The easiest way to subcontract independent talent

Smart payments, collaboration, and subcontracting software for flexible teams and independent talent.

We’re backed by

For Independent Talent

Grow Your Fractional Career Today

Rafiki empowers freelancers, consultants, fractional specialist and solopreneurs with innovative subcontracting, seamless payments, and efficient project management solutions. Start collaborating with other independents to create your own pop-up teams.

Built for talent-to-talent collaboration, subcontracting & payments.

Easily manage projects, track billable hours, and streamline payments—all in one place. Split-bills & consolidate multiple team member payments into one, instant transaction.

Instant, feeless transactions via talent-to-talent wallets.

Send and receive payments instantly, with no hidden fees.

Expert Support to Help You Scale

Access Rafiki’s Experts in Residence for guidance, networking, and career growth. Need complementary skillsets to service existing clients? Get in touch, we're here to help!

For Businesses

Effortless Payments & Compliance for Flexible Teams

Rafiki is a modern payments and compliance solution for businesses working with fractional talent and contract workers.

Smart Subcontracting & Payments

Manage global, multi-currency payments for independent professionals. Pay your flexible team in one-click multi-routed, instant payouts.

Automated Compliance

Built-in Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) verification ensures legal and financial security.

Expert Support On-Demand

Get specialised hands-on executional support from Rafiki’s Fractional Experts in Residence when needed.

Flexible Talent Strategy

Scale efficiently by reducing overheads and avoiding full-time hiring risks.

One-Click Multi-Payment Routing

Pay multiple contractors across borders or currencies in a single transaction, reducing admin work.

Why Independents & Businesses Choose Rafiki

“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 | Onzite

"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 | Verdant Data

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

"I am beyond thrilled with the exceptional work and partnership we’ve experienced with Rafiki Works in creating our new corporate CI and website. Special thanks go to Greg, Nick, Kath, and Dan, whose creativity, dedication, and expertise truly shone through in every aspect of the project. Their collaborative approach, attention to detail, and commitment to excellence made the entire process smooth and enjoyable. 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

"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 and Director of Operations | Metavolve

"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 murakata

Software Engineer

"Rafiki is an excellent platform that connects and supports freelancers. Collaborating with them has been really easy and delightful experience."

Jackie Zhang

Product Designer

"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 Nash

Creative Strategist & Agency Owner

"Working with Rafiki Works has been an absolute pleasure. I’ve always appreciated their open and clear communication. Their passion for freelancing and recruitment in Africa is genuine. A lot to look forward to with joining their team!"

Daniel Lun

Senior Webflow Developer

FAQs

Everything you need to know about using Rafiki's smart payments, collaboration, and subcontracting software for independent talent and flexible workforces.

What is Rafiki?

Rafiki offers smart payments, collaboration, and subcontracting software for independent talent and flexible workforces. Rafiki helps independent talent earn more through collaboration, payments & efficient project solutions, while helping businesses manage & pay multiple freelancers, fractional specialists, or contract workers at scale.

What makes Rafiki different to other platforms?

Rafiki is an innovative and novel approach to talent strategy and the future of work. Our platform helps the independent workforce collaborate, pay one another and get paid easily, while helping global businesses with flexible workforce strategies, hands-on execution, compliance, and contractor payroll.

How are payments handled?

We're making payments across multiple resources easy, with a single payment into our platform, paid out to freelancers as and when agreed on during project-specific agreements. For specific information on our payments infrastructure and details, please feel free to get in touch.

Does Rafiki recruit?

In short, yes. We offer specialist freelance, fractional, and contract talent recruitment for the digital and tech space. We leverage our own product and standalone SaaS, Rafiki OS, to do this. By doing so, we're also able to offer hands-on, executional consultancy and support via our agency, Rafiki Works, while Rafiki Talent Solutions offers services like Agent Of Record (AOR), Employer Of Record (EOR), and Contract To Hire.

Who is Rafiki for?

Rafiki is for independent talent of all kinds, and companies working with independent talent globally. Freelancers, consultants, fractional professionals, small & independent agency owners, founders, startups, and SMBs. Our specialist focus is on ensuring we have the best utility for freelance and fractional talent building their careers, and for anyone leveraging this talent for ongoing work, on a highly customisable basis.

Hire pop-up teams of fractional specialists.

Join the ecosystem of freelancers, founders, and agency owners collaborating to service top international startups and SMBs.

