The Jobberman Story: Interview With Jobberman Co-Founder, Opeyemi Awoyemi

Globally, the trend of unemployment is an issue that often pose a major concern. While it has become a threat to socio-economic peace and stability in Africa; In Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation, it is one of the most worrying socio-economic incidence.

Yet, a recent report released by the International Labour Organisation, "repairing the economic and social fabric", warned that the number of globally unemployed persons could rise to 208 million by 2015, up from 200 million today.

A report recently released by the World Bank states that 56 per cent of the youths in Nigeria are unemployed.

On this note, three Nigerians- Opeyemi Awoyemi (25), Olalekan Olude (29) and Ayodeji Adewunmi (29), in 2009 during their undergraduate years at the Obafemi Awolowo University created a job website, Jobberman, where graduates can submit their Curriculum Vitae and get information about available jobs in Nigeria. 

Today, they have the bragging right as West Africa most popular job search engine and have the bragging rights as the No1 online job search engine in Nigeria. According to alexa.com, 

Jobberman is the fifth most visited site in Nigeria.

The company has since moved into Ghana, Nigeria’s close neighboring country and they have also achieved commendable success there, having attained the second most visited website in the country.

I spoke to one of the founders of Jobberman, Opeyemi Awokoya on behalf of Ventures Africa Magazine on the idea behind the business, their achievements and what they have learnt so far since they have started the business. He also gave tips on what is expected of job seekers/applicants and then shed light on some of the pressing issues encountered by the organisation.

Kindly introduce yourself to the readers

Opeyemi Awoyemi, 25, Technology Entrepreneur. I am presently focused on building Africa’s largest jobs website. I am also passionate about scalable and commercially viable products that stand the test of time and markets. I love Africa.

What inspired the founders of Jobberman to create a job website? Why did you venture into the business?

We saw a huge vacuum that could be filled with the tools provided by Technology. The idea to provide a solution to the problem of job search using technology and the power of the internet came to our heads and we decided to build a business out of the idea; providing the widest pool of talent available in Nigeria to employers.

We wanted the space to be creative. The goal at the time my partners and I started the business was to create a service that could impact on Nigerians; a business that was viable and could be used by millions of people.

What is Jobberman? Why do you choose to use the name?

Jobberman is a solution to the problem of job search. It’s an internet business which provides the widest pool of talent available in Nigeria to employers.

Four years ago, if you needed a job, you had to go around physically to offices dropping your CVs, or buy a physical newspaper to see the jobs available in town. Jobberman was at the forefront of making jobs info available as well as making job applications as simple as possible.

Today, Jobberman is the platform (print and online combined) with the highest number of jobs and jobseekers in West Africa.

As for the name, a friend suggested the name and it sounded cool and we decided to use it.

You established Jobberman as an undergraduate; did you foresee the acceptance you have now from the inception?

Our risk appetite was high. We were willing to go all the way in achieving our set objectives. We understood that it would take a lot of risk, notwithstanding in our own opinion, the barriers were low – all that was needed was hard work and relentlessness; we knew that if we continued delivering value we would garner a lot of acceptance.

Of course we weren’t sure 100 percent; every new day in business was a miracle.

How is the site funded? 

Funding came at first from our stipends, money from family and friends and other pools of other fund.

In December 2009, Chika Nwobi of L5Lab approached the team and we finally met in January 2010 after which we entered into a strategic equity partnership.

In August 2010, after about a year of starting the company, Tiger Global (portfolio includes LinkedIn and Facebook) invested a million dollars in the business.

You operate mainly in Ghana and Nigeria; any plan for expansion into other parts of the continent? How do you manage the present ones?

Yes, we do have plans for expansion into other parts of the continent; it takes time and lot of planning if you really want to win. We do have offices in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana where operations for the countries are managed. Technology is however centralized – from Lagos, Nigeria.

What has been the acceptance like in Ghana?

Awesome, I must say. Jobberman Ghana is the second most visited website in Ghana. We achieved this by going local, understanding the Ghanaian market and job seeking culture and this helped a lot.

What’s presently your staff strength?

We have a staff strength of about 60 awesome people.

Approximately, how many companies do you liaise with to get applications posted on your website?

More than 7000 companies at the moment, and we’ve not peaked yet. This keeps growing every day.

Aside posting job applications on website, does Jobberman have additional service it renders?

Our objective is to be the destination place for Employers and companies to get the right people. For companies, we offer a fully featured Applicant Tracking System which allows in-CV searching, resume database search and communication tools.

We also provide Career Services to candidates - they are able to request for an appraisal or makeover of their CVs and help with cover letters.

Since Jobberman was created in 2009, has there been a wrong move that you have made that could have caused a setback for the business? If yes, what was it and how did you manage the situation?

If you say setback, I will say none. There are steps (internal and externally) that we’ve taken and had to retract. We’re a start-up and being nimble and swift has helped us to make these mistakes and correct them as quickly as possible.

There has been complain by members of the public about the addition of premiums to your service or offer; why is Jobberman introducing premium payments knowing that your target audiences are job seekers who peradventure cannot afford to pay? And how does this premium service operate?

Premium Membership was an upsell to or Free/Basic service. A premium member had access to view more data about companies as well as apply for unlimited jobs on the website. Free members were limited to a number of jobs.

