of youths by bridging the skills gap. Upskill runs free masterclasses in digital marketing, data analysis and web development to equip youths with the most in demand ready-to-work skills to compete favorably in the increasingly digital economies. Joy also runs #CodeQueen, a women’s only coding training with Educating The Children to bring more girls into STEM.

Youth unemployment was a challenge even before the COVID-19, the causes of which are multifaceted. There is a skills mismatch between education and requirements of the job markets as curricular are largely outmoded and lack relevance to the digital age. There are few to none local platforms where the youths caught in the dilemma of being knowledge ready but market ready can go to upskill, reskill and skill themselves in these most relevant and also find dignified gigs. There is also an inadequate job supply where 8-5 jobs that are on decline is condemning youths to unemployment or underemployment. The situation is getting worse as companies lay off workers to cut costs during and post COVID-19. Our Gigmart project provides a one-stop shop where youths get skills and gigs and clients especially medium and small businesses can access inexpensive talent at a time they are mist focused at cutting costs.  

The specific problem that we are focused on solving is the acute unemployment especially with the mass layoffs brought caused by the COVID-19 pandemic both during after the pandemic period. A recent study by the African Union states that Africa will see more than 20 million people lose their jobs (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-africa-economy-idUSKBN21N0KX). In Uganda alone, the immediate phase after COVID-19 will see an estimated 780,000 youths and a further 2.6 million in the long term will lose their jobs according to a study by the daily monitor Uganda (https://bit.ly/UgandaStats). A recent report by the Independent states that the GDP of Uganda would further drop by 0.8% plunging poor household into further untold misery (https://bit.ly/UgandaGDP). Uganda is among the youngest nations in the world and the problem of youth unemployment is not new. However, the COVID-19 has only compounded the situation and is making it worse if something is not done quickly. The pandemic has affected especially small and medium enterprises and as they seek ways to find a footing, they shall require access to inexpensive freelance talent as they maintain focus on cutting costs.

"Gigmart" takes on a 3 pronged approach to close the recurring talent gap in the market and address the issue of unemployment;

1.    For individuals

o    Enhance their skills: We take on a blended approach to conduct a number of interactive Masterclasses on skills driving digital migration of business such as digital marketing, e-branding, social media management, data science and analytics, graphics design, content creation, web and app development. 

§  These classes usually run between 4-10 weeks on site. In light of the pandemic, we are currently leveraging social media channels like Twitter, Facebook live and YouTube as we build our web based platform to encourage self paced learning. 

§  Our dedicated team of facilitators comprises seasoned industry professionals who record short teaching sessions, host live webinars and teach the participants in person. 

o    Individuals can get a gig: The verified talent pool from the skilling programs and intense vetting qualify to be gig stars and can access the gigs listed on the platform. 

2.    Businesses can list a gig: By signing up on the platform, clients can list short term tasks or projects and get matched to our pool of Freelancers that will address their  immediate need. 

Our project is working to help job-seeking youths between the ages of 18-30 find dignifying work and the businesses especially small and medium startups that have been the hardest hit economically to find inexpensive but efficient talent. At Upskill, we are already helping the job-seeking youths address their skills gaps by running free masterclasses on the most in-demand ready-to-work skills that convert quickly in the market. However, in the absence of 8-5 jobs, these youths require consistent flow of freelance work to earn incomes that can sustain their basic needs after getting the skills. We have also, on the other hand, engaged the employers by being part of an innovation hub, The Innovation Village and interacting with SMEs and getting to understand their pain points. Most of these mid-sized companies do not have the budget to hire full-time professionals and especially during and post COVID-19 due to the economic depression. All they require is an avenue of acquiring top local freelance talent to do short gigs and fixes for them. Our project offers this platform that bridges the gap between the available wide pool of freelancer and clients that require pre-vetted top talent.

Africa is the youngest population in the world and in Uganda, the average Ugandan is a 15 year old girl. The effects of unemployment in Africa are huge causing economies to lag further. Our project fits into the three tracks of The Elevate Prize since we are  elevating the difficult problem of unemployment but also elevating the solution that seeks to provide each youth with equal opportunities through a gig economy that will foster better understanding between the employers and youths that it is not about a 8-5 job but it is about getting work done faster, better and efficiently.

