Sisters Angela Muhwezi-Hall and Deborah Gladney are the first Black women to raise over $1 million in Wichita, Kansas to fund their company, QuickHire. Gladney and Muhwezi-Hall founded the Black-owned app in April.
Gladney and Muhwezi-Hall’s company QuickHire was founded to serve the restaurant, retail and hospitality industries by connecting paying clients with jobseekers. The sisters are the children of Ugandan immigrants.
Having 60 clients so far, the app has already reached $1.41 million. QuickHire already has 12,000 job-seekers who have been connected to companies such as Hilton Homewood Suites and Doo-Dah Diner through the app.
Deborah Gladney told AfroTech that blue-collar workers saved the world during the pandemic and should be appreciated. She added that not having a talented workforce endangers the economy.
“People in the blue-collar industry have faced decades of neglect and career stifling and unfair pay,” said Gladney. “It took a global pandemic for everybody else to realize it when people didn’t want to leave their house or when they needed people to deliver their groceries. Blue-collar workers kept the wheels turning and made it even more clear these type of roles that are the backbone of this country,“ .
“It’s a threat to our economy if we don’t have the talent who are looking for these jobs so we want to connect people to the right jobs within this economy of the workforce and help them continue to progress….We do pride ourselves on being underserved founders serving underserved workers in an underserved geographic region,” she concluded.
Angela Muhwezi-Hall noted that people can be connected with new jobs quickly with QuickHire.
“People don’t have time to wait around for that next opportunity,”said Muhwezi-Hall. “That may make the difference between, ‘Can I feed my family?’ Maybe you say, ‘hey, I’m a cashier. One day, I want to be a regional manager.’ We take that information and we connect you to the right jobs. We connect you to the right training.”
MATH Venture Partners is one of the venture capital firms backing QuickHire.
QuickHire plans to expand and will soon cater to the skilled-worker labor force as soon as next year. The app will be updated to include industries like welding and manufacturing. The sisters said that they wanted to help people looking for lifelong careers as well as help those who are looking for a change.
