Fractional Support for Startups & Agencies
Hire vetted & verified freelance, fractional, and specialist agency talent across Africa. Avoid full-time hiring and overhead while getting strategic fractional support, payments and compliance for your project. Or you can manage & pay your own teams directly through Petl Pay.
Clients that trust us
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Our Expertise
Full-Service Creative, Design, Development, and Growth Marketing.
End-to-end solutions in creative strategy, product design, custom development, and marketing - built to help startups, agencies, and global teams scale.
Whether you’re paying individuals or entire teams, Rafiki manages KYC, KYB, COR and EOR workflows behind the scenes, making every transaction compliant, auditable, and instant.
Creative Strategy
We craft brand identities and AI-powered content that make your business stand out. From corporate visuals to creative storytelling, we design strategies that highlight what makes you unique.
Product Design
Specialists in graphic, holographic, UI, and UX design. We deliver rapid prototypes, natural language experiences, and custom web app designs that blend creativity with technical precision.
Development
Experts in ReactJS, React Native, NodeJS, NextJS, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We build high-performance apps using Lovable, Webflow, Builder.ai, Cursor, and Windsurf for faster, smarter delivery.
Growth Marketing
We grow startups and agencies with SEO, AEO, SEM, content automation, email, social, and performance marketing. Test new channels and monetisation strategies with proven results.
Why Businesses & Talent Choose Rafiki
"Rafiki’s advocacy for growth opportunities for freelancers in Africa was evident during my work with the team. I absolutely loved how contract procedures were transparent and effectively handled. It was a walk in the park for me!"
Aisosa
Senior Product Designer | Nigeria
"Working with Rafiki Works has been an absolute pleasure. I’ve always appreciated their open and clear communication. Their passion for freelancers in Africa is genuine. A lot to look forward to with joining their team!"
Daniel
Agency Owner | South Africa
"Rafiki works with the cream of the crop. They are perfectly positioned to match innovative clients with the best developers in South Africa. Thanks you!"
Anesu
Software Engineer | South Africa
"Working with Rafiki has been great. Excellent and proactive, catering extremely well to our schedule and requests. We really enjoyed working with them and we couldn’t recommend them more highly."
Niccolo Pantucci
Lead Agent | UK
"From the initial brief all the way through to project handover, our experience with Rafiki has been excellent. Their fractional freelancer model is clear, seamless and effective, and we look forward to continuing the working relationship."
Brett Matheson
Co-Founder | South Africa
“Rafiki has done a great job building out our brand, website and booking engine integration. Their team are super knowledgeable and helped us come to quick and well thought out product decisions that lead to us launching our first product in weeks rather than months”
Nicolas Beterette
Co Founder & CEO| Europe
"I am beyond thrilled with the exceptional work and partnership we’ve experienced with Rafiki Works in creating our new corporate CI and website. The results have far exceeded our expectations, and I am excited about the future projects we will undoubtedly embark on together. Thank you for making this a truly outstanding experience!"
Nicolas Mack
Founder & CEO | Germany
"It’s great working with such a talented and energetic team. From our first chat to the first project, everything about RafikWorks, works. I’ve really enjoyed the experience, and love the exposure to global clients."
Dan
Agency Owner | South Africa
"We were very impressed at the quality and speed of Rafiki's work and I'm really looking forward to continuing the relationship."
Ryan Beangstrom
Co Founder | South Africa
Fractional Work
A selection of projects handled by Rafiki's fractional talent community of senior freelancers, consultants, and micro-agencies.
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Ready to build something special?
Let’s discover, design, build & grow your project together.
FAQs
Everything you need to know about Rafiki's fully-managed service, the ideal option for projects needing additional support, end-to-end.
After your enquiry, Rafiki’s team will typically introduce you with a shortlist of vetted specialists or agencies within 72 hours. You’ll receive profiles, rate ranges, and project fit summaries. Once approved, we can handle contracts and onboarding immediately, so most projects start within a week. Should you wish to negotiate rates and contracts directly, we're able to support this engagement too.
Engagements can start from as little as 2–20 hours per week or scale into full-time project coverage. You can hire individual specialists or complete micro-agency squads. Many clients convert successful fractional engagements into longer retainers or full-time roles, with Rafiki facilitating smooth contract-to-hire transitions when desired.
Should you need, Rafiki can provide Contractor of Record (CoR) or Employer of Record (EoR) services in 130+ countries.
Pricing varies by specialist, role, and region, but all fees are presented upfront with clear, transparent breakdowns. There are no hidden mark-ups. You receive consolidated invoices with full visibility into hours worked, deliverables, and supporting documentation where required.
For teams that want fast and affordable cross-border settlement, Petl Pay supports payments across regulated fiat rails and stablecoin mechanisms. This includes invoicing and settlement in USD, EUR, and GBP, as well as direct cross-border payouts into ZAR and other supported African currencies.
Clients are invoiced through Petl Pay, which manages invoicing and payments securely for work delivered via Rafiki. Should you not wish to leverage Petl Pay, you will simply recieve and invoice with project-specific bank details. This payment will be redirected into the relevant wallet or bank details for the talent/s engaged automatically.
If you prefer to handle payments directly and transact off-platform, Rafiki can accommodate this and support coordination as needed.
Rafiki focuses on experienced operators rather than open marketplaces. Engagements are clearly scoped upfront, and delivery expectations are aligned between client and specialist. Where needed, Rafiki can support ongoing check-ins and delivery oversight.
We take a three-stage approach to vetting every applicant. Following an application, top prospects are invited for an interview where we assess their skills, experience, and work aspirations. We prioritise skill and output over traditional degrees or titles, and we cross-check all references or testimonials before acceptance.
To date, fewer than 1% of applicants have been accepted into our Experts in Residence programme. This includes both individual specialists and sector-specific micro-agencies, teams experienced in delivering design, tech, and marketing solutions for early-stage startups, growth-phase businesses, and established agencies. Every approved expert is verified through ongoing project feedback and KYC compliance checks inside Petl, our payments provider.