Onshoring Their Personal Lives...
When David San Filippo decided to create a tribute video in honor of his sister's wedding, he could have gotten a recommendation from a friend or looked up video editors in the phone book. Instead, he did what big corporations have been doing for more than a decade: sent the work offshore.On the Internet, Mr. San Filippo located a graphic artist in Romania who agreed to do the whole thing for $59. The result was a splashy two-minute video with a space theme and "Star Wars" soundtrack. It won raves at the wedding. Via .Enough of all the shady 'make money online' schemes. Squash the illusion that Google ads will make you and instant millionaire. Get real and feel the wind on your face(My take on Natasha Bedingfield). The opportunities abound in the next phase of off-shoring. As I read the Wall Street Journal article on off-shoring personal tasks, it became apparent to me that very little stood in the way of Nigerians, in terms of ripping the full dividends of this trend. We speak English, we have able labor, we have a huge market, though the PR isn't the best now, that is easily surmountable. What are we waiting for?
Multinationals have sort cheap labor outside the shores of their Western hosts for a while now. No points for guessing that the trend fueled the growth experienced by India and China. The units in which jobs are outsourced is fast becoming smaller and in little or no time it will become practical for Dele to complete a wedding invitation, menu, and hologram design, wedding program, and a thank you note for Mr. Smith's forthcoming wedding. I'd dare to say $200 bucks for a few hours work is good money in Nigeria. Mr Smith is happy because he save $400 bucks. Dele's can hit the club because he just made good money. It is a win win situation. So why aren't we doing it now?
Because we aren't prepared, it is said that fortune favors a prepared mind. My brothers and sister now is the time to train yourself in basic applications. I'd rather sit at my computer and roll out a steady stream of graphic art, than wait for the government to do something.
An example;
The approach relies on the same model that drives corporate outsourcing: labor arbitrage, or benefiting from the wage differential between U.S. workers and those in developing countries. In the U.S., tutoring services charge $40 to $60 an hour for math help. Some skilled tutors in India are paid $2 to $3 an hour. In India, $20 is enough to buy a week's groceries for two people.
There is also room for entrepreneurs, the big thinker types, to seize the wage arbitrage opportunities that will subsequently present themselves. I have always opined that unlike in the western economies where premium is paid for identifying opportunities, in Africa the premium is paid for the mobilization of resources. Opportunities abound a dime a dozen. Labor is cheap, labor is suppressed therefore willing participants, information isn't easy to come by, so your trade secrets extra safe.
Many will read this and focus on the challenges such as PR, electricity and unavailability of high speed internet. I read this an see reasons for investors to justify the huge cost outlay that is associated with the provision of such infrastructures.
This is my take on the WSJ article about . Visit AltNigeria.com sometime next week for a straight-faced(technical) take on the same article. I am an apologist of the l, I think that is obvious by now..
12Comment(s):
One can not help but think
about the problems however.
hmmmm
i have been warned
and i think i have learnt.
thanks
The problem is that with all the 419 publicity, nobody in their right mind would want to do business online with Nigerians.
Another problem is our failing educational systems.
I pray that things change soon because there is an enormous potential in the outsourcing industry for us.
I also own a copy of The world is flat. I think that is the future.
Ok, I'm breaking silence. Many people in their right minds want to do business online with Nigerians. I got this job off a freelance site. The person who employed me knew I was Nigerian right from the start, but he also appreciated my honesty -- and in the end, I got paid $1500.
Just don't give them any reason to doubt you, and be transparent. Sure, there are people who don't want to do business with Nigerians, but it would surprise you that they are in the minority. Be credible, do your work well, etc etc.
Well done Azuka. There is SO MUCH potential for a lot of the off shoring business that is going to India to come to Nigeria. Plus, we are in the right time zone to cover Europe all day, there is SO, SO much potential. If the government sorts out NEPA, we have the Internet connectivity and the young, bright, UNEMPLOYED minds to do the job.
i agree with marin.those 419 people have made it very difficult for most nigerians to do business bacause everyone is scared of associating with them
Well we should not see the 419 publicity as an impediment but rather as a challenge to young minds, to surmount the horrid representations of our country, a call for greater things for ourselves and for Nigeria
419 does not come into play at all. For most of the sites, their procedures cannot be breached. I have an active account with RentACoder and did 5 small jobs there. My only problem was being constantly outbid by Indians who would offer to do the Job for far less than was reasonable for me.
OD,
This is something i've talked about for a while. I run a web design company here in Atlanta and i know what it's like to compete with companies in India. The key thing though is to know your market and what appeals to them.
On the Niga side, we have the potential to do better than India, Europe or the Middle East. Why? We speak English. A lot of people that use services outside the states complain about the language barrier. With the launch of the communication satelite, i hope this will improve our communication infrastructure and give access to faster internet connection. I hope they introduce the use Wi-Bro soon. This will really help plug us into the internet super highway.
@KENE, I share those sentiments, my thought is that while we wait for the infrastructure to catch up, now is the time to invest in some technical education. That is what India did. The know how did not drop from the sky, they built a workforce bursting at the seams with technical education, and when the oppourtunity came to use it, the world had to pay attention.
Thanks guys for all the contribution. I still need your opinions though on setting up a platform that will deal with this on a smaller scale, even if one has to resort to setting up specialized cybercafe/openoffice kind of thing in Nigeria.
I think the opportunity is worth exploring, if only to provide a viable alternative to our smart naija guys who turn to 419 because there ar no jobs. With outsoucing, they can still use their creativity and earn an honest buck.
neat blog. gd write up on nigeria's situation. nigeria def need a gd PR right now with all those kidnappings of foreigners (which the news chose to highlight only)