American multinational technology company Google plans to bestow online skills on more than 10 million Africans for the next half a decade. The motivation behind this training is to make them attractive and competent choices for employers.
Speaking at an event in Lagos, Nigeria, Google Chief Executive Mr. Sundar Pichai’s statements were echoed by the organization’s spokeswoman who said that Google is targeting to train 100,000 software developers in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. The digital training program is an expansion of an initiative that the company started in April 2016. Back in March, Google announced that the agenda had reached a goal of a million people.
“The company is committing to prepare another 10 million people for jobs of the future in the next five years,” Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in the organization’s conference in Nigeria.
It has been revealed that training will incorporate a digital and in-person approach. Forty per cent of trainees will be women, and the company will suppliment the mentorship program with local languages such as Kiswahili that is commonly spoken in East Africa, Zulu and Nigeria’s Hausa.
Over the next three years, Google will offer funding in the excess of $3 million to mentor developers and tech leaders for more than 60 Africa-based startups.
Tech giants and top businesses want a share of Africa’s market that reeks potential. Generally speaking, this is a continent that is experiencing fast population growth, with the demographic constituting of mainly young people who are adopting smartphones at a high rate. Such adoption is being fueled by competitive data prices. These are the kind of consumer patterns that make Africa an attractive market for tech companies, among other reasons.
Summarily, the Google For Nigeria event that is still ongoing has seen other announcements including the launch of an Android One (yes, it is that confusing) device that will hit Nigerian store shelves by September, support of all major Nigerian dialects in Gboard, in addition to the launch of Posts On Google (Nigeria is the third country with this service after Brazil and U.S.) that gives artists a platform to post updates for their fans.
