September 19 (SeeNews) - IT companies Codecool and Software Development Academy (SDA) announced their merger into a European tech training and sourcing hub on several markets, including in Romania and Albania.
The merged company will have a presence in eight European countries, namely Romania, Albania, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Estonia, Codecool and SDA said in a press release on Friday.
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Alongside the current eight countries, the merged company plans to keep expanding into new geographic territories.
The new company will provide business to business and
business to consumer training for 15,000 - 20,000 people each year and work with over 400 brands.
Moreover, the resulting hub will provide European and US businesses with a new talent pool of IT professionals, amidst skill shortage in the industry.
"To encourage even more investors to Romania there is a need to provide highly skilled ICT professionals in a fast track mode and the merged company is an answer to this need as well as a unique chance for the region to become an emerging ICT service center on a global scale," Codecool Romania country manager Claudia Tamasi said.
Romania is to invest some 6 billion euro ($5.99 billion) in digital transformation, as part of its national recovery and resilience plan. The sum would make up 21% of the plan's entire budget of 29.2 billion euro. In accordance with its recovery plan, the European Union will allocate 161 billion euro to innovation and digitalization of its markets by 2030. The EU currently faces a shortfall of approximately 1.8 million ICT specialists, according to the two companies.
"There is a global battle for digital talent, and companies are interested in providing high-quality digital skills for employees and are also strengthening their IT teams. In the context of a deepening shortage of tech professionals, employers are maximizing their efforts of reskilling and attracting new talent," SDA Romania country manager Costin Alexandru said.
The two companies decided to keep using their consumer brands in their local markets, in the near future.
Codecool was founded in 2014 and is currently present in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Austria. The company employs approximately 150 people.
SDA was founded in 2014 and is currently present in Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Albania and Estonia. The company has a graduates network of over 15,000 people.
($=1.0025 euro)