Learning-accelerator Moringa School has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Proparco to support its expansion outside Kenya.
The funding builds on its recent Seed Investment by DOB Equity and USD 9.5m funding by Mastercard Foundation that has seen the tech-based learning institution start to train Software Engineers in Ghana and soon Nigeria. Moringa says it also plans to scale to other African countries in the next 12 months.
Moringa, a career accelerator for Tech professionals in Africa, has been training High School/University Graduates to be Software Engineers and Data Scientists for the past 7 years in Kenya and achieved market leadership training over 4,000 students with an employment rate of over 85%. The investment comes at an exciting time with Moringa just agreeing a curriculum licensing deal with the world’s leading coding bootcamp, Flatiron School, and achieving ISO 9001:2015 certification. The company says the stage is now set for it to play a significant role in developing African tech talent and connecting it to purposeful and significant earning opportunities whether full time jobs, the gig economy or becoming entrepreneurs.
“The investment comes at an exciting time for Moringa as the institution expands to Ghana and Nigeria. We are keen to leverage on this partnership to train many more students using the leading US Bootcamp’s curriculum from Flatiron School. In line with our vision of a world in which anyone can create their future, we welcome the support of Proparco to make our courses available in new markets in Africa.” According to Snehar Shah, Moringa’s CEO says.
According to the Africa Developer Ecosystem report published by Google in 2021, there has been an increased global demand for remote tech talent which was accelerated by the pandemic, creating more employment opportunities for African technology professionals. The report indicates that African startups which are responsible for hiring more than half of the local developers raised over $4 Billion in 2021 -2.5X more than they raised in 2020. With 22% of Sub-Saharan small and medium-sized businesses starting or increasing their use of the internet, the need for web developer skills is increasing rapidly. Higher demand for remote development work also led to increased opportunities; 38% of African developers work for at least one company based outside the continent.
Moringa provides access for all to the training and network needed to participate in this tech revolution, if they can demonstrate they have the aptitude and mindset required to succeed. This is part of the company’s mission to build talent and opportunities through tech based learning experiences. Following our recent launches with Impact Hub Accra and Social Enterprise Ghana, Moringa and Plenty Tech Jobs Nigeria have entered into a market entry partnership that will see Moringa become a key provider of tech talent for the Nigerian workforce. Plenty Tech jobs is a leading platform for finding the best technology job and remote gigs in Nigeria.
The investment from Proparco will aid Moringa to prepare for Series A funding in 2023. Apart from International expansion outside Kenya, the funding from Proparco will also facilitate the broadening of the range of courses offered by Moringa. Currently, the institution offers Software Engineering, Data Science and Soft Skills courses with plans to offer courses in UI/UX design in the near future.
“Supporting the African tech ecosystem is one of Proparco’s key priorities. Through our investment in Moringa, Proparco is proud to support an ambitious Edtech in its expansion in Africa and thus contribute to bridging the skills gap that has been affecting the growth of startups on the African continent”. Françoise Lombard, Proparco’s CEO says.
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