Why Hiring and Paying Employees in Africa Is Harder Than Most Companies Expect with Ernestine Van Rappard

Episode 225 with Ernestine Van Rappard, CCO  at Workpay, a Kenyan founded, Y Combinator backed payroll, HR, and Employer of Record platform helping companies hire, pay, and manage employees across Africa without setting up local entities. Ernestine joins us to unpack one of the biggest hidden barriers to doing business in Africa: compliant hiring, payroll, and workforce management across multiple African countries.

In this episode, we explore how global companies are expanding into Africa faster by using Employer of Record (EOR) solutions to hire employees legally and compliantly without establishing subsidiaries. Ernestine explains why setting up entities across Africa can take months, the complexity of navigating labour laws and payroll regulations across different jurisdictions, and why payroll infrastructure is becoming a critical part of Africa’s digital economy.

We also discuss the rise of remote work and distributed teams across Africa, the growing global demand for African talent, and why international businesses are increasingly looking towards African markets for both expansion and recruitment. Ernestine shares how Workpay evolved from a HR software platform into one of Africa’s leading payroll and EOR providers, now supporting companies hiring across multiple African markets.

What We Discuss With Ernestine

• Why hiring and payroll compliance remain major barriers to business expansion across Africa.
• How Employer of Record (EOR) services allow companies to hire in Africa without setting up local entities.
• The realities of managing payroll, tax, and labour law compliance across multiple African countries.
• Why global companies are increasingly hiring African talent and building distributed teams across the continent.
• How Workpay is helping businesses scale faster across Africa through payroll technology, HR management, and compliant workforce solutions.

Did you miss my previous episode where I discus The Future of Ecommerce in Africa and Why Speed and Reliability Is Everything? Make sure to check it out!

Connect with Terser:
LinkedIn – Terser Adamu
Instagram – unlockingafrica
Twitter (X) – @TerserAdamu

Connect with Ernestine
LinkedIn – Ernestine Catz – van Rappard and Workpay

Many of the businesses unlocking opportunities in Africa don’t do it alone. If you’d like strategic support on entering or expanding across African markets, reach out to our partners ETK Group:

www.etkgroup.co.uk
info@etkgroup.co.uk