In a country of some 160 million people, the list of potential users is massive and, according to Adewunmi, investors have shown interest.
Six months after the August 2009 launch, a Nigerian investor reached out, but later, Tiger Global Management, a large US-based hedge fund that had been an early investor to Facebook and LinkedIn, got in touch.
Tiger Global declined to comment and Adewunmi did not want to discuss the size of its investment. He said Jobberman is not yet profitable, but he is optimistic.
Adewunmi believes both employers and trained Nigerian workers are desperate for a trusted platform where they can connect. He seeks to earn revenue through advertisements as well as a recently introduced paywall.
Tomi Orunmuyi, a 26-year-old who studied electrical engineering at the University of Ilorin in central Nigeria, claimed there was no career services department or opportunities to meet potential employers.
“You are totally on your own,” said Orunmuyi, 26, when asked what university students face as graduation approaches.
Orunmuyi found his first job immediately after completing his year in the National Youth Service Corps, mandatory for all university graduates.
When he wanted to move on, he said Jobberman was the obvious place to search.
“A whole lot of people use it and they have a whole lot of jobs,” he told AFP on a lunch break from his new position at Fun Mobile, where he designs products such as speciality ringtones.
He said he applied for 10 posts and received three offers.
When Orunmuyi used the site there was no paywall — something Jobberman has since introduced in hopes of shifting to profitability.
Under the current system, employees pay nothing to post a job, but to see the full details of a listing, applicants must pay 500 naira ($3) per month.
The rate drops for those who sign up for multiple months.
Orunmuyi said he knows people who have declined to use the site due to the paywall, describing the strategy as risky in a country where suspicions of fraud, including online, are justifiably high.
But when asked if he thought people would continue using Jobberman, despite the paywall, he said, “they don’t have any other option.”
Source: AFP
Evans Gichomo
October 18, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Twitter is my pick. I use the 25MB data plan. My phone hogs on data plus I visit many links shared on twitter for a broader read.
Carolynar
October 18, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Twitter is number one on my list 🙂
the others are Google , Capital Mobile and waptrick 🙂
i use the 25MB data plan
James Karongo
October 18, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Twitter is my number One site Followed by facebook then GMail and finally Facebook. Once in a while I check Live Scores. I used the 25MB Data Plan. I sleep very late surfing using my phone.
Diana
October 18, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Facebook, Twitter, Hotmail, Yahoomail and my school website
Samsonkipsang
October 18, 2011 at 3:52 pm
am 25MB USER.am a twitter addict and i dont miss a day without checking safaricoms products on their web.i like facebook too
Mungai Sherwood Karanja
October 18, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Facebook, G mail, Twitter, Yahoo, Linkedin
Tim Kanyutu Murunga
October 19, 2011 at 7:39 am
Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo,Twitter
James Mbugua Mungai
October 19, 2011 at 7:44 am
MANUTD.com
Jeff
October 19, 2011 at 7:44 am
Aimini, LinkedIn and Ovi
Okoth Kidi
October 19, 2011 at 7:45 am
My gamma, linkedin,waptrick,capitalmobile,brightermonday not mentioning fbck and twitter
Raphael Wanjala
October 19, 2011 at 7:45 am
Twitter, Facebook and at times Capital Mobile
Gabriel Kuriah
October 19, 2011 at 7:46 am
gmail, yahoomail, ovi, twitter, facebook,
Capital, google, Microsoft,
ihub, android
ERICK COKE WEED
October 19, 2011 at 7:46 am
ITS TWITTER ,N HITS NOT HOME WORK IN THE EVENING,,,,ITS JST THA BOMB
Mulei
October 19, 2011 at 7:48 am
Espn soccernet, capital mobile, twitter, facebook repectively
shiro
October 19, 2011 at 7:52 am
Apart from Twitter and Facebook I log into gmail, Nation Newspaper, The Standard and Capital for all my day’s news
Paulkilimo
October 19, 2011 at 7:54 am
chess.com/mobile, I play chess during all my free time
Kimeli daniel yego
October 19, 2011 at 7:55 am
http://www.google.com,m.facebook.com,www.yahoo.com,Twitter,Hi5
Kiharajon
October 19, 2011 at 8:25 am
walalahoi, crazy nairobian, wanjohidaily, muchatha,blogspot.com, thethikaroadblog,mediamadness,capital mobile,
KookyAfrikanGal
October 19, 2011 at 9:13 am
Mine is Blogger…i love blogosphere!!! No. 2 is yahoo where i go to get all the world news!
Dennis Mwaniki
October 19, 2011 at 1:53 pm
my favourite must be waptrick, to get the top music downloads; then The standard Online
Timkagiri
October 19, 2011 at 2:41 pm
gsmarena.com
for the latest phone reviews and updates
Gichenje
October 20, 2011 at 5:16 am
usccb daily readings, the catholic thing and twitter (of course)
Samsonkipsang
October 20, 2011 at 8:53 am
crazynairobian,safaricom.co.ke,capital.thanx 4 safcom
PittsPeter
October 20, 2011 at 6:13 pm
I’m in luv with the facebook application & my good old faithful Opera mini. I just can’t imagine what it used to be like in the pre-facebook and twitter era’s. My mom is always complaining that I just spend too much time thumbing my phone and I always tell her it costs me next to nothing communicating with my buddies on-line. The 5mb data plan per day is just the winner.
Njugunakim
October 21, 2011 at 7:51 am
I just love to check out biographies.com,safaricom.com and famousinventions.com and one thing that these sites provide me with is inspiring stories of Great minds that have walked the face of the Earth.I also like to check out facebook.com which enables me to interact and socialise with different minds and exchange ideas with them on different levels
.My name is David Kimani.my no is 0711101953.
Paulo Pablo
October 31, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Goal.com. Thats a bookmark on my phone. Can’t get my mind off sports
Ritchie Odak 116™
June 20, 2012 at 9:46 am
BBC mobile & The Guardian mobile. Always up-to-the-minute updated!
sam mwakenya
August 23, 2013 at 9:36 am
wow.good inspirations