With 2.3 million Egyptians losing their job due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and the recession it birthed, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Finance, generating a lucrative income has almost become a privilege, and freelancing has become less of an option and more of a necessity for many professionals. These job losses were fueled by numerous suffering businesses in the country attempting to pump the brakes, cut down on costs and save. ًThat’s why we decided to compile 11 freelancing platforms that businesses and employers in Egypt could use to save on hiring, and that freelancers in the country could use to find gigs.
The Central Bank of Egypt also made it easier in late 2020 for freelancers in Egypt to open a new bank account by declaring their occupation instead of requiring proof of employment from a company or other income documentation requirements. If you’re a freelancer or someone looking to make a sizable income as a freelancer and you didn’t know this yet, rejoice and jump on board! Anyway, back to the listicle…
It includes both emerging, home-grown, and established platforms accompanied by the information you could find useful when deciding to spend your time on them. To get to a platform, just click its name in the subtitle. Have a nice read! But beware, it’s not all (or always) smooth and rosy…
1. Freelancer
With over a decade of freelance services and 17 million freelancers and clients from all over the world, including from Egypt, Freelancer is home to freelancers from over 1,900 skill domains (including marketing, writing, web development, illustration, graphic design, and many more). The renowned freelance hub boasts that it’s trusted by NASA, Amazon, Facebook, and IBM.
Freelancer also serves as an educational medium for freelancers to upskill their industry knowledge through published insights and articles in its Freelancer’s Community hub. More importantly for both freelancers and employers, its Dispute Resolution Services for users that utilize its Milestone Payment System enable each of them to contest the financial exchanges between buyers and sellers as long as they agree to abide by the Dispute Team’s resolution.
2. Upwork
After a mere 5 years in the business, 5 million famed businesses, including Microsoft and Airbnb, have already put their faith in the uprising freelancing platform. Home to 9 million freelancers and 1.5 million clients, Upwork is growing rapidly.It also enjoys a wide range of skill diversity, which includes, but isn’t limited to, IT, web development, legal services, sales, marketing, design, content creation, and accounting.
What makes Upwork stand out is its Readiness Test; a 10-minute test dedicated to help freelancers maintain a successful and safe marketplace on their platform. Another self-improving feature in Upwork is their Job Success Score system; a feature they designed with the intent to monitor and report freelancers’ progress as well as mistakes they could learn from. The higher their score, the better their market positioning. Lastly, Upwork also has numerous conflict resolution specialists to resolve employer-freelancer disputes should they arise.
3. Inploy
Designed by Egyptian freelancers, Inploy is an emerging and quite promising platform. For freelancers worried about their rates being too low or too high when competition with their colleagues from labor markets from around the world, Inploy is Egypt-centric. It already houses some of Egypt’s finest freelancing talents in over 30 skill domains that include beauty, media production, web development, app development, and more.
Entrusted by AUC Business School, Flat6Labs, and Jude Benhalim Jewelry, it encourages direct and transparent communication to minimize disputes between its users. Additionally, its Instagram page is home to plenty of tips and tricks that could help both employers and freelancers hone freelancing and sway to their benefit.
4. Al7arefa
Set to disrupt the MENA region’s freelancing scene, Egypt-based freelancing platform Al7arefa has already gained the trust and recognition of regional businesses such as Ahly National Bank of Kuwait, Cairo Gyms & RAYA. Its wide assortment of freelancers is skilled in media production, design, HR, administrative services, digital marketing, and a lot further. Set out to showcase Egyptian talents on the global stage and maintain a sustainable marketplace, it educates freelancers on freelancer-employer communication and conflict resolution through binding terms, conditions, and penalties.
5. Mosawer
This freelance platform is interestingly dedicated to photographers and videographers across the MENA region (as its name suggests). Having launched in 2016, Mosawer has already accumulated thousands of clients and talents from across 12 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and the UAE. Looking for a photographer or videographer -or even both- for your next big project? Look no further, with Mosawer’s 50 enlisted categories, employers could find exactly what they need in a couple of minutes.
