MENA Startups Open Up About Their Constant Hunt For Top Talent- Valutrics
With tens of millions of new jobs forecast to be needed by 2020 to meet the demands of a growing MENA region, startups remain one of the “main engines of job creation,” the World Bank said in a recently published report. To be honest, the World Bank has been a little behind the curve in acknowledging this. In the wake of a steadily growing startup ecosystem, the cream-of-the-crop are already making a beeline for young businesses, in MENA and beyond, in the hopes of joining the next Facebook or Uber. Today, many consider working for a startup the “it” career path in the region. MENA startups no longer face the skepticism of job-seekers who, just a few years ago, would have unquestionably chosen a safe, salaried position with a large local conglomerate, bank, or that much-coveted multinational.
Safe in the knowledge that startup experience is now considered significant and that there is a chance of striking it big with stock options and other benefits, young MENA employees are taking risks their parents would perhaps not have.
It helps that post the global financial crisis that kickstarted the region’s startup revolution, MENA startups are making a buzz regionally and around the world.
As we go to print, Souq.com is rumored to be closing its acquisition by e-commerce giant Amazon while other new unicorns-in-the-making and startup wunderkinds such as ride-hailing app Careem emerge in our midst.
Ali Matar, head of LinkedIn Talent Solutions for Growth Markets, Southern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, points to a recent LinkedIn study, which revealed that the number of UAE members who identify entrepreneurship as their job function increased by a remarkable year-on-year growth rate of 98.3%.
“The percentage of LinkedIn members in the UAE who have moved to work for smaller companies, say fewer than 200 employees, has been growing each year by 10%,” he says, quoting data from the report.
The exodus towards smaller companies is a compelling sign that MENA startup-SME jobs are proving increasingly attractive career opportunities.
Nicki Hague, head of talent acquisition at Careem, says that in the past two to three years, she has seen an increasing number of college graduates and even early to mid-career corporate professionals seeking opportunities at Careem, “eager to get their feet wet with a challenging role at one of the region’s most dynamic startups.”
Startup talent, where you at?
However, just because working for a startup is now in vogue does not mean that everyone can. And therein lies the risk for the region’s young startups for whom human capital is held a notch above every other asset that they have.
The glaring gap between coveted startup jobs and top-notch talent, especially technical talent, continues to widen in the region.
More so in the UAE or Qatar, which lack the volume of locally-educated high-calibre engineering talent that would match neighboring Egypt and Lebanon, or even a more seasoned growth market like India—all nations that boast of engineering programs with a distinguished legacy.
This chasm leaves most startups with two options. The first, outsource externally to markets that have a deluge of cheap technical talent (e.g. Egypt, India, Turkey, among others).
Or hire relatively cheaper tech talent locally, typically “individuals with significant experience who are fleeing political unrest and a difficult economy in their home countries and willing to start at a lower startup-friendly salary,” says Ritesh Tilani, co-CEO and co-founder at Joi, a 500 Startups-backed Dubai-based online flowers and gifts platform.
In Joi’s case, Tilani and his co-founder opted to establish a full-fledged tech team in Egypt, going as far as even recently hiring a CTO, who will be based in Cairo.
Across the board, startup founders lament the lack of top-notch technical talent in the region who possess startup savvy domain expertise and the intellectual rigor that high-growth startups in the region require.
“Tech roles are undoubtedly the most challenging to fill, although the talent pool for this area is growing quickly in the UAE,” says Sarah Jones, founder, and CEO of Sprii.com. The platform—formerly known as Mini Exchange, has emerged post a dramatic rebrand and product pivot as an online lifestyle shopping hub for every woman.
This challenge has led startups, like Sprii.com, to look for all-stars from abroad. “Online platforms like ours look to recruit highly experienced e-commerce talent from Europe, “ shares Jones.
“We’re always on the lookout for the next digital disrupter. Someone who understands where MENA is heading and is already ten steps ahead building and implementing a better experience. The future is now, and they need to be ready for it.”
