Nigerian Ed-Tech Company, Pluralcode, is on a mission to build Africa’s largest tech school

Today, computing technology represents a major source of growth and development worldwide, but few regions are proving more vital than Africa.

The last decade has seen hundreds of tech startups emerging across Africa, driving innovation and providing significant employment, particularly for its youth population. However,  It is also a well-documented fact that the African continent has not kept pace as it should with global technological advancement. 

Conversations around global, high-tech innovations typically focus on the United States, Europe and Asia, mainly ignoring Africa despite its status as the world’s second-largest continent.

Researchers have estimated that at least a quarter of the population of Africa has internet access, with some perspective that three-quarters of residents will be connected by 2030. While these numbers show potential, they do not represent the closing of the global competence gap.

The Talent Gap:

The bulk of the problem lies with a scarcity of top-level tech talents. Amidst a ‘Japa Wave’ that drains the available talents and the inadequacy of most Institutions of Higher Education to churn out competent talents in tech, there aren’t enough competent people to fill in gaps and help the continent innovate faster.

Pluralcode’s Move:

The most accessible way to build Africa’s relevance in the fast-globalizing world of technology is to produce more high-level talent, leading to more innovation, which draws in more investment and global interest.

Pluralcode has stepped up to the challenge of building one of Africa’s largest Schools of Technology. Nduka Ukpabi (Founder & Chief Executive Officer) explained this mission in his own words. 

“Our mission is to create a school, an essential talent incubator where thousands of young Africans every year can learn important skills and access the career opportunities they need in order to compete globally.”

We cannot shy away from what needs to be done and so we have to take on this mission one step at a time”

There’s no doubt that there’s been some tech acceleration being cultivated across Africa –  in the year 2021, African tech startups pulled in over $4 Billion of external investment, which is a major uptick from 2019, where about $2 Billion worth of investment was pulled in (TechCrunch cited).

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This is an indicator that the continent is ready to play in the major leagues, and as such, we must upskill the continent’s young population to match this demand.

PluralCode’s approach to education trains students to be professionals and prepares them for job opportunities with their Career Labs Initiative, which exposes them to the challenges they will encounter and opportunities they need to break into the industry post-studies, something which is lacking in many traditional learning institutes.

Students can also access programs across Design, Product, Data, Engineering, Cloud and Blockchain Faculties and benefit from excellent mentors and learning flexibility to fit into their daily pursuits.

“Our flexibility both in learning schedule and tuition plans allows us to champion inclusiveness both of different economic classes and different backgrounds and professions.” Nduka Ukpabi added.

One thing is the fact. High-tech skills have never been fully taught in tertiary institutions, which is a factor negating the development of technology in Africa. That’s why tech schools must provide these platforms for young people to learn. PluralCode is set to be at the forefront of that initiative with solutions that significantly break down the barriers to acquiring a profitable skill.

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