Dutch PE fund acquires stake in Moringa School

A Nairobi-based software development school started by a 23-year old has sold a multi-million shilling stake to a leading Dutch family-backed impact investor in East Africa, DOB Equity.

In a statement, DOB Equity said it had invested an undisclosed sum in Moringa School to capitalise on the fast-growing demand for software developers.

“The investment by DOB Equity is earmarked for regional expansion and strengthening of the technical platform. Moringa provides digital and professional training to students, increasing their employability and access to the labour market,” it said.

DOB Equity chief executive Brigit van Dijk-van de Reijt said training of Kenyan youth creates a new pool of tech-savvy software developers that can handle assignments globally.

“This is a huge opportunity to plug this skills gap by better training tech talent to fit the growing market needs. The increasing global demand for tech talent, together with Africa’s rapidly rising youth population, makes this opportunity even more pressing,” she said.

The investment by DOB Equity is part of an aggressive round of acquisitions by the fund after it signalled its intent to ramp up its investments in the country.

Moringa founder Audrey Cheng said DOB’s entry affirms confidence in the quality of the school’s programmes launched in 2014 and to date has seen 1,800 students go through the Ngong Road-based institution.

“We are looking forward to drawing on DOB’s experience in East Africa, as we build new market-aligned courses and expand our offerings to students in Kenya,” she said.

Moringa offers courses in software development and data science via a business to business model through tailor-made training.