Dutch impact start-up Tunga, which aims to unlock the African talent pool to Western companies, struggling to find qualified software developers, has opened its second office in Africa in Lagos. Tunga was established in 2015 as a partnership between Dutch social entrepreneur Ernesto Spruyt and not-for-profit organisation Butterfly Works.

The company already has an office in Kampala and features a network of over 300 African software developers across Egypt, Nigeria and Uganda.

Spruyt said "African software engineers are a great alternative for those hard to find Western tech professionals. We work with motivated local developers in areas with high unemployment rates and hone their skills so they become top quality tech experts. Other advantages? English is usually their first language, Lagos is in the same time zone as Europe, the speed of deployment is high and continuity is an advantage as well. Moreover the hourly rates are obviously much lower than those in Europe and America."

According to Spruyt many of the company's African developers are from Nigeria.

"We started working with Nigerian developers in 2016. By now, many of our African developers are from Nigeria. This is hardly surprising as Nigeria comes a close second after South Africa in terms of the number of trained developers while wages are much lower. So, Tunga continues to invest here in training young African techies to become medior and senior developers."

He adds: "That why, in order to service our community in a better way, we decided to open an office in Lagos. We found a great place in the co-working venue 'The Village', in the tech district of Yaba. The venue focuses on technology, innovation and creativity. Our local developers love it as a place to work and share knowledge. It is expected that the office will soon grow into a full-service operational centre, with project and community managers like we have in Kampala. We consider opening another office in Lekki, on the other side of Lagos, to help our people avoid the challenging traffic of the city of Lagos."

Tunga was founded based on the proven concept that software developers can successfully work remotely from different locations around the globe.

Africa's human potential

Africa's untapped human potential and its access to next-gen technology will be up for discussion at AfricaCom 2019, scheduled for 12-14 November 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa.

In a statement the organisers say this topic, as well as obstacles like building a skills base and structural challenges required to develop Africa's digital ecosystem, have the power to propel the continent into owning its digital future.

"Connectivity is the backbone of all economic opportunities and hence, Africa's 'thrival' (beyond sustainability and survival to a thriving digitally enhanced continent). The connectivity track and exhibition Hall also explore and showcase what is required for the enablers of this desired thrival, the telcos, to become fully digital. Assisting in this evolution will be an entire plethora of emerging technologies," the statement continues.