6 Must-Have Checks Before Hiring Remote Devs in Africa

Hiring remote software engineers from Africa has become a major growth trend for U.S. startups because it unlocks various benefits. They include access to eager talent, cost advantages, and diverse perspectives. But “remote Africa” doesn’t mean “just like hiring within your state”. There are legal, cultural, technical, and operational pieces you’ve got to think through to avoid surprises. Fail to check these, and what starts as a bargain can turn into a headache.

Here are the 6 must-checks every U.S. startup should do before hiring remote devs from Africa, plus how Silicon Savannah Solutions helps you check them off:

1. Legal & Regulatory Compliance

2. Tools & Infrastructure

3. Culture & Communication Alignment

4. Payment, Currency & Compensation Considerations

5. Vetting & Onboarding Process

6. Time Zone & Overlap Strategy

We will discuss them in depth in this blog post.

1. Legal & Regulatory Compliance

Before anything else, you need to understand what legal obligations you’ll run into when you hire someone residing in an African country. It’s not just about paying well; it's about doing it right.

Key elements to verify:

• Worker classification (contractor vs employee): Different countries have different labor laws. For example, in Kenya, misclassifying a worker as an “independent contractor” when they should legally be an employee can lead to penalties.

• Local employment laws: Hours, overtime, leave, termination notice, statutory deductions (taxes, social security, health contributions); these may be similar but often significantly different from U.S. norms. Kenya’s Employment Act of 2007, for instance, applies to remote workers in many contexts.

• Data protection & privacy laws: Handling personal data (employee information, code, user data - if part of the job) may fall under local data protection acts. Kenya’s Data Protection Act requires explicit consent and sets penalties for non-compliance.

• Tax obligations & payroll compliance: Withholding taxes, paying into local funds (e.g. Kenya’s NSSF, NHIF), remitting required deductions; for U.S. companies, also considering whether there are treaties or double taxation issues.

• Contracts that clearly define IP, deliverables, termination, payment terms: Make sure your contracts are enforceable in both jurisdictions if needed, clearly defining who owns the code, what happens on termination, how disputes will be handled, etc.

Why this matters: Skipping legal checks can lead to fines, delayed product launches, or situations where the developer’s local law entitles them to benefits or protections you didn’t account for. It also affects trust, when remote devs see that you’ve done your homework legally, they’re more likely to feel secure and committed.

2. Tools & Infrastructure

Even a highly skilled remote engineer can’t do their best work without the right tools and reliable infrastructure.

What to check:

• Reliable internet and backup options: In many parts of Africa, even in major cities, internet outages or slow speeds happen. Developers should have good broadband, possibly backup connections (mobile data, for example).

• Hardware adequacy: Up-to-date machines. Enough RAM, SSDs, current OS etc., so that build times, dev tools, local servers etc. don’t become productivity killers.

• Collaboration & communication tools: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom or similar for meetings; project management tools (Jira, Asana, Trello, or similar) to track tasks; code repositories (Git, GitHub/GitLab); version control; CI/CD tools; issue tracking.

• Security tools and practices: VPNs, secure access, encrypted connections, handling of secrets / credentials, proper backups. If the dev needs access to proprietary or sensitive code/data, how is it protected?

These tool / infrastructure checks help minimize project delays, avoid wasted time, and boost confidence in remote collaborations.

3. Culture & Communication Alignment

This is one of the soft but hugely important areas. Culture mismatches or misaligned communication expectations are often the biggest cause of remote project failures.

What to check:

• Language proficiency / clarity in English (or whichever common working language): Not just speaking, but writing. If code reviews or written specs are unclear, small misunderstandings become big bugs. It helps that Kenyans typically rank very high in English proficiency, for example, Kenya is ranked 19th out of 116 countries in the 2024 EF English Proficiency Index (source), and 2nd in Africa (source). 

  So when hiring remote devs from Kenya, you can often expect strong performance in both spoken and written English, which means fewer communication

  breakdowns and more clarity in deliverables.

  
  

• Working hours / time zone overlap expectations: If you're in the U.S. Central, and your remote dev is in East Africa (UTC+3), there’s a decent overlap, but you’ll still need to agree on core hours for meetings. Be transparent about what’s expected. This is covered more in the 6th point.

  
  

• Feedback style preferences & meeting norms: In some places, direct criticism is less common; people may prefer more polite, indirect feedback. U.S. teams might expect fast, blunt feedback. Both sides need to be aware and ready to adapt.

  
  

• Cultural practices & holidays: Regional holidays, religious observances, and typical working hour norms differ. Recognizing those helps avoid frustration, e.g., someone being offline or slow to respond during a holiday and not realizing it's a holiday on the other side.

  
  

• Professional expectations: Things like response time for messages, expectations around meeting punctuality, deliverable format, code documentation standards, etc., should be discussed up front.

  
  

Culture & communication alignment isn’t about “one side conforms” but about building mutual understanding and setting clear norms.

4. Payment, Currency & Compensation Considerations

Paying someone in another country has more knobs to turn than simply writing a check. Mismanaging this part can damage trust, create financial or legal risk, or lead to poor retention.

What to think through:

• Currency & exchange rates: Will you pay in USD? Local currency (KES, NGN, etc.)? How will you handle fluctuations? Will you cover transaction fees?