When we started the Upskill project, our initial sole focus was on helping youths address their skills gaps (caused by a broken education system) to become more employable. Practical learning opportunities range from few to none. When most of the youths transition into the job market, they are knowledge ready but not market ready since they lack practical and soft skills required to compete. We sought to leverage on the power of the internet to upskill, reskill and skill the youths with the most in-demand ready-to-work skills that convert quickly in the job markets such as digital marketing, data analysis, graphic design, research writing and camera and film works. We were equipping them with the skills and releasing them into the job market.

We quickly realized that we needed to complete the funnel since the skills we were equipping them did not guarantee an 8-5 job but they were on demand on a freelance basis. In the freelancing space also the clients required a local platform that pre-vets and guarantees them the quality of a freelancer. This demand in the market led to us coming up with the idea of an online one-stop shop for skills and pre-vetted freelance talent. 

I was brought up in Busia, the border town between Uganda and Kenya and from a young age I could see how lack of opportunities drives youths into despair such as drugs, prostitution and early marriages. Some manage to rise and pursue an education, but often get underemployed and 90% end up taking jobs they did not study for in school. I am a victim: I did Actuarial Science in University but I got to the job market to find a market not prepared for Actuaries with limited opportunities for growth. 90% of my underemployed classmates work as mobile money agents, clerks, shop attendants and salesmen and women. I taught myself digital marketing to overcome unemployment by sheer grit. However, I realized my peers didn't have such grit and it requires somebody who has gone through the same dilemma to help show the way and point them in the right direction. I know the shame, the disillusionment and despair that comes with unemployment especially when you think you have all the rights to a job. I have for the past 5 years made it my mission to show other youths that there is hope and a light at the end 

At Deloitte East Africa under the Actuarial department, I quickly realized the injustice the system had driven me to commit: choosing a career path because it had the potential of earning me more money than aligning with my purpose, unique strengths and interest. I quit in 2015 and since then I have dedicated my unique strengths towards youth economic empowerment. I am a great communicator, facilitator and teacher that captures and convinces my target audience. I worked with Digital Opportunity Trust and won many accolades for my delivery of the training on Business Model Canvas. I am an extremely good negotiator in forge partnerships and mobilize resources while working with Africa 118 in the implementation of the Google Digital Skills for Africa that required reaching out to institutions, youth centers, churches and many other community stakeholders. I have had an extensive 5 year work experience across various initiatives under various positions i.e. facilitator, Project Officer, Regional Coordinator and to highest level of Country Manager of Uganda amassing deep knowledge on best practices to combat youth unemployment brought about by skills gaps. I have taught the youths, I have mobilized resources in terms of funding and enabling partners and I have also oversaw the rolling out of the GDSA program at country level. My unique work and professional experiences has seen me interact with thousands of youths and this has given me a unique advantage of designing intervention for them, with them and by them. I have self-taught.

As Uganda Country Lead of Google Digital Skills for Africa under Africa 118, I, led an initiative to equip more young people as facilitators and send them into the communities to reach more youths. The payment model for facilitators was according to the number of people they were able to reach. The facilitators started focusing on the numbers and negate quality as they tried to ramp up their targets to earn more money. The donor partner, Google did a deep analysis on the numbers we submitted and found some very glaring irregularities, repetitions and recycling of data and photos. In hindsight, I trusted the trainers too much to uphold integrity but they let me down and almost cost me my professional credibility. I was lucky that Google and Africa 118 gave me a chance to redeem the situation: I brought in mystery assessors to go to every session and sit in then give an independent report, trainers had to submit time-stamped photos with geo-codes so that we can verify the date, time and location and I also required of them to submit physical registration forms that we could use to call participants and a system that weed out repetitive data.  

