How Small Businesses And Startups Can Benefit From Freelancer Culture

 Freelancer Culture Can Benefit Small Businesses And Entrepreneurs

If you are a small business or entrepreneur you could benefit from this booming freelancer culture. Now more than ever there are no gatekeepers to talent or work. People are free agents for the first time in our lifetime. Corporate culture will always be there but the shift is for labor to move online in a freelancer capacity.

As the owner of a startup, you are often the solo labor for your business. You do the taxes, acquisition, sales, and marketing. The truth is you could really use help from a pro. You might not be able to hire full-time employees, but you can outsource for a task or a project to keep your startup going. Here are a few freelancer platforms that you can use to find help with your business.

Fiverr

Fiverr helps small businesses hire the perfect freelancer for projects and short gigs. They have freelancers in everything from graphic design, and website designers, to freelance architects to draw up plans for your new home. If there's a job you want to be done you could probably get it done on Fiverr. This platform was known for the cheapest freelancers but all that has changed. They have Fiverr pros that are verified in their field and have the experience and skills to get that job done right.

Flexjobs

Another platform that will give you vetted remote workers to fill in the blanks in your growing company. They staff some of the largest corporations in the world as well as small businesses looking to fill in their ranks.

24/7 Virtual assistant

This website provides dedicated virtual assistants who can help get your work done. They offer services like web development, custom websites, e-commerce, content management system, and more. 

99designs

This website specializes in graphic design services. They offer logos, website designs, branding, product packaging, and more. They work with many talented designers and you will have access to all their specialists on their website.

Deel

 Hire anyone anywhere from deel. This website allows you to hire international employees in all capacities. You can access their talent spread out in over 150 countries and hire employees and contractors from all over the world. This is really useful for companies looking to expand into new territories and are looking to create a team locally. You can also access their guidelines on how to conduct remote interviews and compliance guides for different countries.

Making Money With Canva As A Freelancer

Five Creative Ways That African Freelancers Can Make Money With Canva

If you make your money online, or if you are in e-commerce, you understand the importance of online presence. To be a brand in this digital age requires that you maintain social media pages with content. Everything from YouTube videos, Twitter feed, logos, and imagery for your online identity. This is where Canva comes in.

Canva is a platform that allows creators to use their templates to create posts, banners, logos, videos, posters, and more. They have basic templates for free and a wide variety of templates for their paying members.

How Can I Use Canva To Make Money Online

1. Use Canva For YouTube Channel

You can create YouTube thumbnails for your videos. Banners for your YouTube channel and even edit your videos on the platform.

2. Create Print On Demand Products

You can create the graphics and artwork for your print-on-demand business on the Canva website. The templates on Canva are all professional level and you can choose the file type that you want it saved as. Ensuring your print on demand company prints your art and graphics in the best quality for your product.

3. Design Your E-book Cover

E-books generated $1.1 billion. If you have a story to tell or information that people, find useful, creating an e-book is the least you could do to make money online. Once the words are written you will need a book cover that communicates the value of your work. Canva will allow you to use their templates as well as their images and elements to create a captivating book cover for your e-book.

4. Canva For Businesses

You can create good-quality logos on Canva. On Fiverr, you could sell one logo for at least $5 each. You can also create business cards for clients and charge a fee respectively. Other products you can create for your business clients are; presentations, websites, invoice templates and so many more. Most busy business owners are aware of Canva but who don't have the time to sit through that process will be happy to pay you for it.

5. Social Media Manager

To be a social media manager, you will need to create posts and infographics to keep the timeline active for a company or brand. Using Canva you can create posts, gifs, videos, animations, and event invitations for the timeline. Social media managers make about $50-100 per hour. With this useful website, you have the ability to make this too.

Have you ever used Canva in your freelancing work? What most excites you about this platform. Comment below and share with this community of African freelancers how else they can use Canva in their freelancing work.

 

Making Money With Instagram Using Affiliate Marketing

 How Africans With Large Followings On Instagram Can Make Money

If you have an Instagram page with a large following, you can make money through affiliate marketing on Instagram. Out of the entire population of Africans 1.216 billion people, 15% of Africans are online. This is a huge market. Most Africans using social media are an average of 20 to 40 years. Brands have decided to tap into the power of Instagram to reach this population.

If you are a young African on Instagram with a following of 2k, 5k 10k, or more you can make money from your following online. Brands are finding that smaller micro-influencers with 2k or 5k organic followers may be more effective in marketing to their audience because these micro-influencers have more direct engagement with their audience.

