By Adedapo Adesanya
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world, especially the business community, a lot. With stay-at-home directives and social distancing protocols becoming the order of the day, employees and companies alike, all over the globe, are suffering the consequences.
This means a business can no longer go on as it used to in the past and for some, the slowdown has turned into something more worrying.
One of the biggest problems the pandemic has caused is employment insecurities. And while things are easing up, the conversation about the traditional work structure has been brought to question.
Conversations are being started about how sustainable that structure is, especially during emergencies. During this pandemic, many businesses have broken down under the pressure to save cost and they have done this by laying off so many. This has increased the already large population of the unemployed in Africa, thereby leaving the economy even more vulnerable.
Also, when it comes to productivity, some businesses have taken a hit and the time wasted to get things back in order has cost even more. This is why there is a need to find a more sustainable way of doing business, a smart way.
Self-employment is looking like the way forward for those who have lost their jobs and this is already an employment option for many Africans. Therefore, the number of people considering this option increases.
While it is almost normal elsewhere in the world, with many platforms available for freelancers to put their skills and qualifications to use, Africa is still having difficulties in this area.
Many African freelancers who don’t have any option than to use the Western platforms don’t get the same opportunities as their Western counterparts and are also more likely to experience discrimination.
The pandemic and all these other issues has brought to light the fact that when the whole world is facing the same problem, self-reliance becomes paramount.
Therefore, an opportunity has opened up for Africa to create its own solutions and this makes platforms like Kreekafrica.com very necessary.
KreekAfrica presents a platform for African businesses and Freelancers to connect and transact business.
With a lot of employees being laid off, there are a lot of skills that more or less will be wasted without the right opportunity. Businesses are also short on staff, but still do not have enough resources to keep too many in-house employees.
Kreekafrica.com thereby creates the opportunity for these two parties to come together to collaborate. Hiring freelancers take some of the cost of keeping employees in-house, especially when it comes to paying utilities etc.
It is also relatively cheaper to get a freelancer complete a project. Freelancing also presents a flexible employment option, with regard to working hours and eliminates commuting which takes some time off work.
Therefore, productivity does not have to be compromised on for all parties involved. Small and large businesses alike can benefit from this shift and individuals will now have control over who to work for, and for how long.
With technology becoming more widespread on the continent, implementation of this smart way of doing businesses is not going to be much of a problem.
A lot of Africans, especially the youth, which forms a large population, are already privy to how to use technological equipment. Internet connection is also quite widespread across the continent for shifting to remote work is not going to be much of a problem.
But without initiatives like Kreek Africa, the resources and potential that Africa has to change situations into their favour might all go to waste.
It is, therefore, a welcome solution to the employment issue in Africa, especially during times like these.
Business Post Contributor