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Africa has a growing youth population; apparently, the rest of the world is looking at it to source talents; especially, technology talents. Unfortunately, the formal education systems are overwhelmed, resulting in a huge deficit of the requisite skilled talents.

However, to get more youths that could compete on a global stage, African tech start-ups are taking the bull by the horn, developing a pool of African tech talents from very meagre resources.

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One of such start-ups, a Nigeria-based non-profit organisation Devcareer, which recently secured USD100, 000 in grants, has said the money will be invested in training about 100 persons who can take global tech ecosystem by storm.

Devcareer said it raised the fund to enable upcoming African developers with lean resources graduate from beginners to intermediates within the shortest period possible.

Devcareer will be assisted by Pledges, an NGO builder, under a campaign tagged: #LAPTOPS4DEVELOPERS.

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The grant was co-contributed by three organisations: a Pan-African technology company, Deimos; digital banking operator, Kuda, and another Nigeria-based start-up, Dojah respectively.

Head of Engineering at Kuda, Mr. Dipo Aina who is one of the returning sponsors of the campaign, said: “African tech talent has been key to our progress at Kuda, and we are very happy to support DevCareer again as they continue to do the good work of helping young African software developers find their way in the world.

“The #Laptops4Developers campaign over the last two cohorts focused primarily on Frontend Development, Backend Development, and Mobile Application however, cohort three will accommodate more interns including Product Designers; the application is free and each application will be judged by a three-staged test comprising an aptitude test, coding test and a physical interview.

“The beneficiaries will gain three months long training and be assigned a mentor who will walk each person through the program. The interns are also registered with hubs fitted with stable power supply and internet access in their locality.

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A Software Engineer and Developer Advocate who is the founder of Devcareer, Mr. Sultan Akintunde said: “The #Laptops4Developers campaign runs a yearly cohort for fledgling software developers with existing knowledge of the subject to benefit from; organized curriculum, mentorship, Laptops, and a conducive learning environment equipped with internet and electricity.

“The campaign in the last two cohorts has successfully trained 72 interns with a significant number working on-site and remotely in technology companies such as Healthtracka, Flutterwave, Bento, Plentywaka among others.

“Devcareer in the last cohort received over 6000 applications with Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Zambia featuring as top 4 countries. Rwanda will be joining the list of countries in cohort three. The COVID19 restriction stalled the campaign in 2021 hence in 2022; Devcareer plans to groom 100 persons into employable African tech talent who can compete on a global stage.”

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Also, CEO of Deimos, Mr. Andrew Mori said: “DevCareers and Deimos share a focus on developing and empowering engineers, we are proud to sponsor and support their mission of helping more individuals get a start in technology. At the core of technology adoption and implementation are the developers; with increased digitisation, plus a fast-growing African tech ecosystem, engineers are in high demand which in turn is leaving a gaping hole in supply. Even with this high demand, Africa is starting to cement itself as a region of enormous engineering capability and capacity. Today’s junior software engineers are tomorrow’s seniors and we are proud to play a part in that.”

Similarly, Grant Portfolio Manager at Pledges, Mr. Enogieru Osasenaga, said: “Today, we are faced with two realities; Africa has a growing youth population and the rest of the world is looking at Africa to source talents.

“Unfortunately, the formal education systems are overwhelmed resulting in a huge deficit of skilled talents. The silver lining – Tech has provided a solution to this; with minimum barriers to entry and a relatively short learning curve, youths can improve their economic standing as well as those around them.

(Vanguard)