In Africa, talented freelancers often struggle to gain visibility, secure fair payments, and connect with businesses that need their skills.
Simultaneously, businesses face the daunting task of finding reliable freelance talent, navigating inconsistent profiles, unclear pricing, and communication gaps.
These challenges slow project completion, reduce income stability for freelancers, and limit access to global opportunities.
In this edition of Techparley’s Drive100, where we spotlight Africa’s most promising emerging innovations, we highlight Solangigs, an AI-enabled freelance marketplace designed to connect African freelancers to businesses seamlessly, while enabling secure payments and professional self-presentation.
“Many skilled freelancers in Africa struggle to gain visibility and fair opportunities, while businesses waste time sorting through inconsistent profiles, unclear pricing, and unreliable communication,” explains Solomon Anim, Founder of Solangigs.
“We wanted to create a platform that solves both problems, making hiring faster, clearer, and more trustworthy.”
What You Should Know About Solangigs
Solangigs is not a mere freelance platform, it is a comprehensive ecosystem tailored for Africa’s emerging talent, addressing the unique structural, financial, and trust-related barriers in the market.
Unlike global platforms that primarily target international audiences, Solangigs considers local realities, which are limited banking access, reliance on local currencies, and the need for credibility verification.
The platform integrates AI-driven content assistance, helping freelancers craft clear, professional service descriptions, proposals, and portfolios, which increases visibility and hireability.
Features such as portfolio showcases, case studies, ratings, and verified profiles allow freelancers to prove their skills to prospective clients.
Meanwhile, local currency pricing and crypto support remove transactional barriers, enabling businesses and freelancers to transact securely without relying on foreign banking systems.
“Solangigs makes freelance hiring simple, trusted, and accessible by empowering freelancers to present their skills professionally and enabling businesses to hire using local currencies and modern payment solutions,” Anim emphasizes.
By blending technology with African market realities, Solangigs positions itself as a freelance marketplace built for the continent, not just a global template transplanted locally.
How Solangigs Works
The platform operates as a structured, AI-enhanced matching system. Businesses access a curated pool of verified freelancers whose profiles include portfolios, case studies, and user reviews, enabling informed decision-making.
Freelancers, in turn, are guided by AI assistance to refine their profiles, write compelling service descriptions, and optimize proposals for client acquisition.
A secure escrow payment system ensures that clients release funds only when projects meet agreed milestones, protecting both parties and reducing the risk of scams.
Local currency pricing and crypto payments address Africa-specific financial barriers, while ratings and reviews create a feedback-driven ecosystem that encourages quality and accountability.
“We introduced verified profiles, secure escrow payments, clear project milestones, and case study portfolios to build transparency and confidence on both sides,” Anim notes.
This dual focus, protecting businesses while empowering freelancers, is central to Solangigs’ mission of reducing friction, building trust, and increasing efficiency in freelance hiring.
From Observation to Creation: The Story Behind Solangigs
Solomon Anim draws from personal experience navigating the challenges of Africa’s freelance ecosystem.
He observed how visibility gaps, credibility issues, and payment barriers prevented skilled freelancers from fully accessing global and local opportunities. These insights became the foundation for Solangigs.
“I personally understand the visibility gap, trust issues, and payment barriers freelancers face in Ghana and Africa,” Anim shares. “Solangigs was designed based on real needs, not assumptions.”
Design Lead John Adjei Oduro complements this vision, ensuring that the platform’s interface communicates value clearly, enhances onboarding, and helps freelancers present themselves professionally, a crucial factor in gaining client trust and attracting opportunities.
The founders’ combined experience in digital platforms, community building, and tech-driven solutions reflects a founding team with deep contextual understanding of the problem space.
Meet with the Solangigs Team
The Solangigs team is a purpose-driven, strategically aligned group dedicated to transforming Africa’s freelance ecosystem.
