While digital is exploding all over the world, Africa is also jumping on the trend, as illustrated by the growth of freelance platforms and talent ready to work remotely. This is a particularly strong message to the West, which in many cases continues to perceive this continent from a bygone angle. Indeed, it can be said loud and clear that it is high time for companies in these countries to trust an extraordinary, innovative talent pool, which is waiting for only one thing : to implement its cutting-edge technological and technical skills through hybrid work.

Hybrid work: what is it?

Hybridisation has been a recurring term for some years. If it is generally associated with science, more particularly biology, in reality, hybridisation is a model applicable to all fields, including that of work. Thus, without the framework of the enterprise, hybrid work is to give the workforce the opportunity to distribute work on site and remotely. It can also relate to employees working remotely on a full-time basis.

This method is gradually beginning to be explored and to date it has been recognised that hybrid work:

• Allows the workforce to work at their own pace, therefore, to be more productive.
• Offers a better work-life balance, a factor of adherence and motivation.
• Significantly reduces exposure to the disease, an essential criterion given the current context.
• Allows the company to make significant savings, for example, on essential rental costs when owning physical offices.
• Expands the recruitment pool from local to global!

Africa is moving faster than it seems!

In the West, currently, there is a lot of talk about the lack of manpower in all sectors combined, but perhaps a little more in that of ICT. Several factors are involved, including the cost of higher education and a decrease on the evolution of skills. This is bad news, given that the next few years will require increasingly advanced and flexible professional capacities.

On the other side is Africa, which has a very young population, but also and above all the fastest population growth on the planet. As a result, it is expected that over the next 20 years, the continent will have more people entering the labour market than the rest of the world combined!

Two takeaways from what has been said so far: first, African innovation and technological capacities are developing very rapidly, faster than Western countries expect. Secondly, the African continent has a potential of 650 million training opportunities; a market estimated to be $130 billion.

Hybrid work, the best initiative to participate in the advent of African talents

Africa is the cradle of humanity and even today it holds an extraordinary amount of potential and wealth. However, it also has to deal with a particular problem: that of the current mismatch between supply and demand resulting in deep-rooted unemployment among young people. With 420 million people aged between 15 and 35 today, a figure that is expected to rise to 830 million by 2050, businesses outside the continent have everything to gain by now laying the groundwork to reap all the possible benefits from such a pool.

Fortunately, there are specialists who, as true "disruptors", did not wait to highlight African talents by allowing them to fully exploit their knowledge and know-how. Talenteum is such a pan-African platform designed to help companies employ local remote working teams around the world and primarily in Africa.

As a specialist in social bridging, Talenteum ensures the sourcing of staff, the salary of employees, the management of human resources and the payment of salaries, all the while respecting the respective local labour law in each of the countries where the employees are located. In summary, Talenteum enables companies to effectively recruit and manage their full-time and international staff. Its vision of HR outsourcing is based on a set of technical, ethical and responsible commitments.

With Talenteum, the realisation of any project has a significant and measurable social impact on talent located in Africa. Corporate clients strengthen their social responsibility while contributing to the sustainable development of an impactful HR outsourcing.

Talenteum has a vision of HR outsourcing driven by a set of technical, ethical and responsible commitments. With Talenteum, the realisation of your project has a significant and measurable social impact, with our talents in Africa. Choosing our mode of operation means implies placing a lot of importance on your social responsibility, but also contributing to the sustainable development of an impactful HR outsourcing. We have chosen to follow and implement 4 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

1. Gender equality;
2. Decent work and economic growth;
3. Reducing inequality;
4. Measures to combat climate change.

With regards to the financial aspect, for the payment of employees, Talenteum trusts several Fintech partners on the continent or even on a global scale with payoneer.com which allows us to quickly pay our talents in Cameroon or in Madagascar with Euro. This is also how we pay locally without being burdened by excessive bank fees. These new banking solutions allow us to be more productive and closer to our customers and contractors, thus disrupting the job market remotely!

How to trust hybrid work?

The selection of candidates is an essential step, which requires the utmost care. At Talenteum, talents are selected through a competitive process based on an assessment of psychometric abilities and skills. We also take a close look at the passion, commitment and team spirit required for effective integration with any remote team.

The last word

Hybrid work and global competence: the next big disruption! Are we ready? It is just a matter of observing the dedication that animates the talents psent in the job market. This is enough to make you want to take the leap! If disruption was a rather vague term just a few years ago, the current global economic context makes us say that it has become a vital strategy for the company!