by cmaclay | Dec 22, 2022 | Jobtech Alliance Memo
By Chris Maclay This was a big year for jobtech in Africa. Here are our top 10 trends we saw in 2022, with a few insights on what to expect in 2023… 1. Jobtech is hot. We’re seeing more and more interest in the space, and seeing ‘jobtech’ pop up everywhere in Africa...
by cmaclay | Dec 6, 2022 | Lessons Learned (the Hard Way)
By Jaya Kumari Jobtech founders need to be aware of how this common issue can affect their startups and understand strategies to mitigate this issue. The “winner-takes-all” phenomenon exists in multiple spaces ranging from business markets to the sports arena. ...
by cmaclay | Nov 2, 2022 | Lessons Learned (the Hard Way)
By Mercy Mangeni “It is interesting that people will often complain about the quality of service they receive from platform-based workers without ever having an understanding of the user interface (UI) from the perspective of the service provider, to understand how...
by cmaclay | Oct 6, 2022 | Jobtech Alliance Memo
By Chris Maclay and Michelle Hassan In last month’s post, Chris talked about his 2 year-old son, Callum, and his first year of shouting. A critical skill in the first year of life, but that’s increasingly not enough (and ‘not cool’) in toddler years. Likewise, he...
by cmaclay | Sep 6, 2022 | Jobtech Alliance Memo
By Chris Maclay I have a kid called Callum. He had his second birthday last month. He’s a pretty great kid. He’s into helicopters, trucks, and ice cream. I’ll spare you photos (for now). You know what else is due its birthday next month? The Jobtech Alliance. We...
by cmaclay | Aug 4, 2022 | Unpacking the Box
By Chris Maclay. This also heavily references Li Jin’s Unbundling Work from Employment article, which is worth a read in itself. Apologies for the clickbait title. I don’t want to create fear when everyone is already losing it about a slowing...
by cmaclay | Jul 4, 2022 | Jobtech Alliance Memo
Over the last few months, we’ve been working with the ILO’s Systems Change Initiative, the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment, and over 40 other stakeholders in the jobtech space to develop a revised, more sophisticated version of our jobtech taxonomy. We now have a...
by cmaclay | Jun 1, 2022 | Unpacking the Box
By Gituku Ngene This article unpacks the issues raised in the Time Magazine article ‘Inside Facebook’s African Sweatshop’. Earlier this year, Time Magazine investigated the operations of Meta’s partner, Sama, once again putting the spotlight on...
by cmaclay | Apr 5, 2022 | Unpacking the Box
By Caroline Omware Platform work has grown significantly thanks to technological advancements. Platform work is now one of the many ways through which people make a livelihood. Kenya is at the intersection of a large informal sector, a youthful and unemployed majority...
by cmaclay | Apr 5, 2022 | Unpacking the Box
By Gituku Ngene When Frida Mwangi set out to pursue digital work in 2015, she was one of thousands of young Kenyans that were turning to the unexplored world of digital work. While this presented unchartered waters for workers like Frida, the local economy presented...
