With the rise of AI, there was a lot dialogue about which jobs are protected from automation. Plumbing is usually cited as one that’s unlikely to get replaced by Claude or Gemini any time quickly. Additionally it is one of many trades taught at BluLever Training, an organization co-founded by South African entrepreneur Jess Roussos to coach plumbers, electricians and different artisans. Roussos is likely one of the prime 10 finalists within the 2026 Africa’s Enterprise Heroes entrepreneurship competitors.
How we made it in Africa editor-in-chief Jaco Maritz spoke to Roussos, the corporate’s co-CEO, about how she and her co-founder constructed a enterprise that addresses South Africa’s expertise hole.
Matters mentioned throughout the video/audio interview embrace:
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Figuring out a niche in South Africa’s trades sector
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The largest challenges BluLever has confronted
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How the founders financed the enterprise
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Entrepreneurship classes learnt alongside the best way
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Enterprise alternatives in Africa’s training sector
Previous to beginning BluLever Training, South African-born Roussos labored for the African Management College (ALU) in Mauritius. ALU is a non-public increased training community based by entrepreneur Fred Swaniker in 2015, with campuses in Mauritius and Rwanda. Roussos held a number of roles there, together with in advertising. Her future BluLever co-founder, Adam Collier, additionally labored at ALU.
After about 4 years at ALU, Roussos and Collier each wished to do one thing new. Roussos says their time there gave them a blueprint for constructing and scaling an training startup.
They noticed a chance in vocational coaching. On the one hand, South Africa had giant numbers of unemployed younger folks. On the opposite, companies corresponding to plumbing and electrical contractors had been struggling to search out expert staff. Based on Roussos, many current technical and vocational coaching establishments weren’t equipping college students with the talents employers wanted.
Getting began
Roussos and Collier began BluLever in the direction of the top of 2018. Initially, they targeted on researching the artisan sector and printed their findings in a doc known as The Artisan Report. Additionally they organised a convention that introduced collectively a variety of trade stakeholders.
In 2020, they employed a small crew and started working quick coaching programmes, which gave them hands-on expertise of working with tradespeople.
The next 12 months, BluLever opened its first campus in a rented constructing in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, and enrolled 30 college students in its three-year plumbing apprenticeship programme.
Apprentices spend a few third of their time on campus. The remainder of the time, they work for an employer, who pays them whereas they study on the job. Alongside technical topics, the campus curriculum covers tender expertise corresponding to communication, venture administration and entrepreneurship.
After three years, BluLever outgrew its first campus and moved to a bigger constructing down the street. It has since added electrical, automotive and photo voltaic apprenticeship programmes, and opened a campus in Cape City.
The plumbing apprenticeship prices R130,000 (about $7,900) over three years, whereas {the electrical} and automotive programmes are priced at R145,000 (about $8,800).
Apprentices can fund their research in a number of methods. BluLever sources bursaries and scholarships for individuals who can’t afford the charges, whereas others make use of scholar financing or have their tuition coated by their employer. “Typically what’s going to occur is that the majority apprentices may have a mix of those,” Roussos explains. “They may have, for instance, a 60% or 70% bursary, after which the opposite 30% both they’re paying, their employer is paying, or they get a financial institution mortgage.”
Funding the enterprise
The founders initially funded the enterprise with their very own financial savings and raised a small quantity from household and buddies to open the primary campus.
In 2023, BluLever secured an fairness seed spherical from 4 institutional impression traders: the Elea Basis for Ethics in Globalization, the Autodesk Basis, the Oppenheimer Generations Basis and A to Z Affect.
Roussos says the corporate is now elevating one other spherical, which is able to enable it to open a 3rd and fourth campus.
Plans for development
Thus far, BluLever has enrolled simply over 700 apprentices throughout its programmes.
Based on Roussos, the largest impediment to reaching the dimensions the corporate is aiming for is the associated fee and time concerned in establishing bodily campuses. “We began eager about how we are able to get away from having to do this ourselves,” she explains.
Wanting forward, the founders plan to supply the BluLever mannequin by current vocational coaching establishments. This might see BluLever working authorities technical and vocational training and coaching (TVET) schools, or coaching centres run by non-public corporations.
