Asking for Help

Here we are! The farthest place from where I want to be. I was raised to never ask or receive anything from others. As a child if I showed up with someone else's pencil in my school bag a lecture was always inbound. So, I have known I needed to write this post for a while and have been procrastinating.

My co-founder Feven Tadesse and I started Maado 1 year and 3 months ago with a dream...We wanted to help exceptionally talented people in Ethiopia find remote work opportunities. Right out of the gate no one was really interested in Ethiopian developers, the first talent group we started with. I networked a lot in the first 8 months. From SMB to startup events my words of how exceptional Ethiopia talent were fell on deaf ears. So we pivoted and built MVPs for startups for 8 months with Ethiopian developers.

However, I wanted to provide jobs at scale and help many people. That was the dream in my heart and software development is far from scalable. A small team of highly talented individuals is the way to succeed which went against the dream.

So, we went back to talent provision which we had struggled in previously. This time with a profound realization. We needed to showcase our "product" to help them find work. I made a mistake the first time around. I believed people would take my words at face value. How na?ve I was. I don't take anyone at their word who is selling to me. No one truly believed Ethiopian talent were exceptional and talented when I told them so either.

I want to say the Ethiopian or African talent brand is in infancy and that is why I ran into this wall. However, I don't think that is fully the case. We have a negative brand in some ways. Saying this to any Ethiopian who has lived in the West is preaching to the choir. Specifically for Ethiopia when people know where the country is (not common) what they know is stories of hunger and conflict. At best they know about and like Ethiopian food. The talent get labeled with the baggage.

However, video was able to break through all of that for us. In the face of seeing someone speak impeccable English while articulating the nuances of their area of expertise, people were blown away. I might as well have shown them an alien based on their level of surprise. I was shocked how this was deep revelation for many and was rocking their worldview.

Now the level of talent we are finding to do this is elite. Without a doubt they are not representative of the entire talent pool. Some of the roadblocks we face such as gaps in work ethic are real and need to be addressed.

However, until we change the perception of Ethiopia (Africa) globally we will be fighting an uphill battle. Any company/startup/talent platform looking to provide talent is struggling and will continue to struggle to get people jobs. The bias is too strong.

By letting the talent speak for themselves we have succeeded. To date the Ethiopians we placed in Us and Canadian companies have earned $60,000 USD and are estimated to make another $80,000 in 2024. We currently 3 active successful placement with almost 40 vetted talent waiting for work.

For most of it, it was me, my co-founder Fev, and our social media manager who worked 20 hrs/month. Right now we are a team of 4. We brought in one more team member to help with recruitment (40 hrs/month) and scaled our social media to 40hrs/month. We seem like a big org when you look at our social media presence. Since a few people have asked me this question, yes, I do Maado full time. My co-founder puts in the equivalent of full time as well even though she has other commitments. Our costs are ~$1200/month and we get ~$900/month in support from the talent we have placed. We are investing into Maado for the sake of our dreams and not making a profit.

This is why I am asking for help. We are making a difference at Maado and I believe we can make a dent in Economic challenges Ethiopia faces by providing good work opportunities for exceptional people. Our other main goal is to change the global image and position Ethiopia as a viable remote work and outsourcing/offshoring destination. If we can succeed in doing so thousands if not millions will benefit.

I have a dream but I have realized sweat and tears are not enough to power them. The following is the playbook we need to run to scale what we are doing and help many more:

• We onboard 1 or 2 talent per week. About 1 in 4 are willing for use to use their videos for promotion. Most that refuse are concerned about backlash from their current companies and we honor their requests. Yet, the more people we have listed on maado.ca the more attractive we are to potential hiring companies. We have many that are waiting for us to be vetted and we need more people to help with recruitment and find ways to automate part of the process.
• Now that the new website maado.ca is live Ads (google and social media) will probably be really powerful for us. By running ads focusing on keywords with buying intent we can scale much faster. For many startups Ads are the main growth lever. Another area we have not explored at scale due to our limited capacity is email marketing.
• Our social media game is not good enough for the viral platforms. The short form videos clipped from the talent podcasts we make are decent for LinkedIn and YouTube but not for TikTok, Shorts, and Reels. The best content wins on these platforms which is good news and bad news. The good news is that we can build a brand for Ethiopian (African) talent much quicker than we could 10 years ago. The bad news is how competitive and fast moving the space is. We need to build out a really strong social media team and partner with influences and creators to put Ethiopia on the map.
• We have not done any work in SEO (search engine optimization). Currently there is no demand to capture. It is a lot of demand gen work. Even with the rise of AI search options SEO remains one of best investments we can make. When people search for African or Ethiopian talent or when they are looking to learn more about finding talent in our regions we need to make sure all the information they need is available. This is a big job and we would need to write hundreds if not thousands of blog articles.
• We need to train the talent pool in soft skills and global work culture. I have had multiple instances where people did not show up for interviews and/or did not deliver test projects on time. These were all average $25 USD/hr opportunities and it baffles my mind this is a challenge we have to address. However, crying about it does not help we just need to fill the gap and provide training.
• To make us a viable option for midsize and large companies we need to take care of taxes, benefits, PTOs, etc. Whether we partner with global EOR (Employment of Record) services or we build out our own version we have to address this. Until we do we will be constrained to serving smaller businesses and will not be able to tap into orgs that hire at scale.
• We need to build our a customer satisfaction team. Ensuring hiring companies and our talent are happy and well supported can not be neglected. Especially when there are problems we need to resolve them quickly and provide exceptional service. We can't afford to negatively impact our brand at all. We have to be the best to succeed.
• Our website maado.ca is a really good start but needs a lot of work still. The copy is not clear for hiring companies and what they need to do next. We need to create logins and profiles for both talent and hiring companies. Especially for the latter since once vetted as a real company we can give them access to the hidden part of the talent pool. The talent portal and ways to apply are also non-existent, many reach out to us through our social media. We need a Blog, FAQs, potentially AI chat bots, etc

Let me be real with you for a minute. All the above needs talented people to do which cost money. We have gotten in kind support from our talent which we are blown away by, but asking them to commit as if they are being paid full time is not realistic or fair. We are unable to do what is required with what we have now. Both I and my co-founder also have our primary responsibility to our families. Taking care of my two children and my wife comes first. Feven and I have self-funded Maado until now and I don't know how much longer we can do so. I will keep going until I have no regrets and done all I can or there is divine intervention. I have not intention of giving up yet.

So, I am setting aside my pride and asking for help. The more talent we place the willing support coming through from them will be enough for us to do what we need to. Right now we need a boost to get us to that point. We don't have legal entity in Ethiopia and I have been told we can't ask for support unless we do so. So, if you are part of the Maado community in Ethiopia and have the skills to help us we will gladly take your support in kind.

For the Ethiopian diaspora community and others who love our mission, we can multiply every dollar you give us by 10 if not more. Most of the money we give to causes or send back home is for consumption. At Maado we are helping talented people in Ethiopia make 30 to 50 thousand dollars a year. I will leave it to your imagination what that means for the economy and the impact it can have on people's lives. I believe we can do it for hundreds if not thousands of people. The work we will do in brand building for Ethiopia will also help many businesses doing offshoring/outsourcing to thrive and charge premium prices.

You can help us create this future using this link or on our website. For TransferWise you can use this link.

If you see this and are not in a position to support us don't feel burdened. You can support us by helping us spread the message through our social media. Likes, comments, and shares all matter and help us out a lot! Thank you for being part of our journey and all the love you have shown us until now ?? Wishing you many blessings!

Yonas,

Co-Founder and CEO of Maado