The Code Edge

In seven years, a young girl in Niamey should be able to stream a Python course at a minimum of six megabytes per second, and on a Made-in-Africa smart device that should not exceed her family's monthly wage. This is a specific objective in Africa’s digital transformation agenda. However, progress toward this goal has been hindered by post-pandemic stressors, the Russia-Ukraine war, and regional leadership indifference. With 2030 just around the corner, expectations are somewhat sluggish. But there is still hope.

Brookings, the American think tank, notes that the need for tech talent is set to increase by 22% between 2020 and 2030, far surpassing other job sectors. Failure to meet this growing demand by 2030 could cost the United States economy alone $162 billion, and the global economy a colossal $8.5 trillion. Meanwhile, the count of African software developers increased by 3.8%, going from 690,000 in 2020 to 716,000 in 2021.

Realizing the full benefits of digital transformation is not solely a talent issue. At home, it is a matter of infrastructure, incentives, and building a sustainable tech-enabling environment. Abroad, it is a question of how international companies can access a steady supply of trained, tried, and tested tech talents without hassle. This is where founders like Richard Brandt come in.

Richard founded Codetrain with the African demographic dividend in mind. He envisions Codetrain to be a leading software training brand globally. Despite this, he retains a legacy approach grounded in community impact. If Codetrain can prepare a quarter of the 450 million Africans at working age for the digital economy, imagine the rippling impact on families, communities, and the global economy. This is even just a modest picture.

But, then again, let’s face it. Coding can be challenging and frustrating. Aside from a training curriculum and community support resources available to students, Codetrain offers mentoring to students as well, and this handholding experience makes a significant difference. Richard believes that anyone dedicated to problem-solving can learn to code.

When Fatima, from Guinea Conakry, decided to pursue a career in software development, she was a wife and a mother of a 2-year-old girl. Despite this, in addition to negligible knowledge of coding, she was able to complete the one-year training program. “I enjoy how the curriculum is designed, and, most importantly, how the teaching fellows make it engaging and simple to the point where anyone can call them at any time, on any day for assistance,” she says.

Fatima aspires to be a front-end teacher one day, and so she is taking the knowledge from Codetrain back to her country to help other Guinean women build mind-blowing applications.