Why Transcription Matters

Company ethos is as important as dollars. That isn’t just a public facing ideology either. It is an inherent belief of the founding team and it is an integral part of why TranscribeMe chose a crowd-sourced hybrid model for transcription. TranscribeMe is a for-profit company intent on reaching out on a global scale to communities wherein employment statistics are the worst. TranscribeMe are seeking to present job opportunities particularly to areas where youth unemployment is staggering. The aim is to achieve this through the unique hybrid crowd sourcing systems TranscribeMe have built for transcriptions services today, and a plethora of other services in future.

To this end TranscribeMe are collaborating with an organization in the Philippines through an entrepreneurial colleague named Zhihan Lee. Mr. Lee is operating a company called Bagosphere. A progressive startup company based in the Phillipines where 3.2 million Filipino youths aged 15-24 are currently unemployed. Most of them are living in poverty. Bagosphere are arming these young people with transcription skills and then hooking them up with companies like TranscribeMe for employment in very large and increasing numbers. TranscribeMe aim to be using hundreds of Mr. Lee’s young people before the end of the year, paying competitive rates and giving these youth a shot at full time, long-term job opportunities.

Other opportunities have presented themselves with more subtlety but nonetheless, in ways that steer the TranscribeMe machine toward increasingly needy crowds, places where the company can really have an impact. TranscribeMe pay transcription workers the same rates regardless of location. This means the economic impact in developing countries is profound. Another example and another entrepreneur was discovered in Ghana where a TranscribeMe transcriber has assembled a team of seven young men aged between 18 and 25 and he has provided them with the tools and skills to provide transcription services. His team is currently working for TranscribeMe with hopes of scaling large along with the company. They are previously unemployed young men in a region where unemployment rates sit at around 13% overall and significantly higher for Ghana’s youth, although no official figures appear to exist since 2001.

Crowd sourcing is a growing phenomenon globally and it is an awe-inspiring thing in practice for the potential it has to create work in areas where work is scarce. Crowd sourcing utilizes talent around the world providing employment in areas where there isn’t any. The environmental implications of sourcing workers from their homes are huge, decreasing the burden on local infrastructure and on the environment. For many it is a welcome family friendly work option. Working from home is the future’s environmentally friendly way to work.

So while TranscribeMe is all about building a profitable company it is also all about doing that in a way that reaches out to employ in areas where employment rates are staggering; to individuals who for reasons of physical disability, family or age, wish to work in a more balanced way from their homes. Hence, transcription matters.