Coders Trust

Coders Trust

Industry	Finance, Microfinance, Software industry, Academic advising, Education
Founded	November 2013
Founder	Ferdinand Kjærulff, Asser Smidt, Michael Christensen, Morten Lund
Headquarters	Copenhagen, Dhaka
Area served	Worldwide
Number of employees	10
Website	http://coderstrust.com/

Coders Trust is an initiative backed by the development fund Danida, or Danish International Development Agency, to provide microfinance for students in emerging nations who want to upgrade their programming skills. The hope of founder, Copenhagen-born entrepreneur Ferdinand Kjærulff, is that these students are empowered to sell their work internationally via freelance portals such as Odesk, Elance and Freelancer. The team is currently operating in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where it collaborates with Grameen Bank, which is renowned for its part in revolutionising the microfinance industry. Skype seed funder Morten Lund invested in the company in March 2014, describing it as a "profitable charity."^[1]

Kjærulff announced the details of a partnership with Elance during an interview with Sir Richard Branson at a Virgin Unite event held at Hotel D'Angleterre in Copenhagen, Denmark, in April 2014.^[2] He points out that the enhanced reputation that comes with an extra three years of online working can demonstrably boost local wages by 190%, compared to a modest 38% increase after three years of additional standard education in the classroom.

The present business model involves Coders Trust taking a 5% fee for administrative costs and study aid, and a 25% commission for earnings made during the period of the study course. Kjærulff says the idea for Coders Trust came about in 2005 during his time as a rebuilding officer in Iraq, where he was responsible for ICT training programs for public employees.^{[3] [4]} He was previously co-founder of software companies Cylindo.com and AirHelp, both of which were developed using a workforce recruited from freelance portals.

The service is expected to fully launch in the mid-2014 in Bangladesh, which accounts for roughly 12% of the total market of freelancers. There are more than 150,000 registered freelancers who earn about $15 per hour for technical work and $7 for unskilled work.^[5] There are 19.3 million users on the three largest online portals, of which 10% are eligible for the Coders Trust scheme.

Investors

Lund financed Coders Trust through his OnlyXO vehicle. Referring to his recovery from the failed free newspaper venture Nyhedsavisen, he told Berlingske: "I tried something very few people have tried. I became extremely rich, but just a few years later it was gone. I missed a chance to create something that would reshape the world." Despite the charity-like appearance of the initiative, Lund insisted: "You need money for any venture, because that's the only way to get the right people and keep them." ^[6] He points out that the world's largest provider of microloans achieves a repayment rate of 98%.

The other financial backer, Danida (the brand used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark to provide humanitarian aid and development assistance), now disburses up to DKK:15.753 billion (US$3 billion) on an annual basis in developing countries.^[7] In 2009, DANIDA worked in close association with the Indian Government's Padmasree award winner, K.Viswanathan, and the prestigious institution Mitraniketan. Furthermore, Danida works in collaboration with many Danish NGOs such as Global Medical Aid. ^[8]

References