Lambda School, a California-based edutech company, has announced that it accepted 53 Africans into its 2019 Program for Young Developers.
The new batch of entrants was selected from a pool of applicants from Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Ivory Coast – and for the first time. Each of the students will get train to become software engineers under a fully-funded initiative.
Six months ago, Lamba raised a Series B funding of USD 30 Mn to champion its ambitions to expand. While collaborating with several African companies such as Paystack, BuyCoins, and Cowrywise, Lambda provides its students with the opportunity of being retained after their graduation.
Lamba CEO Austen Allred who divulged this news via his Twitter handle, said that 27 of the 53 accepted applicants are women. This is one development that proves the significant progress being made to close Africa’s gender gap.
According to the World Bank, by 2008, there were 91 girls for every 100 boys in primary school, up from 85 girls in 1999. With 61 percent, Sub-Saharan African women have one of the highest labor force inclusions in the world.
Lambda trains people to become software engineers. It uses live interactive classes and does so at no upfront tuition costs. Anyone that gets accepted into the initiative can opt for the Income Share Agreement, which allows them to pay a fraction of their future income.
More than a regular coding school, Lambda provides an immersive 9-month training in full-stack web development. Instructors from Google, Apple, Blizzard, and many other tech companies design a unique curriculum for the students. These instructors also author some of the teaching materials used.
Lambda School has 13 partners from which it hires in Africa. In a separate tweet Allred used to thank the platform’s partners, he listed the involved companies, from growing businesses to a national bank which has 70 branches in Lagos alone.
Lambda, who recently opened its doors to Africans via a partnership with Paystack, has a strong focus on the employability of its graduates. The school claims that 86 percent of its students within 180 days after they complete their training.
Featured Image: Forbes
