{"id":1460,"date":"2022-09-06T08:17:11","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T08:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/?p=1460"},"modified":"2024-03-18T06:27:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T06:27:05","slug":"the-year-of-shouting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/06\/the-year-of-shouting\/","title":{"rendered":"The year of shouting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismaclay\">Chris Maclay<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have a kid called Callum. He had his second birthday last month. He\u2019s a pretty great kid. He\u2019s into helicopters, trucks, and ice cream. I\u2019ll spare you photos (for now).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know what else is due its birthday next month? The Jobtech Alliance. We launched on 26 October 2021 with a small webinar with 40 or so invitees. We refrain from navel-gazing in the Jobtech Alliance (as an ecosystem-building initiative, it\u2019s explicitly not \u2018about us\u2019), but now, almost a year on, it\u2019s worth a brief reflection on what\u2019s happened since our <a href=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/why-were-setting-up-the-jobtech-alliance\/\">launch blog<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the first of two parts explaining what\u2019s coming next from the Jobtech Alliance. I\u2019m going to milk the baby analogy though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Year 1: The year of shouting<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Being a parent is exhausting. Lack of sleep. Increase in workload. Constant fear of killing something. Nothing is more stressful though, than the baby screaming. Always at the <s>best<\/s> worst times; in a restaurant, in the background on a critical poorly-scheduled zoom call, on an 8 hour redeye flight. But screaming is important &#8211; it helps parents know that the baby needs something. They\u2019re just not very good at articulating what that \u2018something\u2019 is yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/giphy-18.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1461\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Year 1 of the Jobtech Alliance was the year of shouting. \u2018Look at me. I\u2019m here. And I want your attention\u2019. As we outlined in our <a href=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/why-were-setting-up-the-jobtech-alliance\/\">launch blog<\/a>, a critical first stage of this ecosystem-building initiative is to \u2018thingify\u2019 jobtech &#8211; to give it a name, build familiarity around what it is, and to get people (investors, entrepreneurs, and development actors) excited about it. We were not aiming to add new jargon to a crowded lexicon, but to create a common language that enables different actors to work strategically in a common space. Intelligent shouting, but shouting nonetheless.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We think it\u2019s been working:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><em>Funders and investors: <\/em>We\u2019ve been having dozens of conversations with donors and investors to build their understanding of jobtech, and we\u2019ve seen many of them jump on to the theme. One of these donors, for example, was the Dutch Challenge Fund for Youth Employment. After our conversations, they then realized that &gt;60% of their portfolio were jobtech start-ups. They\u2019ve since dived in, and are working with the Jobtech Alliance and the ILO to better understand the jobtech sector and its developmental outcomes (more <a href=\"https:\/\/fundforyouthemployment.nl\/jobtech-for-youth-survive-or-thrive\/\">here<\/a>). We\u2019ve been having loads of chats with investors, particularly impact investors with a jobs lens, though there\u2019s still more to do (see below).<\/li><li><em>Start-ups: <\/em>We\u2019ve heard countless start-ups explaining that they\u2019ve &#8211; for the first time &#8211; been able to place themselves in a sector, and a sector which is building momentum. Check out this message I received from a jobtech CEO after a chat with an investor:<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Capture-1024x208.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1463\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><em>Researchers, podcasters, and sector leaders: <\/em>We\u2019ve seen jobtech picked up by a host of actors, from ODI\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/odi.org\/en\/publications\/strengthening-youth-livelihoods-and-enterprise-innovation-in-africas-digital-era\/\">report on the topic<\/a>, Microsave\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsave.net\/2022\/02\/14\/a-fine-tuned-approach-to-digital-platform-design-and-development-in-africa-part-i\/\">analysis of models in the sector<\/a>, to start-up commentators calling out the sector (Justin Norman\u2019s excellent The Flip newsletter driving forward thinking on the sector <a href=\"https:\/\/theflip.africa\/newsletter\/the-future-of-work-tfn-85\/\">here<\/a>, including jobtech takeovers from Kandua\u2019s Sayo Folawiyo <a href=\"https:\/\/theflip.africa\/newsletter\/the-future-of-work-meets-africas-youth-employment-puzzle\/\">here<\/a> and Shortlist\u2019s Paul Breloff <a href=\"https:\/\/theflip.africa\/newsletter\/founder-shorts\/\">here<\/a>)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also expect a whole bunch more shouting over the next few months.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the context of baby analogies, we\u2019d be remiss not to quote the overused-but-still-great \u2018it takes a village\u2019 African proverb. The jobtech ecosystem will only grow and thrive if we all work together to nurture it. So far, we\u2019ve grown membership of the Jobtech Alliance entirely organically as we didn\u2019t want to actively grow membership until we had \u2018gas in the tank\u2019 (more below). However, in early October, we\u2019ll begin reaching out to 400 jobtech start-ups on the continent to invite them to join the community. You\u2019ll also see a whole bunch of different actors hosting events on \u201cjobtech\u201d over the next six months (we\u2019ll keep you updated on the newsletter)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Year 2: Move from \u2018keeping the baby alive\u2019 to \u2018meaningful nurturing\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So far, so shouty. Shouting is fine for an 11-month old. Maybe even forgivable if you\u2019re an unlucky neighboring passenger on an 8-hour redeye flight. But it\u2019s not a good look on a 2-year-old. If Callum whines on a plane now, man those looks\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/giphy-19.