My passion for youth empowerment through digital activism knows no bounds because I know that in the current world, technology and not education is the greatest equalizer and every youth has the right to be fluent in Tech. As I was working in Kisumu, Kenya we had just launched operations in Mbita, about 100 kilometers from mainland Homabay and I had to use a motorcycle due to limited public transport. I was 8 months pregnant at the time with my youngest but I had to step up and lead the way for my team into a new market even if it meant taking a 100 kilometre journey on a motorbike while 8 month pregnant to ensure that more youths are reached. Immediately I finished my 3-month maternity leave, duty called and I had to pack and leave Kenya for Uganda tagging along my 3 month old baby to set up the Ugandan operations so that we can empower more youths with digital skills. I came into Uganda, a foreign land and set up the entire structures from scratch: recruiting trainers, training and on-boarding them and further formed partnerships with many institutions where we could run the Google program for Africa118.

Upskill is the Innovation academia wing of The Innovation Village, Kampala. Upskill is an independent venture under the Innovation Village that is slowly growing out of the shadow of the Village to stand on its own as a fully autonomous business. The Innovation Village is the mother that gave birth to Upskill but as a child, it is growing into its element by reaching out for opportunities like this to bring to life its initiatives like Gigmart as a way of creating revenue streams to shoulder its operational and administration costs without depending on the Innovation Village.  

With Gigmart, Upskill is thinking and positioning itself as a front runner in availing practical measures for combating acute unemployment that is already happening by the ramifications will be louder post-covid. Our model of education-to-employment offers learners who show great talent an opportunity to work on a number of gigs to earn a living. The low-cost talent helps small to medium enterprises clients remain afloat as our freelancers can perform short term tasks that would have otherwise been a salary/ wage expense. Our blended learning offers our beneficiaries opportunities to build social rapport and remain engaged by having some offline classes complement the online channels to increase reach with the classroom sessions. Upskill further guarantees top notch talent as gigstars on Gigmart by nurturing and preparing our own young talent through emphasis on practical skills through upskilling and reskilling to remain competitive in the digital economy. Our Gigmart platform further sells trust to client by listing only screened and vetted candidates to ensure the highest quality of work. We further have a regional reach that helps us have a diverse base and pool of talent. Gigmart and Upskill will ride on The Innovation Village’s scaling strategy, currently with coverage in thriving business environments across the country: Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara and Gulu. We have already activated operations in Kampala, Gulu and Jinja.    

A research report by Magelah and Ntambirweki-Karugonjo shows that approximately 400,000 Ugandan youths enter the job market annually to compete for only 9000 available jobs. Uganda is the world's second youngest population. Acute youth unemployment is a drag on the local economy. The failure to tap into the economic aspirations and resources of the youths and especially young women where initial underemployment or delayed entry into work inhibits their lifetime earning potential condemns them to a life of poverty. We seek to create opportunities for young people to acquire market relevant skills and prosper economically. We achieve this by creating a freelance marketplace for entrepreneurs to access more work opportunities. Uganda was coined the most enterprising country in the world but 95% of ventures do not live to see their first birthdays. The problem is a broken ecosystem attributed to poor market linkages caused by poor implementation of policies and lack of right skills. Gigmart is getting rid of the bottlenecks by connecting the freelancers direct to the clients and thereby increasing the amount of job opportunities created and equally the number of youths linked to work opportunities. The second part of our theory of change is that we are equipping the youths with market relevant skills. Most of the youths fail to get a head-start in life especially after higher education due to a mismatch between what formal school teaches them and the requirements of the ever evolving and increasingly technological job markets. There are millions of youths in Uganda that are either unemployed or underemployed yet more than two-thirds of companies report that they have positions for which they cannot find the right fit of talent with the right skill set. Technology is increasingly reshaping work where 50% of today's job require specialized technical skills and 77% will require these skills by the year 2030. Upskill's Gigmart project is skilling and linking the young people and especially young women to close the gender gap. We already have our structures for skilling with 5 physical locations within Uganda hence the potential for creating a big impact is huge.

