As I think back over the 11 years of Mintor’s work to support the unemployed in gaining better access to work, and low-income earners in improving their lives through better support at work, I realise that Mintor has walked that perseverance journey with each of them – all 300,000.
Perseverance builds character, resilience, and the ability to achieve long-term goals despite difficulties. Perseverance builds hope. Hope is what youth need to not give up, and that is what Mintor set itself out to achieve.
Our slogan, leaving no-one behind, is what drives us every day, because with today’s advanced technology, there is no excuse not to. Eight years ago, we launched the first WhatsApp recruitment and job-seeker toolkit, reducing jobseekers’ cost of applying for jobs by 90%.
Today, AI also enables skills training via WhatsApp, anywhere, anytime - a game-changer in addressing the skills gap.
I still vividly remember the first ‘wow’ moment in September 2017. A young lady with a disability from Umlazi Township outside Durban was due to attend an interview that she had secured through Mintor’s WhatsApp application channel. The evening before, she sent a decline message via WhatsApp explaining that she couldn’t attend the interview because she didn’t have high-heel shoes to wear. I swiftly responded that it was okay to wear flat shoes. She went for the interview and got the job. Technology breaks barriers for the disadvantaged – it brings the support they need right to where they are. Today, AI bots can serve millions simultaneously, assisting them to overcome the very next hurdle, at the very least.
Since then, Mintor has supported many businesses in finding thousands of right-fit talent. The talent is out there; it was always just a matter of being unable to find them among the masses. However, accessible mechanisms like WhatsApp enable you to reach them, chatbot-automated processes enable you to screen them, and AI-enabled tools empower you to support them and your team – no limits, no hassles.
Recently, AVI Group’s Bakers Choice Assorted recruited a youth intake in record time.
“Mintor’s WhatsApp-based recruitment platform enabled us to efficiently process more than 13,000 applications, while ensuring transparency, consistency and compliance throughout the selection process.”
Wilderness Safaris enables inclusive hiring by making job applications accessible to youth from rural villages across Africa – all through WhatsApp.
I&J makes applications for sea-going jobs available to low-literacy applicants from across the country, without the need to travel to the harbour to apply or make a single paper copy along the way.
Scribante Labour totally eliminates paper – even contracts are signed via WhatsApp and employees are automatically onboarded onto the payroll system.
NPOs and the government entity YeBo use Mintor to support youth in building their CVs and preparing for interviews, all intuitively through WhatsApp.
Today we celebrate not only the youth, but also the companies that had the courage to challenge the status quo.
Real change happens when organisations choose inclusion over internal resistance to change. Thank you for proving that when technology is used with purpose, no-one has to be left behind.