Andela, a global engineering organisation which got a $24M backing from the Chan Zukerberg Initiative in 2016 - with additional investors like GV (formerly Google Ventures), Spark Capital, Omidyar, Peak Ventures etc. -organized an information sharing session last evening at The Innovation Village, Kampala.
The aim of the session was to help Ugandan developers understand its activities better and seek opinions from the same people on how it can improve its operations in the country and region. The session was moderated by Adam Lupu, Andela’s Vice President for Learning, with over 20 entrepreneurs and developers in attendance.
Its at this event that they hinted on extending their operation to Uganda and announced a call for applications of the first Andela Uganda Cohort. Further information which we received by email from Maria Kyamulabye- the Launch Operations Lead Uganda- confirms that the deadline for the application is 1st April 2017.
However, they plan to start with informational sessions in Kampala to ensure they study the business climate in Uganda first. They’re therefore likely to start with a staff of just two who will most likely sit at the Innovation Village – a place they're considering for office space.
As they continue to do this, they encourage Ugandan developers to apply to its program. Successful candidates shall then be invited for interviews and a boot camp – here in Uganda. Those that succeed past this stage will be sent to Nairobi, Kenya for further 6 months of training – after which they will work in a distributed manner for Andela's clients such as Google etc.
Andela which has offices both in Nigeria and Kenya, received considerable media attention after Zuckerberg visited the Nigeria office in August just after the investment from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Some of the companies Andela is working with include Microsoft, SeatGeek, 2U, 6Sense and many more.
Andela quoted as harder to get into than Harvard is one of the most difficult. In fact, Solomon Kitumba – the community coordinator of the innovation Village confessed to have failed to complete the application form on 4 different occasions. Moreover its estimated that for every intake, over 1000 applications are received but only 1% get into the program.
Asked what Ugandan entrepreneurs and developers can do to increase their chances of gaining admission, Adam Lupu, the VC for Learning had this to say;
“Team work. We value team work a lot at Andela. Therefore, if one would like to join us, I advise them to start working on projects in teams in order to increase their chances.
Adam Lupu also emphasized that one of the plans in Uganda is to collaborate with existing ecosystem such as hubs and universities to ensure growth of the tech craft. To this, he confirmed that he is going to spend the larger part of this Friday visiting and networking with the various universities in Kampala. This will come in handy given that most of the attendants with an IT background complained that IT graduates in Uganda are mainly equipped with theory.
Given that Andela has been operating in only two African cities – Lagos and Nairobi - it’s launch of the Uganda Cohort will be more than welcome to Ugandan developers who have always turned down the opportunity on ground that they have other commitments which would not allow them to travel for recruitment purposes needed to qualify for in the four years program.
Apply to join the Andela Uganda Cohort by clicking here.