From Casablanca to Nairobi, from Senegal to South Africa: Kernel secures your relationships with African independent contractors. Local contracts, multi-currency payments, tax compliance and misclassification risk under control, all from a single platform, across the 54 countries of Africa.
Active mission
Full-stack developerQualified African contractors have become a strategic resource for European and international companies. They bring deep technical expertise, time zones compatible with Europe and predictable cost structures. But contracting them without exposing your company requires a precise understanding of local labour law, contractor taxation and qualification rules across each country. Without a proper framework, you expose your business to misclassification claims, tax reassessments and payments blocked by local banks. Kernel offers two levels of response, depending on your needs: Kernel Freelance to streamline the administrative and financial management of a contractor you have already identified, and Kernel COR (Contractor of Record) to go further and hold the local service contract on your behalf.
Onboard a contractor within a few days, sign a compliant service contract from the first mission, track deliverables in a dedicated workspace. You keep the operational relationship, Kernel secures the framework.
Centralised invoicing, multi-currency tracked payments, verified contractor tax status and consolidated reporting ready for closing. Your finance team owns the African contractor mass again, without depending on each local bank.
Depending on the nature of the mission, you do not need the same level of protection. Kernel offers two clear tiers, activable separately or sequentially. You start with Kernel Freelance, and switch to Kernel COR when the mission gets longer, more sensitive or more strategic.
Administrative and financial management of your contractors.
You identify and sign with the contractor. Kernel frames the relationship administratively: template contract, centralised invoicing, multi-currency payments, baseline documentary compliance. The contractor remains legally engaged with you.
Contractor of Record: Kernel holds the local contract.
Kernel becomes the legal local principal of the contractor. You sign with Kernel, Kernel signs with the contractor in their country. You neutralise misclassification risk, secure intellectual property and get full tax protection.
Kernel structures every contractor mission in five clear steps. At any moment, you know where each contractor stands, what has been signed, invoiced, paid and filed. HR, finance and legal teams work from the same base.
Collection of contractor data, identity verification, validation of local tax status, signature of a compliant service contract.
Tracking of deliverables and mission duration, management of amendments, extensions and ramp-ups within the dedicated workspace.
Centralised monthly invoice issuance, client validation, documentary verification before payment.
Contractor disbursement in local currency or international currency, via the most appropriate rail (SWIFT, SEPA, mobile money).
Clean mission close with final settlement, or seamless switch to Kernel COR or Kernel EOR if the relationship evolves.
Paying an African contractor takes more than a bank transfer. Local banks filter inbound flows, some currencies are not easily acquired internationally, and mobile money is sometimes the only viable rail. Kernel masters all three axes: currencies, rails, documentary compliance.
Disbursement in local currency or international currency, depending on country constraints and the contractor’s preference.
International SWIFT, SEPA in the euro zone, mobile money where relevant (M-Pesa, Orange Money, MTN MoMo, Wave).
Locally compliant invoices, collected supporting documents, up-to-date KYC, full traceability for your audits.
Whenever a contractor cannot be paid through standard rails, Kernel activates a selected local banking partner to secure the flow and compliance.
Kernel mobilises owned teams in its priority markets and a selected network of legal and financial partners across the rest of the continent. The contractor is paid in their local currency, under a contract compliant with their jurisdiction, with a single Kernel point of contact on your side.
MACasablanca, Rabat
CIAbidjan
SNDakar
NGLagos
KENairobi
ZACape Town, JohannesburgPlus 48 additional countries activable through the Kernel selected partner network.
See all our locationsThe risk of reclassifying a contractor as an employee does not depend on the contract title, but on the reality of the relationship. Seven key criteria help to assess this risk, and their interpretation varies across African jurisdictions. Kernel screens each criterion at onboarding and raises an alert whenever a signal becomes concerning during the mission.
When the risk becomes significant, Kernel proposes a switch to Kernel COR or Kernel EOR. The conversion is seamless for the contractor and does not break the operational memory of your teams.
Does the contractor receive daily instructions like an employee?
Do they work only for you, without other clients?
Has the relationship lasted several years without interruption?
Do they use exclusively your equipment and accounts?
Do they systematically work from your offices?
Are they paid hourly or monthly, like an employee?
Do they appear in your org chart or internal communications?
If the mission is clear but the contractor still has to be found, Kernel teams activate their African pool of qualified contractors. Tech, design, data, marketing, finance, legal, support: you get a shortlist within a few days, already aligned with your budget and time zone.
Tell us your countries, the number of contractors involved and the nature of the missions. A Kernel expert comes back within 24 hours with a recommendation between Kernel Freelance and Kernel COR, and a detailed quote.
Detailed pricing on the Pricing page, kept up to date.
One platform, eight services articulated around the key moments of your African operations.
Hire and pay employees across all 54 African countries, without setting up a local entity.
Find and hire qualified African talent across all roles and seniority levels.
Run and pay your multi-country African teams from a single interface, in full local compliance.
Provide your African teams with reliable workspaces, under a single contract and one Kernel contact.
Equip your African teams through our network of local IT providers, with Kernel co-piloting.
Set up your subsidiary in all 54 African countries, with end-to-end local legal support.
Centralize all your African HR needs in a single platform: EOR, payroll, recruitment, contractors, compliance.
