NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, November 27, 2017

Employment tech startup Shortlist today announced the acquisition of Spire Education, a Nairobi-based talent development company that builds employee training programs for East Africa’s leading employers.

Spire Education designs and delivers talent development programs that enable employees to cultivate the skills and attitudes they need to be successful in their jobs. Founded in 2013, they have partnered with leading companies including Java House and M-KOPA to build internal learning and development programs for junior, middle, and senior level staff.

Shortlist helps growing enterprises hire for early and mid-career roles based on demonstrated potential and skill, rather than pedigree. Its platform screens candidates using predictive chat-based interviews and online competency-based assessments, letting employers skip the most time-consuming and bias-prone phases of hiring. By coming together, the combined enterprise can now support employers seamlessly through recruitment, onboarding, and on-the-job training.

“We’re thrilled to join forces with Spire, a move that will supercharge our joint capacity to support talent-forward companies in Kenya and beyond,” says Paul Breloff, co-founder and CEO of Shortlist. “We share a cultural foundation and a passion for helping companies across the continent build better teams. We are also exploring how we can deliver Spire’s training and development curriculum directly to Shortlist job-seekers, equipping professionals with the skills they need to be successful and closing the loop between training and employment.”

Photo courtesy of Dominic Chavez.