In 2025, youth in Africa made up 60% of the continent’s population, but less than 3% of workers held the digital skills demanded by tech sectors worldwide.
This disconnect between talent and global opportunity is one of the biggest challenges in today’s digital economy, and a core reason why platforms such as Propel and AltSchool Africa were built.
Taking a detailed look at these two organisations, both aim to help African tech talent reach global job markets, but they do so in different ways.
Propel is the Connector
Propel is a talent ecosystem platform focused on linking tech professionals, through communities, with job opportunities, projects, gigs and professional growth tools.
It has built an ecosystem of 200+ specialised tech communities with over 600,000 members across more than 22 countries.
Propel’s model integrates job listings, learning support, community networking and embedded financing (like device or cash loans) to help talent prepare for jobs, present themselves well and get hired.
On the other hand, AltSchool Africa is the Educator
AltSchool Africa is an education platform aimed at training Africans with the skills employers want. It provides structured programmes, ranging from diploma courses in software engineering and cloud computing to short nano‑diplomas and masterclasses.
More recently, it has launched continent‑wide initiatives like “AI for 10M Africans”, aimed at providing free foundational and advanced education in artificial intelligence to 10 million learners.
How Each Addresses Global Job Access
This is where the contrast becomes most consequential.
Propel: A Direct Bridge to Opportunities
Propel’s global job board curates roles from international companies actively hiring African tech talent, not just adverts scraped from the web, but vetted positions updated weekly with direct application links and smart filters by skill, experience and job type.
Its Opportunity Hub goes beyond jobs, including internships, hackathons, fellowships and gigs designed to grow your portfolio and visibility.
The platform works through communities, meaning you don’t search alone, you apply within a network of peers, mentors, recruiters and global employers who value connections over mere CVs.
Engineers and designers from Propel communities report securing roles with global companies (including household names in tech), now working remotely or in hybrid models with competitive pay.
AltSchool Africa: Preparing You for the Game
AltSchool’s strength is in skills creation, not job placement per se.
Its programmes are designed to teach practical, in‑demand skills that global employers look for, from software development fundamentals to advanced cloud engineering and cybersecurity skills.
Importantly, AltSchool runs scholarship programmes with partners such as Binance and Bybit, offering funded training in fields like software engineering and data analytics to hundreds of students.
The “AI for 10M Africans” initiative goes even further to be a part learning movement and part skills movement. The goal is to demystify AI literacy and make AI education accessible across languages and regions, a cue that AltSchool sees future readiness as a form of job access.
However, AltSchool does not operate a direct global job marketplace. Instead, its value is in giving learners the confidence, credentials and capacities to be considered for jobs, locally and globally.
Strengths and Limitations: The Practical View
What Propel is Great At
- Job access and matching: curated global listings and tailored opportunities.
- Community network effects: jobs, knowledge and referrals flow through the community, not just postings.
- Hindrance removal: tools such as device financing and learning support make career pathways tangible.
- Feedback and mentorship loops: driven by active peers and professionals.
Challenges: Being productive depends on engagement within the community, the more you participate, the more visible you become. If you’re not actively networking or building a profile, opportunities can be slower to materialise.
What AltSchool Africa is Great At
- Structured learning: clear step‑by‑step programmes from foundational to advanced skills.
- Scale through initiatives: “AI for 10M Africans” and scholarships draw learners across the continent.
- Credentials: recognised certifications and structured diplomas.
Limitations: Training alone doesn’t guarantee jobs. Learners still need to reach employers, something AltSchool supports via career services but does not own in the way a job platform does.
So…
If you’re starting from scratch, with little coding knowledge and no formal tech education, AltSchool Africa is a strong first choice. You’ll build the skills recruiters globally want, and graduate ready to pass technical interviews.
If you already have some skills or experience, or you’ve completed training, Propel is the better place to connect with employers, project opportunities and international teams who are hiring now.
In many cases, the strongest path is both. Use AltSchool Africa to get qualified and Propel to get seen and hired.
Finally; Complementary, Not Competing
Here’s the honest conclusion, one isn’t categorically “better” than the other, they serve different roles in the talent pipeline.
- AltSchool Africa builds readiness. It helps Africans become competitive globally.
- Propel connects readiness to opportunities. It bridges the gap between ability and employment.
In that sense, they are two halves of an ecosystem, not competitors. Tech careers need platforms that can both groom talent and connect it with opportunity. Propel and AltSchool Africa each occupy an important space in this.
