Diverse Perspectives Driving Change in NYC’s Tech Community

Last week, Christina Sass and John Kariuki sat down with WPIX11’s Tamsen Fadal to discuss how Andela is connecting African tech talent to NYC’s tech community. Currently, Andela counts 37 developers from Nigeria and Kenya working with 25 company partners in New York alone, helping them scale their businesses. As Christina explains, “what we find is that when these companies hire an Andela developer, their sales team grows and their marketing team grows.”One of Andela's star developers, John Kariuki, has been living in New York City for the last two months, working with the partner company First Access and helping to build out their microlending platform. John hopes to apply everything he has learned at Andela to allow easier information access in his home country of Kenya. He states, “I believe knowledge is power I think I learned more in the first six months at Andela then I have in my last four years of programming."John's story exemplifies the importance of diverse perspectives in building global products. Given his first-hand experience in emerging markets, he's been able to guide the First Access team as they think through the nuances of their microlending platform. As tech companies increasingly target global audiences, leveraging these diverse perspectives will be essential. To check out the full segment on PIX11, watch it here!