The Samasource Freelance Agency A Low-Cost & Scalable Model to Give Work in Complex Geographies Phillip Chikwiramakomo, Director, Samasource Digital Basics Melodie Kinet, Director Business Development & Impact Solutions phillip@samasourcedigitalbasics.org mkinet@samasource.org 1
ABOUT SAMASOURCE A portfolio of 7 products & services Over 100 Fortune 500 & Start Ups Served Over 10,000 people employed Over 44,000 people positively impacted Averaging 40% growth YOY 2
SAMASOURCE IS TRUSTED BY... 3
SAMASOURCE LOCATIONS San Francisco HQ Den Haag February 2017 Gulu, Uganda, 270 agents Bangalore,India 250 agents Kampala, Uganda 100 agents Samasource Offices Nairobi, Kenya 1500 agents Samasource Centers 4
Samasource Digital Basics Equipping marginalized women and youth with the skills, confidence, and support they need to secure a living-wage job
Online freelancing Opportunities Access to global work opportunities Relative higher wages Flexible working conditions combining studying and earning an income Barriers Access to hardware Connectivity Lack of understanding of platforms and clients Lack of software/applications to complete work
The Co-shared working space and Agency The space Infrastructure + Training + Support The Agency Source work + Support completion of work + Quality Assurance
FREELANCING CURRICULUM Our curriculum is designed from the ground up to meet the unique needs of low-income students and rapidly upskill them to succeed as independent workers. INTRO TO FREELANCING Students learn how freelancing differs from conventional employment, and whether freelancing is a good fit for them PREPARING TO FREELANCE Students select a freelance work category, and learn about online work platforms, personal branding, and creating a great online work profile GETTING FREELANCE WORK Students learn how to find freelance work (online and offline), assess job quality, avoid scams, and write winning proposals SUCCEEDING ON THE JOB Students learn how to provide great customer service, manage a project timeline, and stay safe on the job MANAGING LIFE AS A FREELANCER Students learn how to optimize their weekly schedules, manage their taxes, and create freelance contracts CAREER PLANNING Students learn how to use freelancing to advance towards their career goals 8
FREELANCING TYPES An online freelancer is defined as any respondent that reported earning income for completing contract or project-based work over the internet within the past 12 months. Online Freelancers can be further segmented into the categories below. Of those that worked in online freelancing in any capacity, 95% would be categorized as independent contractors, using online freelancing as a primary source of income. ONLINE FREELANCING ENGAGEMENT 38% OF ALL HISTORICAL GRADUATES ARE ENGAGED IN ONLINE FREELANCING 95% Independent Contractors TYPES OF ONLINE FREELANCERS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS MOONLIGHTERS Conduct contract or project-based work online Traditionally employed full-time Might operate personal business Conduct contract or project-based work online Traditionally employed full-time Might operate personal business 5% Moonlighters DIVERSIFIED WORKERS Conduct contract or project-based work online Traditionally employed full-time Might operate personal business
EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES + EMPLOYMENT TYPE 82% REPORTED EARNING AN INCOME. 36% ONLINE FREELANCE 40% TRADITIONAL EMPLOYMENT 82% EARN AN INCOME 2% MICRO-BUSINESS n=50 2% TRADITIONAL EMPLOYMENT + ONLINE FREELANCE 2% MICRO-BUSINESS + TRADITIONAL EMPLOYMENT 18% DO NOT EARN AN INCOME* *9 out of 50 respondents reported not earning an income for one of the following reasons: not being able to find work, attending a school or job training program, or going on maternity leave.
EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES + EMPLOYMENT TYPE 38% ARE ENGAGED IN ONLINE FREELANCING AFTER GRADUATING. SDB-OF EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES 18% DO NOT EARN AN INCOME EMPLOYMENT TYPE 40% TRADITIONAL EMPLOYMENT 38% 82% 36% ONLINE FREELANCE ONLINE FREELANCE* EARN AN INCOME n=50 n=50 82% EARN AN INCOME 18% DO NOT EARN AN INCOME 2% MICRO-BUSINESS 2% TRADITIONAL EMPLOYMENT + ONLINE FREELANCE 2% MICRO-BUSINESS + TRADITIONAL EMPLOYMENT *The total amount of 38% includes a respondent who was traditionally employed but also worked in online freelance part-time. Includes is the total count of respondents 9 out of 50 respondents reported not earning an income for one of the following reasons: not being able to find work, attending a school or job training program, or going on maternity leave.
