9.22.2019
Good to Know: “Kindness not only helps, it also spreads, especially when it’s made visible. Make your empathy loud, so it has a chance to inspire others.” – Jamil Zaki on how to put empathy to good use at work.
THE SKINNY
When It’s Time for A Change … Andela, an outsourcing startup focused on training entry-level African developers to later outsource their technical talent, announced that it is letting go of 400 junior engineers across three of its four campuses in Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria. Entry-level developers in Rwanda are safe on account of the government helping to offset Andela’s costs.
But, Why? Andela founder Jeremy Johnson says it comes down to what the market wants. Andela’s clients comprise 200+ companies around the globe that vie for African developers. Turns out, they prefer senior engineers. Andela’s VP of Global Operations Seni Sulyman adds that competition from U.S. developer boot camps and training programs for junior developers played a huge role in the decision. What the market wants, the market gets.
When You Plan to Forge Ahead … Andela says it’ll generate $50M in revenue this year. With changes to its business model, it plans to hire 700 senior developers across the continent by 2020. Some folks are wondering how? Speculation is that it’ll likely poach senior developers from “the usual suspects” – Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya.
When There’s a Silver Lining … The Twitterverse blew up with this announcement, but folks in the African tech ecosystem quickly saw the upside. Now, local businesses can benefit from local talent that was previously outsourced.
Take Action! Have open developer roles (remote or in country)? Or, know someone who does? Join the conversation and hook it up!
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
When You Believe the Children are Our Future … And so do they. On September 20, 2019, 5,000 youth-led groups in 156 countries (including in African countries that have already experienced things like water shortages due to climate change) protested climate change with 16 year old Greta Thunberg spearheading the movement. Young people walked out of school. Tech employees from Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Google joined the party. Big deal for Amazon. Why? It’s the first time in the company’s 25-year history that employees have walked out for an issue. They’ve got three demands for the online retailer – (1) commit to zero carbon emissions by 2038, (2) stop selling it’s cloud computing service Amazon Web Services to oil and gas companies, and (3) stop supporting politicians that are climate change deniers. An estimated 4 million people around the globe participated in the strike. Want to get involved?
Take Action! The global strike isn’t just a moment but a movement. September 23, 2019 marks kicks off the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit.
When You’re Taking Things Seriously … Facebook’s not taking any chances. It suspended tens of thousands of apps from its platform all in the name of protecting user data and limiting the volume of information third party developers can request from its community.
When You’ve Got Privacy on the Brain … Startups are crossing over into clinical research territory by focusing on clinical brain-computer interfaces that help folks with things like using prosthetics and re-learning how to control their limbs. Folks are concerned with this cross-over on account of the potential for commercialization of neural data. There’s currently no U.S. laws or regulations that stop companies from swapping brain data.
THE STREETS ARE TALKING …
AirBnB employees are ready to cash in, and they let their leadership know what’s up. Following this, AirBnB caved and said it’s ready to go public. Postmates wants in too. WeWork was planning on it, but things got messy.
Speaking of selling … Wearable device company FitBit’s ready to consider potential buyers, and Alphabet (aka Google’s parent company) is interested.
PlayVS, a high school e-sports competition company, just raised $50 million. It plans to double its 41-person head count, offer more competitions, and possibly venture into amateur sports.
Snap and media companies just started talking. The camera company’s thinking a dedicated tab for breaking news.
Indian taxi company Ola, with 45% of the market, seems to be the fave in its home country over Uber (35%).
Another Indian startup is 7-month old Digi-Prex uses WhatsApp to deliver medication to patients with chronic diseases.
Nigerian founder Prosper Otemuyiwa along with his co-founders Nadayar Enegesi and Slim introduced us to Eden – “a marketplace connecting homeowners and high-quality service providers.”
The super app model like China’s WeChat and AliPay could work in Latin America thanks to its almost 650 million population. Don’t forget that similarities in culture, language, and religion are helpful factors. Colombian on-demand delivery Rappi could be ready for primetime.
CAREER CORNER
“What do you value today? Be specific.” – Tammarrian Rogers, Snap’s Director of Engineering – QA on what to ask yourself before making your next career move at NextPlay’s first ever LA event.
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