IFC funds Gebeya to train 250 women developers in Ethiopia

Gebeya Co-founders Hiruy Amanuel and Amadou Daffee announce funding from IFC to provide scholarships to women software developers in Ethiopia.

Gebeya, a pan-African talent hub supplying and training software developers, has signed a $500,000 advisory services agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) through the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, or WeFi program, to implement the Digital Gender-Ethiopia Program aimed at solving the issues of gender disparity in the areas of technology and innovation.

The project will involve training of 250 female software developers and seed funding to 20 female entrepreneurs whose digital business ideas will be supported by Gebeya.

The entrepreneurs will receive technical and strategic guidance on business development from Gebeya, alongside advisory services from IFC worth $50,000 to support mentorship programs from globally recognized digital entrepreneurs.

“This commitment by the IFC in Ethiopia will allow us to prioritize women developers across our collective training modules and quickly mobilize them for the growing global demand,” stated Hiruy Amanuel, Co-Founder of Gebeya.

The barriers African women face in receiving a proper education – particularly in STEM related subjects – are just beginning to be recognised and addressed.

While postive action has been hampered by several economic and social factors which countries like Ethiopia are still fighting to address, the initiative by IFC and Gebeya will play a critical role in making these efforts worthwhile.

The project will enable the company to increase its scope beyond the current student-paid model to include a cohort of female software developers whose training will be financed through this scholarship program, said Amadou Daffe, CEO and Co-founder of Gebeya.

He also added that African women constitute 50% of Africa’s population but only contribute 39% to its GDP.

This is a result of their inability to afford tuition, societal misconception around women and career ability, inadequate familial support as well as gender stereotypes, he said.

“We can no longer stand back and watch as intelligent, capable African women are pushed to the sidelines,” Daffe affirmed.

“We have to do our part to close the gender gap in technology where females are highly underrepresented.”

The training will be conducted in four, six-month cohorts and differs from others in the market through its blended curriculum that includes basic and advanced programming and real-world, job-readiness skills, said Henriette Kolb, Manager, IFC Gender Secretariat.

Since its establishment in 2016, Gebeya has grown rapidly, helping graduate over 400 candidates from its training programs.

As of 2018, 140 graduate professionals are currently actively working in Gebeya’s marketplace, and the company has generated a significant amount of client orders through its platform every month.

Gebeya is currently supporting three companies, two of which are founded or co-founded by women and are almost coming to the end of their program.

The first phase of the Digital Gender-Ethiopia Program will be funded by the IFC Creating Markets Advisory Window and the second will be funded by We-Fi.

“We look forward to working with the IFC in the future to bring forth economic change and rapid growth to the sector by providing training and job placement across the technology sub-sectors.” said Daffe.