Blue-collar job site M-WAKS launches to help you find workers

M-WAKS, a new platform by Kenya’s Dreamwaks Ltd has launched to help companies to hire, rate and verify workers specifically in the gig economy.

M-WAKS aims to be a bridge that connects employers to blue-collar employees looking for employment.

With over 7,000+ users and growing daily, M-WAKS has so far facilitated over 400 placements and is pushing towards helping end the hassle that users go through to access Blue Collar Workers to work with though there is some competition from firms like Lynk and Ajiry.

M-WAKS is unique in that it allows employers to Hire, Rate and Verify a worker all under one platform. It also offers an online shopping experience for its clients and aims to create trust in the blue-collar industry.

The web app caters to the users of both Smartphones and feature phones and therefore suitable for the African market where smartphone penetration is still not that high.

According to the team, there are a number of challenges in running the service in Kenya such as skepticism, literacy levels, lcak of smartphones and side selling.

“Considering the kind of information that we require to create an employee profile, some of the employees tend to think that we have ulterior motives which is not the case. Thus it needs a bit more convincing before one can sign up,” the team said.

On literacy, the literacy levels in the blue-collar industry are a bit lower compared to the White Collar Industry and that means that it has to get staff to help in the registration process and even that has its challenges due to how they understand the concept.

Side selling usually occurs after clients have already interacted with the platform and they need the services again, they are more likely to get in touch directly with the service provider without going back through the application.

“Recently we started recruiting employees outside Nairobi because the only way we can offer service beyond Nairobi is by having a ready workforce outside Nairobi, the firm said. “We are also working on features that will allow Employers to post jobs for Employees seeking these positions and our M-WAKS App for Employers is just going through the final touches and is set to be launched in the next couple of weeks.”

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