Affiliates by Niche

Look at your content and ask yourself why your audience flocks to you. Is it for your vegan lifestyle or baby-filled content? Do they like your tech-savvy content or the fashion events you often attend? This is your niche. If they like you for baby picture content, search online for affiliate links for baby brands. If they love you for discount shopping tips, search online for affiliate links for coupons and savings on shopping. Give them links to the topics that they are already interested in. You would be surprised how many of your followers will use the links you recommend and make you money simply by recommendation.

The Brands You Love

If there are stores you frequent, coffee shops you like to hang out at, or local ride-sharing apps you like to use. Make posts while at these locations in a natural way to your audience. Tell your followers why you frequent that restaurant, take a picture or a short video and tag the brand. When you decide to approach the brand, you can show them how engaged your audience is with your post and encourage them to be a sponsor by giving them rates for posts, reels, or live sessions which focus solely on their brand. Most brands are looking for local influencers to work with and will gladly take you up on it. Some will not, and that's just fine. They may still invite you to their events and send you free swag. Keep approaching brands that you have a natural love for and eventually, you will build an impressive roster of consistent paying clients who will turn to you when they have a brand campaign they want on Instagram.

Are you on Instagram? Who follows you and why? Comment on your target audience in the comment section below and let us know what you would promote on your page.

How To Make Money With Print On Demand

 Print On Demand Business In Africa

Print on demand is an online business of designing art and graphics to be printed on items for sale. When perfected it can be a useful tool for creating passive income, cutting out the tedious tasks of production of goods and shipping or delivery to the customer. It is often reserved for items that can be mass-produced like T-shirts, mugs, calendars, planners, beach towels, and more. The goal is to take a generic white T-shirt or average coffee mugs and personalize them with niche graphics or words for your customer base. The print-on-demand company provides physical goods; mugs, T-shirts, calendars, etc. You produce the slogan the art or the graphics that will focus on your customer base.

How Do I know What To Print?

Look around your society and reflect it back to them. In Kenya for example coffee is for the younger crowd and tea is for the older generation. You can find themes that are trending with each group and print out teacups for the older ladies and coffee cups for the younger coffee drinkers. The goal is to design something so relatable or funny or personal that when they see it, their impulse will be to buy it for themselves or for a friend. They will be willing to pay more for this product than they normally would because it's so personal to them.

You can also look at the trend of big weddings in African culture with huge bridal parties and custom-made items for bridesmaids, groomsmen, wedding photoshoots, and more. At a wedding I attended a few years ago, the bride presented all her guests with duffel bags with items to commemorate her wedding. She had a premade calendar, pens even the bottled water had pictures of the bride and groom. This is an example of reflecting what your customer wants and making it available to them through print on demand.

This online business can require that you have options on your website where your customers can pick the font used or edit the name or words used on their custom items. Allowing a personalized item for your customers. This is the reason most of your customers will pay more for the item and wait longer for delivery dates.

Print On Demand Companies In Africa

Prodigy South Africa- Artwork, hoodies, pillows, and stickers.

Kiakia Print Nigeria-Greeting cards, wedding stationery, business cards, banners, flyers, mugs, and paper bags.

Shopify Kenya- T-shirts, mugs, wall art, phone accessories, housewares, and more.

Print Planet Ghana- T-shirts, mugs, paper bags, gift items, and more.

Print Action Zimbabwe- Calendars, T-shirts, posters, and more

Do you know of a print-on-demand company in Africa? Let us know what country they operate in and their specialty. So that we can help more Africans set up online print-on-demand businesses.

Jumia and UPS Join Forces To Improve Logistics In Africa

 

Jumia has revolutionized e-commerce in Africa. Its footprint throughout Africa extends beyond the major cities and ventures in rural areas often forgotten in the modernization of Africa. Jumia has made a lot of strides but they are still associated with high fees, mostly stemming from delivery charges imposed on its vendors and customers. Jumia has handed over last-mile logistic capabilities to UPS an American shipping company.

UPS will lean in on Jumia's infrastructure to deliver and pick up packages from door-to-door with a variety of payment options. It's always surprising that Jumia is constantly willing to give up the responsibility of delivering their goods and willing to share their profits with third-party delivery companies.

This partnership will also allow UPS the access Jumia drop-off stations throughout the continent for their customers who will now be able to drop off packages at Jumia stations. This collaboration will initially be rolled out in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast.

