With the mission to create economic and social value on a global scale by empowering businesses and freelancers with a trusted workplace to connect, collaborate and succeed, Norway-based Elance has affirmed its commitment to develop the online work market in Nigeria.
Elance, a global online work platform, said Nigeria is the fastest growing country in Africa for independent professionals, with a 35 percent increase in earnings over the last quarter on Elance.
It stated that with over 500,000 businesses on Elance seeking freelance talent, online work represents a substantial opportunity for students and professionals in Nigeria to increase their income and gain valuable work experience.
Rich Pearson, Elance chief marketing officer, said: “We predict that one out of every three workers around the world will be hired online by 2020 making the future of freelance work virtually unlimited. We are committed to develop the online work market in Nigeria and provide freelancers with the tools and training they need to succeed on Elance.”
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Speaking at the “Work Differently Summit” held in Lagos for local freelancers, Pearson stated that Nigeria comes after South Africa and Kenya on the continent in freelancer earnings. He also noted that the average hourly wage for Nigerians on Elance is over $15 per hour, an increase of 36 percent over the last 12 months. Nigerians with skills in programming, graphic design and writing are the highest earners, and the top five countries hiring Nigerians on Elance are the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore.
According to him, 345,000 new businesses joined Elance globally in 2012, posting over 80,000 jobs a month. During the year, 779,000 new freelancers joined Elance to find work, with annual freelancer earnings surpassing $200 million for the first time.
It was said that over 500,000 businesses and 2 million freelancers use Elance in over 170 countries. Innovative global enterprises, small businesses and start-ups tap into the Elance talent pool, building teams from software engineers, application developers and web and graphic designers to copywriters, market researchers, date scientists, social media marketers, customer service agents and business professionals.
