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MDEC’s Erezeki
This report describes The Industrial Talk about Erezeki, the Erezeki program, and the conclusions that I have reached after listening to the talk. The report discusses the difficulty of starting a business without a huge initial sum of money. It also discusses the discomfort of working under an employer. This report presents the solutions provided by Ashikin Halil during her presentation of the industrial talk: some businesses, such as MDEC, solved the first problem by using the “sharing” system; MDEC’s Erezeki program allows users to control their work schedule and environment. The report concludes that the Erezeki program is extremely useful and effective. The program has the potential to immensely increase the number of work opportunities present for Malaysian citizens and to give them the opportunity to increase their income.
“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans,” Allen Saunders. Life has always been a maze shaped by the choices a person makes and the opportunities that he or she encounters. Opportunities oftentimes limit the choices that are presented to a person; therefor, humans have always been searching for ways to make opportunities more accessible. Erezeki is a service that has managed to provide a wide range of opportunities in one of the most important fields in life: work. During the industrial talk, Ashikin Halil explained how the Erezeki program was founded and discussed the benefits and shortcomings of the program.
One of the biggest problems a person starting a business encounters is earning enough money to satisfy enterprise’s needs. As the industrial talk began, Ashikin Halil - the speaker of the talk - displayed the names of some famous enterprises that have earned huge amounts of money: Facebook, Instagram, Uber, and Amazon. Each one of these companies has earned millions of dollars each year. She then proceeded to note that none of the famous enterprises that she had listed owned the products that drove the enterprise’s respective sales forward. All of the enterprises in the list use technology to create an interface that allows people to access the products or content provided by other people more easily. The enterprises need to provide storage and transportation for the products or content (The storage and transportation can be physical or digital). The people who want to sell their products are essentially sharing their products with the famous enterprises in exchange for the storage, transportation, and advertising of the goods.
In most cases, the “sharing” style used by the enterprises is only beneficial to the enterprises and their partners, but what about the consumers? The consumers are not always neglected; Some programs have managed to extend the benefits of the “sharing” style to the normal users. A good example of such services is MDEC’s Erezeki. During the talk, the speaker states that MDEC is a group that uses the same concept used by the famous Enterprises to provide a freelancing service known as Erezeki. Erezeki allows it’s users to provide jobs to other users. The jobs usually require skills such as programming skills, translation skills, writing skills,graphic designing skills, marketing skills, and web development skills. The employer provides a certain fee in exchange for the service, and any users who have the necessary skills can accept the job. Using this implementation of the “sharing” system, Erezeki has managed to provide its users with a wide range of opportunities.
The Erezeki program attempts to solve the issues present at a workplace by removing the workplace itself ! Using the program, the users can work from home and avoid several workplace problems. Many employees complain about how stressful a fixed work schedule can be. The speaker of the presentation described Erezeki’s work schedule as an extremely “flexible” schedule that is completely under the users control. Having absolute control over work hours allows the user to create the perfect schedule that fits his or her needs. Another common problem that an employee faces is dealing with a bad boss. The boss might be an extremely arrogant, annoying or judgemental person. In some work places, the boss can be so bad that he or she abuses his or her own power and makes the employees lives miserable. Erezeki employers and employees do not meet face to face; therefor, the user does not have to worry about dealing with his or her boss. Users rarely work with one employer for prolonged periods of time; this practice protects the users from abusive employers. The program also provides many protections for the rights of all of its users - including employers. Knowing that their rights are protected, Erezeki users can do their jobs with a great sense of safety.
A student asked the presenter about the consistency of the income a user should expect to earn from Erezeki. The speaker told him that the consistency of the income is not guaranteed. The inconsistency issue is probably the biggest hurdle that Erezeki users face. A possible solution for this problem is accepting contract jobs. Contract jobs are jobs that extend for prolonged periods of times. They usually require the employee to submit certain content at certain times; the employer would pay the employee on a weekly or a monthly basis. Contract programs make time management harder, but the users still have control over their work schedules. For new users, starting with simple jobs before opting for contract jobs might be a good strategy.
Freelancing has left a very good impact on the Malaysian community. In recent years, the number of people who use freelancing services has increased by over 30%. This increase is mainly due to the positive effects of free lancing. Most people using free lancing services believe that free lancing has allowed them to be more relaxed and mentally stable. They also believe that freelancing has helped improve their family and social lives. Freelancing has provided opportunities for all Malaysians to improve their income by working part time. It can temporarily substitute a full time job if a person fails to find a good job opportunity.
The report has concluded that MDEC’s Erezeki service have the potential to improve the quality of life in Malaysia. The program uses the “sharing” system to provide a service that benefits different kinds of users. It provides several features that allow users to customize their experience and avoid many common problems. Despite facing the issue of inconsistency, the program manages to provide extra income to many Malaysian citizens.
Erezeki is an extremely interesting program that can help people who are struggling with their work improve their situations. It can extremely help low income citizens stabilize their life. The program deserves more recognition and praise; it is truly an amazing project. I believe that the main problem the program currently faces, the inconsistency of income, can be solved if we collaborate and spread the program to more employers. If any other problems appear in the future, we can easily solve them if we remain united.
References:
https://money.howstuffworks.com/10-problems-for-new-businesses.htm
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/life
https://qz.com/605343/how-much-money-did-you-make-for-facebook-last-year/
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/030915/how-instagram-makes-money.asp
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-amazon-makes-money-2017-12/?IR=T
https://www.inc.com/alex-moazed/ubers-path-to-profitability.html
https://www.agencycentral.co.uk/articles/2016-02/workplace-mental-health-hr-guide.htm
http://www.myforesight.my/2017/11/22/the-freelance-economy-the-expanding-pool-of-contract-workers/
http://www.theborneopost.com/2018/01/28/rise-of-the-freelance-economy/
Pic References:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/277229/facebooks-annual-revenue-and-net-income/
https://www.statista.com/chart/6177/stress-is-biggest-threat-to-workplace-health/
https://www.hiveage.com/blog/7-tips-balancing-freelancing-and-job/