Led by Solomon Anim, the Founder and Product Lead, the platform is built around real challenges freelancers face, trust, visibility, and accessible payments, ensuring a solution grounded in local needs.
John Adjei Oduro, the Design Lead, complements this vision by creating a polished, intuitive interface that allows freelancers to present their skills professionally, enhancing credibility and hireability.
Together, they combine strategic foresight, operational execution, and user-centered design to build a trustworthy freelance marketplace.
Their synergy exemplifies how a small, passionate, and well-coordinated team can drive meaningful impact in emerging markets, creating both opportunity and confidence for freelancers and clients alike.
Traction, Progress, and Milestones
Since its inception, Solangigs has transitioned from concept to a functioning platform with core features fully integrated.
Its beta version introduced freelancer profiles, service listings, AI content assistance, local and crypto payment support, and portfolio showcases.
Early adoption metrics show interest across creative, tech, and business service sectors, with SMEs and startups actively seeking reliable freelance talent.
The platform also engages with tech hubs, student networks, and creative communities, ensuring steady growth of both supply and demand sides.
“We are onboarding early talent groups, sharing real case studies, and building partnerships with creative communities, tech hubs, and student networks to establish initial success stories,” Anim explains.
These early wins demonstrate proof of value, build credibility, and provide a foundation for scaling across the continent.
Staying Afloat: Navigating Challenges
While Solangigs has made significant strides, several challenges remain. Trust barriers are significant in a market wary of freelance scams and unreliable platforms.
Adoption depends on freelancers and businesses seeing consistent value in using the platform.
AI-assisted content and profile optimization is a double-edged sword, which improves presentation and hireability but cannot fully capture the nuanced skills and experience freelancers bring, potentially affecting client matching accuracy.
Additionally, digital literacy, internet accessibility, and financial infrastructure gaps in parts of Africa could slow user adoption, requiring continuous education and outreach.
“We solve these challenges through transparent processes, AI tools that empower users, payment flexibility, and focused community outreach and education,” Anim notes.
The approach emphasizes steady, trust-driven growth, grounded in the realities of African markets.
Future Ambitions and Expansion Plans
Over the next 6–12 months, Solangigs plans to scale freelancer onboarding, refine AI assistance, and strengthen secure payment systems.
Business outreach campaigns aim to engage SMEs, startups, and founders seeking talent, while partnerships with creative communities and tech hubs will grow the platform’s ecosystem.
In 2–3 years, Solangigs aims to become Africa’s leading freelance marketplace, connecting talent to global opportunities while maintaining a focus on visibility, trust, and local relevance.
By year five, the platform envisions millions of freelancers earning stable incomes, accessing global markets, and participating in AI-powered workflows for proposals, team formation, and project delivery.
“In 5 years, Solangigs aims to be recognized as the largest curated, trusted talent hub for African freelance professionals,” Anim explains.
“We want to enable millions of freelancers to earn stable income from remote work and operate in multiple global markets with confidence.”
Talking Points
Solangigs comes with a compelling and purpose-driven alternative to global freelance platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com, primarily because it is designed with the African context at its core rather than retrofitting global models for local use.
Unlike these larger platforms, which often require international banking, foreign currency payments, and assume a level of digital literacy not always present in emerging markets, Solangigs addresses trust, visibility, and financial accessibility barriers that many African freelancers face.
Its AI-assisted profile and proposal creation, portfolio showcases, escrow-based secure payments, and local currency plus crypto support provide a tailored, practical solution to systemic challenges in the region.
While Upwork and similar platforms connect talent globally, they do not actively solve for the credibility, exposure, and transaction friction issues specific to African freelancers, making Solangigs uniquely positioned to empower local talent, increase client trust, and bridge the gap between informal skill markets and structured freelance opportunities.
Nevertheless, the platform’s reliance on AI and digital infrastructure could present challenges in areas with limited connectivity or lower digital literacy, and sustaining user trust while scaling rapidly will require continuous operational rigor and community engagement.
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