While exploring side income opportunities myself as a Moroccan throughout the years and different life stages (university student, full-time employee, and full-time freelancer), I was repeatedly facing the same issues:

• Online research generally leads either to job boards or popular freelance marketplaces (Fiverr, Upwork, etc.). On these sites, opportunities are scattered and fragmented; I need to search manually to find the ones that are actually side jobs/gigs (based on their number of hours required and flexibility)
• In addition to that, I need to research to find the ones that are accessible for me as a Moroccan/Morocco-based/Non-native English speaker (a large percentage of side jobs are “US only”, “Canada only”, “UK only”, etc.)
• I need also to beware of scams / fake opportunities, as there are a lot of them nowadays on many job boards and platforms…

And then, and only after all of this filtration process, I can filter the ones that I can apply to based on skills, requirements, etc.

This makes side job hunting way harder than normal job hunting. The process is time-consuming and more complicated than it should be because there is no single platform created specifically for side jobs/gigs, even globally, let alone locally.

The gap became more visible in 2024 when I became a full-time freelancer. Constant research and filtering across multiple platforms, communities, and job boards became a part of my daily routine, and I wished I could just find these opportunities already researched, filtered, and organized in one place. I also learned so many unknown places to find side jobs that you only knew about as you gain experience.

I noticed how often others asked the same questions on social media and online communities I joined. I personally found many opportunities that I’m not personally interested in, but I wish other people knew about…

This recurring friction + the experience I gained + the demand I noticed led to building sidejobs.ma - a place where Moroccans (and basically anyone else) can go to and know about the latest side jobs available for Moroccans.

In Morocco, many professionals and students are actively looking for ways to earn additional income, especially through remote and freelance work. Many side-income opportunities are available online, but people consistently struggle to find them because they face some or all of these issues:

• Don’t know where to find side jobs exactly (they usually only hear of popular crowded freelance platforms or business models that need capital and/or time to succeed: e-commerce, content creation, etc.)
• Have to put in a lot of time and effort searching on scattered job boards and platforms
• Are excluded from many good opportunities because of their location
• Have to deal with a lot of scammy opportunities
• Miss a lot of opportunities because they don’t know about them and never hear of them

The existing solutions fail to provide a centralized, trustworthy source adapted to Moroccans where side jobs are curated and delivered regularly. Let alone guidance, help, and tips to increase their chances in a very competitive market.

While such a platform can serve several types of users, there are 3 primary segments of users:

1. Moroccan professionals & students who want to earn side income alongside their full-time jobs/studies
2. Stay-at-home parents who want to have a flexible source of income
3. People who are seeking a more flexible lifestyle instead of a traditional full-time job

At this initial stage, I chose to focus on segment 1. This is because it’s the largest and most dominant segment spotted through my observation of online communities; this makes it the easiest segment to identify, research, and interview.

I combined an online survey with conversations and observations from Moroccan online communities where people discuss related topics (Reddit, Facebook groups, etc.), such as freelancing, remote work, and additional income opportunities.

The goal was not only to validate the existence of the problem, but also what this segment expects and needs from a solution.

The survey was posted in a Discord group of people who attended a paid course about side hustling for full-time Moroccan employees. The survey was filled out by 14 people in the first 8 hours.

The insights from the survey will be used to shape the product: 

• 64,3% prefer to do their side job hunting on weekends (they voted for Saturday as the best day for them), while 35,7% preferred Monday.
• They are willing to dedicate 10 to 30 hours to a side job (with 57,1% are willing to dedicate only 10 hours)
• Both Morocco-based and
• They have monetizable skills (either earned through their current studies/work or learned independently) and want to use them to generate side income

The MVP was solo-built and beta-launched: sidejobs.ma

Tools used: MailerLite, HTML & CSS, and APIs

One-sentence solution

Product intent:

A curated platform that gathers and delivers legitimate side job opportunities accessible from Morocco, saving users time and reducing missed opportunities.

The user needs just to subscribe and they will receive them on a regular weekly basis.

Reduce search cost + the cost of missed opportunities because of being unaware of them.

Core components

Although the product is still early-stage, several signals indicate real demand:

• 14 people filled my initial survey once I shared the idea in a limited discord community (a community of a dozen of Moroccan employees who took a course about side hustles)
• Growing number of subscribers (58 subs with 1 post in paid community)
• Average open rate is around 70%
• Churn rate is 0% from October 2024 to April 2026 (no one ever unsubscribed)
• Engagement through replies and community discussions
• Users suggesting additional services during feedback calls and expressing their interest in turning the newsletter into a more structured platform

The product also was featured on The Way Up HotSeat live.

Key risks

• Scalability of manual curation
• Long-term monetization strategy (the right business model to maintain the platform)
• Maintaining quality as volume grows and automation is on the table

Open questions

• What level of personalization users expect
• Which additional services would provide the most value (membership, application help, tooling, etc.)

Experiment with a paid tier (early access or premium curation)

Incorporating new offers, services, and digital products