This partnership is poised to benefit small and medium-sized companies that sell on Jumia as 90% of their vendors who sell their products on the Jumia platform. Jumia offers a pathway for its vendors to quickly connect to new markets by having a presence online on this SaaS platform sharing the space with other vendors holding items and brands of all kinds.

What this partnership represents to the Keen founders of startups is a platform that will perfect logistics and e-commerce throughout Africa, lowering fees and costs that are passed down to the consumer, just like Amazon did in America. There is still room for e-commerce sites that are just starting up in Africa to define their business model and perfect the task at hand and deliver goods ordered online using their platform throughout the continent.

Survey Sites Open To Africans Online In 2022

 5 Survey Sites That Accept African Participants

Surveys are the original way that many people made their money online. Depending on your demographics, survey takers can help companies and brands improve their products and services. Unfortunately, a lot of high-paying survey sites only accept participants from the US, Canada, and the UK. Fortunately, there are some survey sites that work primarily with African participants. Here are 5 survey sites for African participants.

Afrisight

This website promises up to $5 per survey. Afrisight is an African-focused data collection company. They work with African brands, governments, and non-governmental organizations to improve their products and services. I actually have a review on my experience on this website so check it out here.

Mobiworkx

This is an online panel for the Kantar companies in Africa and the middle east. Once you complete your surveys you will be able to cash out through Visa or PayPal. They tend to have different cash-out offers for different countries like Kenya and South Africa, allowing South Africans to cash out to their bank and Kenyans via PayPal. They also offer rewards like airtime. They are very vague on their website with information regarding the minimum cash-out amount but fortunately, I have a review of my experience working on Mobiworkx.

Surveynow

This is a free website that requires your honest opinion on surveys in exchange for cash and other rewards. You can expect surveys sent to your inbox if you meet the demographics. You will also be paid using the email you use at sign up so make sure your PayPal email matches the sign-up email. They offer up to R10 for each survey which is the equivalent of $0.69. I have a full video review of my experience on the 'We Can Work' YT channel.

Ysense

This is a global online community with multiple earning options. You can get paid for trying new products and services. You can also earn on this platform as an affiliate for referring this website to other participants.

TGM Panel

This online panel is available in these African countries; Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. You can earn money as an affiliate or a participant in surveys.

One thing is for sure, the more Africans that sign up for these online surveys the more we will be represented in future products and services. If we give accurate feedback on these panels, more companies will seek out paid research from the African continent, so please sign up to the websites that interest you and earn a little money online.

Accelerator Programs For African Startups

 5 Accelerator Programs For African Startups

 

An accelerator program supports early-stage growth-driven companies through education, mentorship, and financing. African entrepreneurs and founders should consider these accelerator programs that work with African start-ups.

MEST Africa

Located in Accra Ghana, Lagos Nigeria, Cape town South Africa and Nairobi Kenya. MEST offers incubation for tech startups in Africa. They have trained over 500 people and funded over 80 businesses with a reach of over 30 countries. These software companies are tackling Africa's biggest problems across industries. Their investment size is $50k to $250k.

Antler

Based in Nairobi Kenya, this accelerator program has had over 50,000 applicants to date and funded over 400 startups. They help remove the barriers to entrepreneurship by providing founders with funding, access to a global network of advisers, and a clear path to raising capital. They also offer funds of up to $100,000 for the startup.

Co-Creation Hub

Based in Nigeria, this accelerator is a 12-week program that helps Nigerian startups refine their programs, business model, and processes positioning them for success in the long run. They have graduated over 40+ startups and created over 500 jobs in Nigeria. They fund startups up to $250,000.

Hseven

This being the largest African Accelerator is based in Morocco. They accelerate world-class African start-ups led by Moroccans, Africans, and Africans at heart (not sure what that means). Their six-month programs are aimed at a 3-month growth phase to develop partnerships with major corporations to prepare for investor meetings. The selected startups will benefit from seed money of up to 150,000 Euros for 5 to 7% equity and another investment of 500,000 to 1.5 million Euros at the end of the program.

Startup Wise Guys

Based in Kenya this accelerator is for startups based in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Ghana. They want to work with startups with initial traction, a solid team, and a focus in these industries; Fintech, Agritech, edtech, cleantech, health tech, and retail tech. They want early-stage digital B2B and SaaS startups. They will give funding of up to $65,000 for up to 12% equity.

There are many more accelerator programs looking to fund and develop African startups, but these are the biggest ones on the continent. Do you have a startup? What industry is it in? Comment below and we will reply with an accelerator program that you may benefit from.