Following rumors about the possible closure of the Kampala, Uganda office of ThoughtWorks, the company today issued a statement in which it confirmed that November 15th will be their last day in the country.
“ThoughtWorks mission in Africa is focused on creating a strong Pan-African culture, rather than any individual country focus,” read the statement in part.
“Our multi-pillar approach with a stronger social agenda than anywhere in the world remains in place and – while we will not have a physical office in Kampala – our team will still work to have impact across Africa,” the statement continues.
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Founded in 1993, ThoughtWorks is a global software development and products company with its headquarters in Chicago, USA. The company is closely associated with the movement for agile software development, and has contributed to a range of open source products.
In Kampala the company developed solutions that were in some cases implemented globally.
The statement continues to say; “We have also contributed to several open source communities and are proud to have taken steps towards technology that is coded in Africa, for Africa, by Africans.”
The closure casts a shadow over Uganda’s software development sector and raises its questions about the market’s readiness and commercial viability of software-development related investments.
It was not immediately clear what the future of the employees of the Nakawa-based company will be.
