Kenyan startup Workspap has launched its web and mobile platform that connects users with informal sector workers such as plumbers, mechanics and electricians.
Launched in January, Workspap lists only vetted and verified service providers across a host of categories, requiring those listed on the site to provide two guarantors each.
The system also sections for corporates looking for service providers and students looking for internships, and allows for the posting of tenders for prospective service providers to bid on.
“Workspap forms a network of service providers, students, merchants and companies to provide opportunities for each other,” director Bonface Murithi told Disrupt Africa.
Murithi started the company after experiencing difficulties obtaining a mechanic after his car broke down on the way from Nairobi to Meru.
“I started looking for a mechanic and it took me around two hours trying to connect with the people around the place to manually get a mechanic through the traditional referral method. The mechanic who came was not experienced, and he had to get another mechanic, for whom we also waited for another hour,” he said.
That is how the idea for Workspap was born, and Murithi and his team set to work building the platform. Ease and efficiency are at the heart of the startup’s mission, and it has nationwide plans.
The self-funded business has already approved and listed 2,000 service providers from across the country, and is planning on expanding to other East African countries within the next three years and listing other professional skills. It makes money from small subscription fees charged to service providers and merchants.
