Tech skills development in Africa is increasingly going beyond the borders of the classroom as organisations take novel approaches to addressing pervasive skills availability constraints.

Kholiwe Makhohliso, Managing Director at SAP Southern Africa,  says upskilling and mobilising Africa’s considerable skills base is a defining opportunity for the future success of the continent. “Digital technologies continue to shape industries and businesses throughout the continent, driving high levels of demand for professionals with relevant skills. As the pace of technological change continues to accelerate, organisations increasingly need new approaches to skills development to keep in step with the latest advances in cloud, AI and other transformative technologies.”

SAP’s 2023 report ‘Africa’s Tech Skills Scarcity Revealed’ laid bare significant challenges with skills availability among organisations in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. The report revealed that low levels of tech skills availability affect most organisations, with four in five companies reporting negative consequences from a lack of tech skills.

While the tech skills gap persists globally – with McKinsey finding that 87% of global senior executives reported their companies were not adequately prepared to address the skills gap – the situation can be more acute for African organisations.

Cloud, AI skills in high demand

According to Manos Raptopoulos, President: SAP EMEA, skills availability has become even more important in light of the ongoing impact of cloud and artificial intelligence on the region. “Enterprises throughout the region are leveraging powerful new cloud and AI capabilities to transform their business models and accelerate growth and innovation. As the business landscape becomes increasingly shaped by the power of these technologies, organisations need access to relevant skills to ensure they reap the benefits of the cloud and AI revolution.”

SAP launched new learning opportunities for developers in 2023, focusing on cloud and generative AI capabilities. SAP Build Code solutions offer AI-powered productivity tools for developers and draws on the power of SAP’s AI co-pilot Joule to boost productivity and embed code generation capabilities for a range of applications, from data model and application logic to test script creation.

The company also launched new role-based certification and free learning resources for back-end developers in 2023 as part of a global commitment to upskill two million professionals by 2025.

Work-ready skills for graduates

The SAP Young Professionals Program (YPP), offered by the Digital Skills Centre of SAP, extends the company’s skills development efforts to graduates. YPP is aimed at enabling young talent to utilise the latest SAP technology and innovation, and covers software functional and technical knowledge and certification, with a strong focus on the latest technologies and a range of soft skills to ease entry into the workplace.

Since its launch in 2012, the SAP Young Professionals Program has trained and graduates more than 4100 candidates across 41 countries, including over 1900 in Africa alone.

Vincent Mabeka, a 2023 graduate from South Africa, says the SAP Young Professionals Program helped him improve his skills, learn about new technologies and gain hands-on experience and unlock new job opportunities.

“The Young Professionals Program required dedication, hard work and passion, but rewarded me with guidance, feedback and recognition for my skills and capabilities. This has helped me secure a job as an SAP Solutions Advisor where I apply the knowledge and skills I learned to exciting projects. Thanks to the resources and network I developed during my time on the program, I continue to learn and expand my skills and abilities.”

Youth skills development in focus

With the world’s fastest-growing youth population, any digital skills efforts in Africa must extend to the continent’s young people. Africa’s working-age population is predicted to grow to more than 600 million by 2030, constituting a quarter of the world’s under-25s. But digital skills remain elusive among Africa’s youth, despite a projected 70% of jobs expected to require digital skills by the end of the decade.

Enter SAP Africa Code Week (ACW), a coding skills development programme aimed at youth that is held annually in partnership with UNESCO, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, and Irish Aid.

Since its inception in 2015, ACW has successfully empowered 17 million young people across 54 countries with coding and computational thinking skills, while close partnerships with NGOs and governments across the continent has helped drive the inclusion of coding in national curricula.

Toward the end of 2023, SAP also announced a new pilot project in partnership with UNICEF and other public-private organisations aimed at preparing underserved youth for the digital workforce. The SAP Educate to Employ initiative targets youth aged 16 to 24 and provides soft skills foundational knowledge using the Student Zone portal on SAP’s learning site. The knowledge prepares youth for a possible career in technology, with potential roles in development, consulting and support.

Makhohliso says the support of a broad range of partners is essential to overcoming youth skills challenges on the continent. “By directly addressing youth unemployment and inspiring our vibrant youth to pursue careers in the exciting world of technology, we together with our partners hope to mobilise the potential of our continent to become leading players in the future digital economy.”

Data Science and Analytics Leader at Deloitte West Africa, Jania Okwechime, has advised firms to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) responsibly and sustainably by creating AI strategies in with their business plans. According to her, businesses also need to put governance and risk processes in place so that they can innovate with trust and confidence.

Jania Okwechime disclosed this at an interview with the media at the sidelines of the just-ended 8th Ghana CEO Summit held in Accra. She mentioned that in this era, AI is transforming businesses more than anything else in the world and therefore called on institutions across West Africa to embrace AI.

Jania also advised businesses to take advantage of AI to improve and accelerate their products and services for the benefit of their customers. Although she acknowledges the growing adoption of AI in West Africa, she stated that the adoption of AI globally has moved from the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) stage to more implementation stage.

“In the African continent, we are still experimenting with some of the opportunities that the AI can generate for the people. So, we see adoption, but it could get accelerated”.

“I think it is not going to be long before they would see the impact of AI. You already saw some of the presenters [8th Ghana CEO Summit] today specifically in the telecoms and advertising industry that, AI is already being leveraged by businesses. We are only going to see the acceleration in the next coming years”.

