Durban — The Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) has said that it is humbled and proud of its graduate who created a job-hunting app that requires no data.
The university said that it would also help the graduate protect his product.
Mzamo Mbhele created the job-hunting app Job X.
MUT said that a mobile app to help South African graduates seeking employment may just be what the doctor ordered to curb the high unemployment rate in South Africa.
Job X was conceptualised and developed by Mbhele, a third-year Information Technology (Software Development) student at MUT, and has become the talk of the town. This is after Job X, a zero-rated app that allows users to download and use it without having any data, attracted over 10 000 users in its first week and well over 40 000 downloads so far, MUT said.
“We are humbled by this achievement from our IT student in the Faculty of Natural Sciences. I wish to reiterate what our acting vice-chancellor and principal, Professor Marcus Ramogale, always says to our graduates, ‘let not your past determine your future’. Today, we are seeing a MUT graduate making international headlines, and this shows that our strategic direction on excellence has begun to bear some fruits,” said MUT acting deputy vice-chancellor for teaching and learning, Dr Manyane Makua.
“We are proud of Mzamo Mbhele, and we will assist him to protect his product. We are on course with enhancing our incubation centre. Mbhele will be able to be protected in an environment where he could imagine more innovations,” Makua said.
The university added that it has noted the support by the media and wishes to encourage the media not to shy away from saying Mbhele is a MUT graduate, not a KZN graduate.
Last year, Business Report reported that Job X helps job seekers find employment by showing them available jobs near them based on their qualifications.
Mbhele explained that you download the app and then you register your details, like what qualifications you have. The app will then triangulate your location and start showing you jobs available close to your location based on the qualifications you entered.
Job X will show you jobs within 10km, and then the search becomes wider as you scroll down.
It also streamlines the process of creating a CV and allows you to scan and attach documents from one application, saving all documents in PDF format.
Most importantly, the app is zero-rated, which means you don't need cellphone data to job hunt.
Daily News