Microsoft seeks digital support for African youths
06 October 2024 |
11:53 pm
Microsoft has stressed the importance of equipping Africa’s teeming youths with digital skills to enable a productive economy. The Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Ola Williams, who stated this in Lagos..
Microsoft has stressed the importance of equipping Africa’s teeming youths with digital skills to enable a productive economy. The Country Manager, Microsoft Nigeria, Ola Williams, who stated this in Lagos, said it’s a much-quoted statistic that as the world’s youngest continent, Africa will make up one-fifth of the total workforce and one-third of the total youth workforce in the world by 2030.
Williams said Africa can seize the moment and harness its youth to become a global hub for tech skills, but the digital skills gap looms large, saying developing the skills needed to compete in the global digital economy is critical.
“We must focus our skilling efforts on three key areas to fulfill the vision of Africa as a tech hub – building digital literacy, giving entrepreneurs the skills to thrive, and driving the AI skills set needed to embrace the full potential of this technology,” she said.
Williams noted that as technology swiftly transforms the workforce landscape, employers globally are looking for workers with enhanced digital skills. She much of the demand for these digital skills will come from occupations outside of ICT specialisations, driven by businesses embracing digital technologies, saying it is anticipated that 70 per cent of this demand will be for foundational skills, followed by 23 per cent for intermediate skills outside the ICT sector.
She said acknowledging the importance of digital skills, countries across the continent are developing plans to build the competencies needed for the global digital economy. Williams said the Government of Nigeria is actively investing in digital skills development to empower its youth and enhance its digital ecosystem.
According to her, recognising the need to broaden access to digital skills development programmes, Microsoft launched the Global Skills Initiative in 2021, combining resources from LinkedIn learning, GitHub and Microsoft Learn. She said the programme has helped 80 million job seekers worldwide access digital skilling, and over 196,000 learners in Nigeria have been engaged thus far.
She said Microsoft has also partnered with the African Development Bank and the Nigerian government to launch the Digital Nigeria eLearning Platform. She revealed that one year post-launch, 125,000 enrolled learners were on the platform across the country, while 111,000-course completions were accomplished in either basic, intermediary, advanced digital skills, or entrepreneurship and soft skills.
To date, Williams said Microsoft’s all-up skilling initiatives in Nigeria have reached 1,164,815 people, while 89,946 Microsoft certifications have been completed.
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