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Past and present governments have instituted social impact programs like the national youth employment program and other similar initiatives but these programs have not fully been able to solve the huge unemployment problems.

Thousands of people have been trained as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. - however, the job market cannot accommodate them.

If they’re lucky, they manage to find work. If they find work, the salary barely gets them through the month, especially if they are living in a big city and supporting a family. Sometimes they just don’t find any work at all.

The irony is that there is a huge demand for services like plumbing, carpentry, painting, etc. but most of the earnings in these jobs go to the middlemen—contractors, etc. Here’s where PEPs steps in. PEPs is a digital platform that connects people with service professionals from plumbers and electricians to masons and safety experts—without any middlemen.

PEPs has set out on this arduous journey of connecting service providers with consumers, and in the process are trying to organize the market itself. Today PEPs has managed to make big inroads in Accra and Tema and has no close competitors. PEPs has put in systems for quality control and training for their service providers
The company plans to expand its base to Kumasi and Takoradi, and Nairobi (Kenya).

They [service professionals] are undergoing a life transformation, from being an employee to a micro-entrepreneur and running their own business.

Additionally, the company sees the need to standardize the services provided to customers for this reason it needs its’ service providers to use quality products and tool kits. That’s when the idea of providing equipment and financial support to service professionals came about. The company has started training centres to provide service professionals with some technical and soft skills. Peponi Gruppe believes skilling the professionals is a key focus area for their operations.

The professionals undergo basic training, they are taught soft skills and the finer nuances of their work before they are allowed to accept any jobs on the platform.

The company opines that such training refines and transforms service providers not only to do their work well but also to give them the knowledge to manage themselves as business people in their own right. The selection of the PEPs platform as providers is quite thorough. The selection isn’t permanent either. If the service provider’s rating falls below expectations, they are removed from the platform.

Safety—of both service professionals and customers—is of paramount importance. So how does a company that is growing at a rapid pace and wants to serve millions of customers deal with the safety issue? Well, there is an elaborate background check process, including checking of temporary and permanent addresses.

During the time the service is being delivered, the mobile app has the location of the professional, which the customer is aware of. Any complaints from the service providers regarding customers are taken seriously and vice versa. If there is any misconduct from the customer or provider, they are blocked from using PEPs.