Why AI has become a buzzword

She noted that although Artificial Intelligence has been around for decades, AI has now become a buzzword.

According to her though Artificial Intelligence has been around for decades, businesses have now realised its importance and are now taking advantage of it because of the data explosion.

“Every time an action is created, data is formed. Every time we send a text message, every time we pick up the phone to make a phone call, every time we pick our favorite series on Netflix, it’s creating data. So, there’s a huge data explosion”, she mentioned.

“Ninety percent of the data that we used today were created in the past two years. So, you can imagine. Now we have no choice but to harness technology like AI to be able to gain insights”, she added.

Generative AI and the traditional AI

Touching on Generative AI and traditional AI, Jania reiterates the differences between the former and the latter.

In her words: “The difference is that Generative AI can perform tasks predominantly done by humans. Like reading documents, creating documents, generating videos, generating reports, etc.”

“Now, it is making AI more accessible to businesses in a way that they can harness in three different ways. They can change the way they interact with their customers and increase customer experience internally within their network and their internal organisations. So, that they can improve internal statistics”, she pointed out.

Continuing, she said by harnessing AI and generative AI, businesses can reduce cost by automating tasks, and can make things more effective and efficient.

“One thing that is key to also mention is why AI and generative AI are used today for automation tasks and improving the set of processes that businesses already have. Businesses that are going to be successful and thriving in the next five years are those which are harnessing AI to transform what they are doing. And this needs some more thinking”, she stated.

Concerns about AI leading to job losses

On concerns of AI leading to job losses and other things, she said: “So, that is the concern right? because I mentioned that there are certain things that AI and generative AI can do today that were predominately done by humans. So, that is a concern, and we understand why. However, it doesn’t need to be”.

We don’t need to worry

“We don’t need to worry about our staff and our talent losing jobs, but rather we must transform the talent.  So, things are going to change in businesses. Their staff are going to change the way they work. So, organisations are responsible for upscaling their staff”.

She added that “Because their roles are going to be transformed. Instead of one person being in charge of creating a report, now that person needs to know how to use and leverage AI solutions to be able to interpret that report to be able to make strategic decisions. So, AI has a big implication on talent and the responsibility and the responsibility of the organisations to invest in the talent and upscale it”.

The Honorable Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology (MIST), Olatubosun Alake has revealed that the proposed Lagos Innovation Policy will spur economic renaissance and corporate-startup synergies, among other benefits.

The Honourable Commissioner said this while fielding questions from journalists at the end of the stakeholder engagement with different stakeholders including government agencies, the organized private sector among others, at the Eko Innovation Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Among the stakeholders present at the occasion are Adaora Ikenze – Director, Public Policy, Meta; Prof. Peter Bankole – COO, Pan Atlantic University and LASRIC Member; Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho – Founder, Futuresoft; LASRIC and Alex-Adedipe Adeleke – DOA Law, among others.

Shedding more light on the key elements of the proposed Lagos Innovation Bill, which aims to serve as a catalyst for innovation across all sectors, from startups to established corporations, he remarked, “The Lagos Innovation Bill is a two-pronged approach. Firstly, it localizes the federal government’s Startup Act, tailoring it to the unique needs and dynamics of Lagos State. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, it goes beyond just nurturing startups by actively encouraging innovation within large companies and small businesses alike.”

The Commissioner emphasized that the bill’s inclusive nature is a strategic move to create a vibrant and interconnected innovation ecosystem, where startups and established players can collaborate, learn from each other, and drive collective growth.

“Imagine a situation where a startup’s innovative solution is adopted and supported by a major corporation like MTN or Airtel,” Alake posited. “Or a situation where our universities are driving a thriving entrepreneurial culture, spinning off ten new companies each year, supported by the resources and mentorship of industry giants. This is the future we are working tirelessly to manifest through the Lagos Innovation Bill.”

To incentivize large corporations to actively participate in this ecosystem, the bill proposes a range of measures, including tax incentives, fee waivers, advocacy support, patent assistance, and incentives for driving research and development initiatives within universities.

Alake highlighted the role of universities in this innovation renaissance, recognizing them as fertile grounds for cutting-edge research and entrepreneurial talent. “Our universities are crucial to this process,” he asserted. “In creating stronger collaborations between academia and industry, we can accelerate the translation of research into tangible products, services, and economic opportunities.”

When questioned about the potential impact of the Innovation Bill on the state’s budget allocation for science and technology, currently hovering around 9%, Commissioner Alake expressed confidence that the bill would catalyze a significant increase.

“While the specific percentage remains to be determined through due process and stakeholder engagement, the overarching objective of this bill is to drive Lagos towards becoming a global hub for innovation and development,” he stated. “By unlocking new streams of economic activity and fostering a thriving innovation ecosystem, we anticipate a substantial boost in budget allocations for science and technology initiatives.”

Earlier in his welcome address, Victor Afolabi, Chief Executive Officer of the Eko Innovation Centre emphasized the significance of the stakeholder engagement as a co-creation event, where collective deliberation would shape the regulatory incentives and create an inclusive innovation ecosystem. He commended the commissioner’s vision and commitment to advancing innovation in Lagos State, describing the state as the innovation engine room of the country and a globally recognized hub for innovation.

The highly engaging and robust stakeholder engagement witnessed active participation from government agencies, the private sector, development agencies, and other key stakeholders. The event featured five breakout sessions, where participants made actionable recommendations and proffered realistic solutions to contribute to the framework of the proposed Lagos Innovation Bill.