Tech Education Can Reduce Inequality

Q: How did Henry develop its approach to social entrepreneurship through the development of technological talent?

A: Henry was launched in March 2020 to accelerate Latin America’s transition toward social equality by connecting people with high-paying jobs. We founded Henry to challenge the status quo of education.

In our previous startup, Nubi, a fintech for cross-border payments, we had a difficult time finding and retaining developers and software engineers due to the lack of trained talent in Latin America. The 2018 economic crisis in Argentina forced 40 percent of our tech team to resign and start working abroad just before we were about to launch a new product. After this experience, we decided to solve this problem by creating opportunities through education. We believe that talent is everywhere but education is not. Latin America has enough talent to address the needs of the region and to export. Our goal is to give people the opportunity to have great careers in tech. 

Q: How much potential does Latin America have in terms of technological talent?

 A: There is great demand for technical talent in Latin America and by 2025 there will be 5 million open positions in tech in Mexico and 10 million throughout Latin America. The region has a large market but it is also the most unequal region in the world, as only 14 percent of the population can access higher education. Most people in the region cannot access universities because they lack time and money; many do not live in cities with college campuses.

Quality, accessible education is the only way we can tackle problems of inequality. We want to remove barriers to education to enable people to pursue better careers and gain higher incomes. All of our operations have been designed to prioritize accessibility. We align our success with the success of our students, who only pay us if they find a job in tech. We have taken a revolutionary approach to education because we do everything so our students can get a job.

We continuously update our curricula,  talking with companies and tech leaders from the industry to determine which programming languages are being used in the market. We are pioneering a new model of higher education in which the institution invests in its students instead of the other way around.

Q: Why should those interested in the tech sector study at Henry?

A: Over 1,000 companies around the world are hiring Henry talent, including J.P. Morgan, Mercado Libre, Kavak, Accenture and Rappi. We educate in more than technical skills; we teach soft skills like teamwork and communication, help students improve their CV and train them for job interviews. We teach our students how to learn, but also how to unlearn because technologies are always changing. Henry has a strong community that accompanies students throughout their learning process.

Henry offers two majors: Data Science and Full Stack Web Development. These are short but intense courses because students need many hours of coding to successfully learn to code. Everything that our students learn they put into practice the same day. Over 90 percent of our graduates get a job within six months of completing their program.

Our teaching method ensures companies do not have to go through a long training process. We train students on what companies are demanding at the time to make them problem-solvers. We have no recruitment fees because we do not make a profit from any job placement. We admit only 3 percent of applicants selected through a technical challenge that evaluates basic concepts.

Q: What are the largest opportunities that Henry has identified in Mexico?

A: Mexico has become one of the leading markets for technology companies in Latin America and the country has several unicorns and fintech. The Mexican market is important for us because it offers numerous opportunities. We want to help Mexicans to complete a technological career with Henry. It is important for us to develop economies because the future relies on tech.

Q: What can be expected from the company for the remainder of 2022 and 2023?

A: We want to keep on growing and positioning ourselves in Mexico. We want to invest in the education of Mexicans and consolidate our presence all over Latin America. We aim to launch new programs following market demands. Tech companies are demanding other types of roles and we want to cover those needs. We also want to grow Henry’s team through an ambitious hiring plan.

It is essential for companies to invest in tech. We can help them by providing talent.

Henry is a digital academy that invests in people’s education in LatAm. Students are trained for zero upfront costs for a share of their future incomes. They pay once they land a high-paying job.