Ethiopia’s talent marketplace, Afriwork, has successfully brought on board an impressive 300,000 users and is making a significant impact by assisting 50,000 SMEs in sourcing and hiring talent.
Founded in 2018, Afriwork specializes in offering small businesses an innovative Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution tailored to streamline their HR activities. The core objective is to facilitate connections between these enterprises and a diverse pool of talent.
CEO and co-founder Semegn Tadesse explained that Afriwork has developed a dynamic two-sided marketplace alongside its SaaS platform. This marketplace operates in synergy with the platform, creating a robust ecosystem that not only presents local job opportunities to skilled individuals but also opens doors to international prospects.
Tadesse stated, “Through this integrated approach, we empower businesses to efficiently manage their human resources while offering talented individuals a diverse range of career paths, both locally and globally.”
Experiencing rapid growth, the startup has successfully onboarded over 300,000 job seekers and facilitated more than 70,000 job matches to date. Tadesse highlighted the remarkable demand for their product since inception, with an impressive 90% word-of-mouth virality.
Afriwork addresses a critical market need in East Africa, where an alarming 50% of graduates grapple with unemployment annually, despite the presence of 30 million SMEs that constitute a significant source of employment.
Tadesse emphasized, “These SMEs are in a perpetual quest for talented individuals to propel their ventures forward. Simultaneously, the region witnesses the seamless integration of technology into the lives of 30 million social media users. This scenario sparked our innovation.”
As a self-funded venture now at break-even, Afriwork monetizes through subscriptions and an escrow-based two-sided marketplace for outsourcing services.
Initially confined to Ethiopia, the platform is now gearing up for expansion. Tadesse affirmed, “We are actively pursuing expansion plans to cover East Africa in the near future.”
Source: Disrupt Africa
