The Middle East has a new online skills marketplace that connects businesses looking to supplement their workplace talent with on-demand, contingent workers. Maharati’s online workforce (Microlancers), sell their skills via fixed priced packages (Gigs), that are delivered digitally via the secure platform. Arabic for “my skills”, Maharati is the first multilingual micro-services marketplace in the region.

Maharati has launched in response to market needs. The digital economy is creating pools of skilled, independent workers wanting to benefit from the gig economy; such as students looking to develop their skills, stay at home moms wanting work flexibility, and employees looking to replace their nine to five office hours for a nomadic, digital lifestyle.

“Technology is fundamentally altering the traditional employee-employer relationship. Flexibility is the new workplace currency and career experience is more important than the career ladder. The Maharati marketplace is designed as the modern workplace for the modern workforce. It meets the necessity of flexible working hours and job freedom,” said Maharati’s founder and CEO Greg Hucker.

Maharati offers access to on-demand digital services that match budgets and timelines and offers a choice of providers. “This choice, and ability to tap talent on demand, can make all the difference towards business success, irrespective of whether you’re an individual, start-up, SME or established multinational corporation,” Hucker added. It is a means of managing costs, supplementing workplace talent and building agility in a rapidly changing marketplace.

The Maharati microlancer community is as diverse as its skills categories. They include blockchain specialists, ICO website developers, illustrators, translators, motion designers, video editors, digital marketers, music producers and over 70 other classifications. All of which have been chosen for relevance in an increasingly digital economy.

With youth currently constituting an estimated 51% of the total available workforce in the MENA region, Maharati is a very compelling proposition for students and fresh graduates to develop their credentials, build a portfolio and supplement their income. “Technology is producing new workforce skill requirements at a rate far outpacing those being taught in the confines of the education system and we see Maharati as a tool to bridge this gap,” said Maharati’s co-founder and E-commerce Manager, Hiba Sabra.

Maharati is available in both English and Arabic, across the GCC, and is offering zero fees for the microlancer community until the end of 2018.