E-Business
Andela Launches Integrated, End-to-End Platform to Bolster Global Remote Tech Hiring
Andela, the world’s largest private marketplace for technical talent, announced today the Andela Talent Cloud, an integrated, end-to-end platform to match global technologists with companies seeking to bolster capacity and skill sets.
The Andela platform is an all-in-one, AI-driven solution that provides IT executives with complete transparency of talent profiles and skills assessment results, enabling informed and secure hiring decisions.
“Market-leading organizations realize that rewriting their workforce strategies to include global, remote tech talent offers a distinct competitive advantage,” said Jeremy Johnson, Andela CEO and Co-Founder. “Andela offers a seamless approach. By combining the world’s preeminent private talent marketplace with an AI-driven platform, Andela helps companies scale their teams and deliver projects faster.”
The Andela Talent Cloud delivers clients greater speed, flexibility, performance, and trust, unlike other approaches to hiring, such as in-house recruiting, consulting firms, and outsourcing.
The solution allows IT organizations to scale quickly with a highly elastic resource pool and flexible hiring options, to find the right talent for the right role, at the right speed and cost.
The platform streamlines the complete hiring lifecycle, helping companies source, qualify, hire, manage, and pay global technologists in one integrated platform. The entire hiring process can take as little as 48 hours and be 30% to 50% more cost-efficient.
“Our global client footprint requires us to deliver to anywhere from anywhere. To accomplish this, we need a balanced global talent strategy,” said Ikechi Okoronkwo, Global Executive Director, Advanced Analytics at Mindshare.
“With Andela, we scale up or down easily as business needs change. They help us quickly find talent that is highly motivated, highly skilled, and embodies a culture of excellence and delivery. The talent hits the ground running, which drives maximum value for our clients. Andela de-risks global hiring, so businesses can grow and be competitive.”
According to a Gartner® Press Release, “[It] is no surprise that the rate of hiring borderless technology staff doubled in the last three years as increasing retention and hiring has risen to the No. 3 priority for CEOs this year and 2023, said Gabriela Vogel, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner.
The COVID-19 pandemic also accelerated borderless hiring, and what began as an exception is no longer.” “Gartner defines borderless workforce as talent working remotely from different countries based on an employment contract made across national borders.”
The Andela Talent Cloud features:
Enhanced AI Capabilities
At the core of the Andela Talent Cloud is the Talent Decision Engine™ (TDE) which is powered by AI and data-driven matching algorithms to pair the ideal talent to client-specific roles and skills requirements.
The TDE™ learns from thousands of data points across the hiring lifecycle, assessing a broad data set including both hard and soft skills, experience, title, geography, work preferences, language proficiency, candidate interactions, and client feedback for each and every job position.
The TDE™ reduces bias and subjectivity from the recommendation and matching process for each candidate presented for review and acceptance to ensure a fairer and more accurate match to the job requirements.
Further, the TDE™ continually evolves for each client by analyzing their interactions across the marketplace as well as talent success, enabling the platform to get smarter over time, and improving the ability to match the right talent for future project work.
Andela boasts a 96% talent match success rate and a speed to hire up to 70% faster than traditional recruiting, which is expected to improve as the platform scales from additional interactions and placements.
Predictive performance:
With the acquisition of Qualified in March 2023, Andela has integrated into the Talent Decision Engine™ proprietary developer assessment capabilities that help better determine the on-the-job performance of the recommended talent before selection.
The top customer-rated assessment platform on G2, Qualified, provides over 500 predefined and fully configurable coding challenges to evaluate technical skills objectively at scale.
Qualified uses an evidence-based evaluation process to signal skills-based proof that the engineering candidate can problem solve, make technically knowledgeable decisions, and has the requisite hard and soft skills to fit the role and company culture.
According to a Gartner report, “76% of HR leaders who completed Gartner’s 2022 HR Budget and Staffing Benchmarking Survey expect headcount to increase well into 2022, with turnover remaining high”. Given the global need for reskilling and upskilling, Andela will continue to offer Andela Qualify as a standalone developer assessment solution.
Seamless Global Payout Capability
Andela Pay manages all aspects of global payouts, currency exchange, and compliance in over 100 countries to ensure that technologists receive funds in a low-cost and timely manner.
Technologists are paid out directly in USD into a partner wallet of their choice – clients are thus insulated from foreign exchange risk. The Andela Pay partner ecosystem also runs OFAC checks and Know-Your-Customer reviews on contracted technologists as per applicable regulations to ensure compliance by all remote workers.
Enterprise HRM Integrations
Andela Connect provides integrations to popular Application Tracking (ATS) and Vendor Management Systems (VMS). With this release of the Andela Talent Cloud, integrations are available for Greenhouse, Beeline and Fieldglass.
