Aisha Pandor, the founder of on-demand cleaning service platform SweepSouth, has been named one of Africa’s Breakthrough Female Tech Entrepreneurs of 2017 by the World Economic Forum.
The WEF contest, which was open to female entrepreneurs whose business was less than three years old, and which used an innovative technology or business models, lauded Pandor for SweepSouth’s potential to demonstrate social and economic potential for the country.
Pandor said she was delighted by the recognition.
The empowerment company, likened to the “Uber of domestic cleaning services” allows contracted domestic cleaners, booked via an online mobile application, to take home between 70-80% of the total cleaning fee of R38/per hour; a rate twice as high as minimum wage, explains founder and SweepSouth CEO Aisha Pandor.
“Africa’s best prospects for inclusive growth lie in its ability to tap into its vast pool of entrepreneurial talent,” said Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum. “We want Africa’s top female tech entrepreneurs to join us so we can celebrate them as role models and so they can help governments and policymakers create conditions for others to flourish.”
This is the second year the WEF is running the competition. Last year’s winners were inspiring women working on everything from solar-powered vending carts to paperless health insurance.
Pandor has joined the winners at the World Economic Forum on Africa taking place in Durban until May 5, where they will participate in discussions around boosting entrepreneurship in Africa.
Most recently, SweepSouth has expanded in Durban to meet growing interest in it’s unique platform. The Recent interest shown by Durban consumers in their service, says Pandor, is great news in that it translates to an investment in the region’s economic growth too.
“We’re suspecting that a service like ours is growing more from a word-of- mouth basis rather than any marketing strategy we’ve employed. The great advantage is, because we know there’s demand, we’ll be putting out a few advertisements for more local cleaners to join our platform. More jobs, more happy customers and a great way to invest in economic growth and creating work opportunities!”, says an excited Pandor.
Over the past two years, SweepSouth has created work for over 3 000 experienced cleaners. Of those, 71% were previously unemployed, with the remaining 29% citing underemployment as the reason they joined the platform.
“We’ve already registered a top-quality team of local cleaners – or, as we call them, SweepStars, who’ve certainly done their bit to grow the Durban market,” says Pandor.
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