Three students had time on their hands in the summer of
2009 when their university lecturers in Nigeria went on
strike.
Instead of slacking off, Ayodeji Adewunmi, Olalekan Olude
and Opeyemi Awoyemi started an online job search
company.
Five years later their start-up, Jobberman, has got a multi-
million dollar valuation, employs 125 people, and is still
growing.
While Nigeria is Africa's largest economy it still has
massive unemployment problems, in particular among
young people who are also more likely to be connected to
the internet.
Jobberman has become the single largest job placement
website in sub-Saharan Africa, helping over 35,000 people
find jobs within the last two years.
The number of companies using the site to find employees
has grown from about 40 in 2009 to some 35,000 today.
Carrying between 500 and 1,000 jobs on the site every day,
the founders estimate that there are about 1,000 active
users searching for a job at any given time.
"The growth has been tremendous, it's at rocket speed. One
of the biggest challenges has been to keep up with the
volume of work," says Olalekan.
Overcoming fraud fears
However, there have been other challenges along the way.
"In the beginning a lot of people did not trust an internet-
based business because at that time a lot of people were
using the internet to perpetuate fraud here in Nigeria," he
says.
But as other online businesses thrived and became trusted,
so Jobberman thrived. Companies would dip their toe in the
water with one or two postings and then when they trusted
the site they would come back. In 2012 some of Jobberman's clients wanted to use the site
to find workers in Ghana and so the company took its first
work outside Nigeria.
Two years later it says it is now the biggest online job site
in Ghana as well as Nigeria.
The company is now expanding its reach to Kenya with a
partner called Brighter Monday. The partnership also gives
it a footprint in Uganda and Tanzania.
Some people find a job through the site without actually
applying for one.
Amarachi Apakama uploaded her details and was
approached by a company to take the position of executive
assistant at a mobile phone content company.
"That really changed my life," she says. "It was a morale
booster. It helped my confidence - the fact that my interests
and my experience put together such a good fit that I didn't
have to apply for the job."
Multiplier effect
"It is incredibly fulfilling helping people to become
economically empowered by getting job placements via
Jobberman," founder Ayodeji Adewunmi says.
"One company recruited more than 80% of their employees
through the site. Another time, a director was able to hire a
former colleague in the United States to come and work for
his company here in Lagos. All amazing stories."
Olalekan Olude adds: "If you put food on the table by virtue
of getting a job for someone, that person also fends for a
mother, or a brother and you create a multiplier effect within
that household.
"And anytime we get to hear of such stories, we are very,
very happy. It motivates us, it makes us look forward into
the future and try and get more people to get more jobs."
http://m.bbc.com/news/business-29013286?ocid=africa_AfricaEntrepreneurs_ppc_outbrain

Yoruba boys number for ever!!!!!!No competition

Interesting story! Many Nigerian youths ought to emulate this, not just in online business alone; they should explore entrepreneurship ideas and opportunities even as students- don't wait till you graduate because it won't be easy once u graduate.

But Seun Osewa is the king of them all- I respect him for nurturing this forum to what it is today. May God bless all hardworking Nigerian youths doing legal busineses to survive