Technites Africa has launched a revolutionary digital platform which offers one of the widest range of on-demand services and instantly connects customers to independent service providers (highly skilled individuals, SMEs and Corporates) for the delivery of quality domestic and enterprise solutions in the formal and informal sectors.
“The biggest challenge Africa faces is extremely high unemployment among its youth and most skilled professionals who have found themselves struggling to find any work in the formal and informal sectors of their nations.
“This platform provides an opportunity for every skilled professional in Africa to be recognised and to be brought back into the job market without applying to an employer. Once registered on the platform, the jobs comes to you, instead of you looking for the job” said Rahul Patel, COO of Technites Africa
He said the platform includes modules for ‘business to consumer’ services (B2C), ‘business to business’ (B2B), ‘business to government’ (B2G), a skills training academy (The Technites Academy), as well as Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality solutions, creating the foundations for Africa’s biggest digital market place.
The recent launch in Zimbabwe initially focuses on the ‘business to consumer’ platform which connects customers to service providers covering over 50 different domestic and commercial services. These range from domestic repairs/services (plumbing, appliance and electrical repairs, landscaping), beauty services, satellite, IT domestic and commercial installations (satellite, mechanical, IT, electronics), all the way to events management, beauty services, home care, and construction.
“A Technite is any skilled professional with auditable qualifications who offers any of the services that are on the platform. So to us a maid is a Technite, just like a plumber is a Technite. A tutor is a Technite, just like a motor mechanic is a Technite” said Dorothy Zimuto, CEO of Technites Zimbabwe.
“Technites is a futureproof way of creating employment which recognises the skills that and individual or SME has while digitally pooling all the jobs that exist in a market. That is what is revolutionary about Technites.”
To access the digital market place, the platform integrates two Apps: a Customer App and a Service Provider App. The two Apps speak to each other to provide an Uber-like experience, complete with GPS maps to indicate the location of the customer and service prover simultaneously.
Technites Africa has gone to great lengths to ensure that every Service Provider who comes onto the platform has been vetted – security screened through the Police and that all their qualifications have been checked and uploaded to the platform. The platform has also integrated mobile and other payment solutions for ease of transactions, and these have been structured in a manner that ensures that no payment is released before a customer is happy with the job.
Similarly, the platform eliminates the risk faced by Service Providers where customers refuse or fail to pay after a job is successfully completed. To deal with this, funds are moved into an escrow (holding) account at the commencement of a task. The service also includes public liability and insurance, to protect both the customer and the Service Providers from possible prejudice.
Each Technites gets rated every time they do a job. Before a customer selects a service provider they can actually see what their service delivery levels are like, based on the reviews given by previous customers.
Zimuto said the app will enable Technites to access a wider market, work flexi-times and turn their skills into cash.
“The Technites digital market place, apart from having a huge impact on skilled individuals, will open significant opportunities for SMEs and corporates. For example, a construction company can hire a fully skilled workforce of Technites who do not sit on their payroll. SME’s and corporates can also access the skills they need for any period on the Technites platform,” explained Zimuto.
Meanwhile, Patel said Technites has already started rolling out these services in over nine African countries including, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Botswana, and Zambia.