#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] Join our insider mailing list where we get feedback on new episodes & find all episodes at Afrobility.com