Four years ago, CODERS4AFRICA (C4A) a network of African software developers and software outsourcing company was featured in the 2012 Information Economy Report prepared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The report revealed that Africa only impacted about 3% of the $1.3 trillion global IT revenue. C4A took on the challenge to change these numbers by getting more Africans involved through training of African software developers.
C4A helped train hundreds of coders in several African countries including Kenya, Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Tunisia and Ethiopia. The company however faced challenges in training more individuals as well as finding job opportunities for those already trained.
A shift towards conquering this challenge begun with a trip in April 2016 to Silicon Valley by Amadou Daffe the CEO and co-founder of C4A, who is originally from Senegal. Amadou’s trip was in search of investors who will be interested in scaling C4A in a more aggressive and Pan African focused startup. A meeting with Ethiopian investor Hiruy Amanuel, led to the birth of a software engineering academy called Gebeya. Gebeya, means marketplace in Amharic and was initially billed as developer as a service (DAAS) company.
Gebeya’s goal is to produce Africa’s IT talent while at the same time providing an online IT services marketplace for the African and global business market. The company will also seek to expand IT capabilities for its students while helping companies bridge their IT talent needs. Gebeya, an extension of C4A is headquartered in Ethiopia and has offices in Kenya and the USA.The IT Academy Training program will launch in Mid-September in Ethiopia, with a goal of graduating 5,000 students over the next five years. Applications to the program are currently open with the company set to launch in the next 45 day.
