Upkazi connects individuals and businesses around Africa and the rest of the world with professional freelancers who can help them handle their short-term and one-off tasks via our online freelance marketplace platform. Our mission is to change how Africa works together.

Upkazi houses a pool of top African freelancers and agencies rendering quality services that cut across several highly demanding industries, from creative design to writing, digital marketing, software development and more.

Services are being rendered by the freelancers signed up on our platform.

Yes, but your payments are kept with us and will not be released to the freelancer until you are satisfied with the work done. Only after you are happy and marked the job as completed will the payment be released.

Our platform accepts all common payment methods out there including Mobile Money, Credit/Debit card, Paypal, and bank transfer.

On the freelancer’s work profile page, you will see a ‘Contact Me’ button. We recommend contacting your freelancer before placing your order, especially if you have specific requirements.

You can browse through the various categories or search for freelancers and contact them on the platform. You can also post your task request by clicking post a request button displayed beneath your profile, and freelancers will contact you with their various offers and quotes.

You can cancel an order after it’s been placed only if your freelancer accepts job cancellation, otherwise, you might not get a refund.

Depending on the nature of the service, delivery could be;

Online: The completed work is uploaded to your Upkazi profile via message, or third party storage, where it can be downloaded.
Pickup: For physical jobs like artwork and designs, you can opt to go pick them up from the freelancer’s location.
Courier: For physical jobs like artwork and designs, you can opt to have them delivered to your location by the freelancer. Bear in mind that this might attract an extra charge. This also applies to jobs like photography, where the freelancer needs to be at your location.

When work is done for you, you have the option of approving or seeking revision on the work. In a case where the freelancer’s work is totally unsatisfactory, you may reject the job and get resolve through our resolution centre. Clients are fully refunded their money once it is discovered that the quality of work delivered by the freelancer does not meet the standard agreed with at the beginning.

After job completion, an option comes up in your work management which prompts you to submit a review about the freelancer who has just worked for you. The review will be visible on the freelancer’s public profile. And there is an option to include in the review the sample of the job the freelancer did for you.

No. Registering on Upkazi is free for both clients and freelancers. There are no paid accounts or subscriptions; we only charge a percentage fee for completed orders. When you offer a service, take the fee into account to always get paid what you want. Easy, no?
During registration you will have two options, to register as a freelancer or client. Bear in mind that, to become a freelancer and start selling your service on Upkazi, you must undergo an evaluation process performed by the Upkazi team. Where you will have to upload one of the documents like CV, National ID or certificate of incorporation for companies. This is the process to making sure we register professionals and trusted freelancers on our platform.

Be creative! You can offer any service you wish as long as it’s legal and complies with our terms. There are over 200 categories you can browse to get ideas.

Many sellers work full-time on Upkazi, which is their primary revenue stream. Others dedicate a few hours a week to Upkazi as a side gig. On Upkazi, you have complete freedom to decide when and how many hours you want to work. Are you a night owl or an early bird? Want to work 50 hours or 5? You decide according to your lifestyle, goals, and personal circumstances.

With Gig Packages, you set your pricing anywhere from $5 – $995 and offer three versions of your service at three different prices.

Upkazi encourages and support freelancers to charge clients, based on their districts and duration of job, amount that is equal to or higher than the minimum hourly, daily, weekly or monthly rate after deductions of relevant expenses incurred while delivering their jobs. Freelancers can not charge below $5 for any job.

Services on Upkazi are allocated solely based on the clients’ preferences. Clients have the freedom to choose the freelancers they prefer to work with, subject to the availability and visibility of the freelancers at the time of the request. However, Upkazi through its custom platform algorithm determines ranking of freelancers based on their overall visibility index. The OVI takes into account factors such as skillsets, profile quality, responsiveness to chat, reviews and ratings, past job success rate, adherence to platform rules (e.g., not sharing contact details), etc. You can also browse through service requests page.

The Service Requests page is a section on Upkazi where all the services request posted by clients are gathered and it is where freelancers can locate all the requests made by clients.

We value freelancers’ feedback and actively involve them in shaping our platform. We provide opportunities for freelancers to share their insights, perspectives, and suggestions through channels like email newsletters, support tickets, and questionnaires. This helps us make informed decisions for continuous platform improvements.

Our platform provides a secure messaging system that enables customers and freelancers communicate with each other easily about their tasks. This rules out need to use any other means of communication, which often lead to party initiating outside communication having ulterior motive to defraud other party. We advise that you use only the Upkazi communication system for the safety of your project.

Freelancers have right to request from their clients where their work will be used if they so desire. Freelancers may ask clients during the project scoping phase to gain clarity on the intended use and distribution of their work without discrimination.

Yes. Freelancers can write reviews about clients they have worked for. However, such reviews will only be accessible to other freelancers like you.

We settle disputes reasonably and fairly, since you can also review your clients.

Derogatory or discriminatory reviews won’t be published on a freelancer’s profile.

As a service provider, you are assured of payment once the client approves the work done.

Upkazi protects and guarantees payment for sellers. We do this by asking buyers to pay immediately when they purchase your services. While you work on an order, Upkazi holds onto those funds and disburses them to you immediately once the buyer reviews and approves your delivery. Then you can decide to leave them there or transfer them to your PayPal, Bank or credit/debit card.
Freelancers work without having access to the payment made by their clients at the beginning of the project, and it is after they have successfully delivered the jobs to their clients’ satisfaction that the payment on hold is made available to them for CashOut via their Wallet’s Available Balance and then he or she can withdraw with their preferred withdrawal method they have set, like Bank, PayPal or Payoneer.

When you receive payment for a job, it goes to your wallet, and then you can request a CashOut, which is always made into the bank or PayPal email you provided on your account setting or during CashOut.

Levels are awarded depending on your work on the platform. The higher levels you achieved, the additional benefits you get.

Upkazi provides you with an opportunity to turn knowledge, talent, or hobby into a permanent
source of income. Therefore, invest in self-promotion, keep your customers satisfied, perform quality
service, and you’ll be awarded with higher statuses which will open up a whole new door and
opportunity for higher earnings.

Upkazi charges freelancers a small commission (between 7% – 20%) on completed works.

With Upkazi, you widen your pool of customers and reduce your overhead costs. As a smart entrepreneur, you don’t need an office, a personal website, or a marketing budget. Upkazi handles all that headache and gives you the exposure you need. Moreover, if our freelancers don’t get paid, we don’t get our commission, so that motivates us to ensure all our freelancers continue to get jobs and get paid more often. Also, the more work you get done, the less commission you pay.