Problem
Imagine: It’s Monday morning, you're rushing to work and discover a leak in your bathroom. Your heart sinks. You quickly send WhatsApp messages to your friends and post on all the local Facebook groups: “Anyone know a good, reliable & affordable plumber near Mikocheni?” You wade through the water and responses, trying to figure out how to differentiate one recommendation from another. You call a few plumbers whose phones are off, and eventually arrange to meet two, one doesn’t show up and one is late. You hope she knows her stuff and can fix your leak because it’s now Wednesday and your patience with the mop and bucket is wearing thin.
For many this is an all too familiar scenario. Connecting with trusted and well-trained artisans/handymen/fundis in Dar Es Salaam is very challenging, you spend hours and days asking about availability, prices, expertise, experience, services offered etc. with no beacon of quality in sight.
Moreover, many of the four out of five working Tanzanians who rely on informal work for their income, struggle to prove their trustworthiness and qualifications to customers and end up relying almost exclusively on word-of-mouth referrals.
Solution
Toolboksi aims to change this, we are a technology platform that provides informal sector workers (Artisans, handymen, fundis) with consistent work opportunities and access to upskilling and career progression. While connecting households and businesses with trusted and verified fundis/handymen conveniently for their various repair, installation and maintenance services
Our approach involves providing trainings while on-boarding and monthly before connecting them with customers who are mainly households and businesses.
We offer training in a range of topics such as Vocation-Specific Tutorials, Digital Literacy Training, Soft Skills and the apprenticeship Program through Toolboksi Academy, which goes hand on hand with improving through customer’s ratings and feedback.
Every artisan/handyman/fundi on our platform has been professionally verified, background-checked and trained by us. Our amazing matching algorithms make sure that you get connected to the right service expert, in seconds.
Who we are
As a team, the Toolboksi’s mission reflects our shared passion for the successful and equitable growth of the Tanzanian informal sector. Toolboksi continues to evolve through discussions and explorations with countless workers, homeowners, researchers, and entrepreneurs. We look forward to growing and adapting with feedback from the people of Dar Es Salaam, and if you share our passion we look forward to talking with you too.