From Lagos Startups to London Enterprise: What African Developers Bring to Global Tech

Chimezirim Bassey’s experience from building fintech solutions in Lagos to reworking and modernizing legacy systems at Howden Insurance in the UK illustrates the unique value African developers bring to global technology teams.

When Chimezirim Bassey made the leap from the hectic startup environment of Lagos to enterprise software development in London, he found out that innovation isn’t just about speed; it’s about building systems that last.

Now as a software developer at Howden Insurance Local UK, with a Master’s degree from The University of Bolton, Bassey’s career pathway offers valuable insights into how African developers navigate—and contribute to global tech environments.

Culture Shock: From Startup Speed to Enterprise Structure

The transition was not easy. “The biggest culture shock was having to switch from the fast-and-furious startup ecosystem in Lagos to the more measured, process-heavy ecosystem in the UK,” Bassey recounts.

At Brandone Technologies Limited, a leading ICT services provider and software development firm in Lagos, he was accustomed to building fintech products with a “get it done” mindset within limited timelines and lean resources.

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The transition to Howden, where he now renovates legacy ASP.NET apps, was an eye-opener to a world of documentation, compliance audits, and planning for the long term. “It occurred to me that innovation here is less about speed, but more about building something that will endure and scale safely,” he states.

High-Stakes Development: The Lagos Training Ground

Working on fintech and petroleum management systems at Brandone shaped Bassey’s development philosophy profoundly.

“Every project felt like the stakes were sky-high. A simple bug in a fintech solution would destroy someone’s money, or a glitch in a petroleum system would shut down operations,” he recalls.

The pressure drilled into him a keen attention to detail and the ability to think three steps ahead and foresee risks before they became a reality.

The tech scene in Lagos, where small teams address urgent, complex problems, creates developers who “learn to swim fast or sink.”

This contrasts sharply with Western markets, where developers often receive more mentorship and gradually increasing complexity in their projects.

Remote Work Resilience

The pandemic offered another proving ground.

While working remotely for Alluvial Agriculture during COVID-19, Bassey battled power cuts, unreliable internet, and infrastructural problems that his UK-based team members rarely ever experience. “It made me creative, like having offline backups ready or mastering async communication when Zoom wasn’t an option,” he explains.

These experiences taught him to be highly self-driven and over-communicative, qualities that set him apart in his capacity to keep distributed teams on the same page amidst external complexities.

The Evolution from Full-Stack to Specialization

Bassey’s career evolution from full-stack developer to backend specialist reflects both market maturity and personal growth. “In Lagos, being full-stack was survival; startups need you to do everything, from APIs to UI,” he notes.

The UK market’s maturity provided room for specialization, allowing him to focus on backend and cloud technologies at Howden while leveraging his comprehensive understanding of system architecture.

A Different Approach to Legacy Code

His startup background influences how he approaches legacy systems. “Coming from startups, I’m not fazed by messy legacy code. In Lagos, I’d crack open systems with zero docs and figure them out on the fly; it was detective work,” Bassey explains.

This boldness with refactoring, treating legacy code as “a puzzle to solve creatively, not just a burden to manage,” often speeds up modernization efforts.

The Efficiency Mindset

Perhaps most valuable is the resource-conscious mindset developed in Nigeria’s challenging environment. “In Nigeria, we’d squeeze every ounce of value out of whatever tools or time we had; efficiency was everything,” Bassey observes.

This lean method—cutting off things that aren’t needed and focusing on delivery- is still very valuable, and this continues to serve him well in the UK, where resources are less limited but efficiency is still valued.

Beyond the “Cheap Labor” Narrative

Bassey pushes back against the prevalent narrative around African tech talent.

”The talk’s too stuck on ‘cheap labor.’ That’s not the real story. African developers like me have a hustle and ingenuity that comes from working in difficult environments, unstable power, scarce tools, and high stakes. We’re not just cheap; we’re adaptable.”

This adaptability, forged in problem-solving in resource-poor environments, brings fresh thinking to experienced teams and can drive innovation in ways not previously imagined and unexpected.

Advice for the Next Generation

For fellow Lagos developers considering similar steps, Bassey places networking and mentorship above brute technical proficiency. “Everyone’s obsessed with coding ability, but who you know matters just as much,” he advises. He also recommends adapting to structure and process-driven cultures and picking up sharp cross-cultural communication skills.

Bassey’s story demonstrates that the value African developers bring to global markets extends far beyond cost. Their grit, resourcefulness, and ability to perform under pressure make them valuable additions to international technology teams, bringing not just know-how, but perspectives born of unique challenges and creative problem-solving approaches.

With the global technology industry increasingly embracing distributed teams and talent pools worldwide, developers like Bassey are demonstrating that innovation thrives when diverse experiences and perspectives intersect.