These integrations allow clients to link job postings on their website or LinkedIn to instantly connect to the Andela Talent Cloud to begin the matching process against the Andela Talent Marketplace. Clients are able to streamline their recruitment process to source talent recommendations to hire quickly.
Uche Chigbo, coordinating director of Operations, National Identity Management Commission, (NIMC), has said the newly enacted NIMC Act strengthens data protection and privacy, expands identity coverage to include everyone in Nigeria and Nigerians in the diaspora, and provides the legal framework for a secure and trusted digital identity ecosystem.
She said the new law replaces the 2007 NIMC Act, which had become outdated due to rapid technological advancements, evolving cybersecurity threats, the growth of the digital economy, and the enactment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act.
According to her, the updated legislation better positions the Commission to deliver Nigeria’s digital identity agenda and improve access to government and private sector services.
“The Act itself has taken in a whole lot of things to make sure that NIMC is well-positioned to be able to deliver on the identity agenda and program of Nigeria. The area of universal coverage was expanded within the Act so that NIMC can enroll everybody that is within the soil of Nigeria—male, female, children, whether they are IDPs or orphans or whatever it is, and even Nigerians in diaspora.
“There is quite a lot within the Act that over the few days and weeks, even with my Director-General’s courtesy visit, we are trying to sensitize and educate the general public, and also bring awareness to this new Act so that people will know what are the rights that exist within it, what are the obligations, what are the stronger enforcement and penalties that has also been expanded within the Act, and then what are also the regulatory autonomy that has been given to NIMC to make sure that they drive the digital identity ecosystem in Nigeria,” she explained.
“There’s a lot of provisions and changes with the new Act. Um, the NIMC 2007 Act has been operating for close to 19 years now. So, we can see that, um, you can actually say it’s almost obsolete. And then with a lot of technological advancements in the world now, with the enactment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, and then with also a lot of evolving security challenges, cybersecurity challenges, as well as the ever-growing digital economy, it became very necessary that a comprehensive review of the NIMC Act should be done.
So, that 2007 Act has been repealed and a new NIMC 2026 Act is in place,” she explained.
Chigbo clarified that the National Identification Number (NIN) is Nigeria’s unique identifier and the only valid means of identification for accessing government services.
She added that it enables secure identity verification and improves access to services.
“NIN has been designated as the unique identifier in Nigeria and then by the government of Nigeria establishing it as the only valid means of identification for assessing government services. So, NIN, it’s positioned to be a valuable tool for empowering citizens and legal residents to facilitate access to service delivery in Nigeria. And it’s also a tool for people to be able to prove their identity as they go about their daily businesses,” she said.
Speaking on identity harmonisation across government agencies, Chigbo said NIMC is integrating identity databases to enable Nigerians to access services seamlessly using the National Identification Number (NIN), while other agencies continue to issue functional identities for specific purposes.
“There’s a distinction between a foundational identity and a functional identity. NIMC provides the foundational identity, which answers the question, ‘Who are you?’ Are you a Nigerian or a legal resident? Who are you? That’s what NIMC is providing. All these other agencies that you have mentioned, they provide functional ID, which is an ID that relies on the foundational ID, where they have established who you are and then they are now trying to answer the question, ‘Are you now eligible to have these services? Are you now eligible to benefit from this transaction or scheme?’ So, those are two different distinctions.”
However, Chigbo said NIMC’s mandate is to harmonise and integrate identity systems across government, with the amended Act designating the Commission as the sole repository for biometric data.
“However, NIMC mandate is to make sure that we harmonize and integrate with all these agencies so that you’re one and the same person in any of the databases or registries that you have. The Act that has been expanded and amended also positions NIMC as the only repository for biometric data capture so that we can have effective identity management and coordination in Nigeria.
“So, that harmonization is already happening, the integration is already happening,” she stated.
She also disclosed that NIMC has introduced an online modification portal that allows Nigerians to begin the process of correcting or updating their personal information from the comfort of their homes or offices.
“But also, NIMC we have a modification portal that enables you to sit in the comfort of your home or office to be able to start the process of correction or updates of your data. We already have a self-service modification portal that allows you to make corrections,” she disclosed.
On the cost of obtaining a NIN, Chigbo clarified that enrolment and issuance of the National Identification Number are free.
She, however, noted that some other identity-related services attract approved fees, which are published on the NIMC website and paid electronically through the government Remita platform.
