Andela Lays Off 135 Staffers in Kenya and Three Other Locations

Software Engineering Company, Andela, has laid off a total of 135 employees across four locations.

Senior staff at the company located in New York with a presence in Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya will also take pay cuts of 10 to 30 percent.

The CEO, Mr Jeremy Johnson confirmed the lay-offs on a company-wide video conference call attended by about 1,300 employees from all locations. The reduction in salary and staff are as a result of the hard-hitting COVID-19 crisis and brings the staff count to 1,199 employees.

The company is backed by $181 million in Venture capital from investors including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and its client base comprising of more than 200 companies globally which pay for African developers selected by Andela to work on their projects.

Read: Joshua Mwaniki Fired from Andela, Replacement Being Sent from Nigeria

According to the CEO, there has been a drop in the demand for Andela’s services. “The vast majority of our customers have stayed with us. But new business has slowed down dramatically.” Mr Johnson said.

“Like any other venture-backed start-up, we are built for growth. And so, if growth is gonna slow down dramatically, your costs have to come down. We already know this is going to have a material impact on pace of growth. And as a result of that, we’ve got to make sure we’re prepared to weather the storm,” Johnson said.

The CEO noted that the actions were not purely based on the external factors. The decisions also connect to a strategic direction change for the company. These details will follow shortly, according to Johnson.

Read: Software Development Training Company Andela Secures Ksh10 Billion Funding

The company also intends to cut down on operational costs from travel, softwares, compensations and others to save about $25 million.

The engineers were not affected by the lay-off but according to Jonson, every other department felt the wave.

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