US-headquartered outsourcing services provider Andela has revealed it plans to invest in startups launched by its software developers once their fellowship with the company ends, TechCrunch has reported.
Andela trains software developers based in Africa and hires them out to third-party teams. The application process is highly competitive, with 45,000 developers having applied for 200 available positions which will require a four-year commitment.
Andela currently operates campuses in Nigeria and Kenya, and is set to expand to South Africa and Uganda.
In the long term, the company is aiming to establish a technology ecosystem in Africa by investing in startups launched by developers once they leave Andela. It has not revealed the size of any prospective fund or how much it intends to provide for individual startup investments.
Andela raised $24m in a June 2016 series B round featuring GV, the corporate venturing subsidiary of conglomerate Alphabet.
Christina Sass, co-founder and chief operating officer of Andela, said: “We fully expect a subset of [Andela developers] to be launching their own companies, and we intend to help them incubate and invest in them.
“The long-term goal is that, after those four years, for them to be unleashed, to really spread and lead the spread of technology across the continent.”