Comments on: The iHub in 2012: Freelancers and Presentations

By: Building Capacity Within The Tech Community | *iHub_

Building Capacity Within The Tech Community | *iHub_ — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 06:14:59 +0000

[…] evening, iHub Consulting held its first info session to explain what the ideas and processes are for the initiative. The community was engaging, asking interesting questions […]

By: Monguko

Monguko — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 13:01:13 +0000

I had always asked how other techies (network/systems admins) with project management skills could benefit from iHub and seems I’ve been answered with the Consulting program in place. Way to go fellow doers!!!!

By: Introducing iHub Consult | *iHub_

Introducing iHub Consult | *iHub_ — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:16:27 +0000

[…] this year, the Board of Advisors had a discussion on improving freelancer skills where Â the decision was made to start up iHub Consulting, an initiative to help build soft skills […]

By: carlton

carlton — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:15:33 +0000

How did this event turn out?

By: Peter Durand

Peter Durand — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:53:44 +0000

It was an honor and an insight to witness firsthand the thoughtful, intelligent and grounded leadership represented by this group. I am back in The States now, singing the praises of the iHub community. My only problem is now that I have been infected by the electric white, green and red energy of iHubtopia and cannot wait to get back to the Silicon Savannah ASAP!

By: iHub & iCow: Africa in the digital space | Cool International | Ventures | Digital Media | Technology | Cool Blog

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:24:32 +0000

[…] The iHub in 2012: Freelancers and Presentations (whiteafrican.com) […]

By: Yamtaa

Yamtaa — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:45:37 +0000

How will bloggers be tested?

By: Richard von Kaufmann

Richard von Kaufmann — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:51:43 +0000

This is excellent thinking and I’m in no doubt of its necessity. We are very nearly at a point when we will be actively seeking to hire a team of Kenyan freelance coders. Coming from outside the country, with limited local connections, I can see we would have to rely heavily on personal recommendations. Therefore a search and rating system like the highly-regarded Angie’s List http://www.angieslist.com would seem like a good starting point. However, startups are all about teams, so ideally there would be a way to also rate teams/relationships that have worked well in the past.

I gave a talk at iHub last month about our Shadow Election project which we will be launching in Kenya (fingers crossed) by the end of the month. We will use the version run in the recent Finnish Presidential elections while we secure more resources to make some important improvements. As much as the business logic we are fully aware that developing a community is as important as developing code â€“ and we feel that working with Kenyan coders on a nationally significant project should not only make them more motivated, but also more engaged with supporting the community we hope to create.

By: Mbwana Alliy

Mbwana Alliy — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:46:04 +0000

Glad you like the business model canvas 🙂 its great to use for such sessions.
From looking at what is inserted- it also feels like there is a lot iHub is doing, some are obviously more intense than others- is iHub doing too much given the resources?

The freelance/startup problem is interesting- I also recommend setting up maybe a group odesk account (I have used it to source developers) and brand it the “iHub Developers/Freelancer” and set up a good profile of skills. -Maybe even explore a partnership with ODesk to help customize the billing (for pay out to developers in local payment options and for clients to pay in local methods too). Odesk (and other sites- e.g. 99designs is good for designers) is also a good way to benchmark global rates.

An internal certification that certifies the developers before you add them to a site like oDesk also makes sense, but it may not be necessary in the long-term- odesk has ratings, reviews and hours works which is a good proxy of quality in a similar way ebay sellers build up credibility over time.

To avoid paying a cut to oDesk- I woud consider building a platform long term that handles this, the advantage is that you could scale it out more. This same platform could then be used as a sort “iHub angel list”- so as an investor, I might fund a startup after seeing their projects they’ve freelanced before once list their new startup (especially with skills they have built up). Remember the biggest issue is credibility- collecting verified data on freelancers past work gets you a long way as far as getting better work AND or jumping into startup by proving you can build out products.

Exciting times and congrats for great work to date 🙂

By: Segeni

Segeni — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:25:47 +0000

Hash, great work! great progress! The Ihub is truly revolutionary – by global standards. Your vision is fantastic. Even sweeter is to know the Ihub is well run, with strong goals and a great team which makes things happen. The Ihub team is about doers! Glad to be associated with you. – Red Member in the Corner.