Nadya Eka Lestari
TechInAfrica – Andela, a software company that hires, outsources, and trains engineers to firms worldwide, announced that they laid-off 25 percent of their workforce, recently. The company said that the cutting of 400 jobs is due to shifts in market demands. They decided this downsizing to restructure the company so they can manage to endure the market dynamic.
Jeremy Johnson, Chief Executive and Co-founder, said that the decision will impact junior engineers since the company focuses more on encourage their senior talent.
Johnson mentioned in a long blog post, “we started Andela five years ago to solve a simple but pervasive global challenge: Brilliance is evenly distributed, but the opportunity is not.”
“This shift in demand also meant that we now have more junior talent than we are able to place,” he continued in a statement. “This is a challenge for the business, and for these junior engineers who want and deserve authentic work experiences that we are not able to provide.”
About 250 junior engineers and staff from Nigeria and Uganda hubs will also be cut.
Andela states that the affected employees will be given a send-off financial package and the company will continue to work with incubation hubs in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria to help the affected developers to connect with career opportunities.
“Andela is a community as much as we are a business and, as such, our immediate priority is to provide support to those potentially affected by today’s news and the means for them to find stability,” said Janet Maingi, Andela’s Kenya Country Director.
Meanwhile, Andela stated that they are planning to hire an additional 700 experienced engineers by the end of 2020.
Andela has been conducted training and outsourcing software engineers for five years and for the first time ever this month revealed that it is projecting Sh5 billion in revenue for 2019. The capital injection makes Andela one of the most funded startups in Africa.
Source: standardmedia.co.ke