What we’ve discovered is that clear communication is very important in Africa as people do a lot of “surface” conclusions. We have since improved on the communication bit and increased the number of applications free users can get.

This I believe, saying jobseekers cannot afford to pay for a service is erroneous and misleading. Airtime, Transport, Internet Access -all these are paid for. It should also be noted that over 80 percent of users on Jobberman are employed people looking for better opportunities out there.

I think the focus should be on the value they get from the Premium in comparison to the Basic/Free service.

We have also made advertising of vacancies free for companies so that there will be no inhibitions to job seekers gaining access to all the jobs.

Hotnigeriajob accused Jobberman of imitating its job advert with impunity; what is Jobberman’s defence to this accusation? 

All advertisers on Jobberman are spoken to by Jobberman sales staff. Quite often, an advertiser will ask us to use existing copy of a particular vacancy from their website, HR system or another source on the internet to make it easy for them.

Like all sales organisations, individuals in the sales team are incentivised to find new sales leads for new customers. The team definitely look at other local job websites, although we do not have any express policy around this. This is common practice by all websites in our space and pretty much any sales organisation anywhere.

I would suggest you ask HotNigerianJobs to confirm that they have never copied a single job advert from another source in this way, or looked at any other website to find new customers.

They also express in the article that they are OK with Jobberman reposting their ads - even though that is not our policy - but don't like us charging jobseekers for those jobs. This is also totally misleading, since Jobberman jobseekers can use the site for free up to a certain cap.

Our attempts to reach out to them have proved fruitless (the site has no address or contact details), and it is unfortunate that they are not able to just pick up the phone to resolve such an issue rather than trying to use the media to try get some mileage out of it.

So, why do you think social entrepreneurs fail and what does it take to be a successful social entrepreneur?

You need to know where your ROI will come from. Lot of social entrepreneurs fail because they do not fully define the goals and metrics of the business. If you are not going to make profit, then you need donors not investors. To get donors, you must be making ultra-massive impact in a way that helps the donor’s PR or intent.

Social entrepreneurship is measured by the impact of a social change achieved and when impact is difficult to measure failure is imminent.

You have the bragging right as the business that redefines online recruitment in Nigeria, what is the company doing at the moment to sustain the Jobberman brand as the No1 online job search engine in Nigeria?

We are continuously working on our products to make sure that they deliver more value to our users. We’ve also intensified in our partnership efforts to make the brand more visible across the country. Key initiatives are going on in conjunction with the biggest brands in Nigeria in media, telecommunications, non-profits and the Federal and State Governments at different levels/capacities.

How do you keep up with competitors with so many job sites springing up? What is the competitive advantage Jobberman have over other website that will keep it going as a leader among its peers?

Solid management team, knowledgeable institutional investors who are veterans in the global job space, already established brand. I think what is important now is for us to continue to deliver superior value. As they say, “just don’t mess it up”.

Jobberman was recently represented at the Nigerian Blogger fair. How do you think bloggers can blog profitably?

Most blogs will never be profitable, this is a fact. However, profitability will increase generally over time with increase in quantity and quality of online traffic in the Nigerian internet space.

I think bloggers need to choose niches and stick with it as well.

At the moment, there are only a few outliers, LindaIkeji, BellaNaija, OMG et al; so it’s a time, chance and demography game.

How do you think investors can help tech startups in Nigeria?

Cash first. Business knowledge follows. Any other thing is more yadayada than real stuff.

Will you say tech startups are finding it easier now than when you started your business in 2009?

It has become more difficult than it was in 2009. The entrants in the tech start ups have increased geometrically. It is definitely difficult to build say... another Jumia or Jobberman now. But opportunities abound for people with original and innovative ideas. I personally would love to see less of websites offering basic stuff and more of paid services and software-hardware hybrid projects.

What do you think job seekers/applicants are doing wrong which they need to correct to make their CV look more favourable?

My advice to jobseekers:  There are thousands of people like you out there. Don’t just list your educational qualifications. Sell your skills and uniqueness to employers in your CV. Mention things you’ve done. Add growth numbers or anything that shows how much of a superstar you are. Let your CV look professional, search online for samples or let a good CV writer help you out.

What do you think should be the paramount thing to remember/do in a job interview?

Know as much as you can about the company, their business model and the role you’re applying for. Be confident and communicate clearly. You should also be objective with your answers to questions; recruiters dislike those who beat around subject matters.

If you are to devise a logical means that will help tackle unemployment rate in Nigeria; what will that be?

I will quote Governor Fashola of Lagos State here - The ultimate answer to finding a solution to unemployment and joblessness lies in three simple words which is “Made in Nigeria” as no other nation has done it another way.

So to get to "Made in Nigeria", we must innovate and be creative. Innovation requires us to start looking for new and more efficient ways of doing the same thing. Creativity is the hand maid of innovation which suggests we must develop things for ourselves.

Where do you see Jobberman at the end of this decade?

I see Jobberman becoming the #1 recruitment destination in Africa – online or offline – in terms of revenue, jobseekers, employers and traffic. I also see a truly respected pan-African Internet franchise.

Thank you, Opeyemi. Good luck in your endeavours.