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1464\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As we expected (and intended), the role of the Jobtech Alliance will evolve. We\u2019ve also got some really strong feedback from the community of what members want to see. Notably:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>More learning and research: People want more (1) short, punchy write-ups of lessons learned of different jobtech start-ups (2) landscape studies to understand more about what\u2019s going on and (3) meatier studies on emerging themes.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>More community: We need more active efforts to connect community members. Quarterly in-person meetings. A more curated CEO WhatsApp group. Active socials.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>More work on funding: A consistent bottleneck for the ecosystem will be funding. We need to build a network of investors interested in jobtech, and help the philanthropic cash to better engage smartly with the sector.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>More \u2018doing stuff with start-ups\u2019: This wasn\u2019t something that we expected, but we have received wholesale encouragement to \u2018start putting all this learning into practice\u2019, so we\u2019ll be launching a whole range of accelerator and start-up support offerings for jobtech start-ups over the next six months.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Jobtech Alliance so far has been an entirely unfunded endeavor, so we\u2019ve been somewhat limited by what we could achieve on the above to-date. But it is also a matter of timing. As we move into the second year of the Jobtech Alliance though (and having secured our first funding), we\u2019re going to be able to begin working on all of the above. And that is a story for Part 2\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As we&#8217;re in the spirit of self-indulgence, I&#8217;d like to thank all working group and steering group members of the Jobtech Alliance who have guided things so far: Amadou Daffe (Gebeya), Corinne Ngurukie (Generation Kenya), Femi Longe (Qiesto), Gituku Ngene (Mercy Corps), Jenn Otieno (EDU), Molade Adeniyi (WAVE), Paul Breloff (Shortlist), Sayo Folawiyo (Kandua), Sharmi Surianarain (Harambee), Shikoh Gitau (Qhala), Yatin Nana (Chancen)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The author is the Program Director of the Jobtech Alliance at Mercy Corps. He was previously the COO at Kenyan gigmatching platform, Lynk.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Chris Maclay I have a kid called Callum. He had his second birthday last month. He\u2019s a pretty great kid. He\u2019s into helicopters, trucks, and ice cream. I\u2019ll spare you photos (for now).&nbsp; You know what else is due its birthday next month? The Jobtech Alliance. We launched on 26 October 2021 with a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismaclay\">Chris Maclay<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I have a kid called Callum. He had his second birthday last month. He\u2019s a pretty great kid. He\u2019s into helicopters, trucks, and ice cream. I\u2019ll spare you photos (for now).&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>You know what else is due its birthday next month? The Jobtech Alliance. We launched on 26 October 2021 with a small webinar with 40 or so invitees. We refrain from navel-gazing in the Jobtech Alliance (as an ecosystem-building initiative, it\u2019s explicitly not \u2018about us\u2019), but now, almost a year on, it\u2019s worth a brief reflection on what\u2019s happened since our <a href=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/why-were-setting-up-the-jobtech-alliance\/\">launch blog<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>This is the first of two parts explaining what\u2019s coming next from the Jobtech Alliance. I\u2019m going to milk the baby analogy though.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2><strong>Year 1: The year of shouting<\/strong><\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Being a parent is exhausting. Lack of sleep. Increase in workload. Constant fear of killing something. Nothing is more stressful though, than the baby screaming. Always at the <s>best<\/s> worst times; in a restaurant, in the background on a critical poorly-scheduled zoom call, on an 8 hour redeye flight. But screaming is important - it helps parents know that the baby needs something. They\u2019re just not very good at articulating what that \u2018something\u2019 is yet.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"center\",\"id\":1461,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img src=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/giphy-18.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1461\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Year 1 of the Jobtech Alliance was the year of shouting. \u2018Look at me. I\u2019m here. And I want your attention\u2019. As we outlined in our <a href=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/why-were-setting-up-the-jobtech-alliance\/\">launch blog<\/a>, a critical first stage of this ecosystem-building initiative is to \u2018thingify\u2019 jobtech - to give it a name, build familiarity around what it is, and to get people (investors, entrepreneurs, and development actors) excited about it. We were not aiming to add new jargon to a crowded lexicon, but to create a common language that enables different actors to work strategically in a common space. Intelligent shouting, but shouting nonetheless.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>We think it\u2019s been working:<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul><li><em>Funders and investors: <\/em>We\u2019ve been having dozens of conversations with donors and investors to build their understanding of jobtech, and we\u2019ve seen many of them jump on to the theme. One of these donors, for example, was the Dutch Challenge Fund for Youth Employment. After our conversations, they then realized that >60% of their portfolio were jobtech start-ups. They\u2019ve since dived in, and are working with the Jobtech Alliance and the ILO to better understand the jobtech sector and its developmental outcomes (more <a href=\"https:\/\/fundforyouthemployment.nl\/jobtech-for-youth-survive-or-thrive\/\">here<\/a>). We\u2019ve been having loads of chats with investors, particularly impact investors with a jobs lens, though there\u2019s still more to do (see below).