[Transcript] #42: Andela - How the engineering hiring platform is connecting companies with software developers in Africa & emerging markets
Transcript for podcast originally recorded on November 22, 2021
😉 Hello Afrobility readers and listeners!
In November 2021, we explored the story of Andela - the software developer recruitment platform. Andela is a pioneer among high-profile African tech companies. They've garnered a reputation for their groundbreaking approach to cultivating and outsourcing tech talent. With a mission to empower Africa's brightest minds and connect them with global opportunities, Andela provides world-class software engineering training and pairs top African developers with companies worldwide.
The episode was unique because Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji (Andela Co-Founder) came along to tell the story. 😉As a general Afrobility principle, we don’t have company representatives. However, E had transitioned out of Andela several years prior to the recording, making his inclusion a special exception to our usual format.
I love re-listening to this episode we explored themes around employment opportunities, outsourcing, talent recruitment, remote work and Andela’s re-emergence after COVID. My favorite part of the episode is 30 seconds in when this exchange happened:
Olumide: "It's unbelievable we're recording this on your birthday"
E: "Wow! Bankole, do you have a girlfriend who sanctioned this?"
Bankole: "I have a wife who's not pleased about this"
E: "Well, tell her sorry and don't mention my name"
😂😂😂😂 Hilarious and timeless.
Companies discussed: Andela, Fora, 2U, Bookneto, Spark Capital, CRE Ventures, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), SoftBank (Vision Fund), Gebeya, Semicolon, Decagon, CRE Ventures, Spark Labs & Generation Investment Management
Business concepts discussed: Emerging market talent recruitment, economic development, remote work, labor productivity, outsourcing, youth unemployment & economic development
Enjoy!
Olumide Ogunsanwo
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Transcript starts here
[00:00:00] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Welcome to Afrobility, a conversation about African business and technology. Today, we're going to talk about Andela, the software developer recruitment platform.
We'll explore the Andela story across six different areas. One, African labor markets context. Two, Andela's founding and early history. Three, Andela's fundraising and growth over time. Fourth, it's Product Amortization Strategy. Fifth, it's Competitive Positioning and Potential Exit Options. And then sixth, we'll end with our overall outlook. This episode was recorded on November 7th, 2021.
Banky birthday, how goes it?
[00:00:32] Bankole Makanju: Banky birthday! First of all, I like “Software Developer Recruitment Platform” That’s a good one. I like that.
But yes, it's my birthday today.
[00:00:40] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Happy birthday! It's unbelievable we're recording on your birthday of all days, so yeah, happy birthday to you.
[00:00:44] Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji: Wow, do you have a girlfriend who sanctioned this?
[00:00:48] Bankole Makanju: I have a, I have a, I have a wife who's not pleased about this, but yes.
[00:00:53] Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji: Wow, well tell her sorry, and don't mention my name.
[00:00:59] Olumide Ogunsanwo: We've already got off script, people are going to be listening saying, oh my god, there's a third voice, okay. Okay, to all the listeners, there's a reason there's a third voice. So, we're talking about Andela today. So, recruitment, a development platform that connects companies with software developers in emerging markets.
It's sort of an outsourcing company, but they don't like that word. So, we're not going to be using the word outsourcing because it's not. If you're in America, it's hard to think of a specific comparison, but if you're in India, you're Sort of like Infosys. It's like Wipro, it's like Tata consultancy services. They don't like those comparisons either.
[00:01:27] Bankole Makanju: I'm, I'm excited to talk about Andela. I'm excited to talk about $1.5 billion.
[00:01:32] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Yes. Valuation andela. Yeah. They raised a lot of money, and in fact, to be honest, this probably should have been the first, second or third offerability podcast episode. 'cause one of the most important companies in Africa.
However, we kept on postponing it and postponing it and to tell us, to help us tell the story. Today we have, I guess you heard someone laughing. We have e on board. Welcome. E how are you?
[00:01:50] Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji: Oh, very well. Thank you very much for having me and Bankole
[00:01:54] Olumide Ogunsanwo: we're, we're very excited. We're excited. For the audience, in case you're wondering, oh, how come we have someone coming in today? How come we have a special co host? Normally we don't have co hosts, but the Andela story is such a big, massive story. We thought it'd be helpful to get someone who was very familiar with the initial piece, initial story. So some more information on Andela.
I, I'm gonna blow through this. So, Banky, they've raised $380 million, so a lot of money, right? As one does, as one does as you do in Africa Tech, raise a bunch of money casually. It's about 1. 5 billion dollars. It's sort of like a marketplace. It connects people with talents, engineers, software developers, with people that want jobs like companies.
It's a client's marketplace that helps people find specific talents and bring them on board.
[00:02:31] Bankole Makanju: Company needs engineers and that helps them find engineers. And the company has many different options to find engineers, including recruiters, including agencies with different business models, including.
Project based work, including off site teams. And those are the people that, I don't know, if you're a startup in the U. S. Race Series A, and you have 10 to get to the next milestones, you can use Andela, or you can use a number of all those different options.
[00:02:54] Olumide Ogunsanwo: We all know E in Africa Tech. Any quick info you want to give before we start?
[00:02:58] Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji: I've been working in African tech for the last seven, seven years, seven, eight years. I helped co-found Nandela, and helped co-found Flutterwave. I worked really hard in those businesses to try and help them build and shape mission and early direction, just with a view to ensuring that people understand how these businesses can be of broader impact for the economy.
And today I run something called the Fund for Africa's Future, which is really trying to replicate similar businesses that have huge economic and social impacts.
[00:03:31] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Ah, we're going to have fun today. So actually, before we started recording you were saying this is like the all-in-podcast. So we're going to go a little bit crazy.