How service-based apps offer job opportunities to Mexicans

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

We are very accustomed to mobile applications: whether to pay for services, make contracts, or reach a destination. However, thanks to trends such as the collaborative economy, apps now also serve to enable self-employment opportunities.

When we need the service of a person specialized in a specific field such as plumbing, carpentry, or even a locksmith, our first source is Google, which is sometimes very feasible.

But there are more and more service apps that, on the one hand, take users out of trouble and, on the other, help more Mexicans to self-employment. In Mexico, 12 million people live from self-employment or freelance, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). One of these service digitalization platforms is Joob.

While Daniel Rocha, CEO of Joob, said there is a great expansion in digital platforms, because everything in an app facilitates the needs of a person and a business, there are many who still resist taking the step and this puts them at risk. "If business is not digitized you will disappear," he said in an interview.

Therefore, Joob is an alternative that benefits suppliers and users with specific needs. “For many years I saw that the workforce of trades in Mexico such as carpenters, welders, tattooists, do not have a space to be successful because there are intermediaries who do not help them to promote their work. Joob was born with the idea of ​​promoting work through technological platforms,” he explained.

This Mexican app offers a catalog of professionals at your fingertips, seeks to help solve different needs of society by generating employment and encouraging the economy of our country by promoting job opportunities among third parties.

In this platform you can find from lawyers, naval engineers and locksmiths to tattooists, because from your location they quickly and safely locate the required service, in it you can find up to 700 professions.

"When you turn to ask a professional almost always what happens is that you say‘ you will meet someone you trust to come to do a job. Not to anyone you open the door of your house,” said Rocha.

The most quoted

Joob data assures that citizens living in the north and center of Mexico City are using the app, being the locksmith and ironwork service the most requested, coupled with GetNinjas, a similar service app, highlights that at least they have received 1,500 applications in this area.

"A characteristic of this type of trades is that they are mainly required by people who do not have the knowledge or time to perform a task, and do not need to learn or try on their own, so they prefer to go with an expert," said Eduardo L 'Hotellier, global president of GetNinjas.

On the other hand, Rocha says that if a provider wants to offer its services, the app does not charge a commission compared to other mobile applications in this niche, as its sole purpose is to support the country's economy.

"We have studied, we have the competition well identified, there are 7 apps similar to Joob, but none has our nature, they all seek to charge and do not seek to promote the economy of the country," said the CEO of Joob.

Although they do not charge commission, their business model is based on the fact that if you want your business to be displayed and have a great reach you have the option to choose the modality that suits you, such as the free version in which you can save photographs of limited form, or Premium membership that costs 369 pesos annually and includes a review of trust and professionalism.

Joob, also seeks to be a factor to help the economy of Mexicans, become a marketplace where people can exchange their tools. "We want to help companies to have more customers with data on how many people are dedicated to a specific trade by area," said Daniel Rocha.

So far the Daniel Rocha app has 170 users and 100 registered suppliers so they are looking to reach 5,000 users by the end of 2019.

Other apps that compete against Joob are Iguana Fix, Jelp and GetNinjas, to name a few.

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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