Gebeya To Empower 100 Thriving Tech Marketplaces In East Africa

The East African tech industry, Gebeya, has unveiled plans to support 100 existing tech marketplaces in East Africa by building the Marketplace-as-a-Service model.

This innovative approach allows companies to easily access high-quality developers and technical talent without the burden of recruitment and management.

In this regard, the company offers three suites of services tailored to the needs of its audience. There is G-Talent—designed to help recruit tech talents for both short-term and long-term projects. Followed by G-Staffing, the optimal solution for sourcing full-time permanent hires. And G-made, the suite for hiring tech talent for mile-stone-based gigs and projects.

Co-founder and CEO of Gebeya, Amadou Daffe who disclosed this, in a press statement, made available to LEADERSHIP, averred that the company’s remuneration model is based solely on the talent’s determination of their compensation, as the company has no influence on this aspect.

“Gebeya earns a 15 per cent commission each month on the fees charged by these skilled professionals. This model proved highly successful, as evidenced by the startup’s revenue exceeding a million dollars in 2018,” he stated.

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Gebeya’s mission to empower and grow East Africa’s digital economy is hinged on developing a sustainable and scalable talent ecosystem that meets the demands of the tech industry, Daffe said, adding that in January, the talent marketplace secured an undisclosed Pre Series A funding, signaling its transition from a conventional two-sided tech talent marketplace to a provider of marketplaces under the “Marketplace-as-a-Service” model.

“We are not establishing the marketplaces, but providing support for existing marketplaces to thrive. We are not building these marketplaces from scratch, but rather, finding already existing marketplaces with solid entrepreneurs behind them, and supporting them.

“Access to funding is a major challenge entrepreneurs face in East Africa. However, Gebeya plans to reinvest funds in 100 East African marketplaces and intends to extend its technical support to assist 1000 marketplace entrepreneurs across Africa in the next few years to scale up the African gig economy.” Daffe added.

Gebeya has already begun executing this initiative to achieve this goal, forging partnerships and offering marketplace-as-a-service to Lifeline Addis Home-based Healthcare, Eshi Express, Utentic, and YeneHealth, among other pioneer marketplaces.

This initiative is part of the company’s $48 million partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, tagged Mesirat (which means “to work” in Amharic). This innovative five-year program aims to equip 100 entrepreneurs in East Africa with multi-sided gig marketplaces, allowing them to create jobs and generate sustainable income while contributing to the country’s economic growth.

Additionally, the partnership will equip two million young people with market-facing skills and provide one million (70 per cent women) with employment opportunities.

According to the Managing Partner at Laurendeau & Associates and a Mesirat partner, Bernard Laurendeau, the gig economy can potentially diffuse the ‘ticking time bomb’ of creating close to 8,000 jobs every business day in the Ethiopian economy.

“Gebeya’s plan to support existing East African marketplaces is an excellent initiative. By bridging the talent gap in the tech industry and equipping entrepreneurs with the skills they need to thrive, Gebeya is helping to create jobs and grow Africa’s economy,” Laurendeau further explained.

According to 2021 research by Google, there are about 716,000 developers across Africa. With over 50 per cent of them based in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa. Even though this accounts for a 3.8 per cent increase from the previous years, Africa’s developer pool is still a far cry from that of the US, Europe, or Asia.

Hence, the need for more tech talents in the region. To address this challenge, two Ethiopian entrepreneurs, Amadou Daffe and Hiruy Amanuel, came together in 2016 to cofound a tech startup – Gebeya. Gebeya was established to train more developers and provide a marketplace between pre-vetted tech talents and African companies.

Gebeya sees itself as a talent infrastructure company building a pipeline of tech talents in East Africa. The company has since expanded its services to other African and Foreign countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom.

The company’s impact is palpable and far-reaching, manifested in its mission to produce a new generation of skilled and pre-vetted developers eager to tackle the industry’s challenges. This new generation of developers is ushering in fresh ideas, innovation, and creativity, helping the industry attain greater heights.