I did not know the world worked like this.
The tripartite model of the ILO means that once a year, representatives from ‘employers’, ‘workers’, and ‘government’ from almost every country in the world come together and negotiate global labour standards. If they can agree on a ‘Convention’ – a treaty text defining a baseline set of rights or protections (on something like forced labour, freedom of association, or workplace safety) — it then carries moral and political weight worldwide, and becomes legally binding on the individual countries that choose to ratify it. ‘Employers’ are typically represented by business associations, ‘Workers’ by unions, and Governments, well, by themselves. It all sounds like a very 1920s view of how labour markets work, right?
Despite that, this same tripartite has spent the last few years trying to work out a Convention on the platform economy, and on 12 June this month, they agreed on the adoption of Convention No. 193 – the world’s first binding international labour standard for the platform economy. It passed 406 votes to 8.
There are very few of us who have been on ‘jobtech policy watch’ in Africa over the last decade. Why? Because there hasn’t been an awful lot going on. A handful of countries – South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria – have developed a mishmash of policies on ride hailing, but next to nothing related to the wider platform economy. And certainly nothing with Pan-African reach.
That is about to change. With the passing of this Convention, countries across Africa will now be deciding whether they ratify the Convention (a voluntary, binding commitment to be held to its terms), and if it does ratify, it then must bring its own national laws and practice into line with the Convention’s requirements and accept ongoing ILO supervision of its compliance. This really matters.
The good news is that the Convention seems to offer a real balance, both providing workers with minimum wage protections and algorithmic accountability, and not stifling the platform economy at large through blanket employment presumption or requiring algorithms to be handed over.
It’s complicated, though, and we’ve prepared a blog to help you unpack what it means, including some reflections from ecosystem members who were involved in ‘Business’ and ‘Workers’ negotiations during the process.
Lots more to come; watch this space.
-Judge Chris
📖 Our insights
This month, we welcomed a few platforms into the portfolio, and if you want to know why we back who we back, here’s some insight from our venture team:
Why We Invested: Fuzu: The entry-level digital tasks that once got many women into the sector are the first thing AI is hollowing out. Fuzu read that early and pivoted. Here’s the kind of work we’re betting will hold up, and why we put our money behind it.
Why We Invested: Kyosk: Kyosk works with over 200,000 informal retailers, many of them women-run. We found that a small improvement in how a shop operates day-to-day can lift the owner’s income far more than you’d expect.
🔧 Built by our members
This month, we chatted with Arnold Nyakundi, co-founder, COO and CTO of Fixo Solutions, who built a platform that uses WhatsApp to connect households and businesses with vetted artisans, from plumbers and electricians to painters and carpenters.
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Three insights from building Fixo
- Users don’t want another app: We started with an app-first mindset, assuming customers wanted a feature-rich platform. We were wrong. Most people simply want the fastest way to report a maintenance issue. Moving to a chatbot-first approach helped us meet users where they already are, removing friction and improving adoption.
- The hardest part about this business is making quality predictable:Great service in the informal economy is often inconsistent and difficult to scale. We tackle this by creating structure where there often is none: vetting artisans before they join the platform, standardizing pricing and service expectations, enforcing communication protocols, tracking job performance, and creating accountability through ratings and repeat business.
- Building a startup exposes every weakness you have: Beyond strategy and execution, building Fixo has demanded resilience, patience, emotional discipline, and clarity under uncertainty. We’ve learned that founder growth and company growth are deeply connected—the business rarely outgrows the person leading it.
An overlooked challenge
Informal doesn’t mean unskilled: we’ve met incredible electricians, plumbers, and carpenters, but the challenge is that many operate without the systems, visibility, and opportunities needed to grow their businesses.
When we provide structure, we help them become thriving micro-entrepreneurs capable of delivering work that rivals formal corporate standards, creating benefits that extend far beyond the individual worker.
🚀 Founder resources and opportunities
- Applications are now open for the first African cohort of ASIF Ignite, an early-stage venture support program under the Adaptation Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Innovation Facility (ASIF). If you are building climate adaptation or resilience solutions in the food and agriculture value chain, check this out.
- If you are wondering whether you are targeting the best users for your platform, wonder no more. Assess yourself in 2 minutes with our gender inclusivity framework.