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Hi, Laila. Congratulations on the launch. I'll share this (Algiers, Algeria). One of the problems people here have is getting paid from companies abroad. I thi

Hi, Laila. Congratulations on the launch. I'll share this (Algiers, Algeria). One of the problems people here have is getting paid from companies abroad. I think it would be good to conduct interviews with people who may be having the same problem, and either offer a solution or explain it on the website. Many people work as freelancers, and the way they get their money is Herculean. Also, many, especially here, neither are Arab nor identify as such [native population and ethnicity before 7th century invasions]. Many also do not share the language or other common attributes. Therefore, if you're not ethnicity based, but based on the "region", I guess North Africa, and Middle East are the terms that would work better. Again, congratulations. There a lot of very talented people in these countries who will not work abroad for different reasons. Staying not to leave family behind is a very, very, common reason. Making remote work easier for them, whether positions or ease of payment, is huge. This is encouraging even for those who are willing to move but aren't invited to because they haven't reached the skill level required for an employer to incur that cost, and they haven't reached the financial level to incur that cost themselves. I guess your product hits that niche as well.

laila90 6y ago
Hi! Ahlan! Azul! Really appreciate your bringing these issues up. Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. For now we are managing payments for companies that hire remotely by wire transferring the funds ourselves. In other words, the companies send the money to our US entity and then we do the transfer. We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https://pilot.co/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ and https://www.letsdeel.com/ https://www.letsdeel.com/. Are you familiar with those? What do you think? Btw Pilot is also a YC company that initially planned to be a full-time remote work marketplace, but switched to facilitating payments because there was such a big need there. You’re right of course that in North Africa (the Maghreb) many don’t speak Arabic nor identify as Arab. When we call it “the Middle East and North Africa,” we also get feedback that it’s inaccurate. I wish there were a better word! We’ll keep iterating until we get it right. PS: My co-founder Iliana has spent lots of time in Morocco and some in Algeria… and can’t wait to go back! She speaks some darija… and picked up a few words of Berber. :)
- EamonLeonard 6y ago
  Hey! I'm co-founder of Boundless, thanks for the mention :) Happy to chat more if you need - eamon@boundlesshq.com. Congratulations on getting Manara up and running!
  - ilianam 6y ago
    Thanks so much! Claire McHugh of Axonista was the first person who mentioned you to us. You've got a strong reputation! We'll reach out :)
    - EamonLeonard 6y ago
      Ah, good stuff!
  - laila90 6y ago
    Would diffidently reach out :)
- Jugurtha 6y ago
  >Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. My contact information is in my profile. I'll forward to some people I know who had several problems with that. The last one I talked with worked with a company in the U.K. with the restriction the "worker" had to have a bank account in their country of residence, not in any other country. Explanations on exchange rates below. They know more about this, and know more people in that situation. >We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https://pilot.co/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ and https://www.letsdeel.com/ https://www.letsdeel.com/. Are you familiar with those? Unfortunately, no. What I also meant by payment problems is the disparity between the conversion rates in banks and on the streets. The disparity can be huge, so if you wire X euros to someone's bank account, it is automatically converted to the local currency at rate X and they get Y, when they could get 1.6Y or 1.7Y (60% or 70%) more on the streets. A 70% delta is a lot. Some networks have developed to enable people to get the full "street value" of their money. >When we call it “the Middle East and North Africa,” we also get feedback that it’s inaccurate. Well, as someone in Algeria, if I were looking for work and visited the site and it said: "You're in North Africa", that's a fact of geography. It said "Hire the best Arab software engineers", I'll think "I'll forward the link to Arab software engineers I know since they're specific". There are a lot of competitions, hackathons, or events that use this terminology, and I know many very talented people who do not participate because it's not for them. They'd rather go to another continent, and they do, where their ethnicity is acknowledged than submit a form that contains an inaccuracy that perpetuates a denial they've been facing for a long time. You are trying to optimize for brevity and clarity and you have to put something on the page, and I get that. I'm just saying and I think that you have lived through enough exclusion and non representativity that you understand that a message on a landing page that excludes you defacto kind of stings. >PS: My co-founder Iliana has spent lots of time in Morocco and some in Algeria… and can’t wait to go back! She speaks some darija… and picked up a few words of Berber. :) Well, I don't need to tell you that you are welcome. Hit me up if you are around. You might find the students groups to be interesting. In the meantime, I'll float the site around. EDIT0: I sent it to someone who has a group. They sent the following: > Them: Too bad, I'm an infrastructure engineer. They're specialized in "Microsoft, VMware, IT infrastructures, etc." EDIT1: Sent it to the admin of a group of around 7.4K engineers and technicians (not just software). Some might be interested and share it to their networks.
mtalantikite 6y ago
"Also, many, especially here, neither are Arab nor identify as such." Came here to say the same -- I grew up in the US, but my family is Kabyle and you definitely don't want to call my father Arab!
- laila90 6y ago
  Totally - really appreciate you guys for flagging this. Edit: edited this now in the text above!
  - mtalantikite 6y ago
    The whole thing looks great though, really happy you're working on this!
    - laila90 6y ago
      Aww thank you! It makes us happy to work on this too. Interacting with talent in the region is just so heartwarming.
- orliesaurus 6y ago
  out of curiosity, how would he define himself?
  - Jugurtha 6y ago
    I believe it would be Kabyle, like myself.
    - orliesaurus 6y ago
      cool! thanks
    - mtalantikite 6y ago
      Yeah exactly, my family identifies as Kabyle and the majority of them still live in Béjaïa. (Also, hey! First time I’ve run into another Kabyle on HN)
golemiprague 6y ago
Well, she can't base it on the region because she doesn't want to include Israel, or at least Hebrew speaking Israeli Jews, so must limit it by language.

