Names: Christiaan van den Berg and Heine Bellingan
Company: JOBJACK
Business Line: Online marketplace for entry level jobs
Contact: +27 (0) 81 539 4436
Website: www.jobjack.co.za
1) Can you briefly tell us a bit about yourselves including your full names:
Christiaan van den Berg - 25 years old and basically bald (almost CA (S.A.))
Heine Bellingan CA (S.A.) - 27 years old and monopoly card champion
2) Can you please tell us about what you do? What is JOBJACK all about and why was it created?
JOBJACK is an online marketplace for entry-level jobs, this is to say a go-to-website/app for any job not requiring any qualification above high-school. JOBJACK was created to disrupt the status quo of applying/finding entry-level jobs by dropping off paper CVs and/or finding the entry-level candidates by sifting through boxes of paper CVs. At the moment entry level jobs seekers spend an average of R550 per month on printing and transport cost (City Press) in search of entry-level jobs. This means that the 6mil+ entry-level jobs seekers are wasting up to R40bil per year. This is a problem that needs solving. On the other side of the market you have big retailers with thousands of unfilled jobs, because they are unable to find relevant candidates. This is another problem that needs solving.
3) What inspired you to venture into your line of work and who supported you along the way?
*Where did you get the financial backing to start your business?
We have always wanted to invent something that helps people and improves the quality of life whilst building a sustainable business - this industry is a major problem all around the world and no-one is bold enough to take it on - we saw the gap and took it. We had a proof of concept (ran the app manually through word-of-mouth organizing) and then got some angel investors to help us along the way. We're in the process of raising a seed round of funding as JOBJACK only works at scale due to the very low cost of using the platform for businesses (Free for job seekers).
4) How has your journey been as a young entrepreneurs behind a growing brand?
It has been fascinating as we have noticed that we can look at challenges in a fresh way - we do however feel that our openness to receive advice has carried us a long way as well.
5) What are some of the challenges you have endured and how have you overcome these?
Some of the challenges was ensuring that we start with and sustain the right culture in our working place, both coming from an accounting background we know what needs to be put in to get the job done, but we wanted a free working environment and balancing these two has been our biggest challenge - but we have started to overcome this by being open and frank about everyone performance backed up with goal setting and in-time performance evaluation.
6) Why should anyone use your services or products?
It makes life (finding entry level jobs/employees) as easy as its ever going to be. It saves costs and time. It is 10x easier to find relevant candidates for entry-level jobs than the status quo ("Sifting through boxes op paper CVs of 100ds of PDF CVs from Gumtree")
7) Its quiet clear that you have broken ground and you are doing well. Where do you see yourself in the near future?
We see ourselves as the go to place to find entry level jobs and entry level employees. After establishing ourselves in South Africa we'll be looking to jump borders into the rest of Africa (We've already done a successful pilot in Nairobi, Kenya).
8) What advice would you best give to young entrepreneurs who like to venture into your line of work?
Do not settle for mediocrity, think big and back yourself. Start simplistic to get the small things right, this will give you a feeling of validation and thus motivate you take on the next big step!
9) If it hadnt been JOBJACK, where could both of you had been right now?
Probably working on a few other ideas we have - we are going to the change the world one way or another.
Social media platforms:
Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/jobjackapp/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jobjackapp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JOBJACKApp
LinkedIn:
