Andela appoints former Uber Head of Operations, Carrol Chang, as CEO 

Talent marketplace firm, Andela Inc., has appointed a former Global Head of Driver and Courier Operations at Uber, Carrol Chang, as its new CEO.

Chang succeeds Jeremy Johnson, Andela’s co-founder, who is stepping down as CEO and will remain on the Andela Board.

The new CEO takes over the helm of affairs at Andela effective from September 17, 2024, according to a statement from the company.

Andela added that Chang brings with her a demonstrated history of successfully scaling a marketplace business through hypergrowth into a mature public company.  Her pedigree is expected to complement Andela, who has grown from an innovative African start-up to the first talent marketplace to become a unicorn.

Chang’s accomplishments at Uber 

At Uber, Chang was tapped to lead efforts to grow its driver base, one of the company’s top priorities post-Covid.

Those efforts grew the marketplace of flexible workers to nearly 7 million people in over 70 countries, powering the company’s $130 billion ridesharing and delivery businesses.

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

Commenting on her appointment, the new Andela CEO said: 

“I am deeply grateful for the privilege to lead Andela. It’s rare to find a mission-driven company that also has the potential to create a category-defining business. I’m inspired by the way 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. 

“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.” 

Jeremy Johnson speaks 

The outgoing CEO, 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, adding that her operational expertise and track record of leveraging technology to radically improve the user experience of multi-sided marketplaces would be instrumental in realizing Andela’s potential.

On his role at the company, Johson said: 

“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.”

What you should know 

• Founded in Lagos in 2014, Andela 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.
• 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 funding round brought the total venture funding raised by the company to $380 million. Alongside Softbank, the round included Whale Rock, a new investor and existing investors like Generation Investment Management, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Spark Capital.