(We originally posted this in 2020. You can read more of our original ideas in our archive.)
Problem: Due to COVID-19, the number of migrant workers who typically are hired in the spring and summer has decreased dramatically. Lex, one of the Financial Times’ newsletters, describes this best:
British farms and orchards are similarly stretched. Farmers have only secured 10 per cent of the usual 80,000 workers required this season, according to the National Farmers’ Union. Migrant seasonal workers are staying put in places such as Bulgaria and Romania, exacerbating a longstanding shortage. Farmers are getting creative and spending more; Lex cites one recruiter considering chartering a flight for 380 Nepalese at £1,100 a head. Going to such measures also takes more time, during which crops may spoil — another blight for farmers and seasonal workers who may find fewer jobs when they return next year. Labour, as ever, could find the road to recovery longest once the pandemic ends.
As of 2019, there were an estimated 164 million migrant workers: over 50% of the global migrant population. This market is huge, and severely underserved by innovation.
Solution: The business would focus on diversifying the population of migrant workers to ensure that in the future, businesses and farmers are not as impacted by the shocks of regional politics or localized pandemics. Thus, the business would invest in creating a tech-first platform (perhaps through a phone app) that would register people in the developing and underdeveloped worlds to the international working platform. Below is a visualization of the problem.
Labor is often seen as a localized activity; however, this business would push to what was written about in the Harvard Business Review’s 1991 issue: The New World Labor Market. It would create an ecosystem for labor sharing to withstand shocks through opening up the pool of qualified applicants that have been vetted by a centralized platform.
Monetization: Percentage of salaries paid to employees.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)