Dec 22, 2019
Thanks for tuning into episode 19 of Dear Diaspora! For today’s episode, I had an interesting discussion with Hauwa Aguillard, the creator of BOA54! BOA54 is a media platform created to represent Africa positively and have fun educating viewers about our uniquely blessed continent.
I always get so excited when I meet content creators focused on Africa and so I invited Hauwa to the show to have a conversation about African leadership, development with a special spotlight on Andela. If you haven’t heard about Andela, it’s an American company that identifies and develops software developers. The company launched operations in Nigeria in 2014, to help global companies overcome the severe shortage of skilled software developers and has offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United States.
Why focus on Andela? Well, they recently laid off hundreds of junior developers. You can read more about the cuts here: https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/17/africa-focused-andela-cuts-400-staff-as-it-confirms-50m-in-revenue/.
With Hauwa’s background in tech (she has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science), I thought it would be interesting to think about how Andela’s strategy would differ if it was led by Africans.
Hauwa was such a great guest and I hope you enjoy this episode. Also, I’d love to hear what you think about the discussion so leave a review, DM Dear Diaspora on Instagram, or join the Facebook group to chime in. Respectful opinions are always welcome!
“At the end of the day, it makes more sense to have more Africans in leadership to make decisions about themselves.” Hauwa Aguillard
BOA54 Country Profile Series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H6CgJtY1dc&list=PL5TZ-1YGKriqHS5RQpMIGrUD3-uyMV1ck.
Dear Diaspora FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2330802427235529/?source_id=103991790962425
Dear Diaspora Survey link: https://forms.gle/gP2TuycsebS4ymMNA
Dear Diaspora Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deardiaspora/