https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

IBM launches free digital skills development platform for Africa

Hamilton Ratshefola
Ginni Rometty

IBM Middle East and Africa university relations manager Juan Pablo Napoli provides details of the new IBM Digital Nation Africa free online education programme. Video and editing: Nicholas Boyd.

Hamilton Ratshefola

Ginni Rometty

9th February 2017

By: Schalk Burger

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

Font size: - +

Technology multinational IBM has launched a $70-million (R945-million) digital literacy and skills development initiative aimed at training 25-million people in Africa over five years.

The Digital Nation Africa (DNA) initiative is being undertaken in partnership with African universities, companies and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

IBM CEO, president and chairperson Ginni Rometty on Thursday said the initiative would leverage the company’s Bluemix cloud-as-a-service platform to make content available to digital entrepreneurs in Africa to develop marketable services and products or to any person in Africa who wanted to learn about digital technologies or develop marketable skills, though the focus of the initiative is on the millennial generation from ages 15 to 24.

The cloud platform enables any device to be used to access the courses and materials, and youth who register for formal training – which would also be accredited through the assistance of the UNDP, governments and academic partners – would be able to build their skills set in the areas that interest them.

The initiative would focus on sought-after skills including cloud, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and data science, said IBM South Africa GM Hamilton Ratshefola.

“Today’s announcement is the appropriate response to the challenges facing Africa, including inequality, lack of skills and unemployment, as it seeks to address these challenges directly,” he added.

“Africa will have a working-age population of one-billion people within two decades and the ability of companies to grow and lift people into the middle class is crucial; however, addressing the skills mismatch where about 50% of people looking for work do not have the skills sought [is vital],” said Rometty.

“Our training programmes have reached thousands of people across Africa so far, but we have the ability to reach millions, tens of millions, of people. This initiative will see IBM investing $70-million over five years to train 25-million people with contemporary digital skills and, in so doing, prepare them to work in the new economy,” she said.

The company was also making use of its cognitive computing system, Watson, to analyse the development of those using the platform, customise content and suggest additional skills or work opportunities.

Further, the platform enabled digital entrepreneurs to have direct application program interfaces into Watson systems, which means that they can include capabilities, such as language translation and customer sentiment analysis in their applications and products, said IBM Middle East and Africa skills development and university programmes manager Juan Pablo Napoli.

“DNA is a free, online learning platform where people, including the youth and those who want to learn more about these technologies, can learn about cognitive abilities, programming languages and agile development. However, we cannot do it alone and the aim is to leverage this platform to enable all stakeholders across the continent to add to it to make it a success in their communities and countries,” said Ratshefola.

“We must bring, not just the youth, but everyone, to work in the new economy. We will be taking this initiative and idea to the rest of the world,” stated Rometty.

The eventual aim is to have the platform function as a digital skills marketplace where people can search for job opportunities with their accredited skills and companies can search for skills and combinations of skills – some without a job title – and find people who have completed accredited courses in those disciplines.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

Showroom

Yale Lifting Solutions
Yale Lifting Solutions

Yale Lifting Solutions is a leading supplier of lifting and material handling equipment in Southern Africa. Yale offers a wide range of quality...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
SMS group
SMS group

At SMS group, we have made it our mission to create a carbon-neutral and sustainable metals industry.

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Photo of Martin Creamer
On-The-Air (15/03/2024)
15th March 2024 By: Martin Creamer

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.26 0.31s - 137pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now