Within the first quarter of 2020 we hae skilled 317 youths on digital marketing, data analysis and soft skills such as public speaking and pitching and we have linked about 70 to work opportunities. We have skilled 118 young men and 199 young women and this proves our commitment towards closing the gender gap but balancing it out so that the male youths are not left behind. Our goal is to skill at least 2500 youths and link a further 1800 to job opportunities by the end of 2020. Our strategy is keen on closing the gender gap where we are looking at 70% female participation in both linking and skilling. Young women have faced extreme social constraints that have limited their access to competitive skills and formal work opportunities. We have partnered with several local women focused organizations to aid in the realization of this goal such as Mkazipreneur, ZimbaWomen, CollabSpace and Swap&Talk. We have also recently activated our activities in three other locations hence we are active in Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara and Gulu. The additional locations will help in augmenting our reach. In five years, our goal is to skill 15,000 youths and further create work opportunities for another 10,000 youths. Our five year projection is based on the assumption of having our four sites fully operational with all necessary structures and couple it up with necessary resources to take the intervention to the communities and meet the youths at their places of convenience.

Our goal within the next one year is to realize increased competitiveness among the youths by skilling them as well as increased creation of job opportunities for them. We shall continue refining our training content and curriculum to make it very hands-on. We are also going on a big drive to start conversations with employers especially Medium scale business to show them how much they can save by working with our pre-vetted talent and free up time to focus on the core of their businesses so that we bring the on the platform. We also working on our operations across the 4 locations to be fully operational and in sync so that we move at the same pace.

In the next five years, our goal is to be an ecosystem builder and a destination young budding freelancers would call home where they can get skilling, business development support and even funding. Our online learning classes would be fully accredited and we will have morphed into a fully functional Innovation Academy recognized by various institutions equipping the local youths with world class content. In five years, we believe that a lot of the freelancers will have grown and set up their ventures hence we shall also seek to set up a fund that we will invest in early-stage entrepreneurs so that they can have access to patent financial capital. This will be important to equip them to unlock the potential of other youths and especially young women through creating more jobs. 

In the next one year the biggest challenge that we have is finances to execute the entire plan that we have. We are currently shot of enough human resource where we are only two on the team and we work with volunteers especially in the area of facilitating classes. The COVID pandemic has made us realize that our project will be essential in helping both the workforce that has been laid off to access regular floor of work opportunities but also acquire new skills which are on demand at the moment. Our project will also be very crucial in helping small and medium businesses access inexpensive talent at a time when they are trying to cut costs. The time, therefore calls for speed, agility and innovation at scale. We are driving our expansion plan rapidly and this will require bringing more hands on deck. 

Over the next five years, we are foreseeing infrastructural barriers where the connectivity is still low and internet costs are very high with an imposed social media tax. We are further seeing a barrier with acceptance from the market especially employers that are not yet accustomed to the freelancing culture and workforce. We are also foreseeing issues with regulators where local laws are not very clear on online work around issues like taxation. The other issue may be fraud especially on the freelance marketplace where we always have people who jump on a good course and try to use it wrongly

On the infrastructural bit there is so little that we can do in pushing the government to make them better. We are looking at implementing e-learning structures that allow the learners access content even when they are offline or it can work and load on even weak connection. The fraud barrier, we have made an internal decision  to first of all nurture our own talent so that on the talent marketplace we present talent that we ourselves have vetted and know its quality . However, we shall open a small window for outstanding talent that may have not come through our ranks but passes our pre-vetting criteria which include physical appearance at one of our locations. The legal issue is novel even in the Ugandan context hence we shall be seeking out partnership and support of legal scholars to help contextualize. At Upskill, we have seen how COVID has turned the tides and the best way we shall deal with skepticism from potential employers is by giving them trial periods where they can get to interact with our talent and discover for themselves how much time and money they can save through working with freelancers. The problem of youth unemployment is not new but it is going to get worse post-Corona. Small and Medium businesses will, on the other hand, require short-term talent and they will be looking for that trusted voice. As they start searching, we want them to find us ready and waiting for them.

