With the advent of the internet, digital media, and computer, the idea of traditional workplace setup has been forced to change; to adapt to technology. These days, the concept of workers going to where the work is does not always make sense. Sometimes, it is the work that goes to where the workers are situated. Natterbase is bringing digital work from global clients to developers across Nigeria.
The Nigerian developers get access to an international market of clients looking for various digital products; websites, mobile apps, and desktop application among others. Natterbase provides these international a platform where they can handpick the best developers Nigeria has to offer – subject to their budget of course – and Nigerian developers enlist themselves for hire.
Once a client finds a suitable developer (freelancer) they agree on the price among other T&Cs and work gets done. Natterbase was founded back in 2017 by Prince Issac and the platform likes to think of itself as another Andela matching global clients with talents in Africa.
“We do this using a proprietary management tool that helps us track the speed, accuracy, working hours, and work rate of a software developer, giving companies full visibility into our developer’s activities,” said Isaac while addressing a section of the media.
“In order to ensure quality, our platform integrates into our software developers working environments to track their activities, and we use the data to provide detailed analysis for our clients managing these developers.”
According to Isaac, Natterbase was created in response to what he describes as a “stretching gap” between companies looking for skilled labor and the number of talented developers. Natterbase solves this “stretching gap” problem by providing a platform where the client and the developers can find each other (in a good match in terms of budget and skills).
“The scarcity of software developer is not because software developers are not available, it is because there is a geographic limitation that separates talents from remote areas with little or no tech hubs from companies in tech hubs.”
The crowding outsourcing markets
The space Natterbase is operating is fast becoming crowded. Other than the well-known players like Andela, there are other small players and more are still coming into the industry. Though as an African platform, Natterbase is among a handful of players. Internationally, it is going against the big players like Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer among others.
Natterbase has also secured angel funding and is currently working with more than 50 companies. The company also reported that it created revenues of more than $130,000 by taking a commission on what the developers get paid.
“We are currently operating in the African tech ecosystem, but we intend on expanding in 2019. We currently have some clients from London and Berlin.”
One of the biggest challenges the startup has faced is creating a pool of world-class software developers.
“Developers can be good, but there are certain standards required to work with top tech companies.
What we have done is to work with online training platforms such as Treehouse and Udacity in training our developers and making them well equipped to work with companies from anywhere and of various sizes.”
