Google Officially Unveils Its First Developer Space In Africa & It’s Open/Free For Everyone

Google has today unveiled its first developer space on the African continent.

The Google Developer Space which sits in Africa’s most active tech hub, Lagos, Nigeria, is open to African developers, entrepreneurs, and startups and will house the Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa.

Members of the African tech community can use the space for free starting today. Besides housing Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa, the Google Developer Space will host developer meetups, training, experts office hours, women-in-tech events, and startup programmes (outside of Launchpad), as well as partner events that support the wider entrepreneur and developer ecosystem, plus Google initiatives for empowering people through digital skills training.

The launching of Google’s first developer space in Africa is a promise kept. In 2017, Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, while on a visit to Nigeria and Kenya, made a commitment to African entrepreneurs to start the Launchpad Accelerator Africa program and launch a space to house these efforts in Nigeria.

And the newly-opened Google Developers Space in Lagos is a fulfillment of that commitment. The space will serve as a hub where entrepreneurs, developers, mentors, VCs, and investors can connect and collaborate with each other. And the good news is that the facilities in the space are free and accessible to all.

To bring the vision to life, Google partnered with a number of local tech hubs and designers of coworking spaces including Impact Hub and Spacefinish.

“To make sure we took the needs of the African tech ecosystem into account, we partnered and co-located with Impact Hub to bring the Space to life and worked with a local company, Spacefinish to design and create an environment that fosters collaboration and innovation,” reads the post on the Google Africa Blog.

“The launch of this space demonstrates our continued commitment to the Sub-Saharan African startup and developer ecosystems. As part of our support for developers, we run programs such as Google Developer Groups and Women Techmakers, providing training and support for developers aligned with real-life job competency requirements. Community groups engage in activities like Study Jams – study groups for developers,” the post further says.

As Africa’s emerging tech startup ecosystem continues to bubble, Google hopes to play a part in the tech revolution by working with startups and other players in the ecosystem from across the continent. And the newly-launched space is likely to help it achieve that.

Featured Image Courtesy: GoogleAfrica