Executive Summary

ForWork.life is an AI-native recruitment and employment platform designed to make hiring more efficient, effective and human across Africa. The platform connects employers, recruiters and recruitment agencies with candidates through an integrated solution that combines job advertising, a searchable talent pool, applicant tracking, AI-assisted candidate matching and screening, structured interview workflows and recruiter communications. The platform addresses significant inefficiencies in the traditional recruitment process. Employers and recruiters often rely on fragmented systems and manual processes to advertise roles, identify suitable candidates, screen CVs, coordinate interviews and communicate with applicants. This makes hiring time-consuming and costly, while increasing the risk of poor hiring decisions. At the same time, candidates frequently experience outdated job boards, CV-centric evaluation, poor communication and a lack of transparency throughout the recruitment process. ForWork.life brings these activities into a single platform, using AI to automate repetitive administrative tasks and improve the identification and assessment of relevant talent, while keeping human decision-making at the centre of recruitment. We are looking for an initial pre-seed investment of USD150,000 in exchange for equity. Runway: 18 months Milestones: 1,000 active job postings/20,000 candidates and an ARR of USD 1.4M Use of funds: 60% Operational Overheads 20% Marketing 20% Development With 13 years in HR related corporate and 14 years as an entrepreneur, launching multiple startups, and advising on others, I’ve experienced the full spectrum of building businesses. I know what it takes to found, grow, hire, adapt, and push forward through the highs and lows. It’s a rollercoaster of learning and evolving - both professionally and personally. I am anchored deeply in the call to change the system of work in Africa. After spending over two decades in recruitment and operations, I built ForWork.life because I refuse to accept the trade-off the industry keeps forcing on us: move fast or hire well; be efficient or be human. You shouldn't have to choose. I believe in the power of people: the right team can transform an organization, and a great organization can transform its people. When that alignment is right, it becomes a force for growth, change, and sustainable success, across companies, communities and economies. I bring experience and expertise in business operations, finance, HR, compliance, teams, and sales - bridging strategy with execution and people with process. Early traction validates demand and shows daily growth For Work Life - first 40 days • Thorough test run into a working model • 1000 completed candidate profiles • 15 registered recruiters • 19 vacancies posted • 160 applications processed • Community Slack Group of 200 HR professionals • Weekly product iterations driven by customer feedback Our Work Life • 314 registered users • 105 company reviews • 18 top employers What this tells us : Creating a brand within the candidate/employee space will cement recruitment traffic and compounding use ForWork.life operates in the recruitment technology and broader employment infrastructure market, initially targeting South Africa and designed to scale across Africa. The immediate market opportunity is the growing demand from employers and recruitment agencies for more efficient, technology-enabled hiring. Traditional recruitment tools remain fragmented, with job boards, applicant tracking systems, recruiter databases and screening tools typically operating separately. At the same time, AI-generated CVs are making traditional keyword-based recruitment increasingly ineffective, while recruiters have less time to manually identify, screen and assess suitable candidates. ForWork.life addresses this opportunity by combining the reach of a job board, the workflow of an ATS, a recruiter-focused talent pool and AI-powered candidate screening into a single recruitment marketplace built specifically for Africa. The addressable market is significant. Across Africa, ForWork.life estimates approximately 2.2 million employers with 20+ employees that recruit regularly and could benefit from modern recruitment software, representing an estimated US$2.6 billion+ annual recurring revenue opportunity. The initial South African serviceable market is estimated at approximately 120,000–150,000 businesses employing 20+ people and recruiting regularly, representing an estimated US$145–180 million ARR opportunity based on an average subscription of US$1,200 per year. ForWork.life's initial three-year target is to acquire 1,500 South African employers across SMEs, recruitment agencies and growing businesses, representing approximately US$8.7 million ARR at an average annual subscription of US$3,500. The larger opportunity extends beyond recruitment software. Recruitment is the entry point into a broader employment infrastructure market. As employers, recruiters and candidates interact on the platform, ForWork.life can build a valuable dataset encompassing verified candidates, career histories, workplace sentiment, hiring outcomes, talent movement and retention signals. This creates the potential for additional data and intelligence products covering hiring efficiency, retention, compensation, workforce mobility, employer reputation, skills demand, industry benchmarking and workforce analytics. The long-term vision is therefore to build a trusted employment infrastructure for Africa: starting with AI-powered hiring, developing a recruitment marketplace and workforce intelligence layer, and ultimately expanding into areas such as employment identity and verification, credential and skills verification, benefits, insurance, payroll and other employment-related services.