‘A full-time career in the gig economy? Think twice.’

Syed Saddiq listening intently as riders explain their concerns about Foodpanda’s new remuneration scheme.

THE gig economy is capitalism at its most brutal. Everybody wants to create the next “unicorn” – disrupting conventional businesses on a global scale like Airbnb and Netflix.

However, potential champions often end up like WeWork, whose botched initial public offering (IPO) in August saw its putative valuation plummet 75% from US$40bil to US$10bil and its long-haired, pot-smoking founder, Adam Neumann leave in disgrace. According to recent media reports, the perennially money-losing concern could now be facing a cash-crunch.