Africa is witnessing a rapid growth of developers, one of the reasons being the first steps of the digital economy, with an annual turnover of 115 billion dollars, according to the most recent report of the Africa Developer Ecosystem 2021, developed by Google and the consultancy Accenture.
But with only 33% of individuals having access to the internet, compared to a global average of 63%, and much of the growth so far concentrated in four key markets: Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Egypt, which make up 32% of the African population and account for 51% of mobile network connections on the continent, the prospects are encouraging.
And with the pandemic, growth was evident, namely with a 22% increase in global internet use by small and medium-sized companies in Africa, a record in fundraising by local startups in 2021 (another 40% of closed businesses involving this type of company) and the demand for remote technology workers in more mature markets, factors attributed to the growing awareness of African talent for software development.
"Increased global demand for remote tech talent, being reinforced by the pandemic, has created more remote employment opportunities for African programmers”, concluded Google.
The study shows that the number of professional African programmers in the workforce has defied the economic downturns seen in so many other sectors, increasing by 3,8% to 716 professionals, which now represent 0,4% of the non-profit workforce. agriculture on the continent.
BUT: Mozambique is the country in Africa with the most developer growth
Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt lead the continent in talent for software development, with Nigeria leading the way when looking for talent in this field, adding around five thousand new professional creators to its pool in 2021.
The country even has an online academy, Alt School Africa, which is attracting programming students from countries all over the world, offering an elaborate curriculum in computer programming.
By February 2022, the digital campus had already received more than eight thousand applications from 19 countries for its software engineering program, which started three years later.
More African programmers are getting full-time jobs due to the increased demand for local startups and the global demand for remote technical talent.
Morocco added 200 new professionals, while South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Tunisia each added XNUMX to their pool of talent.
It is not surprising, therefore, that South Africa leads, with a large advantage on the continent, in terms of the total number of software creators, with 121, followed by Egypt and Nigeria tied, with 89.000 each.
The best representative in the PALOP countries is Mozambique, which appears with a growth of one thousand professionals and even presents the biggest increase in all the African countries that entered the study (the 16 most in Africa) with 10% growth, that is, it went from five thousand to six thousand software developers over the last year.
