The Decagon Institute, an elite software engineering institution that will train the most talented applicants in Nigeria, even if they cannot pay fees, is launching in Nigeria this October. Decagon is founded by Chika Nwobi, the tech pioneer behind behind some of Nigeria’s most successful tech companies like MTech, Jobberman, Cheki and Babybliss. Graduates of Decagon will be placed in jobs as software engineers in top companies in Nigeria and internationally and will be allowed to pay a share of their income back to the Institute.
Nwobi, ho is also a partner in Silicon Valley-based VC firm Rise Capital and a board member of Unilever Nigeria PLC, said;
“Decagon aims to train 5000 world class software engineers in its first 5 years as part of our mission to help transform Nigeria into one of the most respected sources of elite software engineering talent in the world; just as Nigerian doctors are respected across the world.”
Lecturers and industry leaders from Oxford, Stanford and Google helped build Decagon’s elite curriculum. Successful applicants who scale through Decagon’s rigorous selection process will be mentored by the likes of Dubi Ezeozue who once worked with Nwobi as an intern and is now a senior software engineer at Google in New York. Other mentors and advisors include Emily Liggett former CEO of Silicon Valley-based Apexion and Nasdaq-Listed Capstone Turbines and Steve Atbury a PHD-holder in Software Engineering from Oxford University.
Liggett who was connected to Nwobi and Decagon through Stanford University SEED program said;
“I am excited about Decagon’s vision. When I was a CEO of a software company in Silicon Valley, we used developers in India and Philippines but Nigeria never came up as an option. Decagon can help put Nigeria on the global software engineering talent map by equipping talented Nigerians to benefit from tremendous demand for elite software engineering talent in Silicon Valley and all over the world”
Lanre Osibona, the Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on ICT, said;
“Nigeria clearly has the potential to be a global powerhouse in software development and initiatives like Decagon should help make this a reality so that we can create more jobs for our youth and empower them to solve local problems and increase Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.”
The program manager for Decagon, Chinwe Nnadi, explained that Nigerians who believe they have a high IQ and strong leadership skills can visit www.decagon.institute to apply for the program before the end of October.
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