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German software company SAP and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) plan to jointly create 450 jobs for highly qualified personnel in the IT sector in ten African countries including Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, and Tunisia. The collaboration, which was presented in Berlin today by German Development Minister Gerd Müller and by Michael Kleinemeier, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and head of SAP Digital Business Services, targets unemployed university graduates. They will undergo a three-month training programme, followed by assistance to help them find jobs in local companies.
Africa lacks well-trained specialists
Nigeria and the other countries have great potential for jobs and growth in the digital sector, but they lack well-trained specialists who can support companies and institutions as they introduce and operate software products. The project addresses this bottleneck. Its first phase will start this year in Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria. As part of the overall programme, 600 unemployed university graduates will receive training and certification for jobs in the local IT sector, the aim being to place at least three out of four programme graduates into employment. This means that a minimum of 450 new jobs could be created which employers previously could not fill because applicants did not have the necessary skills.
“Africa’s young people need opportunities for the future – and they urgently need jobs that are viable and that help close the digital divide and make headway on development. To that end, we have to seize the great opportunities offered by digital technology. That will only be possible by working together with the private sector. I thus greatly welcome our cooperation with SAP. We need more projects of this type in order to create lasting momentum for Africa’s development, especially in the field of technology,” said German Development Minister Gerd Müller.
SAP Executive Board Member Michael Kleinemeier said, “Africa has the youngest population in the world. By 2050, its population will double, reaching more than 2.5 billion. Giving young people digital skills and IT training will create jobs and boost growth in Africa. SAP has been supporting Africa for several years through training and upskilling programmes in the digital sector, for instance the Young Professional Program and Africa Code Week. Our new collaboration with the BMZ provides additional opportunities for Africa’s young people and helps the continent to tap its enormous potential.”
Programme is fallout of “Digital Africa”
The joint programme is planned to cover a period of three years. It emerged from the Strategic Partnership “Digital Africa”, a network uniting German development cooperation players and European companies. The BMZ supports the joint endeavour through its develoPPP for jobs programme, which fosters sustainable private sector initiatives in selected countries in Africa as part of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation.
The programme will be implemented by the SAP Training and Development Institute as part of SAP’s established Young Professional Program, which has already created more than 2,200 jobs for jobseekers with higher education degrees in 22 countries around the world.
