Nigeria and Egypt, with their enormous population and large tech talent pools, and high English proficiency, have been identified as “sleeping giants” when it comes to available tech talent from countries in Africa.

This is according to the findings of research over the past two years and published this week by IT-staffing and software outsourcing company Tunga.

The report Best countries for sourcing provides solid statistics on software development in Africa provides key data and insights about the recent situation in the top 17 African countries and covers criteria including: the size of their developer pool: what is the salary level and the level of the English language proficiency; how is the business climate and the infrastructure for online technology; and which are the most popular software languages and frameworks on the continent.

It also focused on different aspects related to the sector by asking specific questions such as: how many of the total of 690 000 African software developers live in one of these 17 countries? Which countries harbour the best tech-talents? Where is the tech-ecosystem growing fastest? Which countries have a stable business climate? What developer language do Africans mostly use?

The research singled out frontrunner countries such as Mauritius and South Africa, which are attractive and safe choices, but “a bit more expensive.”

It also highlighted so-called sleeping giants like Nigeria and Egypt with their enormous population and large tech talent pools, and high English proficiency. Salary levels are moderate.

“There are also promising outsiders like Ghana, Senegal, Uganda, Rwanda and Cameroon, with all different backgrounds, from languages spoken (French in Senegal) to business climate (Excellent in Rwanda). Late-bloomers such as Ethiopia and Tanzania have a lot of unlocked potential but are fairly new to this market,” reads an excerpt from the statement.

Ernesto Spruyt, founder of Tunga, said: “Since digitalisation is going on and the need for software developers continues to stay strong, we need to get Africa’s tech sector on everyone’s radar. We feel that especially for smaller companies in the EU and the US who cannot find quality talent at affordable prices, Africa is an attractive option they did not explore before. For example, our clients usually want to launch a new software product or prototype quickly. So once we know exactly where to search for specific knowledge, we can - within days - provide a solid match.”

This is a unique selling point of Africa’s tech talent, added Spruyt.

According to the research, the tech-potential in Africa is largely undiscovered, although the potential is enormous.