Andela

Andela is a global engineering organization that extends engineering teams with world-class software developers. The company recruits the most talented developers on the African continent, shapes them into technical leaders, and places them as full-time distributed team members with companies that range from Microsoft and IBM to dozens of high-growth startups. Backed by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV (Google Ventures) and Spark Capital, Andela is building the next generation of global technology leaders. Andela has offices in Lagos, Nairobi, Kampala and New York.

Andela's training and education program unites qualified African students, regardless of age or income, with leading developers who teach them to code. The four-year training program, which pays its students, is highly selective. Jeremy Johnson, the company's CEO, has said that in Nigeria its recruitment rate was around 0.7% of the 15,000 applicants it had received to that point. Within six months of starting the program, those students who have been accepted start to be placed at technology companies that partner with Andela, and receive continual training and professional development. Andela has partnered with Microsoft, IBM, 2U, Udacity, and others.

Andela was founded in May 2014 by a team of entrepreneurs from Nigeria, Cameroon, the United States, and Canada. The members of that founding team are: Iyinoluwa Aboyeji (Nigerian serial entrepreneur), Jeremy Johnson (founder of now public 2U, American), Ian Carnevale (edtech entrpreneur, Canadian), Christina Sass (economic development expert, American), Brice Nkengsa (Blackberry and Pivotal Labs lead engineer, Cameroonian), and Nadayar Enegesi (Technology and Learning expert, Nigerian) In 2016, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative invested $24 million in the company and visited the company’s offices in Lagos and Nairobi. In May 2017, Andela opened its third African office in Uganda.