• Payment method & frequency: Bank transfer, international wire, Wise, Payoneer, etc. Also frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly). A clear payment schedule is important.

• Local compensation norms vs remote market rates: While cost advantage is real, local cost of living, expected salaries/contractor rates, and market demand matter. Underpaying can cost loyalty or quality.

• Benefits & perks (if applicable): If someone is a contractor, you might not provide U.S.-style health insurance, but local expectations may include things like devices, stipends for internet/data, allowances for electricity, etc.

5. Vetting & Onboarding Process

How you vet, onboard, and integrate remote devs can make or break the relationship. Simply hiring “because they're cheap and good on paper” isn’t enough.

Vetting includes:

• Technical skills: Coding tests, code reviews, take-home assignments, maybe pair programming.

• Portfolio / example work: Open source, past freelance, personal projects.

• Soft skills: Ability to work remotely, communicate, write/understand specs, self- management.

• References: Past clients/managers, if possible.

  
  

Onboarding includes:

• Ensuring access: code repos, dev tools, communication channels, internal wikis.

• Setting expectations: work hours, meeting schedules, reporting, code quality, review process, deadlines.

• Introduction to company culture: both explicit norms (e.g. how meetings run, how reviews happen, documentation style) and implicit ones.

• Providing initial small tasks (low risk) to test fit and allow adaptation.

6. Time Zone & Overlap Strategy

This is often underestimated. Even with great skills, misaligned schedules can kill momentum or morale.

Things to plan:

• Overlap windows: Identify when both sides can meet in real time (daily standups, crisis meetings, code pairing). Agree on at least some overlapping hours.

• Asynchronous work: For tasks that don’t need constant feedback, allow the remote dev to work independently, communicate via messages, recorded updates, etc. This reduces “waiting” for someone to wake up or finish local business day.

• Scheduled check-ins: Regular one-on-one meetings, weekly reviews, etc., to ensure alignment, surface blockers, and maintain rapport.

• Flexibility & fairness: Sometimes odd hours will be necessary (for instance, U.S.-Africa calls can mean late or early), so distribute those burdens or alternate them where possible to avoid burnout.

Bonus Check: Soft Factors That Are Easy to Overlook

While the above are more concrete, there are some “softer” but still critical checks:

• Resilience & connectivity backups: Power outages, internet downtime; do your devs have solutions (generator, backup internet)?

• Motivation & engagement: Remote work can be lonely. How will you ensure connection; mini-team culture, recognition, feedback?

• Growth & retention: If you invest time in someone, think: can this person scale with you? What learning opportunities will you provide? What career path?

Putting It All Together: A Practical Checklist

Here’s a checklist you can run through before you hire a remote dev from Africa:

How Silicon Savannah Solutions Covers It All So You Don’t Have To Sweat the Details

If all this seems like a lot (it is), that’s exactly why hiring via us helps so much. At Silicon Savannah Solutions, we've structured our process so that most of these checks are built in.

Here’s how we take care of them for you.

1. Legal & Regulatory Done Right: We ensure that the contracts meet both U.S. and Kenyan legal norms. Classification (contractor vs employee), IP ownership, termination terms, payment terms; all of it, vetted. We also ensure compliance with Kenyan employment law (taxes, statutory deductions, payroll) to avoid surprises.

2. Tools & Infrastructure Pre-Validated: Our engineers are equipped with the required hardware, have sufficient internet and backup, and are accustomed to working remotely using industry-standard tools (Git, CI/CD, project management, communication tools). We make sure productivity tools, dev environments, and collaboration platforms are in place from day one.

3. Cultural & Communication Alignment: We don’t just ship resumes. We assess communication style, English proficiency, remote work readiness. We coach both sides, Kenyan devs on expectations of U.S. company culture; U.S. companies on working with remote teams, feedback norms, and cultural differences.

4. Compensation & Payment Clarity: We help you create compensation packages that are transparent, fair, and stable. We consider currency, payment method, frequency. Our partners are paid on time, fairly, and we manage the admin so you don’t have to worry about the nitty-gritty.

5. Rigorous Vetting & Smooth Onboarding: We run technical assessments, code reviews, sample tasks and test for real skill. We also manage onboarding processes: access, documentation, setting expectations so the developers can start delivering quickly, without floundering.

6. Time Zone & Overlap Optimization: We help identify overlap windows and ensure remote devs understand when meetings will happen. We also encourage asynchronous workflows and smooth hand-offs, so you aren’t always waiting for someone to wake up.

Plus, we give you ongoing support. If something isn’t working, say: communication is slow, or expectations are fuzzy, we help mediate, adjust, and improve, rather than leaving you tangled in remote problems.

Final Thoughts

Hiring remote devs from Africa (or anywhere) is definitely doable and worthwhile but only if you do enough prep. You’ll want to check the legal stuff, get infrastructure sorted, make sure your communication culture is aligned, define overlapping windows, offer compensation that’s fair, and use tools that support remote work well.

Even if you don’t go with us, doing these things makes a huge difference. But if you do work with us (Silicon Savannah Solutions), you can skip a lot of the stress. This is because we’ve done this many times. We help ensure your remote engineer starts off strong: with clarity, fairness, and readiness to deliver, so you’re not just hiring raw potential, but someone who can hit the ground running.