By: Yoriju Olayinka

It would be quite a futile exercise to discuss the budding gig-based ecosystem within the University of Ibadan without situating it in the larger context of the current economic woes.

Amidst a wave of what is considered unfavorable economic policies by the President Tinubu-led Federal Government, a mini global recession, and a particularly nasty rise in Nigeria’s inflation rate, families today struggle to keep up with basic expenses. This onerous struggle carries on through family units to universities where students today report inadequate levels of familial financial support in response to their dwindling purchasing power. A global hunger index jointly published by the German-based Welthungerhilfe and Dublin-based Concern Worldwide in October 2022 categorized Nigeria as such experiencing “low, moderate, serious, alarming, and extremely alarming” hunger.

The overbearing harsh economic climate in Nigeria has forced, and is forcing, many students to look for other sources of making ends meet so as to eke out a living. Better still, for mere survival. At the University of Ibadan, there has been a significant growth in the amount of studentpreneurs and economic activities done by students in their search for survival. One of these activities, due for evaluation, is freelancing.

The nature of freelancing offers services to various clients on a project by project basis. It is a service based business model where individuals sell services they offer rather than a product commonly bought. A quick look at freelancers within the university tells that some of the most prominent freelance gigs fall within one of three categories; design, writing or media. It is however easy to see why.

Graphics design and writing have low barriers to its entry, which makes it easy for students to get started. Also although photography can be more complicated, the proliferation of mobile photography with all its ease and continued potential financial upside, pulls interest in a number of student freelancers.

What drives these self-drive for freelancing? Why are students, sent to the University, primarily to excel in academics, turning to ventures ranging from YouTube script writing to designing graphics for several clients. Whatever it is, is it a problem? And if it is, what can we do about it?

The secret to this prevalence lies in the phrase “service-based business model”. A service-based business model lacks the huge financial constraint that comes with having to manufacture a product. It comes with enough flexibility to work around classroom schedules and enough potential to ease most daily expenses.

Beyond that, there is also the part of individuals seeking to build portfolios. Consider Ayo, a student from the Faculty of Arts, who stated, “I freelance because I’m looking to become an Executive Assistant at a multinational company when I graduate. Working as a virtual assistant now helps me build the experience, the portfolio and the connections I’ll need.”

The prospect of freelancing might start to seem like all positives with little downsides. To complete it, two things are due for consideration; first is the ease of doing freelance business by students and the other the impact on their lives in general.

Culled from public interactions, the problems students have reported when trying to freelance include a constant struggle to find clients that pay commensurate amounts. Ore, a YouTube script writer says, “I’ve often been asked to work for free or take cuts in my prices. I hate doing it but sometimes it is necessary to get by.”

Accessibility is also something that students have to consider when trying to freelance. Needing to handle special technology or having to learn specific knowledge before getting started is something that can impact positively any field students decide to focus on when starting with freelance opportunities.

Students may sometimes want to consider how their choices now might align into their future roles. This means a Communications and Language Arts student might want to write journalistic reports for radio stations and a theater arts student might be more interested in proofreading film scripts.

Understanding the necessity of these choices made by students, how best these enterprising fellows can leverage their skills become important. Online marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork remain frontline options to find jobs. This is considered problematic however, by many freelancers who report increased costs in recent years, difficulty processing international payments and a near inability to find jobs on these platforms.

Writing and Design might have relatively low barriers to entry, but that means competition is that much worse when having to compete with freelancers from around the world. Other areas to leverage on how be it could include personal relationships and networks.

For student freelancers, advice from more established freelancers have often included attending events and functions with a high concentration of target clients. For a student scriptwriter, this might mean a film function. For a photographer, this could be any number of engagements.

The ability to build a strong personal relationship with clients is something that has also been cited as a boost by freelancers seeking a steady in-flow of gigs. The reason, is that these relationships become a moat against the rat race that exists in competing with other freelancers on whose price is the lowest. It is necessary to note that inasmuch as the barriers to entry can be lowered, they are sometimes still too high for students to simply up and start.

Learning solutions must then exist for these students to leverage on. One such solution is YouTube, often regarded as an informal online university due to the vast resources it has on many areas, including writing, design and photography.

The problem with YouTube, as reported by people who have tried upskilling with it, is the lack of nuance and context sometimes. This, coupled with difficulty in identifying quality teachings and lacking hands-on corrections can often lead to an unsatisfactory learning experience.

For students who struggle with self learning, a number have reported turning to coaches who are willing to provide closer, more personalized teachings. It seems like a rosy arrangement on the surface, with coaches getting paid and the students learning privileged information at an accelerated pace.

Daniel, a Virtual Assistant, says the reality is often quite different. “Sometimes, what these coaches say they’ll teach before you pay money and what they actually teach you be like heaven and hell,” Daniel narrated.

A lack of regulation in the space adds to this problem, others say, letting coaches get away with overpromising and under-delivering and sometimes, even straight up lying. Where no lies are told though, coaches can prove to be an accelerated shortcut to skilling up with freelancers sometimes even gaining access to gigs until they are able to stand solo and build a network of their own.

A common consensus among student freelancers is that greater commitment will increase the likelihood of success for the freelancer with commitment representing not just money, but also time, effort and dedication. The complications this present can however, be manifold, considering the impact of being dedicated to freelance over academics.

Regardless, the increasing numbers of students involved in some sort of freelance require a more robust campus-based ecosystem that streamlines training and development opportunities for student freelancers to leverage on.