US based tech firm, Google Inc. in April last year promised to train one million Africans in its Digital Skill Programme with in a year, yesterday the firm announced it had reached the one million milestone it had set/predicted. The company on reaching its desired target has set itself to train even more Africans in digital skills in the coming year.
In a press statement, Bunmi Banjo; Growth Engine & Brand Lead, Sub-Saharan Africa, said; “Having one million digitally skilled young people in Africa is good for everyone. If young people have the right skills, they’ll build businesses, create jobs and boost economic growth across the continent. As we expand this initiative to hard to reach areas across the continent, we hope to see more impact in everyday lives of Africans.”
According to the firm, for the upcoming training, it has further extended their commitment to the Digital Skills programme by assisting local communities further in several ways.
Google said it will provide offline versions of the content in languages like Swahili, IsiZulu, and Hausa for its online training materials to reach individuals and businesses in low access areas where it is unable to hold physical training sessions, hold regular meet-ups to drive engagement around the value of the web at the community level with those trained, Policy makers and influencers within those communities, and finally! focus on achieving gender balance by ensuring that at least 40% of the people trained are women.[related-posts]
The Digital Skills programme offers 89 courses through its online portal, working with 14 training partners covering more than 20 countries to offer face-to-face training.
The programme will be addressing needs for small business owners, who are looking to better understand how to take advantage of the web across Africa. Google will add web-focused skills training for SMEs across Africa as part of this initiative.
“We’re committed to helping Africans make the most of the digital revolution. There’s never been a better time to be in Africa, Banjo writes”.