Through the Innovation Village, we have partnered with MasterCard Foundation to participate in the Young Africa Works Initiative. The Innovation Village got the MasterCard funding and called on us to do formal skills training for the beneficiaries of Young Africa Works. The Village facilitates us to deliver the training to youths in different communities. We run classes on digital marketing and data analysis in different locations and report the number and impact to the Innovation Village which consequently reports to MasterCard Foundation. We have recently partnered with Kinabuti, an ethical fashion brand keen on helping youths in the creative space turn their passions into sustainable sources of livelihood. We have partnered with Kinabuti for 6 months to run a skilling program for youths in the creative sector as they launch their operations in Uganda. Kinabuti trains youth in fashion  and design, music, modeling and dancing. Upskill will provide its expertise around technical skills such as writing a business plan and digital marketing. We have also partnered with Educating The Children to offer a women-only 4-week coding bootcamp called "#CodeQueen". The CodeQueen classes are offered at no cost to the women where ETC provides the funding while Upskill provides the venues, facilitators and content.

Upskill under project Gigmart, seeks to serve two segments of beneficiaries: the job-seeking youths look for skills to increase their competitiveness and the employers specifically small and medium businesses looking for inexpensive but top talent especially at a time like post-covid when they will be looking to cut HR costs but maintain same quality of product or service. For the youths we help them become more competitive in the increasingly technological markets by equipping them with the most in-demand ready-to-work skills that convert quickly in the job markets. We ensure this skills change through a blended approach that combines offline face-to-face classes for those with connectivity problems as well as an online segment of classes for those that can access internet and hence can self-pace their learning. Research data shows that 2/3 of local companies in Uganda report that they have positions open for which they cannot find the right fit of talent. Our 4 - 10 weeks masterclasses ensure that we package the right talent according to what the market is demanding by equipping them with both the technical and soft skills as well experience through working on live projects. Our Gigmart platform puts the power in the hands of clients to browse profiles of the talent and choose the right fit according to what fits into their budget. Gigmart helps the youths overcome their skills gap, We further bridge the gap between youths looking for work opportunities and the clients that claim the cannot find the right talent.

In the initial phase as we are still stabilizing our structures, we are going to rely heavily on donations, grants and/or investment capital. It will take us one year to at least be able to stand and cover our operating costs through a mix of revenue streams. One year will be time enough for us to have established our brand name in the markets by offering freemium masterclasses in introduction and basic bits of the courses. We shall then after start charging a fee for highly specialized segments of the course offerings such as Data analysis and some aspects of digital marketing such as Search Engine Optimization and analytics. Our goal is to be known as the home of top tech talent not just in Uganda but even in the region so that we can sell the talents and earn revenue from them. Our freelance marketplace will also be fully functional after gathering enough supply of talent to satisfy the demands of the market. We shall also go into consulting and advisory services through activities such as corporate reskilling programs . We are also keen on developing our curricular, get it accredited and then sell to other institutions. We have already activated one revenue stream: influencer and affiliate marketing services. We have worked with a few brands and it is a segment that we are keen to build even in the immediate term since we already have quite a pool of digital marketing talent.  

We have so far received funding from MasterCard Foundation through our mother company, The Innovation Village, Uganda. We were given a grant of $50,000 for the year 2020 to run skilling masterclasses across Kampala to equip youths with these most in-demand digital skills. 

The other funding partner was Educating The Children has given us $10,000 to run  for them 3 cohorts girls-only coding of 20 participants each in Kampala with the possibility of extending the offering to other parts of Uganda after the execution of the initial phase.

We have also recently partnered with KINABUTI, an ethically driven Fashion Label that infuses fashion as platform to launch various social, educational and artistic projects. Kinabuti has given us funding of $15,000 to conduct digital and financial skilling for 10 winners from their creative competition that brings together youths from modeling, fashion, music and Film industries. The project will run for 6 months and we shall incubate the ideas walk them through business planning to turn a creative talent into a sustainable source of livelihood. They will finally be given funding to go and set up their businesses.

We are seeking a grant of $60,000 in this first year to assist with baseline surveys, improving, refining and optimizing the content we are currently offering, take care of marketing costs as well as take care of additional human resource costs that may be required especially in this initial phase. 

The project especially on the side of client acquisition will require lots of sensitization of the local market on how much using gig star frees up their time to focus on the core of the business and also it is cost effective. On the part of the gig stars, we shall also embark on a campaign to help them understand the benefits. We shall work with community mobilizers on both sides to help start the conversations.

