mPawa, a job matching service founded by Maxwell Donkor, supports the posting of jobs — and their ensuing notifications — to blue collar workers all around Africa.

Donkor said the mobile application was developed specifically for Africa’s blue collar recruitment sector. With offices in Ghana and Kenya, the company provides businesses and individuals with access to a pool of workers through a text-based app. Once workers send an initial message, they receive a text with instructions on how to create a profile. Upon reply, a profile is created for them on a server. mPawa then connects employers to construction staff, plumbers, mechanics, masons, and electricians.

“The blue collar sector affords us a huge opportunity,” Donkor said. “In Africa, over 75 percent of the labor force falls under the blue collar sector. This translates to 420 million workers. That affords mPawa to turn around over 1.6 million jobs annually.”

Donkor added this model has gained traction around the world in such countries as China, Latin America, and Brazil.

mPawa supports the posting of jobs and then notifies the workers on the availability of new jobs based on geographic location, job preference, wages and other pertinent data, thereby organizing the workers into a centralized pool and allowing employers to easily reach them. mPawa is free to workers, who may register online or via text. Employers pay 10 percent of the workers’ first salary on a short-term job (one day to three months), 25 percent on a long term job (three months to one year), or 50 percent on a permanent job (one year and beyond).

“On the employer’s side, he takes one simple step. An employer who is already registered on mPawa just goes onto the dashboard and inputs job preferences, requirements that he might want, and when that job is supposed to be filled,” Donkor added. “Once this is posted, mPawa’s unique system automatically matches the employer’s requirements to all the jobs listed on mPawa. In less than five minutes, they are able to know which job seeker has received that job notification, who has been accepted, and is ready to come on board to work with them.”

Donkor believes mPawa has the potential to revolutionize the way employers find dependable employees all over the African continent.

“It also reduces the risk on the side of the employer, who now knows how many jobs a job seeker has done, and what experience he has,” Donkor said. “For the first time in Africa we are allowing blue collar workers — who, for a long time, haven’t had references or documentation for a job they have done in the past — to have a platform where they can report each of their jobs that they turn around every year, at a central location that allows them to be more ready to do new jobs.”