Our Latest Grants: Unlocking Potential in Latin America and East Africa
Through in-depth research, targeted landscape analysis, and stakeholder interviews, the GitLab Foundation team identified Colombia and Kenya as our initial entry points for international grantmaking. These first international grants focus on increasing access to quality education and job opportunities, and addressing socioeconomic barriers to success.
In Colombia, our grant to Laboratoria will launch a new program to train 130 women in its first year as data analysts, web developers and UX designers, with the expectation of connecting at least 80% of graduates with quality jobs by the end of the program. If successful, Laboratoria intends to scale the program regionally over the next five years. The work challenges ingrained gender stereotypes in Colombia, where only six out of 10 women participate in the formal workforce and marks our first step toward advancing our grantmaking strategy in Colombia. The projected ROI for this grant is $111 of increased earnings for every dollar we invest.
Our latest grants in Africa continue our commitment to increase access to education for young Africans and to bridge the transition to high-earning jobs. More than one in four young people in Africa — around 72 million people — are referred to as NEET: not in education, employment or training. Evidence shows that even when they are highly educated, young people on the continent — particularly women — are not making the transition into satisfactory or stable jobs.
Our grant to Kibo School of Technology, a fully online university founded by Ope Bukola (the former leader of Google Classroom’s product team), will help African students “earn while they learn” by providing high-demand skills matched with paid project based experience. Financial constraints are the biggest barrier preventing many university students in Africa from completing their degrees. The program works with students studying computer science and other technical subjects, equipping them with automation expertise and communication skills, then matching them with businesses that want to scale their impact through automation and data analysis. The projected ROI for this grant is $173 of increased earnings for every dollar we invest.
Our partnership with 10 Academy, an online remote technology training and employment program, will enable 125 new AI experts per year to join the global job market. The program serves multiple African countries, including Kenya, and uses AI enabled tools to deploy and manage its intensive online training model. Our grant will also enable the 10 Academy team to experiment with a new offering to help an additional 700 recent university graduates per year transition into high-quality jobs. The projected ROI for this grant is $141 of increased earnings for every dollar we invest.
These grants underscore our commitment to invest in partnerships that unlock new opportunities and boost lifetime earnings for people worldwide. We're excited about the potential for future developments in these regions and beyond.
