Mark Zuckerberg walked the streets of Lagos, Nigeria to meet the startup that recruits African tech talent

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative backed Andela, a startup that recruits African tech talent.
 By 
Emma Hinchliffe
 on 
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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Mark Zuckerberg came to Lagos, Nigeria in part to meet with Andela, a startup he's backing.

But he got a sense of the city from more than the tech workers he met with. On the way to his meeting, Zuckerberg walked the streets of Yaba, a neighborhood in Lagos.

Surrounded by cars in Yaba's busy streets, Zuckerberg made his way to Andela, a startup that recruits tech talent across Africa. Andela has offices in Lagos, Nairobi, New York and San Francisco.


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He told Andela employees in Lagos that he came to their city because it was where "the future is going to get built."

Andela has raised $41 million for its mission to provide tech companies with talent in Africa that otherwise might not be matched. The company gets 30,000 applicants and has an acceptance rate of 0.6 percent for the positions it matches with tech companies. Its technical leadership fellows go through a six-month vetting process.

So far, Andela has matched candidates with companies including Microsoft and IBM.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan's philanthropic venture, led Andela's Series B round of funding, which raised $24 million in June. Andela was the recipient of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's first lead investment round.

Topics Facebook

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Emma Hinchliffe

Emma Hinchliffe is a business reporter at Mashable. Before joining Mashable, she covered business and metro news at the Houston Chronicle.

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