Economic growth, good governance, better community health—Souktel believes that all of these goals depend on something simple: Jobs and the income they bring. A poor family’s best hope for survival (and a brighter future) hinges on its ability to earn and save money. But in most USAID countries, labor markets are in chaos—not because there’s a lack of jobs, but because there are no good information networks to help job-seekers and employers find each other: Web access is low, public/private resources are few, and infrastructure is poor. As a result, job-searching is expensive, time-consuming, and risky.

But a huge number of low-income communities have basic cell phone access, even in rural areas. Souktel leverages this technology to bridge job information gaps in emerging markets—by creating a mobile “job matching” application that helps reduce unemployment and boost local growth.

Our solution is simple: From any phone, job-seekers create SMS "mini-CVs" that include basic data on their skills, location, etc. These are then sent by mobile to our central database--which hundreds of employers search daily, via web or phone. From their side, employers create similar “mini job ads” and post them on the same database—so that job-seekers can search these jobs from their own phones. The database also matches job-seekers/employers who have similar profiles, sending them SMS alerts with each other’s data.

By creating an interactive, accessible platform that ‘levels the playing field’ of access to job market information, Souktel narrows digital divides & breaks cycles of poverty and unemployment. We impact communities (especially young women) on a social level by empowering them to discover that they have more choices and resources than ever before. We impact them economically by providing better information which lets more people find jobs/staff; more ‘job-matching’ leads to more income for families, more productivity for businesses, and more growth for communities.

In addition:

We're a dynamic team of software engineers and aid workers from the Middle East and North America. In the past, our members helped manage USAID /CIDA-funded employability projects, giving us first-hand insight into USAID values and priorities. We’ve also launched successful IT start-ups in the US and Malaysia, directed IT operations for Associated Press in West Africa, and led telecom projects in Palestine—giving us a breadth of experience in the ICT4D/mobile sector.

In 2006 we teamed up to create a prototype of our technology for youth. We piloted this prototype for a year, to see if it could in fact be an effective tool to help people find work/hire staff. 20 employers and 500 youth took part in the pilot. After 12 months, over 35% of youth (or 15 per month) had found work/internships through Souktel; 75%+ of employers had cut hiring time and costs by over 50%. In contrast, HR firms (the main competing solution) only placed about 5 people with jobs per month.

Our pilot results convinced us that Souktel had real potential to help communities improve their social/economic well-being, so we continued to scale up. In early 2008 we lent our technology to a World Bank Middle East employability project; today, 6,000+ job-seekers and 150+ employers use Souktel; we match 40+ people per month with jobs. But our work is just starting: Now, we want to share Souktel with USAID missions and projects across the globe, as a new mechanism for boosting USAID impact in target countries.