Talent Outsourcing Marketplace Andela Appoints Ex-Uber Executive as New CEO – urbangeekz

Andela, the global marketplace for technical talent, has appointed Carrol Chang as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Chang succeeds Jeremy Johnson, Andela’s co-founder, who is stepping down as CEO and will remain on the Board. According to the company’s statement, Chang will take over as the new CEO at Andela in September.

The former Uber Global Head of Driver and Courier Operations brings a demonstrated history of successfully scaling a marketplace business through hypergrowth into a mature public company.  

“I am deeply grateful for the privilege of leading Andela. It’s rare to find a mission-driven company with the potential to create a category-defining business. I’m inspired by how Jeremy has led Andela to this point, and I appreciate the trust he and the Board now put in me to carry forward its mission,” said Carrol Chang. 

“The global talent market is an $8.5 trillion-dollar opportunity, and Andela has a decade of experience connecting brilliant talent with opportunity on a global scale. I look forward to writing the next great chapter with the Andela team, she continued.”

Founded in Nigeria in 2014, Andela achieved unicorn status in 2021 and  now has employees across six continents.

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Chang’s Achievements At Uber 

Chang led efforts at Uber to grow its driver base, one of its top priorities post-COVID.

Those efforts grew the company’s flexible workers to nearly 7 million people in over 70 countries, up 25% from 5.7 million a year previously and double its 3.5 million in 2021, according to Uber’s earnings reports. It also powered the company’s $130 billion ridesharing and delivery businesses.

In addition to her expertise in scaling tech-enabled marketplaces, she brings leadership experience from McKinsey & Company, the Department of Homeland Security, and other global organizations working in education and economic development.

What Jeremy Johnson and The Board Are Saying 

The outgoing CEO/Co-founder, Jeremy Johnson, described Chang as “the perfect leader both for Andela’s next stage of growth and to help usher in the era of talent marketplaces.”

He added that the incoming CEO is a strategic leader and culture builder who has lived the Andela mission of connecting brilliance with opportunity. Her operational expertise and track record of leveraging technology to radically improve the user experience of multi-sided marketplaces would be pivotal in realizing Andela’s potential.

“After ten years, I’m deeply proud of the change we’ve helped to catalyze. Andela is part of my soul, and I’m excited to support Carrol as a member of our board of directors.”

The Chair of the Andela Board of Directors and former Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, commended Jeremy Johnson because Andela exists because of his vision and determination. 

She added that Jeremy has grown Andela from a revolutionary idea to one of the world’s most impactful and highly regarded startups. The board and all Andelans are deeply grateful to him and respect his decision to bring in a leader with deep marketplace experience to drive the next growth phase.

 “Andela is a deeply purpose-driven organization, and Carrol is a unique leader poised to take the company into the future, Gillard said in the company’s press release.”

What You Should Know About Andela 

Founded in 2014, Andela launched its first recruitment cycle in Lagos by putting their first call for applications on Twitter. The startup has trained more than 110,000 technologists in Africa. The company has created thousands of jobs and helped talented individuals from over 135 countries build world class careers, regardless of where they are from.

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The talent outsourcing platform operates one of the world’s largest private marketplaces for skilled digital talent. Its adaptive hiring model gives companies greater flexibility to deploy qualified technical talent quickly where it is most needed. 

In 2021, Andela raised $200 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in a Series E funding round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2, the venture capital arm of Japanese conglomerate – SoftBank.

The company’s exclusive AI-powered platform enables clients to select individual roles or engage fully managed teams up to 66% faster. Andela’s diverse talent ecosystem spans over 135 countries and is highly skilled in advanced technologies to support Application Development, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud & DevOps, Data Engineering, and more. The world’s best brands trust Andela, including GitHub, Mastercard, and Mindshare.

Main Image: Carrol Chang (Image Credit: Andela)