Why did we invest in Skillbee?
There are an estimated 169MN international blue-collar migrant workers worldwide. Low-income countries such as India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines etc. are “source countries” for migrant labor in high-income “destination countries” such as the GCC region, Europe, and Singapore.
Employment opportunities in the target market typically require blue-collar (manual) and grey-collar (physical but with subject knowledge) skills in roles such as maintenance technicians, foremen, welders, electricians, mechanics and nurses. Such jobs are considered aspirational, primarily because candidates can expect to earn 3-7x the salary of their home countries.
However, cross-border recruitment is a painful and complex process. It relies on a convoluted network of intermediaries to source migrant workers from source countries. Take India as an example, opportunities start with an (a) Overseas Employer contracting (b) an Overseas Agency, which subcontracts a (c) Licensed Agency (consultant). This agency then taps (d) informal networks of sub-agents to source candidates.
While the aspirational nature of these jobs entices workers to pay substantial premiums, blue and grey-collar workers find it hard to find genuine jobs and end up spending a lot of time and money in the search process. Oftentimes, they end up being victims of fraud as the agents they are working with run scams. It is equally difficult on the employers’ side as they don’t have access to good talent, get unverified CVs, and are unable to source these workers at scale. Significant information asymmetry has plagued the industry with exploitation, scams, and a general mistrust of operators.
Skillbee’s platform solves this challenge. They are building a trusted platform to provide global aspirational employment opportunities for blue-collar workers. Through their platform, prospective workers can directly find verified listed opportunities. An assisted onboarding process filters migrant workers for skills, travel eligibility, and accreditations. The platform aims to eliminate intermediaries on the other side of the supply chain by working directly with overseas employers.
The platform has separate interfaces for overseas employers and prospective candidates.
Prospective candidates create profiles via a self-serve mobile app. Actively engaged users are encouraged to opt for an assisted onboarding process in order to be verified. This process entails creating and uploading resumes (most workers are doing this for the first time ever with Skillbee’s help!), furnishing skills accurately, substantiating with supporting documents and sharing travel eligibility documents.
This app also serves as a community portal where workers can interact with each other. This enables peer advice on the operational nuances of preparing for opportunities, travel, accommodation etc. Users also use the portal to ensure the legitimacy of agents and charges.
Overseas Employers can create company profiles on the app, followed by job listings. Listings specify job details, skill requirements, assessment possess, and documentation requests. Employers can filter relevant candidates and express interest basis their requirements. The platform enables the assessment process by allowing these employers to interview prospective candidates on the app itself.
Since its inception, the company has grown manifold. Ujjawal and Gautham are structured, first-principles thinkers who prioritize speed-to-market, revenue generation, and an iterative process.
In late 2019, overseas employers were sourcing 1-2% of their interviewees from Skillbee. Today, that number stands at 30%. They have a monthly active user base of over 120,000 and over 8000 jobs are posted every month. More than 5000 workers have found overseas jobs through Skillbee, giving these workers collective annual collective earnings of $100MN+.
The business is still at an early stage and is inching closer every day to product market fit. The founders value decision-making by practical experimentation over idle strategy. Through this process, our conviction in Ujjawal and Gautham’s ability to build a business with defensible fundamentals remains unwavering.
