In case you didn't know, Code of Africa (CoA) is the first  IT outsourcing company to connect East African talents with demand in German-speaking Europe (DACH). The acronym DACH refers to the three Central European countries of Germany (D), Austria (A), and Switzerland (CH).

Hello there, if you've arrived here, it means you've heard about CoA, possibly through social media, or you heard that our heart beats for building a business bridge between tech talents in East Africa and Europe by contributing to job creation, education and a positive perception of Africa in Europe, and you want to learn more? Well, let’s get started.

My name is Alpha, Community Manager at the Rwandan entity. In March 2022, as we were celebrating three years of operating, I discovered in more detail that we got an amazing story to tell!

It all started with the desire to address the IT talent shortage in the DACH region. And guess what?! "Whenever there is a challenge, there is also an opportunity," said the Dalai Lama. Our founders understood the quote very well and in the shortage of IT talents they saw opportunities for creating Code of Africa, a company that trains and employs talented developers in East Africa, by providing a managed outsourcing solution to European clients. 

CoA aims were to create an environment in which East Africa is named a top destination for IT services by creating a managed Developer-as-a-Service solution that intermediates between clients in the DACH region and developers in East Africa:

Enabling successful digitalization projects and sustainable job creation, while building a highly-skilled and experienced pool of East African Developers.

Generating positive social and economic impacts and accelerating these through a profit motive.

To share with you some insights into how we are approaching this, is the reason why I am writing this article.

First of all, it was natural to the co-founders of Code of Africa, that building a hub of talented software developers in East Africa, be it with freelancers, subcontractors, or employees is not happening without having constantly one foot in both regions. This is why the Managing Director Anja is spending most of her time in Kigali, collaborating with clients in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland remotely. The same time, the remaining co-founders are located in Europe, to act as advisors and to create both a valuable business network and traction on-site.

To best cater the needs of the IT professionals, we operate a physical hub in Kigali as the heart of our operations on the continent. To CoA, it is important to create an environment in which the members can work, learn, connect, and come together as a team.

As mentioned above, the Kigali hub is managed by one of the founders, to not only ensure that the company’s core values are transported, but also to form a strong and performant team. Which is of high importance for the delivery process to our clients. 

And since ease of use is one of the core aspects in our value proposition, we feel that it is important to have a German-speaking representative on the ground, exactly where the work is actually happening. Because we all know those situations when things are not going as planned and stress levels peak. That is usually the point in time where it is important to be able to talk in your mother tongue to someone with the same cultural background to get things going in the right direction faster again. 

Then you might ask yourself, out of all East African countries, why Rwanda (Kigali) was chosen to be the heart of our operation on the continent? 

Rwanda is a very safe country in Africa, and you may wonder why, despite its history? Because Rwanda understands what it is like not to have peace and security in your own country better than anyone else. Rwanda has seen and been through enough. As a result, peace, security, and stability are non-negotiable in Rwanda today. We are all on the same page when it comes to keeping the country peaceful.

When we talk to people in Europe (or even elsewhere) about Code of Africa and IT outsourcing to Rwanda, we often have to share more about the country itself at first. Check out this article: A First Glance At Rwanda.

For many Rwanda is a blind spot. Some remember the number "1994", but less know what really happened. And very few know where the country is located and what’s happening there today. Fair enough, if you ask a person from Hamburg what is going on in Rwanda, let us say Liechtenstein, the same would probably happen. 

Although Rwanda only has rare appearances in international media, the country has progressed greatly in the last 28 years and is now a model for other African countries in how to create stable governance structures that enable investment and real economic growth. 

Local partners

Collaboration is in the DNA of CoA. We partner with parties aligned with CoA's core values to build a business bridge between tech talents in East Africa and Europe. 

Let me share one example of how we roll: As mentioned above, we are a company that not only employs, but also trains talented developers in East Africa. In our partner company onsite in Kigali, Awesomity lab, we found the perfect co-creator of a joint hybrid training program called “the Task Force Bootcamp.” Invented at the end of 2019, a time both companies discovered that finding, interviewing, and onboarding a talented developer, capable of working with international clients, is quite challenging.

Throughout the "Taskforce" capacity-building program, we were able to create a large pool of talented developers who can easily integrate with our team as we expand. Take a look at the task force wall of fame to see how big the team of graduates became over time!

Reading all of the above might develop a curiosity in most people, by thinking about how exactly a client in Europe works with developers in Easter Africa, without even physically interacting with them? I understand this concern, because I had the same question before learning more about Code of Africa's day-to-day remote working life or CoA's working principles. Reading these articles will probably answer your questions. In addition, check out our Videos.

A call to action

Apart from what I shared with you above, about who we are, our goals, local partners, and guiding principles, there is much more to discover!  Simply contact us directly via hello@codeofafrica.com and get in touch with our amazing team.