A Gig A Day
Nana: A Sought After Change for the Gig Economy Coming to Metro Area In May 2018
By Nelia Dashiell
David Zamir
According to a study done by the McKinsey Global Institute, 20-30% of the working-age population in both Europe and the United States participate in some form of independent “gig” work. This is a definitely a significant number of people, but unfortunately many employees are not satisfied with this type of work. They’re worried that their employers don’t value them as people or their work as people/employees. The value, is a feeling, they believe usually only found within the full-time work place.
Stemming from his own personal experience in the gig economy, David Zamir felt the need to create Nana. Nana is a website which enables full-time or part-time technicians with the opportunity to perform professional home service jobs. Nana treats its workers like real people and even gives them a chance to become full-time employees. They also strive to provide more free time for the consumer. Instead of worrying about household chores, people will get a chance to spend more time with their loved ones.
For the consumer, Zamir likes to refer to this service as an Uber. Here’s why: say your dishwasher has broken down and you need a good, trustworthy professional to come and help fix your dishwasher for you. Nana allows you to log in, write up a service report, send it off, and within a short period of time, you will have a professional at your house to fix your dishwasher as soon as that SAME day!
I had the opportunity to speak to Zamir about the history of Nana and its future.
What is the history of ‘Nana’
DZ: Nana is named after my mother. I was working on home appliances for 4.5 years ago here in San Francisco. What drove me (to start it) was the satisfaction of the customers face-to-face. it’s very fulfilling.
How does ‘Nana’ work?
DZ: You can go online and request a service. We have very high end service providers. These people are good people. They’ve been background checked and went through tests vetting their skills on particular appliances. After they past the background check and we’ve vetted their skills, we invite them to be a part of the platform. When a request is made it is then distributed to all the skilled workers around that neighborhood. Our mission is to perform the services while you’re able to be outside enjoying life.
Where is Nana based?
DZ: We are in the San Francisco Bay Area. Before we go nationwide, we wanted to see what exactly our customers want. Now at the end of this month (February) we will be going nationwide. We will be in the Washington, D.C. area by the end of May.
Why is Nana needed?
DZ: So today, there is no trust, there is no transparency and there is no time. Those are the three main problems we are going to solve and we are solving with Nana. If there was trust, you wouldn’t go online and read reviews on service providers. When it comes to transparency, you don’t know what to expect when it comes to pricing and the quality of job. When it comes to time, you need to do the research, you need to take time off work, and then you have to figure out what’s the problem and then they (the service provider) might have to come out a 2nd time. A regular home service project will be around 16 hours based on the research that was made. With Nana, it will take ONE hour.
What are the future plans for Nana?
DZ: We plan to have a mobile app very soon.
Also, the next phase is to connect smart devices and smart appliances to our software in a way when something is needed to be done in your house, you won’t even have to let us know that something is wrong. So essentially, your smart washer, if there was a problem, would send a server code, without you even knowing, to our platform and we will come to your house with Google glass. You will be able to sit by the pool and be able to watch a live streaming of your technician fixing the appliance. We plan to have this implemented in a year and a half. That’s the future!
Zamir encourages readers of the PGC area to sign up as a user so that they will know which neighborhood to go to first come May! To learn more about Nana and to sign up on their waiting list and become a user please visit : https://www.nana.io/
- Source: Mckinsey
