Considering the Africa Rising narrative, it’s a company that only has room to grow on the continent.

AutoCAD is a software that’s synonymous with design and engineering, and, having been around since the early 1980s, it’s a well known brand name. The company behind it, Autodesk, is the subject of this column. 

Like AutoCAD, Autodesk burst onto the scene in 1982, and one of the company’s co-founders, John Walker, was also one of the co-authors of AutoCAD. Walker, who reached the position of chairman and president, stepped back in 1986 to programming duties, before resigning in 1994.