Andela received more than a nod from Mark Zuckerberg in 2017 when the company received funding of $24 million dollars from the Chan Zuckerberg initiative. Andela launched operations in 2014 to connect Africa’s top software developers with technology companies in the U.S. and around the world. With the main objective being investing in Africa’s top technical minds and helping global companies overcome the severe shortage of skilled software developers.
The operational model is simple, after six months of paid training, the Andela employees become remote members of software development teams at companies. Developers often start employment with an induction period at the company’s HQ before coming back home to work offsite, creating the necessary face to name connection which positively supports the working relationship between the offsite personnel and the Head Quarters.
Andela developers work as full-time engineers with companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to high-growth tech startups like Cloudflare and InVision. Backed by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, Spark Capital, and CRE Venture Capital, Andela is powering global engineering teams while catalyzing the growth of tech ecosystems across Africa.
According to Andela, “We’ve seen time and again the impact that great engineers can have on the world. But over the past decade, we’ve seen a severe shortage of top-tier technology talent. The world needs millions more developers than we currently have, and that number is growing. In the past four years, we’ve screened 100,000+ applicants, hired more than 1,000 developers, and matched them with hundreds of companies around the world.”
Beyond training for employment, Andela has also built a Learning Community where technologists and tech enthusiasts across Africa are dedicated to learning how to use technology to solve humanity’s problems. The community facilitates learning through the aid of guided mentorship from super awesome learning community ambassadors. The goal is to provide an ever-growing population of aspiring technologists with the resources and environments they need to become world-class problem solvers.
If you are not familiar with Andela, it will be a surprise if at this time you have not asked the question what Nigeria has got to do with this other being the launch location, which tell us by itself that Nigeria is a breeding ground for future developers, further equipped by Andela to change the world.
In fact, the main Nigeria connection is the fact that Andela is the brain child of Iyinoluwa E Aboyeji in partnership with others. Iyinoluwa is an alumnus of Loyola Jesuit College, a prominent secondary school in Abuja Nigeria. Post senior secondary school examinations, he went to Columbia International College and earned degrees in International Development, Legal Studies, and Economics. Iyinoluwa furthered his education at the University of Waterloo, where he earned a B.A in Legal Studies.
In 2018, Andela appointed Omowale David-Ashiru as its Nigeria country director taking over from Seni Sulyman, a 32-year-old graduate of Harvard Business School, who then became Vice President Global Operations for Andela. As the country director, Omowale is responsible for a rapidly growing team of 500+ people, and ensuring that the organization continues to advance its objectives of developing Africa’s future technology leaders. Omowale’s professional experience spans almost two decades in management consulting and entrepreneurship.
For more information on Andela and how you can join the fast-growing community of world class developers, please visit andela.com.