“Enrollment for the issuance of the National Identification Number, NIN, is free. There are other services, identity services that NIMC provide. Those ones have their charges, and those fees and charges are publicized on the NIMC website so that people can see what those charges are. And NIMC does not collect cash. Our transactions and the charges are paid electronically through the government Remita platform,” she said.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has retained Nigeria’s economic growth forecast at 4.1 per cent for 2026, while warning that rising prices of essential goods could worsen poverty and food insecurity in the country.
IMF
The IMF made the projection in its July 2026 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update, released on Wednesday.
According to the report, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to grow by 4.1 per cent in 2026 and improve to 4.3 per cent in 2027, with both forecasts unchanged from the Fund’s April outlook.
The IMF also maintained its growth projections for sub-Saharan Africa at 4.3 per cent in 2026 and 4.5 per cent in 2027.
The Fund said Nigeria’s economic outlook continued to benefit from improved macroeconomic stability and favourable terms of trade but cautioned that the rising cost of essential commodities remained a major concern.
“Nigeria is supported by improved macroeconomic stability and favourable terms-of-trade effects, though higher prices for essentials are expected to further aggravate poverty and food insecurity,” the report stated.
The IMF noted that economic performance across sub-Saharan Africa would remain uneven, reflecting differences in policy implementation, reform progress and countries’ exposure to external shocks.
It added that oil-importing and non-resource-intensive economies would likely face increased pressure from rising food and energy prices, while some larger economies continued to benefit from earlier macroeconomic reforms.
Globally, the IMF revised its 2026 growth forecast downward to 3.0 per cent from the 3.1 per cent projected in April but raised its 2027 forecast to 3.4 per cent.
According to the Fund, the downgrade for 2026 reflects the impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, although stronger demand driven by advances in artificial intelligence and technology adoption has helped cushion some of the adverse effects.
Despite the resilience of the global economy, the IMF warned that risks remained tilted to the downside.
It identified renewed trade tensions, geopolitical conflicts and tighter global financial conditions as key threats to economic growth.
The Fund urged governments to rebuild fiscal buffers through credible fiscal consolidation, improved revenue mobilisation, stronger tax administration, efficient public spending and increased investment in infrastructure, skills development and targeted social protection programmes.
It also advised commodity-exporting countries to avoid excessive public spending during periods of high commodity prices.
“Economies benefiting from commodity windfalls and the upturn in the global technology cycle should avoid procyclical spending and save or redeploy gains within a credible medium-term fiscal framework anchored in debt sustainability,” the report stated.
The IMF further called on policymakers to accelerate structural reforms aimed at boosting productivity, strengthening labour markets, expanding digital and physical infrastructure, promoting predictable trade policies and enhancing international cooperation to support sustainable economic growth.
Nigeria’s data protection industry has grown into a N16.3 billion ecosystem within three years of formal regulation, according to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
Olufemi Ibitayo, head of Finance Management and Control, NDPC, announced the milestone at the Regional Data Governance Exchange in Nairobi, Kenya, where he represented Dr Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner and chief executive officer, NDPC.
Presenting Nigeria’s progress, Ibitayo said the country’s strong regulatory framework and the establishment of an independent data protection authority have strengthened confidence in the digital economy and enhanced Nigeria’s reputation as a destination for foreign investment.
The Regional Data Governance Exchange, organised by the Data Governance in Africa Initiative and hosted by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Nairobi, brought together African data protection authorities to strengthen institutional capacity, deepen collaboration and promote peer learning on data governance. Photo: NDPC
He said the Commission’s “Compliance First, Not Punishment” approach encourages organisations to meet their obligations through dialogue and voluntary compliance, while ensuring effective regulatory oversight.
Ibitayo added that the NDPC is developing regulatory technology solutions, a regulatory sandbox and a data privacy innovation laboratory to further strengthen Nigeria’s data governance ecosystem and support future growth.
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
The ongoing UNCITRAL session has brought together delegates from Nigeria, Australia, China, Ghana, France, the United States and other member states to develop harmonised legal frameworks aimed at facilitating secure, trusted and efficient cross-border digital commerce. Photo: NDPC
Meanwhile, Olatunji reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to global data governance during a meeting with Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim.
He made the remark on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), where Nigeria is participating alongside delegates from several member states to advance harmonised legal frameworks for secure and trusted cross-border digital commerce.
The NDPC boss highlighted the Commission’s achievements since its establishment, noting that strategic institutional reforms have positioned Nigeria as a leading voice in the global data protection ecosystem.
He said the country’s data protection framework has continued to earn international recognition, adding that the Commission remains committed to promoting trusted data governance as a driver of digital transformation, economic growth, innovation and sustainable development in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
During the meeting, Ambassador Ibrahim commended the Commission’s progress since the enactment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and called for the establishment of a comprehensive national data bank to support evidence-based policymaking, research and national development.
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