Deloitte Gigs Supporting Innovators
A ground-breaking initiative for attracting and retaining talent
In today's fast-paced world, attracting and retaining top talent has become a critical challenge for organisations. One innovative solution to this issue is the introduction of the ‘Deloitte Gigs’ programme, which fosters an entrepreneurial culture while providing employees with a unique opportunity to explore their passions and develop their skills. This article explores how Gigs is revolutionising the way companies attract and retain talent by offering unparalleled opportunities and support for aspiring entrepreneurs.
What is Gigs?
Gigs is a ground-breaking initiative that encourages employees to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams while maintaining their full-time jobs. With the freedom to start side businesses or non-profit organisations, employees can develop their ventures in their own time, retaining 100% ownership. The programme offers essential resources, such as guidance from experienced entrepreneurs, monthly forums for networking and team formation, and an entrepreneurship learning centre. This innovative program is designed for employees, by employees, and aims to foster a culture of innovation and creativity.
Why is it required?
In South Africa, launching a successful start-up often requires 1-3 years of initial development before venture capital becomes a viable option. During this time, aspiring entrepreneurs need to build their products and establish market viability. However, few South Africans have the financial resources to support themselves and their teams during this phase.
This financial pressure discourages many from pursuing their dreams and contributes to the formation of weaker teams. Moreover, the high failure rate of start-ups makes leaving a stable job, to start or join one, an unaffordable risk for most individuals.
How does Gigs solve all of this?
Gigs allows employees to test their start-up ideas, or join others' ventures, while retaining their full-time jobs. This risk-free approach enables individuals to invest their spare time into entrepreneurial projects without compromising their financial stability or personal lives.
Participating in Gigs also provides valuable experience and enhances employees' resumes. With access to over 5,000 (within Deloitte that is) intelligent and skilled colleagues who can offer their expertise for free (with the promise of downstream rewards), Gigs participants benefit from a diverse and talented pool of resources. This support system eliminates the time pressure typically associated with start-up development.
What makes this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?
Gigs offers a unique opportunity for employees to collaborate, expand their networks, and enhance their skills. This team-based approach, currently unavailable through any employer ither than Deloitte, gives participants a significant advantage over other South African start-ups.
The zero-risk nature of Gigs is unprecedented, allowing individuals to make multiple attempts at launching successful ventures, something that few can afford in traditional start-up environments. Currently, no other employer can match the comprehensive support and extensive resources available through the Gigs program.
In conclusion, Gigs will revolutionize the way companies attract and retain talent by offering a unique entrepreneurial experience that empowers employees and fosters innovation. By providing a risk-free environment for aspiring entrepreneurs to explore their passions, develop their skills, and collaborate with like-minded individuals, Gigs has become a game-changer in the competitive landscape of talent acquisition and retention.
Read our Gigs stories below
Deloitte Gigs gives innovator room to create life-saving oncology solution
- Amilah was named one of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans finalists in June 2023.
- She was a finalist at the 2022 Global Women in Tech Excellence Awards hosted in the United Kingdom.
- Co-founder of Healr.life, which is recognised as one of the top machine learning startups in South Africa
- Women in Tech finalist, a global competition, in the entrepreneurship category
Amilah Costandius, is one of our sector leaders for insurance and investment management and spearheads innovations in this industry to boost financial inclusion, education and efficacy for this sector to improve the livelihood of South Africans and Africans.
In addition to her full-time job, she has also co-founded health tech business Healr, which uses AI to reduce inefficiencies in the cancer treatment cycle by augmenting oncologists and allowing more South Africans to be treated. “My role entails working with my brilliant team to design the products and run projects to improve our AI, our front end and integrations, as well as running the operations and finance of the business,” she says.
Healr aims to address the shortage of oncologists by automating contouring, a task that typically takes an oncologist three hours to do, giving them more time to treat patients. In South Africa, there are more than 1 400 cancer patients per oncologist.Three hours saved, per patient, allows more lives to be saved. This is what motivated Costandius and her co-founders to build Healr and build it into a profitable business. Healr has been recognised as one of the leading health tech startups in South Africa and Costandius was a finalist at the 2022 Global Women in Tech Excellence Awards hosted in the UK.
One childhood memory that has spurred you to such levels of achievement?At the age of four, I really wanted a knockoff version of a Barbie with long crimped hair which my parents couldn’t afford. Hustling to borrow some crayons and recycled paper from a shop down the road, I decided to write storybooks and sell it to neighbours for 50c until I made enough money (R20) to buy the doll. Being 4, the titles of the books weren’t particularly riveting and the spelling was atrocious, but I achieved my goal. I’ve applied that principle throughout my life. If I want something, I recognise I have to do the hard work.
Advice to your younger self?You really don’t need to be in the “it group” or part of the “rich kids” or walk a conventional path to be in a position to make a change or to be ‘okay’ in life. Spend less time trying to fit in, and more time solving the problems that actually matter. Stop sweating the small stuff and remain focused on the things that matter.
What would you like South Africa to look like in five years?I would love to see a South Africa where there are structures in place to make it easier for people to start new businesses — a combination of quality education with the appropriate infrastructure to make it easy, such as access to the internet and meaningful tax breaks to make us more comparable with the rest of the world when it comes to choosing to set up a business here. When I say education, I mean – not just in schools, but also through free quality courses, especially in technology and coding, alternative forms of education (not traditional school system only), and through mentorship programmes such as startup incubators – virtual or not. In my opinion, many of the structural issues (for example, unemployment) we face today can be solved by empowering people more effectively and making it easy for them to make their mark on the economy.
*Acknowledgment: Content courtesy of Mail & Guardian
