Nigerian recruitment and skills training company Jobberman has announced Rolake Rosiji as its new chief executive officer.
According to a Jobberman statement, Rosiji will “continue the work of establishing Jobberman as the primary platform for job searching, talent acquisition and transforming workplace productivity across Nigeria.”
She takes over the reins from Hilda Kragha who was CEO for 18 months until she was appointed as managing director of ROAM Africa’s Jobs across Africa last October. ROAM Africa, which owns a suite of online marketplaces across Africa, acquired Jobberman in 2012.
Jobberman continues its evolution from a founder-led company to one principally driven by its parent company’s strategic goals.
It was founded in 2009 by three Nigerian undergraduates to cater to companies’ demand for quality employees and fill the job search gap in Nigeria.
In the decade since then, the company has weathered competition from online and offline startups, and remains a go-to source for talent and employment for job seekers and employees alike. ROAM Africa oversaw Jobberman’s acquisition of NG Careers last year, consolidating its leadership at the apex of Nigeria’s recruitment-tech space.
Africa’s working-age population is expected to grow by 450 million people by 2035 but the continent needs between 12 to 15 million jobs annually to match its expanding labour force.
Underemployment amongst Nigerian youth between 15 – 34 years rose to 57% in Q2 2020, according to Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics.
Despite a rapid rise in global platforms matching talent to jobs – LinkedIn, Fiverr, Stack Overflow Jobs, GitHub – there remains an opportunity for Africa-conscious solutions for the broader problem of creating a talent pipeline for startups and established companies.
“I don’t believe that international one-size-fits-all solutions are a good fit for African markets and employers,” ROAM Africa CEO Clemens Weitz, told TechCabal last year.
Until her appointment, Rosiji was the Nigeria country manager for M-KOPA, an asset-financing platform with operations across East Africa, and Nigeria. Her mandate will be to lead Jobberman’s ambitions to deepen the use of tech in solving unemployment challenges in Nigeria.
“I look forward to steering the company vision to build a market of greater technology adoption, democratic access and transparency that will tackle dominant challenges, notably youth unemployment and underemployment,” she said.
Jobberman says Rosiji’s focus will be to “broaden the impact beyond the white-collar space and continue to work closely with Jobberman’s impact partners in tackling youth unemployment in Nigeria.”
One of those partners is the Mastercard Foundation with whom Jobberman aims to upskill 5 million young Nigerians in five years.