<\/li><li><em>Start-ups: <\/em>We\u2019ve heard countless start-ups explaining that they\u2019ve - for the first time - been able to place themselves in a sector, and a sector which is building momentum. Check out this message I received from a jobtech CEO after a chat with an investor:<\/li><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":1463,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img src=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Capture-1024x208.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1463\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul><li><em>Researchers, podcasters, and sector leaders: <\/em>We\u2019ve seen jobtech picked up by a host of actors, from ODI\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/odi.org\/en\/publications\/strengthening-youth-livelihoods-and-enterprise-innovation-in-africas-digital-era\/\">report on the topic<\/a>, Microsave\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsave.net\/2022\/02\/14\/a-fine-tuned-approach-to-digital-platform-design-and-development-in-africa-part-i\/\">analysis of models in the sector<\/a>, to start-up commentators calling out the sector (Justin Norman\u2019s excellent The Flip newsletter driving forward thinking on the sector <a href=\"https:\/\/theflip.africa\/newsletter\/the-future-of-work-tfn-85\/\">here<\/a>, including jobtech takeovers from Kandua\u2019s Sayo Folawiyo <a href=\"https:\/\/theflip.africa\/newsletter\/the-future-of-work-meets-africas-youth-employment-puzzle\/\">here<\/a> and Shortlist\u2019s Paul Breloff <a href=\"https:\/\/theflip.africa\/newsletter\/founder-shorts\/\">here<\/a>)<\/li><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>You can also expect a whole bunch more shouting over the next few months.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the context of baby analogies, we\u2019d be remiss not to quote the overused-but-still-great \u2018it takes a village\u2019 African proverb. The jobtech ecosystem will only grow and thrive if we all work together to nurture it. So far, we\u2019ve grown membership of the Jobtech Alliance entirely organically as we didn\u2019t want to actively grow membership until we had \u2018gas in the tank\u2019 (more below). However, in early October, we\u2019ll begin reaching out to 400 jobtech start-ups on the continent to invite them to join the community. You\u2019ll also see a whole bunch of different actors hosting events on \u201cjobtech\u201d over the next six months (we\u2019ll keep you updated on the newsletter)<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2><strong>Year 2: Move from \u2018keeping the baby alive\u2019 to \u2018meaningful nurturing\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>So far, so shouty. Shouting is fine for an 11-month old. Maybe even forgivable if you\u2019re an unlucky neighboring passenger on an 8-hour redeye flight. But it\u2019s not a good look on a 2-year-old. If Callum whines on a plane now, man those looks\u2026<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"align\":\"center\",\"id\":1464,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img src=\"https:\/\/jobtechalliance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/giphy-19.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1464\"\/><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As we expected (and intended), the role of the Jobtech Alliance will evolve. We\u2019ve also got some really strong feedback from the community of what members want to see. Notably:<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul><li>More learning and research: People want more (1) short, punchy write-ups of lessons learned of different jobtech start-ups (2) landscape studies to understand more about what\u2019s going on and (3) meatier studies on emerging themes.<\/li><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul><li>More community: We need more active efforts to connect community members. Quarterly in-person meetings. A more curated CEO WhatsApp group. Active socials.<\/li><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul><li>More work on funding: A consistent bottleneck for the ecosystem will be funding. We need to build a network of investors interested in jobtech, and help the philanthropic cash to better engage smartly with the sector.<\/li><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:list -->\n<ul><li>More \u2018doing stuff with start-ups\u2019: This wasn\u2019t something that we expected, but we have received wholesale encouragement to \u2018start putting all this learning into practice\u2019, so we\u2019ll be launching a whole range of accelerator and start-up support offerings for jobtech start-ups over the next six months.<\/li><\/ul>\n<!-- \/wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The Jobtech Alliance so far has been an entirely unfunded endeavor, so we\u2019ve been somewhat limited by what we could achieve on the above to-date. But it is also a matter of timing. As we move into the second year of the Jobtech Alliance though (and having secured our first funding), we\u2019re going to be able to begin working on all of the above. And that is a story for Part 2\u2026<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><em>As we're in the spirit of self-indulgence, I'd like to thank all working group and steering group members of the Jobtech Alliance who have guided things so far: Amadou Daffe (Gebeya), Corinne Ngurukie (Generation Kenya), Femi Longe (Qiesto), Gituku Ngene (Mercy Corps), Jenn Otieno (EDU), Molade Adeniyi (WAVE), Paul Breloff (Shortlist), Sayo Folawiyo (Kandua), Sharmi Surianarain (Harambee), Yatin Nana (Chancen)<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><em>The author is the Program Director of the Jobtech Alliance at Mercy Corps. He was previously the COO at Kenyan gigmatching platform, Lynk.<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252161,"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions\/252161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.jobtechalliance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}