laila90 6y ago

Hi! Ahlan! Azul! Really appreciate your bringing these issues up. Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. For now we are managing payments for companies that hire remotely by wire transferring the funds ourselves. In other words, the companies send the money to our US entity and then we do the transfer. We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https://pilot.co/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ and https://www.letsdeel.com/ https://www.letsdeel.com/. Are you familiar with those? What do you think? Btw Pilot is also a YC company that initially planned to be a full-time remote work marketplace, but switched to facilitating payments because there was such a big need there. You’re right of course that in North Africa (the Maghreb) many don’t speak Arabic nor identify as Arab. When we call it “the Middle East and North Africa,” we also get feedback that it’s inaccurate. I wish there were a better word! We’ll keep iterating until we get it right. PS: My co-founder Iliana has spent lots of time in Morocco and some in Algeria… and can’t wait to go back! She speaks some darija… and picked up a few words of Berber. :)

EamonLeonard 6y ago
Hey! I'm co-founder of Boundless, thanks for the mention :) Happy to chat more if you need - eamon@boundlesshq.com. Congratulations on getting Manara up and running!
- ilianam 6y ago
  Thanks so much! Claire McHugh of Axonista was the first person who mentioned you to us. You've got a strong reputation! We'll reach out :)
  - EamonLeonard 6y ago
    Ah, good stuff!
- laila90 6y ago
  Would diffidently reach out :)
Jugurtha 6y ago
>Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. My contact information is in my profile. I'll forward to some people I know who had several problems with that. The last one I talked with worked with a company in the U.K. with the restriction the "worker" had to have a bank account in their country of residence, not in any other country. Explanations on exchange rates below. They know more about this, and know more people in that situation. >We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https://pilot.co/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ and https://www.letsdeel.com/ https://www.letsdeel.com/. Are you familiar with those? Unfortunately, no. What I also meant by payment problems is the disparity between the conversion rates in banks and on the streets. The disparity can be huge, so if you wire X euros to someone's bank account, it is automatically converted to the local currency at rate X and they get Y, when they could get 1.6Y or 1.7Y (60% or 70%) more on the streets. A 70% delta is a lot. Some networks have developed to enable people to get the full "street value" of their money. >When we call it “the Middle East and North Africa,” we also get feedback that it’s inaccurate. Well, as someone in Algeria, if I were looking for work and visited the site and it said: "You're in North Africa", that's a fact of geography. It said "Hire the best Arab software engineers", I'll think "I'll forward the link to Arab software engineers I know since they're specific". There are a lot of competitions, hackathons, or events that use this terminology, and I know many very talented people who do not participate because it's not for them. They'd rather go to another continent, and they do, where their ethnicity is acknowledged than submit a form that contains an inaccuracy that perpetuates a denial they've been facing for a long time. You are trying to optimize for brevity and clarity and you have to put something on the page, and I get that. I'm just saying and I think that you have lived through enough exclusion and non representativity that you understand that a message on a landing page that excludes you defacto kind of stings. >PS: My co-founder Iliana has spent lots of time in Morocco and some in Algeria… and can’t wait to go back! She speaks some darija… and picked up a few words of Berber. :) Well, I don't need to tell you that you are welcome. Hit me up if you are around. You might find the students groups to be interesting. In the meantime, I'll float the site around. EDIT0: I sent it to someone who has a group. They sent the following: > Them: Too bad, I'm an infrastructure engineer. They're specialized in "Microsoft, VMware, IT infrastructures, etc." EDIT1: Sent it to the admin of a group of around 7.4K engineers and technicians (not just software). Some might be interested and share it to their networks.

mtalantikite 6y ago

"Also, many, especially here, neither are Arab nor identify as such." Came here to say the same -- I grew up in the US, but my family is Kabyle and you definitely don't want to call my father Arab!

laila90 6y ago
Totally - really appreciate you guys for flagging this. Edit: edited this now in the text above!
- mtalantikite 6y ago
  The whole thing looks great though, really happy you're working on this!
  - laila90 6y ago
    Aww thank you! It makes us happy to work on this too. Interacting with talent in the region is just so heartwarming.
orliesaurus 6y ago
out of curiosity, how would he define himself?
- Jugurtha 6y ago
  I believe it would be Kabyle, like myself.
  - orliesaurus 6y ago
    cool! thanks
  - mtalantikite 6y ago
    Yeah exactly, my family identifies as Kabyle and the majority of them still live in Béjaïa. (Also, hey! First time I’ve run into another Kabyle on HN)

golemiprague 6y ago

Well, she can't base it on the region because she doesn't want to include Israel, or at least Hebrew speaking Israeli Jews, so must limit it by language.