Press contact
For interviews, screenshot requests, fact-checking, or anything else this kit doesn't cover — Jean replies to all media within a working day.
The story
Handi-za is a two-sided service marketplace where South African homeowners post jobs and verified local providers — plumbers, electricians, painters, cleaners, gardeners, and 90+ other trades — message them directly. There are no listing fees, no contact-unlock paywalls, and no commission on completed work. Both sides use the platform free of charge, forever.
The platform launched in 2026 to fix three problems specific to the South African home-services market: middlemen who add 15-30% to every quote without doing the work, lead-generation sites that charge tradespeople per contact regardless of conversion, and the absence of any public reference for what a fair trade rate actually looks like by service and province. Handi-za's response is a marketplace that doesn't take a cut, plus a free cost estimator that publishes wide rate bands for the 25 most-searched trade categories across all 9 provinces.
The site is built and run by one person — Jean de Dieu Nihorimbere, a Cape Town–based Computer Science postgraduate. There is no VC, no investor pressure, no commission model waiting to switch on. The design constraint from day one was that the platform stay free in both directions, permanently. Revenue, if ever needed, will come from optional features (featured listings, business-card upgrades) that the core "post a job, find a pro" flow never depends on.
Key facts
Story angles
Six framings any of which can stand alone as a feature.
The 0% commission marketplace
Every other SA service-marketplace (Snupit, Bark, ServiceMagic-via-Kandua) charges either commission or per-lead fees. Handi-za charges nothing. The founder is on record saying it will stay that way.
A free public reference for SA trade pricing
The cost estimator at /cost-estimator publishes indicative rate bands by service AND province — informed by 100+ worked examples (geyser swaps, gate motor installs, full house repaint). No login required. Open data for an opaque industry.
Built by one Computer Science postgrad in Cape Town
Solo developer, no VC, no co-founder, no investor pressure. The whole product (matching, web push, payments-adjacent flows, cost estimator, admin tools) is one person's output.
Real-time push for matching jobs
Providers get an instant browser push the moment a job matching their service + suburb is posted. Seekers can invite up to 3 specific pros to quote on the same brief — three real quotes in one round, no commitment.
Reviews that actually mean something
A review can only be left by a user whose job is in the completed state on the platform. Both sides review each other. Drive-by ratings and bought stars are impossible by design.
Province-specific pricing transparency
Western Cape and Gauteng metro pricing carries a 5-10% premium over the national baseline; Eastern Cape, Limpopo, and Free State sit 10-15% below. Handi-za publishes the multipliers openly so seekers know what to expect before they post.
Founder
Jean de Dieu Nihorimbere
Founder + sole developer · Cape Town
Jean is a Cape Town–based Computer Science postgraduate. He built Handi-za after repeatedly watching friends and family across South Africa get burned by quote-shopping, no-show contractors, and inflated middleman pricing on jobs that should have cost half what they paid. Handi-za is his attempt to fix all three with one design constraint: zero commission, ever. A higher-resolution headshot is available on request — email press@handi-za.co.za.
Pre-approved quotes
Quotable on attribution to Jean de Dieu Nihorimbere, founder of Handi-za. No interview required.
"South African trade work already has too many middlemen. The last thing the industry needs is another platform taxing every transaction. We took commission off the table on day one and built the rest of the business around that constraint."
"Pricing transparency is the single biggest unlock for trust in this market. If a seeker knows a geyser element replacement should cost R900 to R1 800, no one is getting an R5 000 quote past them. We published the ranges openly precisely because the absence of that reference is what enables the inflated quote in the first place."
"The hardest thing about a two-sided marketplace at launch is convincing both sides to show up before the other one has. Our answer is geographic concentration — one suburb at a time, 30 verified pros before we tell the suburb's seekers we exist."
"I built this alone because the problem is small enough to fix with one person and a year of patient code. SA does not need another VC-backed marketplace racing to extract value. It needs a permanent piece of public infrastructure that just works."
Brand assets
Logos and icons in production-ready formats. Right-click → save, or use the download link.
#0f766e
Accent amber #f59e0b
Live screens to feature
Direct links to the canonical pages. Open and screenshot at any size — the live site beats a stale screenshot every time. Need rendered hi-res versions for print? Email press@handi-za.co.za.
Hero + featured pros + activity ticker. Best one-glance overview of the platform.
The public pricing tool. Strong visual for any "pricing transparency" angle.
What a provider sees — the live job feed, sortable by urgency.
Service directory landing page. Pick any service for the per-category listing.
The step-by-step explainer + FAQ.
Public, merit-based top-20 by referral activity. Strong visual for community-building angles.
Something this kit doesn't cover?
Interview requests, screenshot needs, fact-checking, or anything else — email press@handi-za.co.za. Reply within a working day.