Samasource awarded Mulago Grant
Read about Samasource and MicroworkMulago Foundation
The waste of potential is even starker in refugee camps where the educated sit idle. Donor enthusiasm for computers in Africa has created underutilized computer centers, while firms in the U.S. are already outsourcing simple computer-based tasks they need to have done. Leila Chirayath Janah saw that the Internet could connect the two to bring decent jobs to those who need them most. Samasource (“sama” means “equal” in Sanskrit) connects jobless women, youth, and refugees to dignified, computer-based work, such as data entry, converting PDFs into text files, or judging the content of images for big websites.
They partner with organizations with access to the educated jobless and available computer capacity, train them how to do the work, and drum up business through its US sales team. Given the projected growth of exportable computer- based tasks in the US, and computer access and bandwidth in poor countries, Samasource has the potential to bring dignified, decent-paying work to multitudes of literate poor in Africa and beyond.
A compelling problem
1 billion people in poor regions will face severe unemployment (up to 70%) in the next decade. Lack of economic opportunity is a root cause of crime, gender-based violence, and other social ills.
A scalable solution
Mulago assesses scalability based on five characteristics common to efforts that have taken lasting impact to scale.
Real impact: Samasource has systems for tracking total wages paid and the number of workers who completed tasks. In 2010 the average was ~ $400/ worker. Samasource is currently working to document baseline incomes of workers to ensure service to the target population.
Cost-effective: At scale, Samasource is expected to be an entirely earned revenue organization with almost no donor subsidy.
Lasting behavior: Workers gain online visibility as their skills increase, giving them the incentives, opportunity and platform to continue earning wages.
Easy replication: Global outsourcing of simple data tasks is not a new business model. Samasource is simply adding some additional features that allow them to reach the target population.
A viable route to scale: The global market for outsourced digital work is tremendous and Samasource is building the organization to capture a significant piece of it.
Capacity to deliver
Leila Janah, the CEO and Founder of Samasource, first developed the idea behind Samasource while working as a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners (now Booz & Co.), where her clients included global leaders in the outsourcing and telecom sectors and a number of prominent non-profits. Since founding Samasource, Leila has built both an impressive Board of Directors, along with a team of professionals in operations, sales and account management. Samasource has consistently met or exceeded delivery and fundraising targets.