Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - South African companies such as TomTom, 1Life and Telesure have partnered with new micro jobbing platform M4Jam (money for jam) to make over 100 000 micro jobs available at the launch next week.
M4Jam, which goes live on Monday August 11, is a digitally-enabled micro jobbing platform hosted on WeChat, which allows companies to allocate simple micro jobs to thousands of “jobbers” across the country and pay them via M4Jam and MTN Mobile Money.
M4Jam will launch with jobs from TomTom, Here Maps, Telesure’s Hippo, 1Life and Jenus Health, and MyLawyer to name a few key brands, as well as around 20 000 “fun jobs” from WeChat and M4Jam in which new jobbers can carry out simple tasks and earn R15 a time, as they learn to use the platform. Those who opt to tell their friends about it on social media stand to earn another R5 each.
M4Jam co-founder and Chief Jammer Warren Venter says big name brands are showing great enthusiasm for M4Jam’s cost effectiveness, and – more importantly – its ability to offer personal interaction with jobbers on the back of a warm referral.
“Many of the micro jobs will take the form of market research, giving companies more accurate, effective sampling than using traditional survey methods,” said Venter. “They might carry out surveys where a person walks through a shopping area and asks people for information.
“These methods are typically quite costly and the results are hard to validate. Using M4Jam enabled by the WeChat platform, the results will be available online in real time, and the brand can tweak questions during the survey for better response base if necessary. This is a very low cost, low risk solution, and it offers massive distribution in areas where they typically couldn’t get responses easily in real time.”
Earn R30 per micro job
Each client company puts a minimum of 1 000 jobs on the system at each time and our jobbers can earn between R15 and R30 per job.
Venter expects high levels of interest in micro jobbing from smartphone owners looking to supplement their incomes, such as students, stay-at-home parents or pensioners. M4Jam expects to have around 200 000 jobbers registered by the end of the first month, as news for the micro jobbing service goes viral.
The micro jobs themselves are simple, he explains, and generally take only a few minutes to complete. “Jobs for the Telesure stable include completing short surveys, and other jobs for well know FMCG companies involved paying mystery shopper to visit their stores, where jobbers answer questions relative to in store customer service.”
#M4JAM jobs can be as simple as taking a pic of your dinner, or filling out a 5 sec survey. It's all about #EasyWork and earning #EasyMoney.
— money for jam (@m4jam) August 7, 2014TomTom excited
TomTom is excited about the potential M4Jam's model holds for adding value to its datasets. “TomTom is looking forward to unlocking the potential of the M4Jam mobile community to enrich and maintain our mapping data in Africa,” said TomTom Africa GM Etienne Louw.
“Once M4Jam reaches its full potential, it could revolutionise the way TomTom mapping data will be updated on a daily basis to cope with an ever-changing real world. M4Jam adds another way for TomTom to maintain our mapping data for Africa, tapping into the intelligence of a widespread mobile phone community,” said Louw.
Regular jobbers will be rewarded by moving up the rankings and earning more per job they complete based on the quality of the jobs they complete.
Cash out
Through the MTN Mobile Money partnership, micro jobbers can accumulate their pay in an e-wallet and cash it out at a Pick n Pay or Boxer store, paying R4 for this transaction.
Keith McIvor, head of business development at Mobile Money, is enthusiastic about M4Jam’s potential: “Mobile Money is delighted to partner with M4Jam, which aligns perfectly with growing South Africa Incorporated. It is about job creation and entrepreneurship, independence and accessibility. It is an exciting venture that Mobile Money is proud to be a part of and support.”
Commenting on the M4Jam innovation, Jon Hoehler, co-chair of Mobile Monday South Africa, said: “Needs drive innovation in emerging markets! M4Jam is geared to deliver an innovative employment platform through mobile channels like WeChat with a basic need in mind, empowering the unemployed to find a micro job by simplifying the engagement logistics and red tape faced by all South Africans.”
“In the South African marketing community, where mobile advertising is still relatively undervalued, M4Jam offers marketers the opportunity to reach a mobile connected audience through an innovative dynamic platform. Giving brand stakeholders return on investment through actual activations,” adds Nicolle Harding, CEO MaxAxion and Chair of the Mobile Marketing Association of SA.
-Fin24.
* Do you have a micro jobbing idea? Let us know and we will get advice on what would suit you best.
Your next micro job awaits you
money for jam, M4JAM, M4Jam, Money 4 Jam, money, jam, cash, job, jobs, microjobs
