At Repl.it, we interviewed interns via Manara and was mind-blown by the quality. We've given offers to two and I know at least one will be joining us soon. I think Manara has a potential to transform the global developer market. Very excited for them!
Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
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Re: Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
#12Hi, Laila. Congratulations on the launch. I'll share this (Algiers, Algeria). One of the problems people here have is getting paid from companies abroad. I think it would be good to conduct interviews with people who may be having the same problem, and either offer a solution or explain it on the website. Many people work as freelancers, and the way they get their money is Herculean. Also, many, especially here, neit…
Hi! Ahlan! Azul! Really appreciate your bringing these issues up. Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. For now we are managing payments for companies that hire remotely by wire transferring the funds ourselves. In other words, the companies send the money to our US entity and then we do the transfer. We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https:/…
Hey! I'm co-founder of Boundless, thanks for the mention :) Happy to chat more if you need - eamon@boundlesshq.com.
Congratulations on getting Manara up and running!
Re: Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
#13Keeping you guys in mind the next time someone asks me for MENA talent. And if I want to hire some myself!
Re: Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
#14Keeping you guys in mind the next time someone asks me for MENA talent. And if I want to hire some myself!
Thanks so much! That's interesting that people are already asking you for MENA talent sometimes. Under what circumstances does that happen?
Re: Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi! Ahlan! Azul! Really appreciate your bringing these issues up. Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. For now we are managing payments for companies that hire remotely by wire transferring the funds ourselves. In other words, the companies send the money to our US entity and then we do the transfer. We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https:/…
Hey! I'm co-founder of Boundless, thanks for the mention :) Happy to chat more if you need - eamon@boundlesshq.com. Congratulations on getting Manara up and running!
Thanks so much! Claire McHugh of Axonista was the first person who mentioned you to us. You've got a strong reputation! We'll reach out :)
Re: Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
#16At Repl.it, we interviewed interns via Manara and was mind-blown by the quality. We've given offers to two and I know at least one will be joining us soon. I think Manara has a potential to transform the global developer market. Very excited for them!
Oh WOW thanks a lot!! We love it when we get multiple offers from the same company - extremely excited about our Repl.it placements :))
Re: Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi! Ahlan! Azul! Really appreciate your bringing these issues up. Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. For now we are managing payments for companies that hire remotely by wire transferring the funds ourselves. In other words, the companies send the money to our US entity and then we do the transfer. We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https:/…
Hey! I'm co-founder of Boundless, thanks for the mention :) Happy to chat more if you need - eamon@boundlesshq.com. Congratulations on getting Manara up and running!
Would diffidently reach out :)
Re: Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey! I'm co-founder of Boundless, thanks for the mention :) Happy to chat more if you need - eamon@boundlesshq.com. Congratulations on getting Manara up and running!
Thanks so much! Claire McHugh of Axonista was the first person who mentioned you to us. You've got a strong reputation! We'll reach out :)
Ah, good stuff!
Re: Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
#19Oh man, the name is unfortunate. It's slang for "babe" (for girls) in Greek. Also the last name of one of the most famous erotic comic artists (Milo Manara). Fun times!
Re: Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
#20Hi, Laila. Congratulations on the launch. I'll share this (Algiers, Algeria). One of the problems people here have is getting paid from companies abroad. I think it would be good to conduct interviews with people who may be having the same problem, and either offer a solution or explain it on the website. Many people work as freelancers, and the way they get their money is Herculean. Also, many, especially here, neit…
Hi! Ahlan! Azul! Really appreciate your bringing these issues up. Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. For now we are managing payments for companies that hire remotely by wire transferring the funds ourselves. In other words, the companies send the money to our US entity and then we do the transfer. We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https:/…
>Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions.
My contact information is in my profile. I'll forward to some people I know who had several problems with that. The last one I talked with worked with a company in the U.K. with the restriction the "worker" had to have a bank account in their country of residence, not in any other country. Explanations on exchange rates below. They know more about this, and know more people in that situation.
>We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ and https://www.letsdeel.com/. Are you familiar with those?
Unfortunately, no.
What I also meant by payment problems is the disparity between the conversion rates in banks and on the streets. The disparity can be huge, so if you wire X euros to someone's bank account, it is automatically converted to the local currency at rate X and they get Y, when they could get 1.6Y or 1.7Y (60% or 70%) more on the streets. A 70% delta is a lot.
Some networks have developed to enable people to get the full "street value" of their money.
>When we call it “the Middle East and North Africa,” we also get feedback that it’s inaccurate.
Well, as someone in Algeria, if I were looking for work and visited the site and it said: "You're in North Africa", that's a fact of geography. It said "Hire the best Arab software engineers", I'll think "I'll forward the link to Arab software engineers I know since they're specific".
There are a lot of competitions, hackathons, or events that use this terminology, and I know many very talented people who do not participate because it's not for them. They'd rather go to another continent, and they do, where their ethnicity is acknowledged than submit a form that contains an inaccuracy that perpetuates a denial they've been facing for a long time. You are trying to optimize for brevity and clarity and you have to put something on the page, and I get that. I'm just saying and I think that you have lived through enough exclusion and non representativity that you understand that a message on a landing page that excludes you defacto kind of stings.
>PS: My co-founder Iliana has spent lots of time in Morocco and some in Algeria… and can’t wait to go back! She speaks some darija… and picked up a few words of Berber. :)
Well, I don't need to tell you that you are welcome. Hit me up if you are around. You might find the students groups to be interesting. In the meantime, I'll float the site around.
EDIT0: I sent it to someone who has a group. They sent the following:
> Them: Too bad, I'm an infrastructure engineer.
They're specialized in "Microsoft, VMware, IT infrastructures, etc."
EDIT1: Sent it to the admin of a group of around 7.4K engineers and technicians (not just software). Some might be interested and share it to their networks.