Google in Africa says the increase in software development in Africa has increased tremendously, with Nigeria adding 5,000 new professionals in 2021.
Nitin Gajria, the company’s Managing Director, said, in a statement on Monday, that the rise was impressive in spite of the pandemic and global economic challenges the continent’s developer experienced.
Gajria said its findings were based on the Ecosystem Report 2021 conducted across 16 Sub Sahara African countries.
The managing director said that the findings came through fielded and analysed surveys of software developers as well as interviews with local experts.
He said that with the use of the internet by small and medium businesses by over 22 per cent, there was the need for web development services in the continent.
Besides, he said there was a higher demand for remote development work because 38 per cent of African developers work for at least one company based outside of the continent.
‘’This is evidenced by the magnitude of growth in Nigeria’s professional developer population, which added an estimated 5,000 new professional developers to its pool in 2021.
“While Africa’s tech innovation sector is making great strides, global tech companies, educators and governments can do more to ensure that the industry becomes a strategic economic pillar.
“At Google, we are intent on further igniting training and support for this community by bridging the existing developer skills gap and concentrating our efforts in upskilling female developers who face pointed challenges,” he said.
Gajria said that following a series of initiatives, including developer advocacy, startup acceleration, training programmes, and global technical mentorship) that the company had implemented over the last 10 years, Google would train 100,000 developers across the continent by 2022.
According to him, to date, the African continent is home to more than 150 active Google Developer Groups and 100 Developer Student Clubs in Africa.
He said that combined, these groups reach over 200,000 community members in 40 out of the 48 countries in the Sub-Saharan African region.
Gajria added that the company may have contributed nearly $180 billion to Africa’s economy, saying the projected potential contribution could reach $712 billion by 2050.
“In order to reach this potential, we have to provide better access to high-quality, world-class skilling on mobile technologies platforms coupled with increasing connectivity in Africa.
“Our effort to increase connectivity is focused on infrastructure, devices, tools and product localisation,” Gajria said.