Photographers can showcase their work, set their rates, accept bookings, and get paid for their expertise. What’s more, Mosawer’s freelancers receive discounts and benefits from their affiliated partners Photopia, Cairo Camera Rentals, and Shutter Shop (smooth customer loyalty move, guys).
6. Tasmeem ME
Also carving a niche in the MENA region’s freelancing world is the Jordan-based creative community TasmeemME. Launched back in 2009, Tasmeem’s primary focus is on creative skills like graphic design, photography, and animation with an Arabic-focused edge. According to Tasmeem ME, the platform currently has 5,000+ jobs and is home to 200,000+ designers.
It especially invests in its community by giving them online courses to revamp their creative skills and compete in global markets. Their declared goal is to “cultivate and grow creative talent in the Arab world” and they strive to do so while they “promote Arabic content”. It further boasts 200,000+ course enrollments and 400,000+ shared media. And that positions it as a place for visual craftspeople in the region to showcase their talent, grow it, and utilize it to make money.
7. Behance
It pretty much needs no introduction. The popularity of the global platform has been growing rapidly in Egypt over the past couple of years. After accumulating 15 years of success and being home to over 10 million members, the renowned Adobe-owned platform grew a substantial community of visual creatives; from photographers and designers to videographers and directors. Freelancers display their work and sign up or get headhunted for freelance gigs, but also for full and part-time jobs.
As a client, you get to hand-pick reviewed professionals who have their work out in the open for you to evaluate it and determine if they’re right for your assignment before contacting them. Although it connects freelancers showcasing their work to employers looking for their skills, it doesn’t do conflict resolution.
8. Iktbly
The Kuwait-based freelance hub, Iktbly, is yet to fully launch in 2021. But we recommend looking out for it nonetheless. Aiming to connect global and local recruiters to Arab nations, Iktbly intends to enclose the gap between western and eastern markets in the freelancing arena. You’ll find more on it here as it unfolds…
9. Nabbesh
Another noteworthy platform in the region’s freelancing scene is the Dubai-based Nabbesh; entrusted by MBC Group, Facebook, Careem, and IBM. With over 950 different skills that include engineering, media, architecture, HR, and business, this freelancing platform has its doors open to global businesses with Arab and Middle-Eastern talents at center-stage.
Nabbesh also provides conflict-resolving specialists to mediate freelancer-employer communication. Not only that, but instead of the traditional job-hunting route freelancers take, the job finds them. Once you upload your profile, Nabbesh automatically matches your skills with job offerings from your next employer.
10. Truelancer
With over 600,000 professional freelancers, the India-based freelancing platform, Truelancer, has numerous content writers, SEO specialists, mobile app developers, virtual assistants, alongside other skills that are demanded on a freelance basis.
When it comes to managing disputes, Truelancer offers the services of their conflict-resolving specialists for on-site disputes between employers and freelancers. It also offers financial incentives and contests with decent prize money to motivate freelancers to enhance their performance. Clients can initiate these contents, which is great for them but could be seen as encouraging talents (who don’t win those contests) to utilize their skills for free.
11. Freelance Yard
Last but not least is the Egyptian-born Freelance Yard. Serving four countries (which of course includes Egypt), they’re now home to 12,000 registered freelancers in 12 areas of specialization.
What makes them genuinely stand out apart from their smooth platform are their endeavours in building a community where mentors, veteran freelancers, and even aspiring but committed amateurs looking to venture into this world can meet with organizations that support them. Their biggest yet and annual event where this community gets to mingle, network, and exchange benefits is the Freelance Job Fair.
Like we said, it’s not all rosy, but the article would be too long to go on about the challenges that freelancers face on these different platforms. But this will be the topic of an upcoming article, which will also feature places where you could read genuine reviews about working on these different platforms from those who tried them.
Stay tuned!
