Andela announces the launch of its third African market in Kampala, Uganda.
In June last year, Andela announced that it was planning to unveil its third African country. The announcement came after the global engineering organization that helps technology companies build high-performing engineering teams with Africa’s most talented software developers received a $24 Million in a round led by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative.
This announcement has finally been made and Andela has selected Kampala, Uganda as its third African market. According to the company, they decided to launch in Uganda after two years of collecting and analyzing a variety of data points on technology ecosystems across Africa.
As the global technology market continues to grow at a rapid pace, Andela says companies are looking outside of local markets to find top development talent. According to a recent Indeed report, there will be 1.3 million software development jobs created in the next ten years and only 400,000 domestic computer science graduates to fill them.
Andela says it aims to bridge this talent gap by connecting Africa’s most talented developers with the companies looking for them.
In the past three years alone the company has grown from a founding team of six to over six hundred employees based in its Lagos, Nairobi, San Francisco and New York offices. Four hundred of those are Andela Developers, the majority of whom are working as full-time engineering team members at high-growth technology companies.
By launching in Uganda, Andela aims to expand access to Andela Developers as well as identify and develop Kampala’s most talented programmers and problem solvers into the next generation of technology leaders.
“The Kampala tech scene is vibrant, growing, and full of entrepreneurial spirit and untapped potential,” says Andela Chief Strategy Officer Wambui Kinya. “Andela is excited to support and contribute to the growth of the Ugandan tech ecosystem by providing a hub for brilliant minds to learn and collaborate.”
Andela’s first recruitment cycle in Kampala in May yielded over 800 applicants, from which eight developers were accepted to form the first-ever Uganda cohort.
With 70% of its population below the age of 25 — the second youngest country in the world — Uganda represents a massive opportunity for Andela to equip the next generation of technologists and innovators in Kampala with the expertise they need to accelerate the advancement of their local communities through technology.
“When we launched in Nigeria three years ago, there’s no way we could have predicted how much of a continent-wide phenomenon Andela would become,” says co-founder and CEO Jeremy Johnson. “The response we’ve received from the technology community in Uganda over the past year has been overwhelming and has made it clear why Uganda is a natural next step on our path to unlocking the potential of thousands of world-class developers across the continent.”
With more than 80 current company partners and growing demand, Andela says it is on track to nearly double its base of elite, Africa.
