Safaricom is set to launch a subscription-based mobile solution that will connect job seekers with employers. FILE
What you need to know:
The mobile solution dubbed ‘Job Finder’ is among six identified by Vodafone for introduction in 12 African countries where it operates.
Vodafone will be introducing the ‘Job Finder’ through Safaricom and strengthen other five solutions in use in Kenya but on trial runs.
Safaricom is set to launch a subscription-based mobile solution that will connect job seekers with employers to boost data business.
The mobile solution dubbed ‘Job Finder’ is among six identified by Vodafone for introduction in 12 African countries where it operates.
The solutions include mIdentity, a personality verification tool targeted at companies for workers and customers, payroll management for the unbanked (mPayroll) and mLearning, which delivers training via a mobile device.
Others are employee management application, Worker Panel, and Fieldforce enablement, which provide remote access to corporate systems like workers and customers.
Vodafone will be introducing the ‘Job Finder’ through Safaricom and strengthen the other five solutions in use in Kenya but on trial runs.
“We anticipate that the solutions will stimulate demand just the way M-Pesa has been able to revolutionise the payment services and deepening financial inclusion in Kenya,” said Andrew Dunnett, Vodafone Group’s director of Sustainability at a press event in Nairobi on Wednesday.
The operators are seeking to capture Kenya’s talent market with the ‘Job Finder’, which will help workers identity entry level jobs and help reduce the cost of hiring through screening potential employees. Subscription rates will be released on the day of launch.
MPayroll is being used by the Kenya National Examination Council to pay supervisors through M-Pesa while EABL is using Fieldforce to link its workers with beer distributors.
Co-operatives and saccos are using the mIdentity for bulk payments through M-Pesa - which saw sales from the mobile money service increased 29.5 per cent to Sh21.8 billion in the year to March.
Safaricom and Vodafone want to upgrade these solutions to commercial products after test.
Stagnant earnings
The rising use of tablets and smartphones is increasing data usage across the country as young and tech-savvy population turn to the Internet for information.
Safaricom’s sales from mobile data grew 21 per cent to Sh6.3 billion, which is five per cent of the firm’s Sh124.3 billion revenues.
Vodafone, which owns 40 per cent of Safaricom, is boosting investments in its African businesses as higher growth rates promise relief from stagnant earnings in Europe.
In addition to Vodacom’s customers in South Africa, the DRC, Mozambique, Tanzania and Lesotho, Vodafone serves users in Egypt and Ghana where it has a 70 per cent stake in Vodafone Ghana.
Vodafone earned Sh7.2 billion from dividends and royalty fees on M-Pesa from Safaricom in the year to March.
