Bertha mambala: creating jobs with ICT

Her motivation lies in creating job opportunities. She makes them easily accessible through the Internet while helping employers cut costs during recruitment.

When she graduated Chancellor College in 2015, 23-year-old Bertha Mambala joined Myjobo, an established initiative where job seekers and recruiters meet. She envisions a future where the job application process and the recruitment processes will all be done online in Malawi just as in many countries.

Born on August 22 1992 at Mlambe Hospital in Blantyre, Mambala has always been one to take up challenges in life.

She understands that this is a tough call but that is why she took up the challenge and joined a start-up – Myjobo.com rather than going into the mainstream employment.

“I have always wanted to do the toughest stuff. That is why I took up mathematics and statistics in college. I also took up this role with Myjobo.com which is very challenging,” says Mambala.

She went to Likuni Secondary School in Lilongwe and further studied Bachelor of Science with statistics and mathematics major at the college. She graduated in 2015 and is now eyeing a master’s degree in applied sciences next year.

Once she gets seated at her office desk every morning, she checks the Myjobo website to see if everything is alright; if people are able to view it for instance and then she begins posting vacancies and responding to all queries that have been sent in.

She also looks at their data and numbers to help improve the services they provide.

Currently with 86 947 Facebook likes, Myjobo is an initiative where companies register and share vacancies. It is also a platform for those looking for jobs; providing them with skills, knowledge and tips that can help them secure employment.

Since its commencement in July 2014, Mambala says the website has over 130 companies registered with it, and have posted over 5 000 job vacancies and about five million visits since the launch.

“Myjobo is now focusing on interacting with companies so that they can understand better, the opportunities that the internet has in reaching out to Malawians. On job seekers, we have over 21 000 registers users and we are now in the territory of 30 000 unique users per month,” says Mambala, who hails from Kandeu Village, Traditional Authority Ganya in Ntcheu.

The data shows that Myjobo.com is now being accepted as the one of the best way to reach out to job seekers and for job seekers to look for vacancies.

The services remains free for now but she is determined to guide it through to start making some revenues through new offerings that will be launched very soon.

Although she is not specifically the one who came up with the idea, she formed part of the founding team for Myjobo.com. Presently, she just manages and leads the Myjobo team in Malawi.

“We are a team of seven but we also bring in freelancers on particular projects,” she points out.

A number of organisations have been advertising with Myjobo.com. Mambala singles out Chibuku Products Limited as one of their early adopters adding that they appreciate the service provided by Myjobo.com. Other organisations such as British Council, Malawi Electoral Commission and Plan International, among others have been advertising their jobs on the website.

“We are credible and professional. As we grow, we expect more companies to advertise with us while we launch new products and as they learn more about us,” says Mambala, the second born in a family of four.

She advises young girls that everything is possible in life. The key is the willingness to learn, taking risks and having an optimistic attitude.

She observes that having mentors also helps.

“I am in touch with a lot of people who give me advice on different issues. These include Rachel Sibande, the founder and chief executive officer for Malawi’s technology hub and incubator space, M-hub; as well as Dorah Mangulama Banda, Standard Bank relationship manager in business banking,” she says, adding that it also helps to read books and other stuff.

Among other challenges, Mambala thinks people in human resources in the country are yet to fully appreciate technology as a tool to help with their recruitment efforts.

Power failure is another challenge to their operations.

Mambala calls on companies to sponsor the project by providing funds for operations, in exchange for visibility and acknowledgement on the website.

“We can provide free publicity, advertising and add their logo on our website. We will also mention their names at every event and on our website,” says Mambala.

She served as vice secretary of Statistics-Mathematics Society at Chancellor College; she was also class representative and publicity secretary. n