Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dami Odunewu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dami, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

After discovering my purpose in life, my approach to work shifted. I knew that not every career opportunity was for me and wherever I planted myself as an employee, I meant to be there and I wanted to be there. After graduating college, I accepted a job offer in management at a large hospital. I had 33 direct reports and two co-managers. I quickly began to notice that people didn’t want to be at work and this was the root of some of the workplace issues we experienced. So, I started a career coaching business to help others discover themselves in order to be fulfilled in life. At the end of my program, my had a career strategy that utilized key components for career success. These components were passion, skills, significance, and vision.

Dami, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Dami Odunewu, CEO and Founder at Purpose Connect, a no-resume hiring software that helps to reduce the job application overwhelm for employers and job seekers by using a points-based system to qualify job seekers for jobs. Our mission at Purpose Connect is to make hiring more human.

One of my passions in life is to help others discover themselves in order to be fulfilled in life. This is what led to founding my career coaching business DAMI LLC. In my business, I helped my clients through a one-month career strategy program. What I began to notice at the end of the program was that some of my clients were able to get into their next job of interest while others struggled to be seen by their prospective employers. I began to take my program a step further by reviewing their resumes and helping them with their job search. Here’s what I found… All of my clients who had trouble getting in front of the employer had one thing in common, their resumes all looked the same and they were not Applicant Tracking System (ATS)-friendly. Their resumes all had pictures, colors, lines, icons, multiple fonts, etc. They were being screened in the ATS system, so I began to teach resumes and job search tips along with my career strategy program.

The reality is people don’t get training on how to format a resume and now with design tools such as Canva, so many job seekers are stuck in the ATS system without realizing it. Did this mean they were not the right one to be considered for their job(s) of interest? NO! They were just a victim of a hiring system that has created more problems than solutions. My goal became to get talented humans in front of employers by eliminating the resume and replacing it with a standard-formatted profile. This led to the creation of Purpose Connect.

Along with the ATS screenings, I began to discover a bigger problem in the amount of job applications received on average by recruiters and hiring managers. So, assuming that a job seekers gets in front of a hiring person, they would have to hope to be seen for what they could bring to the table without getting lost in a pool of hundreds of applicants. Recruiters and hiring managers report spending weeks to months reviewing their applicant pool only to find less than 10% qualified. I wanted to simplify hiring by making it more human.

How’d you meet your business partner?

For a while after creating Purpose Connect, I felt inadequate because of the fact that I had no tech background. I had worked in nonprofit for almost a decade. I decided to take the step into the tech world in spite of how I felt. However, I knew if I was going to be successful, I would need someone with Saas and tech startup experience.

I knew our company did not have the budget for a paid CTO, so I looked for recommendations for someone who would be willing to step in as CTO for part equity ownership of the company. Also, I made it a point to establish an alignment of mission before entering into a cofounder relationship with anyone.

I began to connect with a network of African tech founders on LinkedIn, and that is how and where I met my cofounder Jefferson Ondze-Mangha.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

At first, I had no idea what I was getting into with my crazy idea. I quickly began to realize that I had so much to learn about startup fundraising.

But first, I had to be willing to take a risk myself. So, I immediately had to change my financial lifestyle. I began to save around 40% of my income. All effort to connect with angel investors failed, so I began to connect with potential private investor via word of mouth. I would invite them to a meeting and present Purpose Connect to them.

Till date, we have raised a total of $91,000 in pre-seed and seed round. $25,000 was raised through our private investors, $10,000 was raised through a grant funding while $66,000 was founder-invested.  

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.purposeconnect.us/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/purposeconnect.us/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposeconnect.us
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/purposeconnect-us/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/purposeconnect3
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@purposeconnect