When Talstack launched in 2022 it seemed, at first look, like one other company studying portal: a slick catalogue of quick video programs delivered by African operators for an African workforce. It was clear, intuitive, and never in contrast to Udemy or Coursera.
“We seemed on the panorama and requested ourselves, what’s the quickest means into the system?” stated Seni Sulyman, Talstack’s co-founder and CEO. “Studying was the apparent entry level. It’s the lowest-friction downside corporations are prepared to unravel instantly.” 
What many didn’t know on the time was that the course library was merely section certainly one of a a lot bigger playbook: a full-stack individuals operations platform designed for Africa’s evolving workforce. Internally, Talstack organises this ambition right into a three-part framework: study, carry out, have interaction, and has been constructing towards it ever since.
Studying that pays for itself
Talstack’s studying platform is now markedly totally different from its early model. What started as a modest catalogue of 80 short-form programs has expanded to over 300 throughout classes like finance, provide chain, operations, and synthetic intelligence. Right this moment, corporations can combine this content material with their very own through a light-weight studying administration system (LMS), creating structured “studying paths” for brand new hires, managers, and even underperforming workers.
“Firms not have to cobble collectively Excel lists and YouTube hyperlinks,” Sulyman stated. “Now, an HR crew can construct a full studying program in minutes and observe who’s watching what, when, and for a way lengthy.” 
Talstack claims its actual innovation isn’t within the content material however within the supply. Every Talstack course ends with a to-do, a framework designed to drive quick motion. “The purpose is that when somebody finishes a course, they will apply the idea the subsequent day,” defined co-founder Kayode Oyewole. “That means, even when the worker leaves 9 months later, you’ve already captured the ROI.”
“We’re not making an attempt to encourage individuals. We’re making an attempt to assist them shut efficiency gaps,” Oyewole stated.
Final month, Talstack unveiled Carry out, its performance-management module. Constructed to be “the best 360-review instrument in the marketplace,” the characteristic permits admins to arrange purpose cycles, outline suggestions workflows (self, peer, upward, supervisor), toggle culture-specific settings like anonymity, and visualize outcomes—multi function streamlined interface.
“This is likely to be, even on a world stage, one of many easiest instruments to make use of,” Sulyman stated throughout a stay demo. “HR groups are overwhelmed. Efficiency opinions shouldn’t be one other painful admin activity.” 
The product design is knowledgeable by painful firsthand expertise. “We’ve used international instruments. You submit suggestions right into a black gap. It’s bloated and gradual. Our prospects had been nonetheless working overview cycles on Excel,” Sulyman stated. “We’re making this straightforward, trendy, and helpful in context.”
What competitors?
Talstack’s transfer into efficiency administration places it squarely in competitors with Nigeria’s HR-tech gamers—SeamlessHR, PaidHR, NotchHR, and others. “We’re a lot much less apprehensive about competitors,” Sulyman stated. “We’re obsessive about the shopper. If they are saying their present platform sucks, that’s an issue price fixing.” 
That customer-centricity guides Talstack’s product philosophy. The startup claims it gained’t construct something except they consider they will do it “3 times higher” than what already exists. “Payroll, for instance, is unlikely to be constructed in-house anytime quickly. If it’s working nicely elsewhere, we’d reasonably combine,” Oyewole stated. “The purpose isn’t to win alone. It’s to win with everybody else profitable.” 
Nonetheless, Sulyman and Oyewole admit their ambitions go nicely past opinions and programs.
The duo’s north star is to make Talstack the one supply of fact for each African worker’s expertise, efficiency, and progress trajectory so future employers request a Talstack Rating, not a résumé.
That rating—a composite index based mostly on studying exercise, efficiency opinions, expertise gaps, and behavioral indicators—is already in growth. Each course watched, purpose tracked, overview submitted, and to-do accomplished contributes to a expertise’s total Talstack Rating.
“We would like Talstack to be the one house for managing individuals—studying, efficiency, ability growth, succession planning, every little thing,” he stated. “Resumés are guesswork,” Oyewole stated. “The Talstack Rating tells the actual story—what you recognize, what you’ve achieved, and the way you’ve grown over time.” 
To energy this dream, Talstack raised extra (undisclosed) funding in 2024. The startup additionally raised a $850,000 pre-seed in 2022. The enterprise operates an easy SaaS mannequin: corporations pay a set month-to-month charge per worker, billed yearly or semi-annually. “About 90 p.c of our prospects are on long-term plans,” Sulyman stated. “Solely our largest enterprise shoppers get bespoke pricing.” 
The enterprise at present has shoppers starting from conglomerates like UAC Meals with over 2,000 workers to development companies, hospitals and oil-and-gas outfits. Sulyman additionally notes that Talstack is stay in a number of African markets past Nigeria.
What comes subsequent?
The ultimate piece in Talstack’s Operation Software program is “have interaction”, a tradition and sentiment layer scheduled for public launch later this yr. It’s going to embrace Worker Web Promoter Rating polls (eNPS polls), pulse surveys, and analytics that observe how workers really feel—not simply what they do.
As a result of Interact sits on the identical information backbone as Study and Carry out, the module will permit corporations to correlate morale with studying and efficiency information, as an illustration, figuring out {that a} demotivated crew additionally missed its OKRs or skipped key coaching modules.
“It’s about giving leaders the complete image,” Sulyman stated. “Not simply what individuals are reaching, however how they’re experiencing the office.”
Mark your calendars! Moonshot by TechCabal is again in Lagos on October 15–16! Be a part of Africa’s high founders, creatives & tech leaders for two days of keynotes, mixers & future-forward concepts. Early fowl tickets now 20% off—don’t snooze! moonshot.techcabal.com
