Almost six months after making its biggest acquisition, it seems that Money4Jam has hit a wall.
The jobs-for-cash company tasked people with accepting small jobs through its website and mobile platforms, and financially rewarded those who completed it. But that might all come to a halt if the company can’t find an investor by the end of the month.
Through its various platforms, the company urged micro-jobbers on Monday to cash out their rewards before 31 March, stating that “M4JAM is in the process of restructuring the business.”
M4JAM is in the process of restructuring the business. All jobbers: Please cash out the money in your wallet before 31/03/2016.
— Money for Jam (@m4jam) March 14, 2016
“M4JAM was unable to achieve profitability within the investment time frame. As a result the board has decided to cease trading and sell the assets to interested parties over the course of the next month. We are in the process of meeting with a number of interested parties currently . If we are successful the business will be restructured. If not, the business will be closed. Therefore we are urging jobbers to cash out their wallet balances,” CEO and founder Andre Hugo told htxt.africa.
According to Hugo, the deadline for the negotiations is the end of the month, and added that it “has a full investor pack that we are willing to share with interested parties.”
There is however, a back-up plan of sorts. Hugo detailed to us that if M4Jam doesn’t find an investor in the specified time-frame, it could possibly take on a crowdfunding model, where private and public investors support the company financially, taking the concept of ‘for the community, by the community’ to heart.
Essentially, the platform would take to something like Kickstarter (although Hugo didn’t mention the specific crowdfunding model), and ask members and the community to pour money into the initiative to keep it afloat. One would assume that there would be benefits for those that do.
In the time that the company has been active, it has managed to sign up over 130 000 micro-jobbers who have completed over 300 000 micro jobs. Those jobs spanned more than 137 large and 600 SME brands.
“Micro-jobbing as a concept remains a very viable opportunity with the potential to uplift skills and drive a brighter future for all South Africans. Since the company was unable to reach profitability within the initial funding timeframe, the closure is by mutual agreement between the shareholders,” Hugo explained.
In August last year, Money4Jam acquired Pondering Panda for an undisclosed amount, and Hugo simply explained that the digital market research company is 100% owned by M4JAM and is therefore directly affected by the financial health of M4Jam.
The potential closure of the jobbing platform could affect thousands of South Africans, not just the staff. While most people seem to make small amounts through various odd jobs, a good number of people have managed to turn it almost into a second job.
One such example, M4JAM explains, is Anton Ngwenya – who funded his matric through doing jobs on the site. Ngwenya was hit by a car and subsequently lost his leg, and with no means of income, decided to take up doing tasks on M4Jam.
“I had been searching high and low for a part-time job when I learnt about M4JAM, and everything changed for me. I have discovered that if I can complete a minimum of five M4JAM microjobs a day, five days a week, I can earn enough to keep me alive and active.”
[Image – CC by 2.0/Frank Grießhammer]
