#42: Andela - How the engineering hiring platform is connecting companies with software developers in Africa & emerging markets

Overview: Today, we’re going to talk about Andela - the software developer recruitment platform. We’ll explore the Andela story across 6 areas:

Labor markets in Africa context

Andela's founding and early history

Fundraising & Growth

Product & monetization strategy

Competitive positioning & potential exit options

Overall outlook.

This episode was co-hosted with Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji & recorded on Nov 7, 2021

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

Conversation highlights:

(01:00) - Andela context & Background

(01:30) - Context on Africa’s labor markets

(21:20) - Bookneto, Fora & 2U

(53:50) - Andela cofounders & early founding story

(1:00:00) - Fundraising and investors

(1:11:00) - Traction - Revenue, users, employees, margins

(1:14:23) - Product and monetization strategy

(1:25:22) - Competition and options for exit

(1:48:46) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook

(1:55:17) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook

(2:01:00) - E’s overall thoughts and outlook

(2:09:01) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Syncback Pro (works better than OneDrive & Google Drive clients for backing up stuff) & Money Talks Bloomberg article about how Zillow stopped selling houses: By Afrobility legend Matt Levine

Small win: Got a new larger air fryer. It's awesome

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Tete Muo Bu Muo by Tony Tete Harbor & The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo

Small win: Great birthday dinner :)

E’s recommendations & small wins:

Recommendation: Prosperity paradox (by Efosa Ojomo) & Founders at work (Jessica Levingston)

Small win: 3 companies I’m working with got into YC Winter 2022 batch

Listeners: We’d love to hear from you. Email [email protected] with feedback!

Founders & Operators: We'd love to hear about what you're working on, email us at [email protected]

Investors: It would be great to link up with you to drive the ecosystem forward. Contact us at [email protected]

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