New local start-up BetterWage.com wants to pair up South Africans with Internet sharing economy services that can help bolster their monthly incomes.
Popular Internet sharing economy services such as Uber and Airbnb are helping millions of people across the globe to turn their cars into taxis and homes into hotels.
But there are thousands of other Internet sharing economy apps, such as Freelancer.com or Fiverr, that enable the provision of services to people across the globe.
Amid these varied options, former senior product development specialist at Alexander Forbes, Dean Furman, has co-founded BetterWage.com, which scours the Web and helps users find well-suited economy sharing services.
“We believe that the best solution to helping people pay for the things that matter most to them is by helping them earn more in the first place,” Furman said.
“Once they have enough income to meet their basic needs, it is then vital to purchase suitable savings, insurance and healthcare products.
“Alexander Forbes shared our passion for creating extra wealth for South Africans and have fully backed the initiative,” Furman said.
Users of BetterWage have to fill in a quiz which asks questions such as whether they can teach or have a spare room in their home to rent out.
Based on these answers, the website then delivers a list of possible internet services that users can tap to make extra income.
Furman, then, is hoping that BetterWage will help South Africans open their eyes to more ways of making of money.
“What is making BetterWage.com possible is the meteoric rise in the sharing, on-demand and gig economies,” Furman said.
“You are no longer restricted to only earning from a single job. There has never been more ways to make some extra money,” Furman said.
The weak rand also presents an opportunity for South Africans, Furman explained.
“We certainly have been given lemons recently. But, we can make lemonade. By doing jobs that pay for our services in dollars or other strong overseas currencies, our local problems become opportunities,” Furman said.
It’s still early days for BetterWage as the startup only kick-started operations early in April, but Furman says the service is targeting a global audience.
He also says the earning potential from using BetterWage depends on the individual.
“This depends on a person’s skills, passions and possessions,” Furman said.
“BetterWage.com directs people to websites and apps that are most suited to them. For example, survey sites pay decent pocket money while some people who have freelanced through Upwork or created online courses through Udemy have earned millions,” Furman added.
The formation of BetterWage comes as South Africans have already taken to Internet sharing services such as Uber and Airbnb in large numbers.
Data from Uber has revealed that as of February 2016, the company moved over 500 000 riders across South Africa since its local 2013 launch.
Meanwhile, South Africa is Airbnb’s biggest African market. The number of South African homes listed on Airbnb has jumped from around 9 000 in July last year to 13 000 in December 2015, Airbnb’s general manager for the Middle East and Africa Nicola D’Elia recently said.
