African Coders in Rwanda: Connecting Europe to the Tech Talent Pool
Ojemba, building world-class teams of African programmers to develop and run software for European companies from Rwanda, organized its Kigali office opening.
Europe has a strong need for tech talent and a surplus of job availability, and Africa, on the other hand, has the world’s largest growing youth population and a need for more job creation. Ojemba is providing a solution by connecting the two through the software powerhouse MaibornWolff.
German software giant MaibornWolff teams up with a Nigerian leading gaming studio and a Rwandan tech training facility to develop and employ top-tier software talent teams in Kigali.
Alex Ntare, CEO of the Rwanda ICT Chamber, highlighted that the event was significant for the level of technology in Rwanda because it will help the country maintain software development’s level.
He noted that the fact that this company is working with Germany will help Rwandans have opportunities in Europe, where this technological development has increased a lot. Those opportunities are based on the infrastructure and other technology policies that the Rwandan government has established.
He said, “It’s a wonderful opportunity. I think this is a great sign. This is the most intense software program in Rwanda. The company creates amazing new opportunities for young talents in Rwanda to develop software for clients in Germany and Europe.”
He emphasized that the uniqueness of Ojemba compared to other companies in Rwanda is that it finds markets in European countries and is operated by Rwandans.
Hugo Obi, Ojemba Co-Founder, and the founder of Maliyo, a design studio known for developing African-inspired games for mobile devices, highlighted that they empower young people to do software engineering and that there is great demand for them in Europe, as an example of how businesses connect markets.
He said, “We train people to do software engineering, which stands for cool teams of young, motivated programmers. They are eager to prove that their work is just as good as that of their European peers. This is exactly what we have prepared them for to develop and run first-class software for European companies.”
He continued that the Ojemba management ensures in the background that the teams work efficiently and are customer-oriented, “all around carefree” for the customer.”
Obi added that the company connects IT talent from the global south with IT talent from the north by training young African software developers and offering them challenging jobs from companies in the north and south.
He revealed that the company trained over 100 people and currently employs 26 full-time engineers who are working on-site. Ojemba is currently just in Rwanda; at the moment, as it grows, it will expand across the continent.
Cynthia Ikirezi Ndiramiye, one of the Ojembees, said that Ojemba is different from other programs because they not only train you for coding but also to talk to customers.
She said, “I have joined many different training programs for software development, and I would say that Ojemba is the best because other programs just give you material to learn, but they don’t care if you have understood. The program is built in such a way that it starts with the basics and even software development. If you understand the language, for example, the basics of it like frameworks and libraries, it’s really easy to understand.”
She added, “Whoever is employed at Ojemba first goes through training, which is a really special one because Ojemba has proven to be more efficient because, in terms of software engineering, it’s an industry that leads you to really what you’re doing. “
Ojemba is a unique partnership between MaibornWolff, a leading international software company in Munich, Germany; Maliyo, one of Africa’s leading gaming studios based in Lagos; and The Gym, a tech training center that attracts some of the top talent in Kigali.
