While uncertainty brings opportunity, entrepreneurs in Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region have been skilfully sailing rough seas for decades and as the region continues to face political and economic turmoil, small and medium businesses are looking inwards for ways to grow while remaining agile.

Looking inwards means identifying opportunities to innovate whether in the introduction of new products and services, adoption of new technologies to streamline work processes or the way the business is structured to run the day-to-day operations. Operational costs associated with hiring and retaining top talent can burden a business and re-thinking your hiring strategy can lead to significant cost savings.

In the UAE, on-boarding a mid level employee at a freezone company can cost – at least – 43% more than bringing on board an independent contractor (or freelancer) to do the job. Not to mention the time invested to source, interview, hire and on-board someone which could take north of 3 months.

Regardless of the size of your business, agility and speed will give you a significant competitive advantage. There is always a bigger and better player out there and in a typical David and Goliath situation, businesses need to set their own rules to win the game. Instead of growing your full time staff, ask yourself: how can my business leverage the millions of educated experts from the MENA region who are online, savvy, hungry for an income and willing to work for me on demand?

*image credit: quotesgram.com

 

Hiring freelancers can offer your business a number of benefits notably:

 

1. Considerable Cost Savings: Whilst talent drives the business and is the reason behind a business’s success or downfall, the cheer costs associated with bringing full time talent can put a dent in your budget limiting your growth potential. In Many cases bringing in freelancers who are experts in specific industries and have amassed years of experience means getting work done at a fraction of the cost. There are no visa costs, no insurance, travel or housing fees, no paid holidays, gratuity payments, office rental. I think you get the picture.

 

2. Speed in Execution: With online marketplaces, you are able to access experts in various fields to deliver great work for you versus hiring a generalist on a full time basis. If you had to run a marketing campaign as an example, you can hire a graphic designer, a content writer, an expert to design and build your blog, an SEO specialist to put together a strategy for you, etc. in less than 48 hours! You can then go to market faster than your competitors.

 

3. Top Local and Regional Talent: The MENA region is awash with talent, our youth are our most under-utilised asset while the majority is educated, curious, online and available. Marketplaces can give you a choice to work with experienced talent or young graduates depending on your project needs. Whilst we continue to rely on experts from the rest of the world and pay a small fortune, you can now discover great local or regional talent that “get you”, live within the same timezone and will deliver great great work for you because their livelihoods depend on it!

 

4. No breakups, No Hard Feelings: What I find liberating about working with freelancers as a business owner is that unlike full time staff, there is no commitment, no long-term promises, no breakup and no hard feelings! Every project starts and ends and everyone moves on! Marketplaces provide you with a variety of options so you don’t have to be “stuck” with someone! You can negotiate rates and work with different people and then choose the people you trust and that add the most value.

 

If trusting the freelancers is a concern, then this is where marketplaces play a key role. Most marketplaces have a way of quality control whether through vetting, ratings, or other mechanisms.

 

At Nabbesh.com, we’ve introduced a thorough screening process where only the best go through and each freelancer goes through an interview with the Nabbesh.com team in addition to the reviews that they collect when they complete jobs with other clients. Another role marketplaces play is in the mediation support in order to ensure that the work is delivered up to your standards and as per the brief. Nabbesh.com for instance would hold the funds in an escrow account until the job is delivered. This creates trust and transparency and provides the freelancer with an incentive to deliver great work, their reputation and access to future jobs depends on it!

 

There are no limits to what freelancers can offer. If you’re looking to build a website, a new mobile app, create compelling marketing collateral, grow your brand on social media, develop great content for your blog, translate documents, hold a memorable company event, test a new market or just implement a crazy idea you’ve always had, you can do so today with incredible speed and at a fraction of the cost of allocating full time staff to the job.

 

Talent is abundant and with advent of technology, you can now access thousands of freelancers on demand. Time to change the way you on-board talent and give your business a competitive advantage.  

 

For more information on how Nabbesh.com can help you, contact us on support@nabbesh.com or reach us on +97143209172.