[ 2017-02-10 ]

IBM to train 25 million Africans for free to build workforce
International Business Machines Corp. is ramping
up its digital-skills training program to
accommodate as many as 25 million Africans in the
next five years, looking toward building a future
workforce on the continent.

The U.S. tech giant plans to make an initial
investment of 945 million rand ($70 million) to
roll out the training initiative in South Africa,
a country where 31 percent of people between 15
and 24 are unemployed, according to Statistics
South Africa. Other countries set to benefit in
this program include Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco and
Egypt, enabling the expansion of the project
across the continent.

“Africa will have the largest workforce by 2040
and IBM wants to lay the foundation blocks to
build a digital workforce,’’ Juan Pablo
Napoli, head of IBM Skills Academy, said by phone
from Dubai. “We will be providing a free
cloud-based learning platform able to train people
from basic computer skills to high-end app
development.”

The move may help bring and keep digital jobs in
Africa instead of losing them to India, said
Hamilton Ratshefola, IBM’s country manager for
South Africa. As many as 50,000 such jobs are
currently farmed out from Africa, predominantly to
India, Ratshefola said.

“If the program is implemented successfully over
the five-year period all these jobs can be moved
to Africa, where people will be equipped with the
right set of skills,” he said.

The company has partnered with the United Nations
in extending the initiative throughout Africa. IBM
is also talking to a number of other potential
partners, including mobile-phone companies, to
further scale the program, Ratshefola said. In
South Africa, IBM already is working with phone
carrier Vodacom Group Ltd., he said.

Source - bloomberg.com

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