We are hoping to raise the funds by the start of Q3 (July) so that we can have the project up and running just in time as most of the world will be opening up and emerging from the quarantine. This will be a time of extreme frenzy for job seekers looking for work opportunities and employers looking for trusted alternative to having permanent employees as they seek to cut costs but maintain same quality of their offerings.

The subsequent costings for the subsequent years will be highly dependent on the much we will achieve in the first year to give a bearing as we go along of how the next chapters will unfold.

The following document projects our expenses as far as the Gigmart project is concerned:

https://docs.google.com/spread...

We shall begin with a baseline survey to both the freelancers and the hiring client to understand their pain points and what they would likely want to see the platform do for them. We are keen on making the platform as customer-centric as possible so we will approach the design from a human centered and user experience designs. We shall conduct a massive market survey to establish the needs and wants of the users.

Afterwards, we shall embark on refining our skilling content based on the recommendations of the youths through making instructional videos and other relevant content. We will also begin to work on the web platform and have prototypes of how it will look like. We shall also activate a talent accelerator program to upskill our alumni to ensure that their skills and experience resonate perfectly with the feedback from the employers regarding the type of talent they would require.

After we have features around skilling and linkage ready on the platform, we shall procure a small group of freelancers from our alumni that have gone through the Talent Accelerator and some clients within our circles to run user acceptance tests. The process will help us iterate and improve on whatever was not effective by incorporating feedback from this pilot phase.

The final step will be onboarding clients from the freelance survey, skilling facilitators and the freelancers before we can launch the site.

Upskill has demonstrated its commitment to alleviate acute unemployment among the youths and equip them with the right skills to get dignified work. However, in the face of disappearing 8-5 job opportunities, the gig economy is steadily emerging as the solution to the unemployment problem that is only going to become worse post the COVID pandemic. Upskill is looking to complete the funnel through the gigmart project. We have been working with little resources at our disposal to run face to face classes in Kampala as well some online classes via YouTube and discussions via Whatsapp groups. However, the magnitude of the problems of skills gap and unemployment require more robust operations across multiple locations as well as a more robust e-learning platform that allows for comprehensive evaluation of skills change than just YouTube videos. In the local market, there is need for freelancers but there is no comprehensive platform to go to that nurtures and vets its own talent to guarantee quality. This gap gives us a unique opportunity as Upskill since we already nurture our own talent cutting down the costs of acquiring talent. We are applying for The Elevate Prize so that we can gain the necessary funding to see this intervention come to life. The financial support will help us expedite the processes by hiring the right people to incorporate the job creations bit to the already skills empowerment that we are doing. 

We already have ideas around the revenue models but we need more expert support to just refine that strategy around positioning, pricing and monetization. There is also some vagueness around laws that apply to freelancers as the work will be fully online but we need legal advice on how to go about issues like taxation and contracts drafting with both the freelancers and the clients. Finally we need mentorship and coaching around concretizing our strategy, dealing with partnerships and how to approach conversations with local clients to bring them fully on-board the gig economy. The whole team will also need coaching on how to make a seamless transition from skilling to linkage to a work opportunity i.e. putting in place SOPs that will guide the entire process to makes sure we only connect top talent

>> Future.Learn- would really help us in refining our course offerings to world class status to just give our beneficiaries that additional global exposure to open up their mindsets. Their model around partnering and co-designing courses with top institutions would be a great case to study and learn how they do it.

>> Upwork- They are like the global behemoth of freelance work. It would be great to get mentorship from them on their revenue models and how they can help us put that into better perspective.

>> General Assembly- their futuristic focus on skills of the future would help add an age to our course offerings

>> African Leadership University (Fred Swaniker)- Mr. Fred Swaniker and his ALU education center has a deep understanding of the African continent and the deep insights would really come in handy especially mentoring and coaching.

>> M.I.T - MIT would be a great skilling partner especially around courses such as data analysis, software engineering and emerging and other emerging ones. MIT would help us refine this contents and make it world class