Jem, the South African workforce platform built on WhatsApp for deskless teams, has won Best HR Industry Innovation Using Technology at the 2026 Future of HR Awards. The awards, run by Topco Media, were presented at a gala at The Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg.

Commercial director Christopher Hellmann accepted the award and used his time on stage to describe who Jem builds for: security guards, factory staff, fast-food workers and retail staff.

"When you think about a staff member who wakes up at 4 am to take a taxi, can't rely on laptops or email, but has to trust that the route will work that day, works tirelessly to put their family through school and put bread on the table, and then takes that same taxi to get home at 10 pm, those are the people that we build technology for," he said.

According to Jem, the judges said the platform has transformed HR accessibility, improved workforce inclusion and created significant efficiencies for employers, and pointed to evidence of measurable business impact, employee engagement, administrative savings and scalability across several industries. The event's emcee described Jem as delivering an exceptional HR technology solution for the often unmet needs of frontline and deskless workers.

This year's independent judging panel included HR leaders such as Shirley Zinn, Francois Sieberhagen, Elizma Els, Tumelo Seaketso and Kershini Govender. The award follows a busy few months.

In August, Jem raised an $8.4-million Series A, about R136.5 million, led by Quona Capital, and launched Jem 2.0, a platform that brings payslips, onboarding, leave, time and attendance, workforce communication, credit scores, an employee assistance programme and earned wage access into one WhatsApp-based service. It serves more than 250,000 frontline workers across more than 200 employers, including Servest, Bidvest, McDonald's and KFC, and says revenue grew more than 120% over the past year.

The software is free for employers. Jem earns its money from the financial services workers use through it, such as earned wage access, airtime and data.

Jem announced the win on LinkedIn, saying it exists so frontline teams are not left out of HR and financial wellness. Topco Media describes the awards as a benchmark for leadership, culture and people strategy in South Africa. IT News Africa covered the Series A, including chief executive Simon Ellis's argument that many employers still run their frontline teams on a patchwork of legacy systems.

Most HR software is designed for people at desks with laptops and company email. South Africa's workforce is largely the opposite, which is why so many employers still run their frontline staff on paper, spreadsheets and phone calls. Jem's bet was to meet those workers on WhatsApp, which they already use every day, and to make the software free for employers by earning from financial services instead, a model we unpacked when we covered Jem 2.0 and the free HR platform.

An industry award judged by senior HR leaders is useful external proof that the approach is working for employers, not just for investors.

It is also a good week for South African fintech built around overlooked people, with Omnisient winning in Las Vegas for helping banks lend to people without a credit history.

Note: Jem sponsors The People Insider, a weekly newsletter produced by our team for people who employ people in South Africa. If that is you, you should sign up here.

You might also like the story of how Jem evolved its business model, the POPIA warning about AI at work, and Kuunda's lending infrastructure.

Get more SA tech and business news and subscribe to The Open Letter.