A change in strategy has led to Andela’s global expansion beyond Africa to build remote engineering teams, the company has announced today. Expanding into new regions allows Andela clients to tap into regional expertise and nuances that can support their international growth. Andela has a proven track record connecting remote engineers with opportunities from businesses across the globe and is positioned to support global talent for businesses worldwide. With engineers from 37 countries across five continents, Andela clients have access to a truly global network of talented engineers.
ALSO READ: Andela lays off 135 staff across 4 countries as directors take pay cuts
African developer market was not enough
In June 2020, the effects of COVID-19 plus operational costs forced the software engineering company to go fully-remote. This came weeks after announcing plans to go 100% remote and closing off its offices in Africa and also selling off their equipment.
In September 2019, Andela carried out its first lay-offs–saying goodbye to over over 400 junior software developers in Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria as the company made big changes from within –in a new strategic move. The technology outsourcing company first launched in Nigeria over six years ago, its business model was to–train local new-level developers to be able to compete on a global market.
A second -wave of lay-offs occurred in March, as the company struggled to find job placements for the more junior engineers in Africa, on top of the internal communication issues that have long troubled the software firm. At that time, an internal memo that was issued on February 26th confirmed that Andela had launched a voluntary exit program targeted at all “idle” developers.
ALSO READ: Andela is selling off its properties and closing offices in Africa
Andela global expansion
Andela said in its blog that Applications from qualified engineers outside of Africa have increased by more than 750% in the past six months. In March alone, more than 30% of Andela inbound engineer applications came from outside of Africa, half of which came from Latin America, creating significant increases in time-zone coverage for Andela clients. Even with the fast global growth, Africa is also expanding rapidly, with 500% growth in the past six months.
“Andela’s mission is to connect brilliance with opportunity. This expansion has always been part of our long term roadmap, and we’re excited that the world is ready for it. When we began inviting developers from across Africa to apply last year, we more than doubled the number of countries represented. We’re already seeing the same effects in new regions, and we’re excited to welcome new talent into our growing community,” said Jeremy Johnson, CEO at Andela. “The future of work is now, and this expansion continues our march towards bringing us all closer together.”
Andela’s global expansion provides clients with greater diversity, which McKinsey reported to be a major factor in delivering innovation and company growth. Andela clients will have more flexibility to build diverse teams across country borders, skill sets, time zones, and cultures. The future of remote work is global, and Andela provides the vital link to talent wherever it is found.
Dana Lawson, VP of Engineering at GitHub confirms, “As a business in the developer tool space, a lot of us are trying to enter those areas of the world (Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa) where the emergent developers are coming so we can better understand their needs. Having a local presence there with amazing talent is super valuable to building a global product.”
“We’ve seen exponential growth and interest from engineers from across Africa, who want to work with some of the world’s most exciting technology-focussed companies. Growing our network of talent from Africa, to include more markets, is a unique proposition and we continue to match talent with opportunity, beyond geographical boundaries. Our globalization will further increase our footprint, creating more opportunities for Andela to showcase the visibility into the capabilities of engineers from the continent,” said Martin Chikilian, Head of Talent Operations at Andela.
