The internet has always presented itself as one of the best places for small businesses and service providers to showcase their work and expand their client bases.
That’s the opportunity that online directories have managed to seize but even with that popular solution, there’s still room to provide something specific to certain crafts.
A Zimbabwean outfit has decided to do that by developing a one-stop solution for tradesmen and the people who need their services.
Called Handymen, it is a mobile app (it’s available for Android only) that provides a solution for both tradesmen and their ordinary clients.
Through the app the ordinary user can identify a tradesman who can handle a particular task while it also provides tradesmen who sign up for it a tool for locating work.
You can download the beta version of Handymen for Android by following this link to Google Play
Ordinary users who need services can find builders, carpenters, electricians, mechanics and plumbers that respond to the specific job that they describe and broadcast.
Users can also rate the work done by the handyman hired for the specific task as well as build a contacts list of the different tradesmen they have used.
On the tradesmen side of things, Handymen creates a profile of each of the service providers and helps maintain an average rating of their performance while working as a referral tool.
Handymen is currently wrapping up its Alpha testing phase and will be entering into Beta testing before the end of this month. It’s available for download on Google Play and will be offering a free service for ordinary users with a subscription charged to the tradesmen.
Its value proposition is the same as what we’ve already seen from other on-demand solutions that have emerged for different services through the cross fit between online payments (or transactions that start via mobile) and mobile access.
Ads far as local solutions with the same concept go, Handymen will be up against the yet to launch Econet startup for on demand tradesmen help called Technites, as well as classifieds.co.zw which as Zimbabwe’s most visible online directory, has already benefitted from a network effect through a sizeable number of service provider signups.
It will be interesting to see how Handymen incorporates feedback from its test phase to make a strong impression in a market that will benefit from increased competition.
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