WeChat Africa head Brett Loubser and Tencent general manager of international business Poshu Yeung have joined the board of South African microjobbing startup M4JAM after their investment in the startup in February.
Disrupt Africa reported in February Naspers and Tencent-owned WeChat Africa had invested in M4JAM, a microjobbing service that allows brands and NGOs to post a number of small tasks, which are then promoted by M4JAM and taken on by “jobbers” who complete them using their mobile phones.
M4JAM, which was self-funded for its first four or five months after launching last year, has around 80,000 jobbers, with approximately 150,000 jobs having been posted on the platform so far. The investment from Naspers and Tencent is to be used to allow the startup to scale locally and expand globally.
Andre Hugo, director and co-founder of M4JAM, said he was thrilled to have Loubser and Yeung join its board as it continues gathering real-time data for brands from its jobber community.
“With Poshu’s international business experience in the mobile space, and Brett’s extensive industry knowledge, we’re confident that M4JAM will soon be disrupting markets far beyond our shores. We look forward to working with them to grow the platform,” he said.
Loubser has more than 18 years of experience in the African mobile industry, and has headed up WeChat since January, while Yeung has overseen Tencent’s international business operations for more than seven years in multiple territories and across a wide variety of technology verticals.
“I am excited about M4JAM because it creates real, sustainable value for jobbers and businesses that use the service. By putting simple task-oriented jobs in the hands of anyone, M4JAM is enabling a giant workforce to complete jobs in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of what it would have taken if businesses had to hire dedicated staff. It is a powerful story that showcases the flexibility of WeChat as a platform,” said Loubser.
Yeung said M4JAM has had an exciting start due to its unique approach and ability to mobilise the crowd to deliver value for businesses.
“It has global relevance and an exciting future. I believe that my international outlook and experience will allow me to assist the M4JAM team in their efforts to roll out into new territories” he said.
