JuiceMe Acquires Ajiraworks in Push to Build Pan-African Employment Infrastructure
Nairobi-based workforce infrastructure company JuiceMe has acquired Ajiraworks, a compliance-focused employment firm with operations in the UK and Kenya, in a deal structured to accelerate its continental expansion and deepen its employer of record capabilities.
The transaction is an acqui-hire, designed primarily to absorb operational systems, compliance infrastructure, and institutional knowledge rather than a customer base.
Through the deal, JuiceMe gains Ajiraworks’ regulatory frameworks, market entry playbooks, and established partnerships across multiple African jurisdictions, assets its leadership says would have taken years to build organically.
Ajiraworks founder Catherine Ochako joins JuiceMe as Global Director, Employer of Record, and takes up a seat on the company’s board as a shareholder. Ochako brings over a decade of cross-border employment experience to the role. Before founding Ajiraworks, she built an Employer of Record function from the ground up, scaling operations across 29 markets and managing distributed teams across the UK, South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.
Ajiraworks was established to address persistent barriers facing global companies entering African labour markets. This includes regulatory fragmentation, inconsistent payroll infrastructure, and multi-jurisdictional complexity that complicates what should be straightforward hiring decisions.
“Often, companies focus on speed when entering new markets. But without the right structure, that growth introduces risk,” said Ochako. “JuiceMe’s acquisition of Ajiraworks will allow us to build systems that enable companies to scale quickly while staying compliant and in control.”
JuiceMe co-founder Lawrence Diamond framed the deal as deliberate acceleration rather than a strategic pivot. “Catherine and her team have already solved many of the hardest operational and compliance challenges in cross-border employment. By integrating that expertise directly into our platform, we’re accelerating expansion across the continent with the structure and local expertise companies need to succeed.”
The acquisition places JuiceMe within a fast-growing market segment. As multinational companies increasingly look to African markets for talent, driven by cost advantages, demographic depth, and expanding digital skills capacity, demand for compliant, scalable employment infrastructure is rising. Employer of Record services have emerged as the preferred entry mechanism for companies seeking operational presence without establishing a local legal entity.
In her new role, Ochako’s mandate is to build a structured employment layer enabling companies to hire, pay, and manage talent across Africa with full regulatory compliance.
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