WorkKE is building a marketplace for Africa’s freelancers and skilled workers
There are plenty of skilled people in Africa looking for work. The problem is that having a skill does not always mean you know where to find the next customer. That is the gap Kenyan startup WorkKE is trying to address.
Workke logo
Founded in 2025 by Kennedy Mokaya Asiago, WorkKE has built an online marketplace where businesses can find freelancers, consultants and other professionals for work they need done. It could be a business looking for someone to build a website, manage its social media, design marketing material, write content or help with research. For the person offering the service, it is another place to look for work.
Not every business can afford to hire someone full time
A small business does not always need another permanent employee. It may need a designer for one project, a developer to build a website or someone to help with its social media for a few months. Hiring a freelancer can make more sense in those situations. This is the market WorkKE is going after. The company says it has more than 7,500 registered users and about 4,000 monthly users. It has also built the business without outside venture capital, keeping the company bootstrapped since it started.
WorkKE wants to keep the focus on Africa
African freelancers already use international platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr to find clients. WorkKE is taking a more local approach. It is building its platform around African businesses and professionals, with local payment options and a mobile-first service. That is important because many of the businesses it wants to work with are small companies. They may not have a recruitment department or the budget to hire someone permanently every time they need a particular skill. Instead, they can bring someone in for the job they need done.
WorkKE has launched WorkKE Academy, which provides digital-skills training. This is another part of the problem the company is trying to deal with. There are people who want to work online but may not yet have the skills needed to compete for better-paying jobs. Training can help them improve those skills and then use the marketplace to look for work. WorkKE is also developing digital products and AI tools for businesses.
The bigger question is whether there is enough work
Getting thousands of people onto a platform is one thing. Getting enough businesses to pay them is another. That is probably the biggest challenge WorkKE faces as it grows. The company needs businesses to keep coming back with work, while professionals need to deliver good work if those businesses are going to use the platform again. If it gets that balance right, the platform could become useful to both sides.
A person does not always have to move to find work
This is where the idea becomes interesting for Africa. Someone with a useful skill does not necessarily need to move to Nairobi, Johannesburg or Lagos to find a customer. They could live in a smaller town and work for a company somewhere else. That does not mean online work will solve Africa’s unemployment problem. It won’t. But it can give people another way to earn, particularly when the work they are looking for does not require them to be in the same place as the customer.
WorkKE is still a young company, so it is too early to say how many jobs it will ultimately create. The more important measure will be how many people actually get paid work through the platform. The number of registered users matters, but it is not the whole story. What matters is whether a freelancer can sign up, find a business, complete a project and get hired again. For a small business, it is whether it can come to the platform, find someone who can do the job and get the work completed without making the hiring process more complicated than it needs to be. That is the model WorkKE is trying to build. It is not creating jobs in the traditional sense. It is trying to make it easier for people who already have skills to find businesses that need them.
