Hi, we’re
Hi, we’re
We’ve spent years building teams
We’ve spent years building teams
for the world’s fastest growing brands.
for the world’s fastest growing brands.
Close enough to see what worked,
Close enough to see what worked,
and what needed to change.
and what needed to change.
Hi, we’re
We’ve spent years building
teams
for the world's
fastest growing brands
growing brands.
Close enough to see
what worked, and what
needed to change.
Keen was built by two operators who knew the system from the inside.
Jake saw the EOR problem up close. Companies were paying heavy markups on top of salary, yet still had to find the person, manage the work, handle performance, and make the hire successful. The employment paperwork was covered, but the actual work of building a high-performing global team was still left to the brand.
Martin saw the BPO problem from the inside. He helped win partnerships with companies like Shopify, TikTok, and Netflix, but the same pattern kept showing up behind the scenes. BPO providers were protecting margins by hiring from low competency talent pools instead of raising the standard of talent.
Brands were not asking for too much but staffing agencies, BPOs, and EORs were never built to hire for the work businesses required.
❝
The industry called it a talent problem. I saw a system built to keep the bar low.
— Martin Ayala
Then AI made the gap even more obvious.
Simple work was automated at unprecedented speed, which meant support teams needed better judgment. Mass-produced creative content flooded every channel, which meant creative teams needed stronger taste. Brands needed people who could use AI well without letting it weaken the customer experience, the brand, or the quality of the work.
That is where the existing solutions started to break.
EORs handled employment, then left the client to make the hire successful. BPOs had scale, but kept hiring for simple work. Staffing agencies filled roles, then stepped away before the work had really started.
Keen was built for what comes next.
We help brands build full-time teams in South Africa who can think, use AI, and own complex work. We recruit, employ, equip, and manage every hire in-office from our Cape Town HQ, staying close long after the role is filled.
❝
The work had changed. The hiring model had not.
— Jake Petersen
To us, South Africa was always the obvious place to start.
Jake had seen the talent quality firsthand in Cape Town. Sharp, ambitious, globally fluent, and underemployed. Martin saw why that mattered as work became increasingly complex and AI raised the bar. Native-English ability, good judgment, and real ownership mattered more than ever, and South Africa was never short of this criteria. It was short of companies willing to treat people as true extensions of their team.
Keen brings together what global hiring has failed to do.
For a similar cost to a traditional EOR or BPO, brands get the full solution required to make global hiring work, including recruitment, equipment, office space, HR, compliance, and management.
Higher standards than BPOs
More accountability than EORs
More ownership than staffing agencies
Because hiring the right person is only the beginning.
Keen was built by two operators who knew the system from the inside.
Jake saw the EOR problem up close. Companies were paying heavy markups on top of salary, yet still had to find the person, manage the work, handle performance, and make the hire successful. The employment paperwork was covered, but the actual work of building a high-performing global team was still left to the brand.
Martin saw the BPO problem from the inside. He helped win partnerships with companies like Shopify, TikTok, and Netflix, but the same pattern kept showing up behind the scenes. BPO providers were protecting margins by hiring from low competency talent pools instead of raising the standard of talent.
Brands were not asking for too much but staffing agencies, BPOs, and EORs were never built to hire for the work businesses required.
❝
The industry called it a talent problem. I saw a system built to keep the bar low.
— Martin Ayala
Then AI made the gap even more obvious.
Simple work was automated at unprecedented speed, which meant support teams needed better judgment. Mass-produced creative content flooded every channel, which meant creative teams needed stronger taste. Brands needed people who could use AI well without letting it weaken the customer experience, the brand, or the quality of the work.
That is where the existing solutions started to break.
EORs handled employment, then left the client to make the hire successful. BPOs had scale, but kept hiring for simple work. Staffing agencies filled roles, then stepped away before the work had really started.
Keen was built for what comes next.
We help brands build full-time teams in South Africa who can think, use AI, and own complex work. We recruit, employ, equip, and manage every hire in-office from our Cape Town HQ, staying close long after the role is filled.
❝
The work had changed. The hiring model had not.
— Jake Petersen
To us, South Africa was always the obvious place to start.
Jake had seen the talent quality firsthand in Cape Town. Sharp, ambitious, globally fluent, and underemployed. Martin saw why that mattered as work became increasingly complex and AI raised the bar. Native-English ability, good judgment, and real ownership mattered more than ever, and South Africa was never short of this criteria. It was short of companies willing to treat people as true extensions of their team.
Keen brings together what global hiring has failed to do.
For a similar cost to a traditional EOR or BPO, brands get the full solution required to make global hiring work, including recruitment, equipment, office space, HR, compliance, and management.
Higher standards than BPOs
More accountability than EORs
More ownership than staffing agencies
Because hiring the right person is only the beginning.
We don’t settle for average,
and neither should you.
We don’t settle for average, and neither should you.
Vetted talent in days, recruitment included
Native-English, AI fluent, & globally trained
Managed in-office in South Africa
Payroll, HR and compliance handled
Founder-led with 15+ years of global hiring expertise
Other EORs
Bring talent or pay sourcing fees
Low hiring standards
Remote, no oversight
Incentivized to retain poor hires
Disconnected and superficial account management
Vetted talent in days, recruitment included
Native-English, AI fluent, & globally trained
Managed in-office in South Africa
Payroll, HR and compliance handled
Founder-led with 15+ years of global hiring expertise
Other EORs
Bring talent or pay sourcing fees
Low hiring standards
Remote, no oversight
Incentivized to retain poor hires
Disconnected and superficial account management
Vetted talent in days, recruitment included
Native-English, AI fluent, & globally trained
Managed in-office in South Africa
Payroll, HR and compliance handled
No placement fees. One monthly fee.
Other EORs
Bring talent or pay sourcing fees
Low hiring standards
Remote, no oversight
Incentivized to retain poor hires
Disconnected and superficial account management