DevCareer is bridging Africa’s talent gap by providing laptops for tech newbies, receives a fresh $100k grant

African startups raised approximately $5 billion in 2021, nearly tripling the amount raised in 2020. While the ecosystem has received more funding, technical talent has not grown at the same rate.

According to the Africa Developer Ecosystem Report, the number of professional software developers in Africa will increase by 3.8 percent to 716,000 engineers by 2021. As with funding, the majority of these developers reside in Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, or Kenya.

Furthermore, as the shift to remote work becomes more popular, African startups will face competition from foreign startups for an already limited pool of developers. These startups, which have the ability to pay significantly higher wages than their African counterparts, now employ 38% of African developers.

This development represents both an opportunity and a source of concern. According to Sultan Akintunde, founder of the non-profit DevCareer, ensuring a consistent supply of talent for Africa’s digital landscape is critical to the ecosystem’s long-term success. Akintunde is the co-founder of technical talent accelerators TalentQL and AltSchool, in addition to his work at DevCareer.

Akintunde offered free software development in order to support new African tech talent. Only 5 of the 200 people who received the courses provided feedback.

Worried that his efforts would be in vain, he decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Twitter, with the goal of providing laptop computers to ten developers.

Despite the support he received on the social networking site, he was unable to raise any funds in the first week. Fortunately, the crowdfunding campaign was successful, and he was able to obtain the laptops. It is simple to provide laptops, but how do you ensure that they are used for their intended purpose?

Introducing DevCareer

Akintunde founded DevCareer in 2019 with the help of some volunteers and generous sponsors to support Africa’s burgeoning ecosystem. He claims that the organization has provided laptops or courses to over 5,000 Africans since its inception.

The most popular initiative of the organization is Laptop4Developers. As the name implies, it provides laptop computers to a few people who cannot afford them on a yearly basis. After distributing over 30 laptops in the previous three years, the organization intends to distribute 100 laptops to 50 men and 50 women in 2022.

$100k will be spent on laptops

For this cohort, the organization received a $100,000 grant from Pledges, a non-profit organization; Kuda Bank, a fintech startup; Deimos, a cloud solutions startup; and Dojah, an identity verification startup. The three-month program provides them with the resources and training they need to get their first jobs. Akintunde explains that DevCareer is collaborating with other organizations to find jobs for cohort members.

“Before the program begins, we’ll partner with companies, so we’ll pair them with a company for a two-month internship right after they finish.” “Previously, when you finished your program, we helped you find work for the first five months, but we don’t want to do that again,” Akintunde says.

“DevCareers and Deimos share a focus on developing and empowering engineers,” says Andrew Mori, CEO of Deimos. We are proud to sponsor and support their mission of assisting more people to get started in technology.

“With increased digitisation and a rapidly growing African tech ecosystem, engineers are in high demand, leaving a gap in supply.” Despite the high demand, Africa is beginning to establish itself as a region with enormous engineering capability and capacity. Today’s junior software engineers will be tomorrow’s seniors, and we are proud to have played a role in that.”

DevCareer physically verifies applicants after they have passed a two-step assessment to ensure that only newcomers receive laptops.

“Because we’re giving out laptops, that verification process comes in handy.” Before moving on to the interview stage, one of the criteria is a two-step assessment. People who are already familiar with this work can assist others in taking the test, so this is a precaution.”

Anyone who has taken an online course understands how difficult it can be to stay committed and complete the course on time. Akintunde, on the other hand, claims that everyone who has gone through the Laptop4Developers program has completed it, with graduates landing jobs at startups such as Flutterwave and Bento.

Even after acceptance, participants do not take the laptop home for the first two months of the program. DevCareer has formed partnerships with tech hubs in some Nigerian states where participants study and laptops are stored.

Wennovation Hub, Impact Hub, and CcHUB in Lagos; Olotu Square Hub in Port Harcourt; and 720 Degree Hub in Abeokuta are among these hubs.

Partnerships are being used to create a talent pipeline.

There appears to be agreement that Africa lacks talent, but Akintunde believes this is a subjective debate.

“Are we talking about senior, mid-level, or junior talent when we say there aren’t enough?” There are some fields in Africa where we don’t even have any talent. When it comes to fields like game and motion design, we have a very small number of people.”

He also believes that the lack of talent is due to the growth of the local tech ecosystem. Some of the continent’s most prominent startups have been in operation for less than seven years, and he believes that while these startups are establishing themselves, it is up to other organizations to ensure a steady supply of talent for the tech industry.

He believes, however, that startups can still play a role by forming alliances with organizations that train or place talent in jobs. This emphasis on collaboration explains why the organization has chosen to raise funds from local businesses.

“Laptop4Developers has brought out an interesting concept that upskills adolescents and guarantees that they remain on the same road after the training,” stated Enogieru Osasenaga, Grant Portfolio Manager at Pledges. We recognize that people can only achieve as far as their perceptions will allow them to go; consequently, our purpose in this situation is to extend that horizon so that our target communities can see endless possibilities.”

As important as engineers are to startups, other positions are required to fuel development and transition from an idea to a business, and Akintunde discloses that DevCareer plans to focus on other tech jobs. For starters, at least five designers will be accepted into the current cohort, with plans for more in the future.

As important as engineers are to startups, other positions are required to fuel development and transition from an idea to a business, and Akintunde discloses that DevCareer plans to focus on other tech jobs. For starters, at least five designers will be accepted into the current cohort, with plans for more in the future.

DevCareer relies on individual donations as a non-profit, and Akintunde believes that this method may make it impossible for them to achieve their goals. As a result, DevCareer is creating a community-based sustainability plan, according to Akintunde. Graduates of each cohort agree to contribute monies to train one person in the following cohort under this programme.