By Harun Momanyi and Rosalynn Gathoni
Joining the Jamlab Accelerator Programme is a dream come true for us. We have admired the success that the initiative has had with previous participating startups — from successfully helping them get visibility to raising funding.
The timing for Career Fodder — a Tranquil Media Group brand — in joining the programme was perfect. This is because the pandemic has left millions of youth across Africa and globally unemployed, with uncertainty looming. We publish career-centric content that is created in an edutainment manner.
We recognise that mainstream media houses in Kenya — and other African countries — focus on hard news, often characterised by political propaganda, sponsored betting articles, and the usual incidents of the day. While the entertainment blogs focus on celebrity gossip, this does not help young people escape poverty, obtain jobs successfully or start and run their own businesses.
Our content targets youth aged 18-24 — who are actively job searching — to find entry-level jobs and jumpstart their careers, and those aged 25-34 seeking career development tips and entrepreneurial skills.
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Career Fodder is currently ad-supported and freely available online. Apps for Android and Apple devices are in the works. There will also be an enterprise-level subscription-based offering for companies and organisations seeking to offer their employees education as a benefit. The content will be specifically created for professionals seeking career advancement opportunities.
At Jamlab, we aim to achieve several things. Among them include boosting our Adsense revenue, getting readers to support us on Patreon, bringing advertisers onboard, potentially getting funding, and growing our social media numbers up by at least 50% by the end of the accelerator programme.
What makes us unique is that we speak to youth in their language. We understand that they love pop culture, so we collaborate with relevant public figures, influencers, and Key Opinion Leaders who get to share their inspiring stories and practical tips on the topics we cover. They equip our readers with the ideas and skills they need to succeed in their chosen career paths.
We are delighted to be the first team to represent Kenya at the Jamlab Accelerator and we look forward to tapping into the robust resources and network of mentors and resources that the network has to grow our startup.
The JamLab Accelerator is a six-month hothouse programme for journalism and media innovators. It is based at Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct in the heart of Johannesburg