AVERAGE MONTHLY INCOME Respondents working as online freelancers earned 1.5x more than those traditionally employed. $428 $286 $96 = 19 = 22 Online Freelance Traditional Employment 79% of respondents reported their earnings based on calculations and records, rather than a best guess. 73% of respondents reported their earnings based on calculations and records, rather than a best guess. n=41; *Note: 2 out of the 41 individuals had multiple sources of income. The question was phrased as select all that apply. The totals of each of the employment types equals 43. =2 Micro-business Owner 50% of respondents reported their earnings based on calculations and records, rather than a best guess.
Approach going forward Samasource Digital Basics is working on: Technology that will enable more training and placement to be automated Automation of toolkits to best enable other NGOs and agencies to deliver our training and freelancing agencies Enrichment of personalized skills development and career discovery through machine learning Further investment in technical curriculum development
Approach going forward - Dadaab refugee camp A collaboration with Norwegean Refugee Council and International Trade Corporation 100 refugees trained in online freelancing Training of trainers implemented 4 months support for students to bid for work
CURRICULUM and TRAINING-RELATED SERVICES We work with other organizations to deploy our model to reach other vulnerable populations Our team of experts partners with other nonprofits or agencies to assess workforce baseline skill level, goals and cultural context Based on our assessments, we develop a customized curriculum tailored to local needs We assess community partners for training infrastructure, resources and long-term sustainability if required We review the local landscape for employer profiles and hiring practices and make recommendations for employment Post-training, we perform an assessment of the cohort against the initial baseline to determine work readiness We use our proprietary impact measurement methodology to monitor success obtaining work and resulting economic change Baseline skills assessment Customize curriculum Local employer evaluation & recommendations Training site assessments 15 Post-training work readiness assessment Impact measurement
Training Our experienced trainers provide on-the-ground training to worker cohorts Training entails high-touch sessions for each module within the curriculum Empirical exercises and real-world work simulations are included in each training Training sessions are typically conducted initially with pilot cohort, followed by scaled-up training for larger cohorts We conduct training of trainers sessions for maximum outreach Foreign language translation of the curriculum is provided upon request 16
CURRICULUM LICENSING Our curriculum is specifically tailored to address 3 primary contributors to unemployment: Lack of in-demand skills Lack an understanding of job-search process Lack of connections to employers We use insights gained from Samasource s years of training and employing marginalized people Within weeks, trainees learn basic digital as well as specialized occupational skills SAMASOURCE DIGITAL BASICS CURRICULUM SAMASOURCE FREELANCING CURRICULUM Provides trainees with in-demand digital literacy and market-aligned vocational skills Prepares them to work and succeed in a professional environment Introduces the world of online job platforms and categories and create an online job profile Search for, apply and prepare to secure employment as a freelancer 17
FREELANCE AGENCY SETUP The quickest and most flexible way to connect workers with employers is to set up an online freelance agency This option has the least overhead and lowest cost and overcomes geographical barriers We training partners in agency administration to standing up a fully-functional online agency complete with operations & maintenance processes 18
CASE STUDIES 1 LEBANON REFUGEE PILOT WITH THE UN WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME Feasibility assessment of different livelihoods for Syrian refugees living in Lebanon and for low-income Lebanese citizens Trained participants on digital literacy and in-demand verticals such as machine learning; performed workforce assessment of skills via Samasource simulation of actual project tasks Observed improved digital skills across the board with 80% able to score above benchmark 2 DIGITAL JOBS FOR REFUGEES AND JORDANIANS, JORDAN Assess potential for impact sourcing as a means to provide jobs for Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanians Held 4 focus groups with 33 participants in Amman, Irbid, Mafraq, Ramtha 3 FREELANCING TRAINING, GREECE Provide freelancing training to groups of refugees across 8 camps in Greece based on identified gaps in workforce skill supply Perform skills assessment of the digital basics readiness of a group of locals, training of a pilot group of participants, and post-assessment of the training impact and pilot cohort s work readiness. 4 DIGITAL SKILLS & FREELANCING TRAINING, SET UP FREELANCE AGENCY, DADAAB REFUGEE CAMP, KENYA Assess the viability of freelancing as an employment option for refugees Train pilot cohort of 20 students and 3-5 shadowing trainers in digital basics and introductory freelancing skills Train the trainers on freelance agency administration and stand up a freelance agency http://www.intracen.org/itc-and-norwegian-refugee-council-launch-the-refugee-employment-and-skills-initiative-in-dadaab-kenya/ 5 FREELANCING TRAINING FOR LOW-INCOME POPULATIONS IN NYC and SAN FRANCISCO, USA https://www.samaschool.org/impact https://www.samaschool.org/future-of-work 19
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