WeThinkCode_, a technology talent incubator is set to launch in South Africa by March 2016.
Mybroadband reports that, the plan to introduce this initiative to South Africa is building upon the accelerator’s partnership with French talent accelerator, Ecole 42, in May, 2015.
WeThinkCode_ is a free two year training program that offers computer programming training to participants and doesn’t require any specific educational qualification.
The incubator will take in its first 100 entrants when it kicks off next year and aims to grow its number of intakes to about a thousand annually come 2017.
WeThinkCode_ was founded by Arlene Mulder, a former RMB Investment Banker and Camille Agon, the founder of the global Breteau Foundation for education, the team also includes South African IT entrepreneurs Justinus Adriaanse and Yossi Hasson, who have joined the initiative as non executive directors.
The initiative is modelled after French Ecole 42, a computer programming school created and funded by Xavier Niel, which produces 1,000 programmers in France yearly.
Andela is already executing a similar tech talent incubation out of Lagos, Nigeria. Although WeThinkCode_’s two year model slightly differs from Andela’s four year program, with Andela’s sight set on expansion to South Africa, it will be interesting to see how this affects the tech talent ecosystem in the country.
Photo Credit: Ivan David Gomez Arce Via Flickr Cc
