Why Tobi Akinpelu is Building AskNetwork247, a Digital Platform That Helps Africans Secure Job Referrals

Across Nigeria and much of Africa, unemployment remains one of the continent’s biggest challenges. Despite a growing population and an increasingly educated workforce, opportunities remain painfully scarce. In Nigeria, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported the unemployment rate was 4.3% in the second quarter of 2024, with millions more underemployed. Across sub-Saharan Africa, youth unemployment sits at around 8.9%, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and that number doesn’t fully capture the millions working in informal, low-income jobs just to get by.

While many possess the skills and experience to contribute meaningfully, they often face structural barriers, from limited access to reliable job networks to recruitment systems increasingly dominated by AI filters and automation. The result is a widening gap between talent and opportunity.

Reports from the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) warn that Nigeria must create over 27 million new formal jobs by 2030 to prevent unemployment from soaring to 30%.

It’s this understanding that inspired Tobi Akinpelu and his team to build AskNetwork247, a digital platform designed to help Africans across the globe access job referrals through verified human connections. In this conversation, Tobi talks about what inspired the platform, the challenges of building it, and how it could change the future of work for Africans everywhere.

Hello Tobi. How are you feeling?

I’m feeling joyful because building a digital technology product to solve a problem faced by millions of Africans comes with great honour. Grateful to our team and consultants: Grace Boboye, Peter Damilola, Daniel O’jones, Emmanuel Ogunbanjo, Elizabeth Ayodele, Elijah Akinpelu and Amos Samson.

Tell us about the digital technology product and why it was launched

The digital technology product is AskNetwork247, and it’s a platform that offers search accuracy for Africans across the globe to secure job referrals.

As an African in diaspora with strong roots in my home country, I’ve experienced firsthand the challenges of finding a job, business clients and collaborators. It’s not just me; there are people with decades of experience, attending interviews that took months to land revenue. With the increase of AI automations in the workforce, the job market and consumer purchasing power continue to worsen. The people applying for jobs would likely double over the next 5 years because more university graduates join the pile.

This means, 200 people would have applied to a job before you get there, sent their CVs, and AI would be used to vet most applicants. The opportunity gap reduces. Even those who qualify stand less than 1% chance. This is why getting a human referral is critical going forward.

Knowing someone who can speak for you in rooms you are not, has been the way of the few successful people. And those people who use referrals are experts themselves, diligent in their work. It is the extra step they take, helping them secure their next job.

There is a startup called Sorce. It’s like Tinder but for job seekers. It’s almost the same as what you just described, AskNetwork247. Are they the same?

Sorce is a great job-seeking platform. Their AI understands your CV resume. By simply swiping on the app, it automatically applies for jobs for you. It’s an innovation solving a similar problem. But it is different from AskNetwork247.

The difference is that Sorce increases your number of applications on the job boards. AskNetwork247 secures jobs by connecting you to a human who can advocate for you or give an onward referral. AskNetwork247 uses AI to accurately search for the right person who can give you a job referral, and suggests the approach steps.

Meanwhile, millions of Africans would find the best result by pairing both platforms to their advantage.

Is there an aspect of your life experiences that informed building the platform?

So, referral is the key to opening doors. People over 45 years old know this secret. For me, I have always been a hard worker. Absolutely diligent in my craft. However, there are many others like me, equally talented [but with no access]. My parents taught me the value of human referral at an early stage. To build good relationships with people, help others succeed, because it adds to your credit. By the time you need help, it becomes natural for you to find it from them or elsewhere. This is why we’re building AskNetwork247.

In 4 years, this lesson took me from a university graduate in 2017 with 20,000 naira left in my bank account to becoming a UK Global Talent in 2021, able to cover my living expenses. After another 4 years, from 2021 to 2025, we are building a referral platform for my fellow Africans.

What were some of the earliest challenges you faced when building something of this importance?

Our biggest challenge was finding the correct model. It’s like having a question, an expected answer, but there is a mathematical equation that must be discovered to solve it in one or two lines. 

We’ve tried multiple ways, from CrossPromoteAI legacy, which took us over a year to build and learn. That legacy model took days before a user would find a match with someone to talk to. It had nothing to do with the codes, but a high-level flow of how things should be done.

Our latest infrastructure of AskNetwork247 is a layer on LinkedIn for fast connection. We now offer a simple experience, robust search accuracy and a tailored education on how to approach people for them to offer you a referral.

What are some of the success stories of the platform so far?

AskNetwork247 has two modes: The global and private network. The private network is for those who import their own LinkedIn connections to search for people and easily send out messages at the fastest speed possible.

The Global Network is a pre-existing LinkedIn connection of 11,000+ professionals that was willingly and legally made available to the general public. 

The best part is that these 11,000 people are being made aware that they may be in our search results, and for them to genuinely respond to people who come to them with our verification link. This is the human, non-platform side of it, which our team is actively doing, building relationships with people, so that others who go to them can find solutions to their pain point or onward referrals.

What are your projections for AskNetwork247’s future in Africa?

We are focused on helping a few people succeed. In the next 2 years, to unlock N50billion revenue for 100,000 Africans across the globe.

By connecting them to job referrals. Yielding, calculatively, an average of N500k each. This is a conservative projection, just a little estimate for us to start, towards a major milestone in another 5 years. Since our mission is to contribute to the development of a flourishing economy, imagine Africa with us in 20 years.

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BellaNaija is not responsible or liable for the user experience of AskNetwork247.