Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator’s acquisition of Giraffe, South Africa’s mobile recruiting platform, is no longer news. Anish Shivdasani and Shafin Anwarsha, both former Delta Partners consultants, started Giraffe in 2015. Algorithms are used by the job-matching platform to identify, filter, and schedule job interviews for entry-level and mid-skill individuals. Jobseekers may also use the company’s zero-rated mobile app to put together their CVs, apply for jobs, and take courses.
With the acquisition, Giraffe’s existing base of jobseekers will join the SA Youth initiative for the rest of June, as part of the transfer to Harambe.
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Why The Acquisition?
On why Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator’s acquisition of Giraffe came, Giraffe’s CEO Anish Shivdasani noted that the acquisition became necessary given the recent launch of the SA Youth platform by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. The platform is by far the largest ever coordinated effort to tackle the scourge of youth unemployment in South Africa.
By virtue of the acquisition, Giraffe’s automated recruitment platform has joined the Harambee family, and will consequently be integrated with the SA Youth platform. The SA Youth platform brings together eight government departments led by the Department of Employment and Labour, to form a network, (of which Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator is one) that will support young people to find pathways into the economy.
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However, as Giraffe is not the only job recruitment platform in South Africa, it seems its long-term strategic partnership with Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator has yielded the desired result; that is, it has assisted it to seal the acquisition deal more easily.
“We have known and partnered with Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator for several years now, and have always admired their values and approach,” says CEO Shivdasani. “Harambee is arguably the primary player in the South African youth employment ecosystem- bringing together a wide coalition of partners to promote opportunities and education for young people- and we are excited to be joining them.”
The startup won Seedstars award for the best global startup in 2016, raising three rounds of funding, attracting over 1 million jobseekers and connecting many of them with over 3,000 businesses.
“When Shafin Anwarsha and I founded Giraffe 6 years ago, we set out to build a business that would use mobile technology to change people’s lives. We decided to focus on addressing unemployment because we felt that it was the root cause of so many other ills- including poverty, inequality, poor health, social malaise and crime,” he says.
South African startup acquired South African startup acquired
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer