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afringa Snapshot
ough times stimulating progress
Afringa was founded in 2018. The company was bootstrappedat first, but it didn’t take long until a few business angels saw the potential of the SaaS HR Platform being developed. Things were looking bright, with some experts saying that the video based HR-SaaS has a better shot at conquering Africa than LinkedIn.
However, a black swan appeared: the corona pandemic. With the covid-scare and lockdowns, Afringa saw a huge decline in activity on the platform. Thien: “New employments have gone down with our clients and hence sales has been a challenge over the past months.”
Instead of mourning the opportunities lost, Afringa decided to use the relative rest to further develop the platform. Thien: “As an entrepreneur, it’s important to be able to adapt to changing circumstances as well as to change course quickly.” He continues to explain that the corona-crisis has only served to focus even more on the clients and users, “listening for customer feedback as they had to adapt to changing circumstances, too.”
Soon, the Afringa Academy was released: “Through the Afringa academy we are supporting young girls and boys to get an understanding for basic job skill requirements such as ‘How to apply for a job’,’CV and interview preparation’ as well as basic digital skills such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. Content is being taught via videos as well as a three-month course.”
Afringa was founded in 2018. The company was bootstrappedat first, but it didn’t take long until a few business angels saw the potential of the SaaS HR Platform being developed. Things were looking bright, with some experts saying that the video based HR-SaaS has a better shot at conquering Africa than LinkedIn.
However, a black swan appeared: the corona pandemic. With the covid-scare and lockdowns, Afringa saw a huge decline in activity on the platform. Thien: “New employments have gone down with our clients and hence sales has been a challenge over the past months.”
Instead of mourning the opportunities lost, Afringa decided to use the relative rest to further develop the platform. Thien: “As an entrepreneur, it’s important to be able to adapt to changing circumstances as well as to change course quickly.” He continues to explain that the corona-crisis has only served to focus even more on the clients and users, “listening for customer feedback as they had to adapt to changing circumstances, too.”
Soon, the Afringa Academy was released: “Through the Afringa academy we are supporting young girls and boys to get an understanding for basic job skill requirements such as ‘How to apply for a job’,’CV and interview preparation’ as well as basic digital skills such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. Content is being taught via videos as well as a three-month course.”
A farewell to cover letters
Victor Thien decided that something had to be done. Thien explains the vision behind Afringa: “I founded the Afringaonline employment platform with the vision and mission to help young jobseekers across African countries to find job opportunities and apply to them more easily. On the other hand, the recruiting process should be more simple and easy for local and international companies hiring in African countries.”
One of the most notable characteristics of Afringa is that the platform has no room for cover letters. Instead, Afringa relies heavily on the cover videos candidates can upload to the platform. On a content where literacy is only 70% (compared to the worlds’ average of 90%), this is a huge step. It empowers job seekers, while opening a whole new pool of potential employees for employers.
Thien: “Job seekers can record a short video of themselves introducing their motivation, personality and willingness to learn.”
Cover videos save time
A potential downside of this approach is that it takes the ability to quickly scan, or “laterally read” the cover letters. According to Thien, however, this is not an issue. Quite the opposite: “Companies, in turn, don’t have to go through 1000 job applications and attachments anymore because only the candidates that are really serious about the job are willing to record the video. As a result, the number of job applications and time spent on reviewing applications has been significantly reduced for companies.”
Good business
While the method of applying is radically different, the business model of Afringa is a familiar one. Candidates can use the platform without any subscription, or fees. Anyone with an email-address can create a profile and start applying.
The revenues Afringa generates come from employers, who pay for job advertisements and the recruiting services provided by the platform. Employers post a video advertisement and receive two videos from applicants, one in which they introduce themselves and their motivation, much as in a cover letter. In the other video which they work on a given case, showing their skills and capacities much better than any resume could do.
Victor Thien decided that something had to be done. Thien explains the vision behind Afringa: “I founded the Afringaonline employment platform with the vision and mission to help young jobseekers across African countries to find job opportunities and apply to them more easily. On the other hand, the recruiting process should be more simple and easy for local and international companies hiring in African countries.”
One of the most notable characteristics of Afringa is that the platform has no room for cover letters. Instead, Afringa relies heavily on the cover videos candidates can upload to the platform. On a content where literacy is only 70% (compared to the worlds’ average of 90%), this is a huge step. It empowers job seekers, while opening a whole new pool of potential employees for employers.
Thien: “Job seekers can record a short video of themselves introducing their motivation, personality and willingness to learn.”
Cover videos save time
A potential downside of this approach is that it takes the ability to quickly scan, or “laterally read” the cover letters. According to Thien, however, this is not an issue. Quite the opposite: “Companies, in turn, don’t have to go through 1000 job applications and attachments anymore because only the candidates that are really serious about the job are willing to record the video. As a result, the number of job applications and time spent on reviewing applications has been significantly reduced for companies.”
Good business
While the method of applying is radically different, the business model of Afringa is a familiar one. Candidates can use the platform without any subscription, or fees. Anyone with an email-address can create a profile and start applying.
The revenues Afringa generates come from employers, who pay for job advertisements and the recruiting services provided by the platform. Employers post a video advertisement and receive two videos from applicants, one in which they introduce themselves and their motivation, much as in a cover letter. In the other video which they work on a given case, showing their skills and capacities much better than any resume could do.
