One Africa Media’s subsidiary BrighterMonday has been around as a job website for more than a decade. Having started as East Africa’s initial sites that aimed to connect job seekers to a source of livelihood, the platform has won the hearts of many thanks to its substantial number of users.
It appears that the BrighterMonday is elevating its service offerings with an education aspect with a partnership with Educartis, an online education platform for learning institutions and students.
Dubbed BrighterMonday Learning, the website is said to have more than 600,000 registered job seekers in Kenya. In essence, it will kill two birds with one stone: first, hook up users with credible gigs and secondly, offer useful educational information to those who would want to augment their education with additional skills. The latter is supposedly achieved via useful tips in terms of courses and programs in local and international schools.
It is not revealed how this latest addition was integrated in BrighterMonday owing to the complexity of curating tips for a certain demographic based on their existing qualifications and job-seeking specifics. Nonetheless, a quick look on the website for an unregistered user showcases a search bar for an ‘ideal course.’ We are not sure how this feature separates itself from conventional internet searches for a defined course.
The partnership, which was unveiled some time in the past week was attended by Educartis CEO Farah Mulji, among other critical stakeholders.
“Kenya is one of the youngest and fastest growing economies in the Sub-Saharan region, with a rapidly growing population and expanding labour force. As a result, the demand for education is becoming increasingly important to improve careers and acquire better jobs,” said Mulji.
Furthermore, the platform wants to provide more information for ex-high school students who wish to join colleges. For instance, it is said that more than 25,000 students missed their first degree choices in the first revision for 2016’s group. Educartis attributes this misfortune to lack of sufficient information amongst Kenyan students. This has also led to students undertaking courses they are not talented in, which creates a mismatch between skills needed and those acquired.
“We want to set quality standards in the industry, create transparency in the education and job markets and increase employability. By leveraging the power of the Internet in Kenya, we can help Kenyans keep up with change and build a better workforce and economy together and faster,” added Emmanuel Mutuma, CEO, BrighterMonday.
