A partnership between Absa and the Maharishi Institute (MI) to set up the Absa Cybersecurity Academy to address a growing cybersecurity skills shortage is proving to be successful.

The externally focused programme develops students holistically by balancing the technical, social and emotional skills required to ensure that the students are technically competent and adequately prepared to succeed in the world of work.

The learners, marginalised youth between 18 and 24, are taken through the programme to become certified cybersecurity analysts.

“The secret to the success of this programme is that we do not only focus on developing technical skills – we focus on creating a whole being through consciousness-based education,” says Absa Group chief security officer Sandro Bucchianeri.

“Given the enormous need for skilled cybersecurity professionals locally and globally, we saw the opportunity to truly make a difference. Addressing the global shortage of cybersecurity professionals is an urgent challenge.”

There is an estimated shortfall of four-million cybersecurity jobs worldwide, a gap that needs to be narrowed to support the projected growth of the world’s cybersecurity sector over the next couple of years.

As the current talent pool development is not keeping pace with this demand, it presents a unique opportunity to make a difference, he says.

The partnership between Absa and the MI offers students accredited cybersecurity training, bridging courses and whole-person development, including transcendental meditation and life and work-ready skills.

It also includes financial support, bursaries and work experience at MI’s call centres.

Since inception in 2018, about 90 students have been enrolled into the programme, and the first 24 students have written their first internationally recognised exam.

“None of these students had touched a computer before the course and none of them had any cybersecurity skills,” he says.

However, all of them passed, delivering 24 new cybersecurity analysts into the market.

The programme selects 24 students at a time, with the fourth series getting under way this month. “Some of the students have gone on to be phenomenally successful,” Bucchianeri tells Engineering News & Mining Weekly, noting some of them have been promoted, while many have gone on to study further and others have started their own businesses.”