A dreamer and a risk-taker is how Shafin Anwarsha, the founder of mobile tech platform, Giraffe, describes himself.
Giraffe marries the ubiquity of mobile technology in the South African space with the need for employment opportunities and better recruitment strategies. It is a platform that connects medium-skilled jobseekers with employers across a wide range of industries including retail stores, restaurants, and transport companies.
A post-graduate in Actuarial Science from UCT provided a solid foundation for his life as an entrepreneur. But Anwarsha also refers to his partners Anish Shivdasani and Bradley Cowie as his greatest support system. The results of their enduring team work are starting to show.
Two months after its launch in January 2015, the start-up reported it had reached almost 10 000 job seekers. That same year, Giraffe was crowned the best start-up in the world at the Seedstars World Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland, bringing home the $500 000 equity investment prize.
In 2016, Giraffe also closed its first round of seed funding from Omidyar Network, the venture capitalist fund established by eBay founder and Silicon Valley tech billionaire, Pierre Omidyar.
For Anwarsha and his partners, little victories like earning their first rand of revenue are beginning to add up to big wins.
Onwards and upwards.
|As long as your motivation is in the right place, come hell or high water you will find a way to weather any storm.|
