State-owned power utility Eskom is developing a crowdsourcing digital platform to allow it to supplement its existing skills base to help address its operational challenges. It has invited organisations and individuals, including experienced engineers and technical experts, to participate.

The platform will act as a skills database for Eskom to acquire additional expertise and to resolve its urgent business needs.

Skills that are needed include, but are not limited to, mechanical, nuclear, electrical, system and maintenance skills, as well as senior artisans and plant operators for coal and nuclear power stations.

Skilled individuals interested in assisting Eskom will be able to register on the digital platform once it is developed. In the meantime, they are being asked to contact Eskom human resources executive Elsie Pule at crowdsourcing@eskom.co.za.

“Eskom looks forward to collaborating with South African citizens to address the current electricity supply challenges facing the country,” Eskom CE André de Ruyter says.

“A diverse cross-section of South Africans have sent enquiries and made themselves available to respond to the call to national service. Eskom is in the process of matching the skills that have already been made available to its needs and will be recruiting the suitable candidates imminently,” he adds.

Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining information or input into a task or project by enlisting the services of a large number of people, either paid or unpaid, typically through a digital platform.

As South Africa has a pool of skilled persons, crowdsourcing of these skills may offer a unique opportunity for available and willing citizens to support Eskom to resolve its business challenges.

“In order for Eskom to reap the highest benefit from this diversity of skills, it must also develop a governance mechanism and a platform that will provide equitable opportunity to all those willing to be considered for service,” says Pule.

“The process will be driven by the needs of Eskom and will follow a standard governance process for fixed-term contracting.”

The crowdsourcing initiative will also leverage partnerships with statutory and non-statutory bodies, such as the Engineering Council of South Africa and others, to ensure Eskom is able to access the best candidates in the electricity supply industry, engineering and technical professions.

In recent months, Eskom has received an overwhelming response to its call for skilled personnel to come forward to assist in rebuilding skills inside the organisation, and numerous organisations and individuals have come forward to respond to this critical call for national service.

This crowdsourcing initiative was prompted by several offers and submissions received from organisations and individuals, including experienced engineers and technical experts, who have indicated that they could potentially assist Eskom.