Nigerian freelancers have the lowest rates on Upwork, one of the leading freelancing platforms, compared to four other African countries.
A study by Bookipi, an invoicing software company, revealed that, on average, pricing for popular services like logo design, video editing, and data entry in the cost of freelance labour globally in 40 countries, Nigeria ranked 18th, charging an average of $163 per job.
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Other African countries after Nigeria include Egypt, which charges $157.16; South Africa ($138.88); Tunisia ($136); and Kenya ($111.99).
However, Colombia’s freelancers, ranked as the number one least expensive country, charge an average of $73.13 per job. On the other hand, freelancers from Australia are ranked as the most expensive, charging an average of $594.56 per job.
Commenting on the findings, Tim Lee, chief executive officer and founder of Bookipi, noted that countries with strong economies and high living standards typically have the most expensive freelancers.
“Our team members come from various corners of the world – Asia, Africa, Europe, and America and their life stories and experiences contribute to our team’s richness. Working closely together has taught me an immense amount about appreciating different cultures.
“As a result, we were interested in how these different experiences are reflected through the costs of freelance workers worldwide,” he said.
In another development, a report by Freelance.com, the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace, revealed that the number of requests for software development has jumped by 54 percent in recent years, ranking it as one of the fastest-growing skills.
The platform also said jobs for coding are ranked as the second-highest growing skill, followed by backend development.
Companies that spoke to BusinessDay confirmed that local companies are now hiring freelance developers rather than giving them full-time jobs. They said contracting freelance developers has helped them to deliver digital service works effectively without committing much to hiring and equipping new talents.
“We now hire contract developers almost every time. Getting top talent without committing too much capital and other expenses is now becoming easier for us. Most times, it is affordable if you want to get a younger set of talent when you don’t have all the resources to get the top guys,” Jose Maria Agulanna, co-founder of Keble, said.
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Despite contracting freelance developers, Agulanna said he prefers to employ long-term talents who will always be around at a given point of need.
“But I prefer hiring long-term. Even though it takes a lot of time to train and get them incorporated into the culture when something breaks, you can trust that someone is really on standby to fix it,” he added.
Corroborating Agulanna, David Adeleke, co-founder and CEO of Zeeh Africa, stated, “We hire freelance developers mainly for side projects, but we don’t hire them to work on a core company product.”
