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Why Facebook Gave $24 Million To Andela, A Nigerian IT Company

$24 Million Dollars was raised from an initiative by Facebook CEO, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan,[9] supported by Andel 🙂  with participation from new investor GV (formerly Google Ventures) and existing investors Spark Capital, Omidyar Network, Learn Capital, and South Africa-based CRE Ventures,[3] among others.

Check also: Meet The 30 Year-Old Nigerian Tech Entrepreneur Who Is Challenging Apple In Africa

The above mentioned initiative by Zuckerberg and Priscilla also known as the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative ( CZI ) was launched by the couple,[12] and first time parents to advance human potential and promote equality.[4]

Andela students

In support of this mission, CZI funds nonprofit organizations,[10] makes private investments and participates in policy debates, with the goal of making the world a better place for future generations.[8]

Andela 101

Andel 🙂  is an organization which connects companies with top technical talent. [4]They identify high-potential software developers on the African continent,[9] shape them into world-class technical leaders, and pair them with top technology companies as full-time distributed team members.

From Udacity to Microsoft, companies at all stages have partnered with Andela to accelerate their product roadmaps while minimizing time spent interviewing, [1]on-boarding, and training new hires. With headquarters in Lagos, Nairobi and NYC, Andela is building the next generation of global technology leaders.[7]

Andela and CZI

This innovative collaboration began after Andela Global CEO and co-founder, Jeremy Johnson met directly with Zuckerberg at a meeting with the CZI team at an event hosted by the start-up’s previous investors at Learn capital.[2]

Andela guys

Zuckerberg and Chan showed how much they cared as their initiative hired a new education chief, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education James Shelton.[9] The latest financing from CZI and other partners towards Andela valued at $24million (or N4.7bn) will bolster the company’s ability to seek and spread extraordinary technical talent across the continent,[6] as it plans to announce a third African country before the end of the year,[14] as well as power efforts to attract the most talented team in engineering and management. [8]Even more, the hope for Zuckerberg and other investors to maintain engineering quality at scale exists very largely.

Amazingly!

Since Andela launched in Nigeria in 2014,[2] it has received over 40,000 applications and accepted only the top 0.7%. The program begins with an intensive skills ramp-up,[3] during which developers complete open-source projects and specialize in a specific tech stack.

Then, they’re placed as full-time software engineers with Andela’s partners, [6]which range from venture-backed startups in Silicon Valley and New York to global industry leaders including IBM and Microsoft.[10]

Over the past two years, [2]Andela developers have played a major role in building and supporting technology communities in both Lagos and Nairobi, participating in hackathons, hosting meet-ups, and forming local developer groups.[7]

“When companies interact with developers from this Nigerian IT company right now,[1] they think, this person is sort of amazing,”[9] The company’s biggest challenge is to prove that the quality of its graduates can be maintained at larger numbers.

“When companies interact with Andela developers right now,[10] they think, this person is sort of amazing,” says Johnson.

After successfully setting up shop in Kenya and Nigeria and very recently San Francisco,[5] Andela plans to set up in a third African nation later this year.[3] The company plans to double its just under 200 developers trained to date over the next year.[12]

Congratulations are very well in order!

Source: Techcityng

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Posted by LUKWAGO. J: He's a writer, editor, blogger, affiliate and a web developer, he loves thinking creatively and finding new ways to implement different programming ideas.

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