Recruitment Technology 35: Africa Market Map

Published 23 November 2020
Image of post

The recruitment industry will likely have an important role to play in Africa’s economic recovery as governments’ begin their tentative steps out of coronavirus (COVID-19) enforced lock-down. The necessary restrictions imposed to control the spread of the disease are likely to have had economic consequences which will be acutely felt in the job market. But Recruitment Technology companies across Africa understand finding your next role isn’t simply a numbers game. We look at 35 start-ups that are helping to support the talent-matching process.

According to AfricaCheck, a fact checking service, the 2020 youth unemployment rates in NigeriaSouth Africa and Kenya are 34.5%, 43.2% and 11.4% respectively. While it should be said that these figures are calculated in different ways, and therefore not directly comparable, they do offer a guide to the challenge facing job seekers across the continent.

The unemployment rate is in reality far more nuanced than simply a measure of the number of job seekers. Since there is no globally-agreed methodology, each country records this rate differently. Broadly, the measure considers both unemployed and underemployed populations and helps shed a light on the impact of seasonal unemployment, urbanisation, and structural shifts in the composition of the economy.

Going Beyond the Resume

Following on from TalentQL’s recent $0.3 million USD raise in November 2020, we took a look at talent matching and talent development companies across Africa. In total RecruitmentTech companies in Africa have raised $8.3 million USD in disclosed funding across 2020. Our market map of 35 HR-tech companies highlights start-ups and scale-ups solving issues along the recruitment value chain in Africa; from long-term recruitment to improving the visibility of freelance and developer resourcing.

Supporting Talent Development and Recruitment across Africa

Tackling the unemployment problem is going to take a macro-level and government-led approach. However, the role of recruitment technology should not be underplayed. The importance of networking, vocational training and even expectation setting not only impacts the speed at which roles are filled but the churn of dissatisfied new hires that have been recently recruited.

While many of our 35 highlighted companies use technology, such as Artificial Intelligence, to help match candidates to roles and thereby create a more targeted recruitment pipeline. Many companies also offer training courses and online networking events to ensure that applicants are job-ready and interview-ready. However, improving the recruitment process isn’t going to be solved by focussing on the applicant alone.

In a recent interview with the Baobab Insights team, Harriet Kariuki, co-founder of The Afrijob Network explains “A key challenge remains in finding skilled potential candidates that are contextualised with company’s culture. Information asymmetry remains a big barrier when it comes matching candidates with companies.” The Afrijob Network recognises that this information asymmetry sometimes ignores the passion and drive of the applicant, as Harriet goes on to explain; “candidates are not aware of the company’s culture while on the other hand companies do not know what talented potential candidates are truly passionate about”.

Working with both sides of the recruitment process is where technology companies can really add value. Helping to connect the skilled workforce present across African markets to compassionate and empathetic employer’s is going to be ever-more important as the longer-term economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic begins to be felt.

Know someone helping to match talent to roles in Africa? Let us know if we have missed anyone from our recruitment technology map.

For more updates, check out our LinkedIn or give us a follow on Twitter.

This article was first published in November 2020.