Andela, OpenAI and Miva Open University have partnered to bring together 200 developers and engineers in Lagos to develop artificial intelligence-powered solutions addressing challenges in education and lifelong learning.
The initiative, titled Codex in Action: Engineering the Future of Learning with AI, was held on October 28 at the Civic Centre in Lagos, on the sidelines of TechCabal's Moonshot 2026. Powered by OpenAI Academy, the event formed part of the pan-African Codex Champions Series, which promotes practical AI engineering skills through hands-on learning and real-world application.
The showcase brought together 100 Miva developers and 100 senior engineers from Andela, providing a platform for participants to translate their knowledge of AI tools into practical solutions.
It marked the culmination of a three-week agentic development programme, which saw 100 Miva developers selected from more than 1,000 applicants undergo training in OpenAI Codex before collaborating with experienced Andela engineers to develop solutions addressing specific learning challenges.
The broader Codex learning initiative also recorded measurable improvements in engineering proficiency. According to the organisers, 200 senior developers who participated in two weeks of applied learning recorded a 36-percentage-point improvement in assessed agentic engineering proficiency compared with their baseline performance.
One of the standout projects at the Lagos showcase was Coteacher, a working prototype developed by Miva student Esih Egwurube, who secured first place in the competition.
Built using OpenAI Codex, the platform is designed to give students another opportunity to understand classroom lessons by transforming a single teacher's recording into personalised learning materials tailored to individual needs and learning histories.
With teachers' approval, students can download lessons for offline access, receive alternative explanations and activities when they encounter difficulties, and resume learning from where they stopped. When connected to the internet, they can also interact with an OpenAI-powered voice tutor, with their learning progress synchronised with the teacher.
"The Codex training changed my entire workflow," said Egwurube. "Beyond the technical learning, this experience allowed me to tackle meaningful challenges and to translate that knowledge into real-world solutions that create measurable impact."
Commenting on the initiative, Kate Woska, VP, Africa, Middle East & Impact Partnerships at Andela, said the programme demonstrated how practical AI training could equip developers to solve real-world problems.
"This is what effective AI adoption looks like: developers building proficiency through applied learning and then putting those capabilities to work on real problems," said Woska. "By combining OpenAI Codex with the experience and guidance of Andela's senior engineers, we're helping developers move beyond experimentation to build tangible solutions. It's the same connection between AI adoption and delivery that we help enterprises make."
The initiative comes amid growing demand for advanced AI engineering skills as artificial intelligence continues to reshape the technology workforce.
Andela's Emerging Skills Research, which analysed 47,101 technical job postings from Fortune 500 companies, identified emerging combinations of engineering capabilities that are evolving faster than traditional job titles can accommodate.
The research also highlighted increasing demand for skills associated with OpenAI technologies, particularly agent orchestration, large language model (LLM) evaluation and serving.
The findings underscore the growing importance of practical AI engineering expertise and the ability to design, develop and deploy sophisticated AI-powered systems.
For Andela, the Codex Champions Series reflects its approach to developing these capabilities through assessment-led learning, practical engineering experience and hands-on solution development, enabling developers to turn AI knowledge into measurable outcomes.
Lagos is the second stop of the pan-African Codex Champions Series, following its inaugural edition in Nairobi, Kenya. The programme is scheduled to continue in Cape Town, South Africa, on November 15, with another gathering planned alongside the OpenAI Forum.
Through the initiative, Andela, OpenAI and Miva Open University aim to strengthen Africa's AI engineering talent pipeline and equip developers with the practical skills needed to build solutions for emerging challenges across industries.
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