The shortage of engineering and software development talent in the U.S. has been a growing challenge for employers ranging from startups to multinational corporations. While there are a number of development shops throughout the world these employers can outsource to, finding full-time talent that is easy to manage remotely, particularly with different languages, cultures and time zones, is difficult.

Five-year-old Andela aims to address this issue. The New York–based company has focused on developing an engineering workforce throughout Africa, which Andela says has vast underutilized talent. Andela aims to further differentiate itself by training its engineers on the goals of customers’ businesses, as well as in technical skills, to help overcome some of the strains that can occur with a remote, outsourced workforce.