Making AI Work for Your Organization: Lessons from GitHub and Andela

Making AI Work for Your Organization: Lessons from GitHub and Andela – fireside chat with Carrol Chang – CEO, Andela and Aicha Bah-Gersing – Vice President, Support & Customer Success, GitHub.

This session explored the partnership between GitHub and Andela, showcasing how AI tools—particularly GitHub Copilot – combined with a globally distributed, AI-native workforce can transform customer support and talent development. The discussion highlighted how the collaboration enabled GitHub to scale rapidly during a surge in demand, while also pointing to Africa’s growing role in the global AI workforce and the importance of human skills alongside automation.

Facing a massive spike in support demand, GitHub partnered with Andela to deploy a distributed team of AI-enabled engineers across Africa, successfully clearing over 100,000 tickets while maintaining high customer satisfaction and full SLA compliance. The session emphasized that while AI tools like Copilot are powerful, success comes from combining them with skilled human talent, continuous learning, and strong operational integration. It also positioned Africa as a key hub for future AI talent and highlighted the evolving skills and education needed in an AI-driven world.

Key Highlights
• AI + Human Workforce at Scale: GitHub handled 126k+ support tickets by embedding 60+ AI-native engineers from Andela, maintaining 100% SLA compliance.
• Tools Alone Aren’t Enough: Success depended on human expertise, training, and workflow integration—not just deploying AI tools like Copilot.
• Africa as a Talent Hub: With a rapidly growing young population, Africa is positioned to play a major role in the global AI workforce.
• Rise of AI-Native Skills: Critical thinking, systems thinking, and the ability to manage AI tools are becoming more important than pure coding.
• Education is Evolving: AI is enabling more personalized, continuous learning, but human judgment and higher-level skills remain essential.

From keynotes to dynamic panel discussions, the summit explored groundbreaking topics across four flagship tracks: the Africa Money & DeFi Summit, Africa Climate Tech & Investment Summit, Africa Startup Summit, and Africa AI & Digital Summit. Attendees immersed themselves in the latest trends, shared ideas, and discovered cutting-edge innovations that are redefining Africa’s tech landscape.

But it wasn’t just about the talks – networking buzzed with energy, workshops sparked creativity, and exhibitions showcased the region’s tech solutions.

Africa Tech Summit Nairobi 2026 celebrated its 8th edition on February 11th and 12th at the Sarit Expo Centre in Nairobi. Bringing together leading industry players the summit explored the latest trends and insights in technology and business across Africa and beyond.