But newbies like Sprii are not the only ones looking beyond MENA for new recruits.
“Only 10% of tech talent is hired locally while the remainder, especially senior roles, are hired from outside the region, namely the US and Europe,” reveals Careem’s Hague.
It’s a move that Careem, which doubled its headcount in the last year to 800 employees, believes will give it the extra edge in a time of seismic growth.
Muhammad Chbib, CEO and founder at tajawal, a travel startup based out of Dubai, which he bills as “the ultimate online travel platform built right here in MENA,” believes that recruiting startup superstars from Silicon Valley is not the answer to this problem.
“For an individual who is already well-rewarded in his or her existing developed market, it’s difficult to sufficiently incentivize him or her to move to a growth market,” opines Chbib. “What needs to happen is local universities and accelerators investing heavily in building the local talent pool.”
Building a local talent pool is something Chbib claims to personally practice, as does Louis Lebbos, founding partner at AstroLabs, a tech co-working hub and incubator also based out of Dubai.
At Astrolabs, Lebbos has been working on creating programs that help produce more talent to fulfill the growing demand for startup ready candidates.
“For example, when it comes to developers, we have some upskilling programs in place such as in app development for existing developers,” he says.
“And we’re looking to launch more programs for developers in the future, ideally a comprehensive programming academy, although it’s a far more challenging to do so in this environment than in others.”
Show me the money
While startup jobs are proving to be an increasingly attractive proposition to candidates from across the region, the funding game raises the stakes for securing premium talent, which is already scarce, even higher.
Early-stage startups face a different challenge when it comes to filling crucial roles compared to late-stage or the more famously funded peers, states Joi’s Tilani.
“If you’re a team of two founders and you’re hiring your first or even tenth employee, the stakes are disproportionately high to find the right person with the right skills who gets it pretty much right from day one,” he says.
Tilani, giving his own startup’s example, narrates that Joi is barely a year old and evolving rapidly as they work on building traction and a funding pipeline. “So it’s under enormous amounts of pressure to vet each potential candidate. Each employee makes a huge difference to our end game, compared to say a much larger growth or late-stage startup that might carry some fat in its headcount.”
AstroLabs’ Lebbos believes that in the short term, more funding for top startups will only exacerbate the technical gap, making it harder “for the rest of the startup brigade” to compete for winning talent.
“Startups struggle regardless of the type of jobs,” he says. “Some skills are very scarce, and they don’t have the cash to compete with large companies or better-funded startups. Some skills are abundant, and the startups struggle to find the right person in a sea of applications.”
Hague, Tilani and Chbib agree that another aspect which compounds the hiring process is “job-hopping syndrome.”
“I want people to join my team because they are deliriously excited about our vision and the challenging work before them, building the product…not just chasing an even bigger paycheck,” says Chbib.
“Sadly, a significant number of candidates for startup jobs are just hoppers, jumping from one role to the next in the search for a fancier title and better pay package, often at the expense of building a consistent track record of accomplishment with their current employer.”
Chbib believes many startups, because of the lack of talent, are often forced to either downgrade the role or hire individuals who are critically underqualified.
Chbib was recently hiring for a head of digital marketing who’d be tasked with a multi-million dollar budget but the vast majority of candidates coming his way only had experience with $5,000-$10,000 digital monthly spend.
“This tells me that not only is there a severe lack of world-class digital marketing talent in this market, but also that candidates aspiring for startup jobs are not really interested in strengthening their body of work to make themselves competitive enough,” he laments.
“They’re really only looking to grow their pay packages, not their skill set.”
In Lebbos’ view, while startup jobs will continue to grow in popularity, the practice of hiring will remain challenging.
“Hiring for a startup is one of the first tests of leadership. Can you inspire people to join your startup and achieve your vision even by taking a salary cut?,” he states. “The solution to the second is to spend more time on this process overall and try to optimize the funnel.”
“Recruiting your team is one of the most important responsibilities for any startup founder, and you get huge returns on a super performer versus an average hire.”
Photos by Anna Nielsen