Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan Help Fund Training and Recruiting of Software Developers in Africa

article by Anya George Tharakan via huffingtonpost.com

(Reuters) – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy venture has made its first major investment, leading a funding round in a startup that trains and recruits software developers in Africa.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC, created by Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, led a $24 million Series B funding in Andela, the startup said on Thursday.  Alphabet Inc., previously known as Google Ventures, was also part of the funding round.
Andela selects the top 1 percent of tech talent from Africa, trains them and places them in engineering organizations.  The startup, which has nearly 200 engineers currently employed by its Nigeria and Kenya offices, will use the funds to expand to a third African country by the end of 2016.
“We live in a world where talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not. Andela’s mission is to close that gap,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.
To read more, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/zuckerberg-philanthropy-first-investment-africa-tech-talent-andela_us_5762ae0ce4b0df4d586f5970?ir=Black+Voices&section=us_black-voices&utm_hp_ref=black-voices&