Innovative service helps residents make more moola

Two enterprising individuals have found an innovative way to help ordinary South Africans put extra cash in their pockets.

Dean Furman and Rudie Shepherd recently started BetterWage, an online service focused on helping users earn extra money using either their skills, passion or expertise. The innovative service uses WageFinder, an algorithm which matches users with the best applications or websites.

BetterWage refers to an environment in which temporary positions are common and companies or people contract with independent workers for short-term work while WageFinder refers to an environment allowing others to borrow or rent assets belonging to someone else.

Co-founder Furman explained that the concept was born out of a need to address financial burdens many people are currently facing and help them make extra money. “We understand that times are tough for people and we wanted to focus on helping to ease the burden and connect people to service providers to help them find ways to make money,” he said.

“Anyone can sign-up for the service and, essentially, we want to help people make money in a way that suits their lifestyle.”

Furman elaborated on how the service worked, explaining that it started with a free sign-up, allowing them to browse through the hundreds of websites and apps, and then take the WageFinder quiz, which will help in matching them with 30 suitable apps and websites to get started.

The online service boasts over 30 categories to choose from, ranging from music to teaching to travelling, to name a few, and is available globally, helping users connect to service providers in other countries and vice-versa. This, Furman highlighted, was a good thing as it allowed users a way to earn more money in foreign currencies. “Going global has also allowed foreign-based companies looking to reach out to users and to do so in a safe way, which is important,” he stressed.

BetterWage, which has been running since April, is backed by Alexander Forbes, which Furman praised for the support it gave to the business over the past few months.

Speaking of future plans for the rapidly-expanding service, he said the hope was to further refine the service for users and make it easier for people to access and use. “We also want to continue growing the service over the next year and improve upon it using the feedback we get from users,” he concluded.