Andela today announced it’s expanding its talent search into Latin and South America to provide a wider base for engineering teams and allow its clients to tap into talent outside of Africa, where it has been operating since its launch.
Andela, the global talent network that helps companies build remote engineering teams, will now start recruiting remote engineering talent from cities across Latin and South America and connect them to opportunities from businesses across the globe.
In a statement to TechMoran, Jeremy Johnson, CEO at Andela said, “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. The future of work is now, and this expansion continues our march towards bringing us all closer together.”
According to Johnson, when Andela began inviting developers from across Africa to apply last year, it more than doubled the number of countries represented. Johnson adds that Andela is already seeing the same effects in new regions, and is excited to welcome new talent into its growing community.
Andela growth has not been without pain and loss. The firm had to let go of its offices and full-time developer jobs to transition its workforce into gig workers. There were even fears of its closure due to alleged misappropriation of funds but business was just hard, however, its great pivot saved the day. Entrepreneurs who saw Andela on its deathbed were quickly inspired to either launch or expand alternative players such as Gebeya, Decagon, Enyata, Semicolon and recently TalentQL to fill in the gaps.
Today, Andela is perfectly positioned to support global talent for businesses worldwide and already has engineers from 37 countries across five continents. Andela has become a magnet for global engineering talent and 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.
“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.
Dana Lawson, VP of Engineering at GitHub also agrees and adds that “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.”
Today’s expansion gives Andela’s clients 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.
The firm is backed by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Spark Capital, Omidyar Network, Learn Capital, and South Africa-based CRE Ventures, among others.