Hire & collaborate with independent specialists in:

UI Design
Low-Code Dev
UX Design
Graphic Design
AI Consultants
Digital Strategy
Product Design
GTM Strategy
Brand Design
Frontend Dev
Digital Marketing

A new way to earn more, for less.

Access international projects, create your own pop-up teams, & earn more.

Our mission is to build a space which empowers freelancers, fractional professionals, and small digital agency owners to progress their careers, grow their businesses, collaborate, and win bigger deals.


Apply to the Rafiki network today.

Put your best foot forward, we only accept the top few applicants each month.

If accepted, you’ll get exposure to both Rafiki agency projects + international projects looking for skill-specific specialists.

You’ll also be able to connect with complementary skill-sets, build your own pop-up teams,  and close larger projects.

Validate, build, & grow. Efficiently.

Access the skills you need, on-demand & fully-managed.

Tell us about your business, we’re here to listen. After hearing about what you want, we’ll advise on what you really need, no extras!

We’ll assess your needs & whether you’re a good match for our business & team.

We take a partnership-styled approach and prefer to work with founders we align with well.

By being part of the Rafiki platform, you’ll be able to scale your team up & down as and when you need.

We’ll help you identify the right talent, and take care of all fractional workforce payments & admin.

Increase your agency potential.

We’re the chicken to your egg...

...or is it the egg to your chicken? With access to flexible, skill-specific talent, we’ll help you juggle overheads with fluctuating client demands. You’ll also get access to international projects and client work, as Rafiki drives the right demand towards your offering.

Apply as an agency today.

We’ll assess whether or not you’re a good match for our platform and the international client demand we’re currently receiving.

If your agency is accepted, you’ll get access to flexible, skill-specific product, design, marketing & strategy specialists for your agency.

You’ll then reap the rewards of being able to adjust your team as and when client demands fluctuate.

Act like a startup, sting like an SMB.

Move fast, move lean, & get your new product seen.

We’ve worked with private equity funds, travel and hospitality brands, consultancies, and distribution companies. Regardless of what you are, we’ll ensure you approach talent acquisition & projects like a lean startup.

You’ve got an exciting project on the cards, but you’re unsure what skillsets you need, and want a flexible team to drive the project.

We’ll find the exact skills your business needs.

And introduce you to your pop-up team of specialists, and your Rafiki Project manager.

Trusted by

1 perfect
freelancer or team
150k

members

4x
(let’s be honest)
10x

faster than hiring in-house

30%-40%
(more value)
80%

Less employment cost per month

FAQs

Everything you need to know about using Rafiki to build your freelance business, grow your agency, or find the right fractional talent to grow your company.

What is Rafiki Works?

Rafiki is a B2B SaaS helping specialist independent talent in Africa earn more through collaboration.Rafiki’s platform helps manage top skill-specific, fractional talent across Africa, empowering them with our SaaS-enabled marketplace to help talent collaborate to increase earnings potential, and service top international clients.Rafiki’s platform also helps international startups and SMBs structure teams efficiently through efficient management of contingent workforces and freelance projects.We’re building a space which empowers freelancers, fractional professionals, and small agency owners to progress their careers, grow their own small businesses, collaborate, and win bigger deals.

Who is Rafiki for?

Rafiki is for independent freelance or small agency talent in Africa, and founders, startups and SMBs internationally.

What makes Rafiki different to other platforms?

It’s important for us that we emphasise that we are not another open talent marketplace. Our SaaS enabled focus on talent utility is specific to collaboration between talent, billing, and project management of contingent workforces.  If existing freelance platforms find you the Aquaman you ordered on Wish,  Rafiki delivers the Uber Lux you’ve always wanted to your door, while giving our independent drivers of business growth the tools they need to build successful fractional careers.

Is Rafiki free?

Yes, Rafiki is free for talent to use, and we'll never cut into the earnings potential of talent. However, we do not accept all talent applications, and maintain strict vetting of talent and a needs assessment considering international demand when accepting applications.

Rafiki has various flexible pricing tiers for founders, agency owners, startups and SMBs looking for support or access to our skill-specific talent on an ongoing, fractional basis.

Is Rafiki only for freelancers and agency owners in Africa?

We're focussed on creating opportunities for talent across Africa. As such, we are currently only open to freelance and small agency talent in Africa.

All international founders, startups or SMBs looking for talent are welcome to enquire.

How do we vet talent?

We currently manually vet every application we receive based on the relevant fields our application form requires. Following this, we interview each applicant before deciding on whether or not they're accepted into our platform. Where possible, we test talent on internal projects with smaller clients before recommending them for larger projects directly.

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