Christiaan van den Berg, 30, and Heine Bellingan, 32, are co-founders of Jobjack, a platform enabling entry-level job seekers to find work. They now have a team of 50+ people and they have assisted more than 20 000 people this year alone to find jobs in a country where the average job seeker has about four dependants, thus affecting the lives of 100 000 people. Not bad for a company that started out in Heine’s apartment with a laptop and a desk. The Jobjack platform replaces job seekers’ cost of about R938 a month to print and drop off CVs. Christiaan and Heine use psychometric assessments they developed to facilitate sustainable job-matching between the job seeker and companies such as PEP, Food Lover’s Market, KFC, McDonald’s, Lewis, Woolworths and others. Christiaan says one of his challenges was his age (24) when they started their business but he soon realised that most people are figuring it out as they go, regardless of their age. He and Heine focus on motivating the team to achieve the company’s vision to “Employ the World”. The two say everyone has specific strengths, and they use theirs to help those who need it most in a country that has the highest youth unemployment rate in the world and where everyone needs a chance.
Christiaan
BAcc Bachelors, Stellenbosch University; BAcc Honours, Unisa, Chartered Accountant (SA), South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA); SAICA Top 35 Under 35, Influence Category Winner 2022
Heine
Chartered Accountant (SA), South African Institute of Chartered Accountants BAcc (Hons), Stellenbosch University
Christiaan: My proudest achievement is having already enabled over 20,000 people to find jobs in a country where the average entry-level job seekers has about four dependants, thus positively affecting the lives of 100,000 people. And building a solution that should keep doubling that effect year on year. It is also an amazing feeling to know that the team I have built up is just as passionate as I am about this mission. Another project that supports the above is building an inhouse team that have developed psychometric assessments focused specifically at this market to identify suitability for jobs in which they would be more likely to thrive as opposed to just survive
Heine: Building JOBJACK with my co-founder from scratch, which started in my apartment with a laptop and a desk to a point where we now employ more than 50 people and help 20,000+ job seekers afford to find jobs every year.
Lessons: A successful business is not about a person, but about the people you bring together.
Christiaan: So many. My father comes to mind first. He has always shown me that your circumstances don’t dictate your actions; you can always take the next step toward the future. I think of specific investors which have shown us the value of long-term thinking and what it means to build a redemptive business that not only generates wealth for those that invest in it, but also creates so much more value for those it affects. Then I would refer to my specific group of eight friends that have met weekly for the past 12 years to keep one another accountable on leading a life worthy to be modelled between what we are called to do in family, business and society.
Heine: Yes, each book you read is a mentor you might not have had the opportunity to meet but whose brain you have the privilege of picking through the book. My current top of mind mentors are Greg McKeown and Liz Wizeman who wrote Multipliers. It’s a book about how you can make those you lead achieve their maximum potential.