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Nigerian Tech Startup has Local—and Global—Impact
Photo via CBS News
Photo via CBS News
A recent CBS news story on Nigerian tech startup Andela—a software development firm—includes an interview with Seni Sulyman (MBA 2014), Andela’s president of global operations. Reflecting on his choice to return to Lagos after HBS, Sulyman tells CBS: "This is the future … I think, ultimately, we are creating an economy in the technology industry which is going to spark a massive revolution on the continent. And I am seeing it happen every day. So the impact we have, and the impact I can have as an individual, is just so tangible and so meaningful being here.”
The piece goes on the note Andela’s rising impact, with 1,000 coders (and growing) supporting tech companies “from New York to Pittsburgh to San Francisco.” That growth is helping build not just firms abroad, but bringing stable careers to Lagos. "Our idea is that we started in 2014 and we said in 10 years we would have helped to empower 100,000 developers in Africa which takes us to 2024," Sulyman told CBS.
Andela’s early returns caught the attention of Mark Zuckerburg and Priscilla Chan, whose Chan Zuckerberg Initiative led a $24 million Series B fundraising round in 2016. Zuckerberg recently visited Andela headquarters, which Sulyman recounts as an inspiration: "When you have someone who is probably considered the most important person in tech physically standing in your office telling you about how he believes in you, it has a way of just validating everything you are doing," Sulyman said.
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