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After launching its engineering school earlier this year and raising pre-seed funding, Nigeria’s AltSchool has expanded its catalog to include information and product schools, responding to the needs of these technical-skills youth and employers.
Among the new courses are product marketing, design and management, as well as data science, engineering and analytics. This is in addition to the software engineering course where students specialize in both front-end, back-end and cloud engineering.
AltSchool founder and CEO Adewale Yusuf told TechCrunch that the school has seen more interest in the courses it offers since its inception, noting that there is a growing number of young people interested in pursuing careers in technology. To paint a picture of the demand, AltSchool, one of the exhibitors at TechCrunch Disrupt 2022, received 9,200 applications in its first call, but only accepted about half.
“It’s been a great year so far; we’ve had great growth. We’ve gotten an exemption from California’s Bureau of Post-Private Education (BPPE), we’re on our way to $1 million in annual recurring revenue, and we’ve helped people find jobs in over seven countries,” Yusuf said.
Fees at AltSchool are $30 per month, the equivalent of one dollar per day, making it a more affordable way to learn than traditional college options.
The school currently has over eight students across Africa and recently established a center in Rwanda to support growth beyond West Africa.
For admission, students are required to pass an entrance assessment test, but the online school offers a three-month trial period for those who do not meet the criteria in the first round.
Courses are short, lasting up to a year (including internships), allowing the school to rapidly produce talent to meet market demand.
Overall, demand for developers is expected to grow, especially in the startup ecosystem, which already employs half of Africa’s developers, as more startups are launched or backed by VC funds. In addition, tech companies such as Amazon and Google are looking to find talent in Africa, further fueling demand for local developers.
“The demand for technical talent is greater than ever. And companies are looking outside their core markets to hire talent. This is a great opportunity for African countries like Nigeria and Ghana, as English is the primary language and the time zone is convenient, he said.
Yusuf, along with Akintunde Sultan and Opeyemi Awoyemi, founded TalentQL, a startup in October last year, looking at the knowledge gap among software engineers to recruit and manage remote talent on behalf of companies.
They started AltSchool to develop software engineers who don’t have the “basic knowledge” and to train people who are transitioning into technology. The school has partnered with higher education institutions across Africa to award diplomas to students.
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