Summarized by AI Model:sshleifer/distilbart-cnn-12-6
Senegal's Socium aims to capitalise on the expanding need for HR technology solutions in French-speaking African nations . The business has been developing HR solutions for users in the 21 Francophone African countries since 2021 . It has developed a payroll engine that accounts for the region's sophisticated payroll computations . It also automates repetitive operations, reducing the workload for HR managers .Senegal’s Socium aims to capitalise on the expanding need for HR technology solutions in French-speaking African nations. Socium has been developing HR solutions for users in the 21 Francophone African countries since 2021, and it intends to keep focussing on this area, where it is benefiting from first-mover advantage. Samba Lo, the CEO and co-founder of Socium, informed TechCrunch about these intentions and that the company has raised $5 million in seed money to support its regional expansion goals.
Therefore, we find it quite intriguing to deploy within Francophone Africa. Our economies are similar, our laws are extremely similar, and our currencies are the same. In addition, there is a significant demand for HR software. According to Lo, who co-founded the firm with Serigne Seye, “for these reasons, we prefer to stay in Francophone Africa because, I think we have so much to do here.”
Socium’s clients can hire, compensate, and manage people thanks to its technology. But when they first teamed together in 2021, that was never what they intended to provide. They began as a recruitment website to help people find employment and corporations locate talent, according to Lo. Then they realised how big the HR industry was. “Our clients began asking us if we had any payroll, time management, or performance management solutions. In order to assist HR in managing all of their procedures, we also made the decision to develop a worldwide HR platform,” Lo stated.
This is how they began developing a solution in 2023 that can “work everywhere from Morocco to Cameroon to Congo,” citing a few of the nations the business intends to enter. For example, the business has developed a payroll engine that accounts for the region’s sophisticated payroll computations. He claims that this makes it possible for the firm to enter new markets faster than foreign-based solutions—within two weeks.
Socium’s solution leverages AI to, for example, easily evaluate and match resumes to job offers and to help write job descriptions. It also automates repetitive operations, reducing the workload for payroll and human resources. This makes it possible for HR managers to concentrate on more crucial tasks like leading and assisting teams in achieving their objectives.
“Putting people first entails concentrating on each person’s performance, assessment, and career path. Therefore, our primary goal is to keep assisting them in their work, make it easier for them to handle their everyday responsibilities, and allow them to concentrate on the most crucial aspect of human resources. And the most crucial aspect of HR, in my opinion, is weighing the company’s internal employees,” Lo stated.
As it grows, the startup hopes to work with tax authorities to automate tax and regulatory filings for businesses, saving them even more trouble. Seye and Lo originally became acquainted at École Polytechnique. Following graduation, Lo worked as a data scientist for a short time before moving into investment banking and joining the French firm Skeat. His spirit of entrepreneurship was roused by this.
When they had just six months’ worth of money left, I joined them. Despite the fact that it was quite complex, I believe the switch was the best one I have ever made because it introduced me to startups, entrepreneurship, and SaaS. I thought a lot about how I might help my community at COVID, and it became clear to me that I needed to start something SaaS-related in Africa,” Lo said.
According to Socium, it currently has more than 100 active clients in 15 countries and ten industries, making it one of the few HR IT companies in Africa to have recently secured capital. A $5 million Series A investment led by Norrsken22 was just concluded by WorkPay, a Kenyan business that reportedly serves over 1,000 clients in 20 African nations. Breega led the seed round for Socium, with participation from Partech, Orange Ventures, Chui Ventures, Sonatel, Outlierz, Super Capital, Evolem, Techmind, and other angel investors. Financial advisors were Raisers Partners.
